This would be funny if new Macs didn't run intel chips and every piece of Windows compatible software now.

I could use it to cover my pe... argh, beaten to the punch.

Macs pretty much own PC's nowadays. I can think of alot of uses for a computer case though. Better yet even more uses for a Windows Vista CD!

Even I think that second picture is great!

That said, it's pretty much horses for courses now with PC vs Mac. Everyone knows where I stand despite my love for my 360...

macs. pffttt. i guess if you're willing to hand apple $1000 more for the EXACT same product as a PC then you're cool.

oh but wait, running xp on a mac and getting garageband for free (?) is totally worth the $1000. oh, and it runs windows faster than a PC. well that makes it worth $1000 more right there. garageband, boot camp and xp faster by an amount most people don't care about. i'm going to run out and get one right now 'cause i have an extra $1000 i'm willing to flush down the toilet.

sorry for the negative post. i ****ing hate apple and macs at the moment.

You make it sound like the poster (as in the picture, not the person posting the poster) is making fun of Macs.
IT'S A MAC CONTEST

Get a sense of humour, and while your at it, pull the stick out of your ***.

Except it's not a $1000 more in many cases, such as macbooks.

go to dell.com and build a laptop identical to the macbook of your choice. on dell.ca and apple.ca of 4 laptops i compared where the hardware was as identical as possible, having the better/higher option on the dell, the average cost of the macbook was $1060 more. each one was virtually indistinguishable as far as hardware was concerned. i only tested it once on dell.com and apple.com and don't remember the difference in price but it was in the $1000 range.

to upgrade from 2 to 4GB ram on the dell was $340 (iirc) and it was $700 for the macbook.
i bought 2GB ram once for a laptop for $700 and it came with a free processor, hdd, keyboard, 15.4" screen, dvd drive etc.

Here's a reason to get a Mac:

You get an operating system with a unix kernel that doesn't look like the GUI was designed by programmers. Seriously, have you seen KDE4? It's truly hideous. Design matters.

Memory and such upgrades are a ripoff on both sites.

And I find it odd that you managed to make a $1000 difference.

I picked the middle-of-the-road Macbook (considered the best deal), and Dell's ONLY laptop that can match the specs is the XPS M1330 (the only one they have with a 13.3" screen).

Final total for the Dell after matching specs between laptops? $1274.00 (And that's after a discount applied that only lasts for a short time)
Final total for the Mac? $1299.00

Sorry, but I don't consider $25 to be $1000. And after seeing all the issues with Dells in the past, I would GLADLY pay the extra $25. Not to mention, I saved $200 on it using a student discount that Dell doesn't offer at my school.

hardware for hardware. the dell has 128MB more ram for it's dedicated video. so it's better. and i don't know if the mbp has bluetooth but i added it on the dell. macbook pro - $920 more expensive. and i didn't have to pay extra for it being a different colour.

A. That's a MacBook Pro, not Macbook.
B. The Macbook Pro has a higher resolution LCD and is thinner and has a better battery and a stronger case.

Yes, the Macbook Pros are more expensive. But they're also of higher built quality.

But the Macbooks, as demonstrated, are a good deal.

I think the value of the software packages Apple gives you should be taken into account as well. Dell doesn't give you much preloaded.

Not exactly, they give you tons of preloaded stuff, all of which is crap. (One of the only true things about Mac TV ads >.>)

from what i can see, and i have no experience with the software, it's all trial stuff other than garageband. then you can pay $29 or $49 or whatever if you want to keep the software preloaded.

still, hardware for hardware the apples are way more expensive and depending on who you talk to it's not worth it. there's no way i'd pay $920 more for what i bought from dell. add the higher res screen from dell and add another $50. still, i'm not paying $870 more for the same thing. it's stupid. plain and simple. no offense anyone. :/

looking at the macbooks, i don't know. they're too small for me.
i did the same with the 14" dell and the macbook, hardware for hardware. mb - $1814, dell - $1219. $595 more expensive.

i don't know anything about the macbooks, pro or not so i can't comment on the quality, but from the competitors products i've held and used on occasion, what would make them so much better to hold and use and tote around? are they made with titanium? no seriously, do they use better materials than the ones normally used in china to make laptops? that's an honest question? higher specs for manufacturing?

A. It comes with iLife '08, which is iTunes (granted that's free regardless), iPhoto (Awesome), Garageband, iMovie, iChat, iWeb, iDVD.
B. You totally forget that it's only 1" thick. You may not care about that, but some people do. It makes a huge difference with price.

It may be too small for you, but I find anything larger to be too BIG. It's a matter of opinion.

And once again, 14" is not 13". There is a big difference, which is why Dell is unable to truly trump them in the 13" size. When you get bigger, it's cheaper, because they have a lot more room to pack the stuff in there.

Finally, the macbooks have insane battery life. I've hit 6 hours on mine before, and that was with wireless on.

The macbook pros, if you didn't notice, are made with aluminum, something I don't think any Dell comes with.

The macbooks have some sort of special polymer plastic they use, it's different than most cheapo plastic.

I think the best use for any mac is a boat anchor.

i guess what it really comes down to is opinion.
would i spend $1000 more for a laptop that suits me just because it's a mac and when it comes right down to it, the only thing a mac has that a dell or toshiba or hp doesn't is random people approaching asking, 'is that a mac? cool!'?
no.

Just pointing out that you once again totally ignored the fact that the 13" Dell and 13" Macbook cost the same.

