MacBook Pro vs. Dell Inspiron 9400

[Sundance Kid]

Ok, first of all I'm not interested in buying either, I'm just interested in what you guys think.... And I have some questions too.

First question: How do the graphic cards compare? The Inspiron comes with this one: 256MB NVIDA® GeForce™ Go 7800 (this would be comparing to the X1600 256 card)

Second: Why does this laptop have more power than the Macbook pro? I was really interested when apple changed to intel, because they would be on a level playing ground with windows, so consumers wouldn't have to second guess about the processors. I'm actually sort of disgusted this laptop is as fast as the desktop iMac (processor speeds). The iMac should be faster.
Here are the available speeds for the laptop. (exact same as the 20" and 17" iMac)
Intel® Core™ Duo Processor T2500 (2GHz/667MHz FSB)
Intel® Core™ Duo Processor T2400 (1.83GHz/667MHz FSB)

Anyways.... here's the site with the Inspiron:
http://configure.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=ca&CS=CADHS1&l=en&oc=OCINSP9402_RBP_CH9402E

I tried searching for a similar topic, but came up empty. If there was one, just trash the thread and give me some pointers.


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[homerjward]

the reason it's more powerful is because it has a 17" screen and is the size of a brick.
yes, the 7800 handily beats the x1600--it's a top-of-the-line card but it makes a lot of heat.

 

[edesignuk]

Dell (17" screen):
Height: 41.5 mm
Width: 394 mm
Depth: 288 mm
Weight: 3.6kg

MacBook Pro (15" screen):
Height: 25.9 mm
Width: 357 mm
Depth: 243 mm
Weight: 2.54kg

There's a lot more room in that Dell for cooling, and that 7800 will probably KILL battery life.

 

[Sundance Kid]

the reason it's more powerful is because it has a 17" screen and is the size of a brick.
yes, the 7800 handily beats the x1600--it's a top-of-the-line card but it makes a lot of heat.

So apple was more interested in the asthetics and thiness than performance. How much better is the graphics card?

 

[Sundance Kid]

Dell (17" screen):
Height: 41.5 mm
Width: 394 mm
Depth: 288 mm
Weight: 3.6kg

MacBook Pro (15" screen):
Height: 25.9 mm
Width: 357 mm
Depth: 243 mm
Weight: 2.54kg

There's a lot more room in that Dell for cooling, and that 7800 will probably KILL battery life.

LOL! I see your point. That computer is almost twice as thick as the mac!

 

[homerjward]

So apple was more interested in the asthetics and thiness than performance. How much better is the graphics card?

here's some benchmarks comparing the x1600xt (x1600pro but faster clock speeds) with the 7800gt (desktop version of the card in the dell)
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2552&p=9
i don't know how the two mobility cards compare--can't find any benchmarks.

 

[wasimyaqoob]

Obviously the new MacBook Pro.

 

[MRU]

The Dell is powerful and that's about the only good thing about it.

In My Experience:-

Battery life on Dell's powerful laptops can often be atrocious - 1.5-2hours tops.. In fact I had an XPS laptop when they first came out and battery only ran for 30 minutes.. I kid you not.

Build quality is like a laptop made out of lego..

The standard resolution screen on some of the laptops Dell Inspiron 6000 (my cousin bought one a couple of months ago) is appaling, and it exibits far worse problems than the 15" hi res powerbook screen people have had problems with...

Whilst the macbookpro may not be the most powerful laptop featuring a yonah processor it is

1) The best build quality of nearly any other laptop on the market
2) If it matches the powerbook, will have one of the best battery lives.
3) Runs OS-X - most important thing to me.
4) Resale Value far exceeds any other hardware manafacturer

If you want a gaming rig, go for the Dell as more games are available on PC and will always be better than the mac equivalents due to format of choice & directX.. If you want the highest quality laptop - work tool then stick with the mac..