MBP or xps1330; what deal would you pick?

I have a coupon code for apple that brings the price of a macbook pro (lowest configuration) and a 8 gb ipod touch down to $1441.34

Also, I have a coupon code for dell the brings the price of a xps 1330 with the following specs down to $1553.

T8300 (2.4GHz/800Mhz FSB/3MB cache)
Slim and Light LED Display
MEMORY 4GB
HARD DRIVE 64GB Solid State Drive
Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
WIRELESS CARDS Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card
BLUETOOTH AND WIRELESS USB Built-in Bluetooth capability (2.0 EDR)
BATTERY OPTIONS 37Whr Lithium Ion Battery (4 cell)


I am open to switching to mac's, although i dont know quite what to expect. i am under the impression that these are both good deals. if it were you, which one would you choose and why?

 

MBP, even though they both have their issues. I wouldn't touch an m1330 with a 10 ft pole; I keep hearing nightmare-ish stories about them(overheating).I would stay away from both for a while( if you can) until nvidia decides to tell us which GPUs are defective.

 

If you're going with the Intel X3100, I would go with the XPS.

 

MacBook Pro. Don't think, just do. Seriously, an M1330 at $1550 is not that great of a deal, SSD not withstanding. SSDs aren't ready to hit mainstream yet anyways, so I'd stay away on that as well. MBP at under $1800 is a good deal, and $1440 is pretty excellent, especially with the free 8GB touch.

 

The deal on the XPS is...not very good. The 4-cell battery might be light, but you won't get very long battery life out of it. Still, if you want portability, the XPS will beat the MBP hands down. Alternatively, since your XPS deal currently sucks, why not wait a bit for a better one?

Also, just to add, it might be because college kids are rougher on their computers, but a lot of MBPs that we see at the help desk come with superficial damage, lost or sticky keys, bad hinges, etc. I don't recall running into as many problems with the old G4 Powerbooks, though like I said, maybe it just has to do with more violent owners.

 

I'd say that the Macbook would be the better idea. I've known people who have had serious issues with the M1330, and for a Mac, the price you have, along with the iPod Nano. I also bet you'd like more storage space than just 64GB, SSD not withstanding.

 

That 1330 deal seems very expensive for the specs...

 

i thought that it was rather cheap, as the SSD should bring the price up by alot.

also, i'm assuming that the MBP will get the update after their free ipod deal ends, after which i will no longer have that deal, and i dont like the idea of getting an "outdated" laptop

 

macbook pro all the way!!!! it is WAY more powerful than the dell xps m1330 and has a better resale value if you choose to sell it in the future.. and it is more durable and reliable than the dell xps m1330.. i say go for the macbook pro

 

also i forgot to tell you that ssd tend to eat up more battery life than the classic hard drive

 

Some people rebuffed Tom's Hardware tests as invalid. I've seen a few users of SSD that says they get about 30 minutes more battery life than regular HDD.

 

Their test was flawed because they didn't keep the number of loops the program does constant and therefore the cpu is utilized more in an ssd setup, since the program would be run more time.

 

ok lets not recommend xps 1330 because so and so said they had nightmarish experiences. lol. anyways, i have xps m1330 is pretty good machine as a portable device. even though it's not super light the dimensions are small and i think that's more important for portability than the weight itself. but yeah like everyone said i don't think xps m1330's are worth getting unless you can bring it down to at least $1,100-1,200 ish. also my school was having that 2.4GHz MBP deal $1,399 + free ipod touch not too long ago which was completely sold out and hasn't had a deal comparable to that since then. so yeah you should definitely go w/ MBP for that price.

 

Personally, I'd first consider whether I want to use OSX or Windows. If it doesn't matter to you, then it's down to what you really want to do with your laptop. It depends if you want a media device with great photo editing abilities, a machine simply for school and portability, or a gaming machine.

Then go on from there and find yourself some good deals. The MBP deal looks good, except I'm iffy about an integrated graphics card; I don't know what you can do with such a 'weak' card. As for considering an XPS1330, there's got to be better deals out there.

Maybe shop around a bit more before you make your final decision.

 

agreed. both of mine have no noise or heat issues that all these nightmarish experiences seem to confirm. excellent machine so far and you can definitely get a better price than $1500. however, i'd opt for the mbp + touch. of course i already have 2 m1330's...

 

Why compare MBP to a xps 1330 ? XPS1530 would be a better comparison. And in 1530, you get better screen options: WSXGA+ or WUXGA., where as MBP is stuck at WXGA+

 

Monkey, the MBP comes with NVidia. The XPS comes with integrated. The thing is I think the SSD is what makes the XPS better. Although there are cheaper XPS coming out soon.

 

Agreed.

The XPS M1530 is the MacBook Pro's direct competitor.

 

Forget the SSD and get a standard hard drive... you can get much better deal, MBP is fine but M1330 is a lot sexier!!!

 

lol i don't think it really matters what the compeititon is. if i had too choose an XPS system, i'd go for 1330 and if i had to choose a mac then i'd go for the MBP. and as already mentioned it's more of a choice between an apple and a PC.