Ok, so the other day, I read a blog entry on TUAW which discussed a cost comparison between the 17” MacBook Pro and the Dell XPS M1710. I didn’t think the comparison was comprehensive enough, so I took it upon myself to do my own.

On the Mac side, I chose one from each of the 3 flavors of portables — the MacBook, the 15” MacBook Pro and the 17” MacBook Pro. Using the specs of those systems as a guide, I selected competing Dell systems that were closest in configuration to those. The only exception was at the 15” size. Dell does not currently offer a 15” notebook that uses a 2.16 Ghz Core 2 Duo processor. As a result, I selected the Thinkpad T60 widescreen version, which offers a 15.4” widescreen with the 2.16 Ghz Core 2 Duo. Further, Dell does not offer a 13.3” system at all, so I selected a 12.1” instead. Choosing the 14” E1405 does not significantly affect the comparison, as the E1405 came in $18 cheaper than the XPS M1210. Rounding out the comparison is the 17” Dell XPS M1710.

Selection Criteria

All systems have the following options:

• 3-year system warranty
• DDR2 System RAM
• 667 Mhz Front Side Bus
• 5400 RPM Hard Drives
• DVD+R DL / DVD±R/RW Optical Drives
• Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
• Wireless LAN
  • 802.11g AirPort Extreme on the Macs
  • 802.11a/g Intel 3945 on the PCs

3rd Party Software

Ok, this one’s probably been beaten to death in comparisons, so I’ll be brief. Macs come with iLife, PCs do not. I came up with PC-based alternatives as follows:

	Mac App	Windows App
Photo Software	iPhoto	Picasa ($0)
Video Editing	iMovie HD	Vegas Movie+DVD Studio ($90)
DVD Creation	iDVD
DVD Player	DVD Player	PowerDVD ($38)
Webpage Tool	iWeb	Nvu ($0)
Music Composition	GarageBand	ACID Music Studio ($70)

As a result, in this comparison, I’m adding $198 to each PC to pay for the additional 3rd party software.

Small – White MacBook vs. Dell XPS M1210

At the low-end, both systems share a lot of similarities. Both systems are configured as follows (in addition to constants already described above):

• 2.0 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 1 GB DDR2 RAM @ 667 Mhz
• 80GB 5400 RPM HDD
• Intel GMA 950 w/64MB shared video RAM
• Built-in webcam

In the MacBook’s favor:

• 10/100/1000 Ethernet vs the Dell’s 10/100 only

In the Dell’s favor:

• 8x DVD recorder vs. 6x on the MacBook
• Wifi card supports 802.11a as well as .11g
• 4 USB 2.0 ports vs 2 ports on the MacBook
• 4.4 lb vs. 5.2 lb

Immediately, I’d discount the difference in weight due to the smaller screen size of the Dell. Also, it’s great that the Dell provides 802.11a capabilities, but hands up, who actually deploys 802.11a? Yeah, I thought so. What good is the feature if you’ll never have occasion to use it?

Price? The MacBook wins hands down. Based on our pricing criteria, the MacBook prices out at $1548, while the Dell comes in at $1882, and that goes up to $2080 when you level the playing field in terms of additional software needed to match up the feature set. While there are distinct advantages to the Dell, the advantages don’t justify over $500 in higher costs.

Winner: MacBook

Medium – 15” MacBook Pro vs. Thinkpad T60

In the mid-range, the competition was much closer. At this level, only $27 stand between the competitors. Both systems have (in addition to the standard config detailed above):

• 2.16 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 1GB DDR2 RAM @ 667 Mhz
• 15.4” display
• 120GB 5400 RPM HDD
• 128 MB Video RAM
• 10/100/1000 Ethernet

In the 15” MacBook Pro’s favor:

• Built-in iSight webcam vs. USB add-on cam
• ATI Radeon X1600 vs. X1400
• 128MB dedicated video RAM vs. 64MB dedicated + 64MB shared (The X1400 the T60 has uses HyperMemory)
• Firewire 400 Port
• Firewire 800 Port
• 5.6 lb vs 5.8 lb

In the T60’s favor:

• 8x DVD recorder vs 6x
• Higher screen resolution (1680×1050 vs 1440×900)
• 802.11a support
• 3 USB 2.0 ports vs 2

Again, I’m going to discount the 802.11a “feature”. Since Mac OS X doesn’t suffer from the Toolbar/Menubar-itis that Windows brings along with its UI paradigm, the screen size difference is pretty much a wash. With the prices this close, it’s a wash. Go with what you really want. The MacBook Pro came in at $2348, with the T60 weighing in at $2177, $2375 with comparable software features. For my $$, it’s a MacBook Pro.

Winner: Tie.

Large – 17” MacBook Pro vs. Dell XPS M1710

Now for the big boys. The kings of the hill. These business-class systems are configured (again, other than the standard configs above) as:

• 2.33 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 2GB DDR2 RAM @ 667 Mhz
• 160 GB 5400 RPM HDD
• 17” display
• 256MB dedicated video RAM
• 10/100/1000 Ethernet

17” MacBook Pro advantages:

• Built-in iSight webcam
• Firewire 800 Port
• 6.8 lb vs 8.7 lb (ouch!)

XPS M1710 advantages:

• 8x DVD recorder vs 6x
• 802.11a support (do I even need to talk about this again?)
• Higher screen resolution (1920×1200 vs 1680×1050)
• 4 USB 2.0 ports vs 3
• GeForce Go 7900 vs ATI Radeon X1600

Price-wise, the 17” MacBook Pro came in at $3148, while the Dell came in at $3493, $3691 after the additional software needed to even up the feature set. At over $500 more than the 17” MacBook Pro, the Dell’s the clear loser here, despite the extra screen real estate and extra USB 2 port.

Winner: 17” MacBook Pro

The nits you’re going to pick.

You’ll probably go on complaining about the $198 in extra software I added to each PC. Well, if they came with software that balances out the equation, it wouldn’t have had to be done, now would it? Be glad I didn’t factor in things like Antivirus, Spyware protection, Personal Firewalls, etc.

You’ll probably also say things like, “But what about the Dell E1505 and E1705? The E1505 is not available in the 2.16 Ghz Core 2 Duo and the E1705 is not available in the 2.33 Ghz Core 2 Duo. Remember, this comparison is about comparing apples with apples, so to speak. If we used a slower PC in the comparison, how exactly would that be fair? Answer: it wouldn’t.

Conclusions

Well, the Windows side went winless in this comparison, but did at least manage a tie at the 15” level. This comparison of course fails to account for the added value that Mac OS X brings to the table — stability, adding devices “just work”, etc. I can’t think of a way to quantify that in terms of $$ or perceived value, so you need to consider those factors for yourself. Here’s the breakdown of costs:

Dying to look over the configurations in detail? Have I got data for you.

• Spreadsheet With All the Data
• MacBook Config
• MacBook Pro 15 Config
• MacBook Pro 17 Config
• The Dells
• T60 Config

Hopefully this has been thorough enough to satisfy everyone. The days of Macs automatically costing more than PCs are over.