I got an email advertisement for the lowest price every for a dell XPS M 1210 lightweight powerhouse, starting at $899. Not bad! Just for kicks I decided to see how it would stack up against the entry-level Macbook. Here’s what I had to tweak on the XPS to get it to be comparable to the macbook:
- Core 2 Duo 2.0ghz upgrade ($75)
- Integrated webcam and mobile broadband antenna ($75)
- Wireless-N ($49)
- Bluetooth ($20)
For a grand total of $1118, or $19 more than the standard every-day price of the macbook. To be fair there are a few other differences as well. The XPS is 0.6lbs lighter, but has a 12.1 screen to the Macbook’s 13.3 (though both are WXGA). The Dell comes with a much better basic graphics card, but unfortunately also Windows Vista Home. It does come with a builtin “wifi catcher” that can detect open WiFi networks when the laptop is office. Given that it takes about 3 seconds to open my macbook pro from suspend, I’m not really sure how this is all that useful, but hey, it’s one more gadget to consider.
For Dell’s “lowest price ever” it doesn’t look that much better to the standard price of the Macbook. Incidentally, if you build the XPS without using that discount link, it starts at $999, so at that point the dell is $119 more. Oh yeah, did I mention that the XPS deal is for today only?
Using the student discount, I can get a nice MacBook for $1,399. Here are the specs:
- 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
- 1GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 2×512
- 120GB Serial ATA @ 5400 rpm
- SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
- Apple Mini-DVI to VGA Adapter
- Keyboard/Mac OS - U.S. English
- AppleCare Protection Plan for MacBook/iBook - Auto-enroll
- AirPort Extreme Card & Bluetooth
Left by Nate on June 21st, 2007
For reference, the XPS with the same config is $1600. Including today’s $100 off.
Left by Jordan on June 21st, 2007
Mac rules!
…now I just need the $1400 to buy one…
Left by Nate on June 22nd, 2007