Bearfruit

Got an email from Dell showcasing their new Vostro 1500 laptop for $599. I was stunned at how affordable that was. The other day, I read in Kiplinger’s magazine that their first choice for a desktop computer was the Mac Book Pro at $1999. My first thought was, “wow, what do you get for the extra money?” So I took a moment to configure two laptops as similarly as I could.

Interestingly enough, every component can be duplicated giving a very comparable pair of computers. Final numbers?

• Dell Vostro 1500 15.4” wide screen computer $1,348
• Apple Macbook Pro 15.4” wide screen computer $1999

The Apple was not customized, the Dell was customized to give it the same 2.2Ghz Core 2 Duo cpu, 2 GB of RAM, upgraded video card, built in camera and the higher resolution screen to match the Apple. (other components already matched)

So a difference of $651. What do you get? Well, the Apple gives you a magsafe adapter and an illuminated keyboard. But for $338 you can add to the Dell a three year warranty that provides on-site service, technical support and accidental damage protection for those cases where the magsafe adapter would have served you well. $350 gets you a three year warranty on the mac, but there’s no accidental damage protection and no on-site service for notebooks.

This brings the prices to $1686 for the Dell and $2348 for the Apple which has an illuminated keyboard and an inferior warranty.

So with $662 in your pocket you’ve got a computer that, short of Armageddon, you can be assured will keep you productive for the next 3 years and gives you every ounce of performance that the Macbook offers.

*The catch: I won’t buy a mail-order computer unless I’ve seen the computer in person (either on demo or from someone else who’s bought one) since the single most important aspect of the computer in my opinion is the screen, and specs can’t accurately convey what you’ll really see once you turn the thing on.