Apple - Dell Price Comparison

First off, I'm a bit of an Apple fanboy, I'll admit to that, but I will try to make this as fair and unbiased as possible. A lot of people want to see just how well Apple and a PC compare. We'll use Dell for this example, since Dell is popular and often used as a main competitor. Other companies charge similar (sometimes a bit higher) prices from my own research into PC laptops, so we won't get into specific manufactures here.

To start, we have Apple. It's easy to get to their store, just click on the store link. Then to get to the laptop we're going to buy, it shouls be on the main page. We'll choose a basic MacBook for this since it's what your average user would buy.

Easy enough, just click on "Select." Now, before we get further into this little venture, let's find the dell we want to buy. First, go to dell.com, pick out home and office, click notebooks, and then we get a menu like this:

Ahh, details, where are they? First let's go to the basic notebook. Nope, nothing compareable to the MacBook. So, pick out an entertainment notebook. Now we're getting closer:

Unfortunately, I can't find any way to buy this one. I see no link to purchase this anywhere on the site. Maybe if I sign in? So, I sign up for an account, and find myself at a different site. So I go back to the comparable notebook, the Inspiron E1505, and finally, after a lenghtly promotion on it, find the "Customize it" link.

Let's go with the Base system and work from there. Okay, so this thing only has a 1.66ghz processor, not quite on par with the MacBook, but since I can't change it, let's call it close enough. No changes with the MacBook yet.

Oh wait! This thing has a Core solo, not close enough. I guess the promotional site was wrong. Let's go back and pick one up from this then. Ahh, here we go, the slightly upgraded Dell:

Now, next on the Dell is Operating System. It comes with XP Media center. Does that compare to OS X? Well... let's give it the benifit of the doubt. No extra OS cost this time. No change either way. Now, what is this? Dell charges for a reinstallation CD? Well... $10 isn't much, but it gets added anyway since Apple comes with it. +$10 for Dell. Now display? Apple has the high res display included. Let's give Dell the same.

Well, it looks like Dell comes with an 80GB hard drive. Time to upgrade Apple. +$50 for an 80GB hard drive.

Now, optical drives. Apple comes with a Combo Drive, Dell also comes with a combo drive. Let's keep it that way. Wireless, Apple has WiFi and Bluetooth, Dell needs to upgrade:

Now, both have the same graphics, so no change. Next item is sound, Apple has optical audio in and out, so we'll give Dell the same sort of thing, adding $25. Next it looks like Dell offers a battery upgrade from a 53WHr to 85WHr. Apple comes with a 55Whr battery, close enough to consider them the same. So no change either way. Next up is Software. Well... Apple comes with OS X, iLife, and all that other fancy stuff (go to apple's website for the complete list), so to compete with Apple, we'll add in the equivilants. No productivity suite (Apple no longer ships with Appleworks), and I see nothing else. Oh yeah, let's bump the memory up to 1 gig, both increase by $100, though Apple offers faster memory.

We aren't done just yet! Now it's time to continue with Dell. We'll continue to find all those other fun options. Discounts and warentee and the like. So Apple offers their 3 year protection program, and since no laptop should be without that, let's give it to Dell too. +$249 for Apple, +$278 and +$107 for Dell. We'll skip antivirus and security software, just assuming that we don't need it, and next we see "Dell on Call." Well... Applecare has that same thing with it, so another $149 for dell. And then we have the iLife equvilant, bringing us (with all packages that do the same as iLife) up an additional $99. Which brings us to:

As we move onto accessories, Dell is missing a few things that the MacBook has. First is a webcam: +$80 for Dell, and when you set up the MacBook, you have the option of migrating things. Dell charges $49, but we'll assume you don't need that. So, the final Price of the Dell ends up being:

So, in one easy to see table, the final comparison is this:

	Apple	Dell
Processor	1.83GHz Intel Core Duo	1.83GHz Intel Core Duo
Hard Drive	80GB Serial ATA Hard Drive @ 5400 RPM	80GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
RAM	1GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 2x512	1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz, 2 Dimm
Wireless	AirPort Extreme Card & Bluetooth	Intel® PRO 3945 and Dell 350 Bluetooth Internal Wireless Cards
Operating System	Mac OS X 10.4	Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 w/ reinstallation CD
Accessories and Software	Built in webcam/mic, iLife	Premium Entertainment Pack - Total solution with advanced photo editing, Creative WebCam Live! Ultra for Notebooks
Warranty	AppleCare Protection Plan for MacBook/iBook - Auto-enroll 3 year	3yr Plus Solution Package CompleteCare Accidental Damage Svc Dell On Call 13 month includes 30 Day Unlimited +1 Yr 5 Incidents
Total	$1,498.00	$1,821 (after rebates)

Now, comparing Apple with a PC isn't always exact, but that's about the closest you can get. If you're able to get an education discount, you can even take almost $200 off the MacBook. Go try comparing for yourself sometime, see how yours comes up. :)

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Apple - Dell Price Comparison

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