OP is hot.

i don't see a 13" dell. all of my comparisons were hardware for hardware, size for size, speed for speed, capacity for capacity. i see a 12" dell but no 12" macbook.

btw, i only chose dell because they easily allow you to configure a laptop online. any of the other pc laptop manufacturers don't have that option and make it difficult to do so.

I gave you the exact model: XPS M1330

You aren't doing an equal comparison if you don't consider all the important factors, and size is a VERY important factor in laptops. When I was getting a laptop, I didn't want a massive beast. I already had one, and I hated it. They're too heavy and totally defeat the purpose of having a laptop. Which is why I wanted a small one. The Macbook won me over because it was small, cheap, great reviews, FAST, and I got a $200 student discount (which made it cheaper than Dell).

Also, Apple lets you configure quite a bit, as does Lenovo. Although in most cases, you're FAR better off getting a default build and upgrading whatever you can yourself. Especially RAM, which Dell (and all other manufacturers) overcharge MASSIVELY for.

Example: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820178166

4 GB DDR2 667 RAM for a laptop such as Dell or Apple. And it's only $140.

I love when people rip on Macs when they probably haven't even touched one since OS9.

No kidding. When I was helping my sister customize her ThinkPad, Lenovo was going to charge about $180 for 2GB of RAM. D:

i see it now. sorry. i was just looking at the inspirons even though you said xps. :/
ok. it's the lowest model but they're the only 2 that compare with the macbook being $23 more. no biggy. but then why only those 2? if you choose the highest model 13" macbook it's $180 more than the xps.
the only conclusion is that apple is gouging it's customers. same case, same manufacturing etc, etc, but they're asking $180 more for the same thing you can buy elsewhere when comparing same models with faster and more capacity hardware.

and i did take size into consideration. all of my comparisons were size for size. for that particular size, the 13", it's the only one that compares. it's the xps model and at a quick glance i don't know what that means other than the case. for all of the others, others which many people consider and buy for whatever reason, apples are way more expensive.

Don't forget that the Macbooks have accelerometers in them that park the disk in case of a sudden drop. I don't think the XPS has that. Their construction could be superior, too. They are also probably a lot quieter. Most mainstream laptops are horrifically loud.

Because the highest model has nothing to warrant purchasing it, unless you like black

To be honest, you couldn't pay me enough to buy Dell. They've had horrible business practices in the past and I haven't seen anything that demonstrates they've changed. Lenovo is about the only other company I trust right now, and from what I hear they're not doing so well either.

I'd hop in, but everybody else has already covered the bases and tried very hard to explain in very simple language that Apple notebooks have a higher build quality, but since you don't seem to be able to understand I won't bother.

I will also, however, throw in the fact that Dell's laptop prices are subsidized by all of the crippleware your computer and restore CDs come with. If you had to pay a non-Dell technician to reformat your computer for you, it would cost more than the Apple notebook. Or, worse, if you left all of those applications on your computer, it would be so bogged down that it would be basically useless; shorter battery life, running hotter, fewer system resources to go to applications you actually use. The Apple is starting to look like a better buy, isn't it?

also as mentioned, it depends on what you're looking for and what your opinions are and as such for either the 15" or the 17" i personally wouldn't pay the $1000 more for a laptop. crippleware and battery life are easily fixed. upgrade the battery on the dell for $50 and remove the cripple ware.

then it all comes down to the quality of the macbook to which i already stated i have no experience with. it better be extremely high quality for me to have to pay somewhere around $900 more for the same hardware.

Eh, Dell also doesn't have the license to sell you a 64-bit OS. As a result, 800mb of that extra 2gb has gone to complete waste.

I like the handle on the monitor, so you can use it as a BOAT ANCHOR!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOEKBC1JPz4

This is true. The difference in build quality between a plastic dell and a Mac Book pro is huge. Weather that is worth a grand is up to the purchaser.

Getting a mac is like getting a BMW.

Yes, it's better than 95% of the cars on the road in terms of build quality, performance and extras. Those features probably aren't worth the $20k more you're spending over a Honda Civic, but you're spending money on the badge. The badge on the front that says you have money, and you're willing to spend it to get quality.

A macbook pro is the best laptop on the market, bar none. It's up to you on whether or not you want to spend the extra cash on it.

The biggest reason Im getting (soon. maybe. possibly) a macbook is because I can run Windows AND OSX on it. Not a big deal to some people, but I use both every day and it would be very convenient to have that option.

woah woah woah.. ok first of all, dell is horrible because nothing of theirs is interchangable. Blech.

Secondly yes macs are more expensive, but a Mac tower running a quad core processor? Thats god of computing right there. Why? simple. First of all the mac OS is far superior to windows (especially vista) in most aspects. The one that specificially sells me, along with thousands of other people, is the lack of background processes. This dramaticially speeds up the performance of your computer and makes it actually fun to use.

Also macs utilize their memory and processing power different allowing them to run at much higher speeds then PCs do.

With all the virtual windows programs and "bootcamp" programs readily avaliable to mac, and their superior design and programming, they have become a driving force in the computer industry as we know it thus far. No longer are they useless and only good for library indexes. No those days are long gone.

Am I saying they are better? yes. By a long shot? No. The mac OS has just as many problems as windows does, just in different ways.

A good way to judge their superiority though is by looking at all the professionals who use only macs. 3d platform designers, musicians and producers, graphic artists, archeteicts (sp), etc etc, all use macs. Theres something to be said about apple nowadays, and as much as diehard windows people won't like to admit it, they are on top this time around.

at least this dude saw my post... *cackles and walks out*

You can run OS X on a PC too... unofficially. Not quite as stable, since there's different hardware, but I'm just saying.