Have an account? Log in to leave your comments!
journal: mac
Is the MacBook the Most Competitively Priced Mac Ever?
Now I'm not saying that all Macs are cheaper than equivalent PCs.
The MacBook was released on Tuesday to a lot of attention. Besides the glossy screens quite a bit of the attention was focused on the price hike, $100 in the US and £50 in the UK. But with the price hike came a huge number of upgrades to the specifications over the iBook G4. So today when on a forum someone posted that they’d specced up HP and Dell machines that were “similar” in specs and cost much more I was interested. Unfortunately though they were a bit of a Mac fanboy and so just added things without any thought to make the PC laptops more expensive. Luckily, I was able to spec up 13-14” laptops from Dell, HP, Gateway and Sony to compare to the MacBook.
The table below shows the specifications and prices of the 5 machines along with which is the best in each category. As you can see the MacBook is very competitive, beating all of the competition on price. Feature wise the various models varied but they’re all roughly even. One thing to note, the Gateway model isn’t available in the UK (and from my searching it seems like no gateway machines are). As such the system is taken from the US store, converted directly to £ and had VAT added to match it up. Bare in mind that the price shown may be a bit too low as most manufacturers like to add a bit more to the price after converting from US$. All models come without security software to make it fair price wise (adding security software to Windows and then none to the Mac and saying the Mac is just as secure isn’t fair)
| Apple MacBook | Dell Inspiron 640m | HP Pavilion 1600dv | Gateway NX260X | Sony VGN-SZ1XP | |
| Price | £749 | £843 (after rebates) | £899 | £770.78 | £1599 |
| Processor | 1.83GHz Core Duo (T2400) | 1.83GHz Core Duo (T2400) | 1.83GHz Core Duo (T2400) | 1.83GHz Core Duo (T2400) | 1.83GHz Core Duo (T2400) |
| Ram | 512MB | 1GB (promo) | 1GB | 1GB (promo) | 1GB |
| Screen | 13.3" up to 1280x800 | 14" up to 1280x800 | 14" up to 1280 x 768 | 14.1" up to 1280x800 | 13.3" up to 1280x800 |
| Hard Disk | 60GB 5400rpm | 60GB 5400rpm | 100GB 5400rpm | 80GB 5400rpm | 100GB 5400rpm |
| Optical Drive | CD-RW/DVD Combo | DVD+/- RW Dual Layer | DVD+/- RW Dual Layer | CD-RW/DVD Combo | DVD+/- RW Dual Layer |
| Graphics | Intel GMA 950 | Intel GMA 950 | Integrated | Intel GMA 950 | Nvidia Geforce Go 7400 128MB |
| WiFi | 802.11 a/b/g | 802.11 a/b/g | 802.11 a/b/g | 802.11 b/g | 802.11 a/b/g |
| Bluetooth | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Ethernet | 10/100/1000 | 10/100 | 10/100 | 10/100/1000 | 10/100 |
| USB | 2 x 2.0 | 4 x 2.0 | 3 x 2.0 | 4 x 2.0 | 2 x 2.0 |
| Firewire | 1 x 400 | 1 x 400 | 1 x 400 | 1 x 400 | 1 x 400 |
| VGA/DVI | Mini DVI | N/A | VGA | VGA | VGA |
| S-Video | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Modem | No | V.92 56K | V.92 56K | V.92 56K | V.92 56K |
| PC Card Slot | No | No | Express Card/54 | 1 x Type II | 1x Type II |
| Media Card Reader | No | 5 in 1 | 6 in 1 | 7 in 1 | 3 in 1 |
| Webcam | Built in iSight | Logitech Quickcam (external) | No | Creative Web Cam | Built in “Motion Eye” Camera |
| Support | 1 year limited | 1 year Collect and return | 1 year parts & labour | 1 year parts & labour | 1 year |
| OS | Mac OS X 10.4 | Windows XP MCE | Windows XP Home | Windows XP MCE | Windows XP Pro |
| Office Package | None (Office 2004 & iWork 06 demos) | Microsoft Works 7 | Microsoft Works 8.0 | Microsoft Works 8.5 | None (Office 2003 SBE Tria;) |
| Multimedia Package | iLife 06, Front Row | Cyberlink PowerDVD, (Paint Shop Pro & Photo Album Trial) | HP Photosmart Premier, Cyberlink DVD Play | None | Adobe Premier Elements, WinDVD, Adobe PhotoShop Elements, Sonic Stage Mastering Studio |
| Extra Software | OmniOutliner, Big Bang Board Games, Comic Life | Possibly Sonic RecordNow! Basic | Sonic RecordNow, Sonic Digial Media Plus, Sonic MyDVD, Acrobat Reader 6 | Acrobat Reader 7, Google Toolbar, 6 months AOL access | Acrobat Reader, Skype, Acrobat Elements, Roxio Digital Media SE |
| Other | Apple Remote, Magsafe, Sudden Motion Sensor, Two Finger Scrolling | Media Centre Remote | HP Mobile Remote Control | N/A | N/A |
Now I know that people will point out that they can get a computer from somewhere else for cheaper or that they can spec a computer for cheaper. The thing is when things like that are priced up they often forget to include little things such as the webcam or blue tooth or a remote for media centre. They spec a processor, HD, graphics card and RAM and then leave the rest, which is where most of the discrepancies come into play. The machines listed here are from some of the biggest vendors and are specced as close as possible to the MacBook and of course, the prices may change as deals change.
Now I’m not saying that all Macs are cheaper than equivalent PCs. A similar comparison between the low end 15” MBP, the 17” MBP and 15” and 17” Dell laptops shows that the MBP is on average £150 more than the Dell machine. For the price though, the MacBook is extremely good value for money and when you consider that you can get a Superdrive and 2GHz Processor for £899 which is in the middle range of the 1.83GHz laptops shown there, you have to ask yourself, is the MacBook the most competitively price Mac ever?
 |
50 | 6949 |
| comments | views |
thinkback
When you up the processor to a 1.83GHz processor, upgrade the OS to Media Centre edition and add Bluetooth alone you get it up to around NZ$2000 and that’s before adding stuff such as a webcam, remote etc
|
| May. 18, 2006 | |
| 4:18 pm |
But the MacBook from places like MacMall and you get free RAM, free printer, free software…
MacMall has Windows XP bundles with the MacBook! The sign of the end of days!!!!!
| May. 18, 2006 | ||
| 5:54 pm |
This is great, BTW. Thanks! It takes time to create those tables!
I’d like to see Apple compete with the average-priced laptop, which is around $800, IIRC.
Dual cores is nice, but it’s not really necessary for consumers. It doesn’t really affect consumer applications or iLife applications. Look at MacWorld’s benchmarks of the MacBook compared to the single processor G4 in iTunes and iMovie.
The Core Solo laptops from Dell are much cheaper and I doubt that you will see a difference in speed with Safari, Mail, MS Office (Universal), iLife. But maybe I’m wrong.
This MacBook is priced very competitively for what it is, but there is a hole in Apple’s product line, IMHO. I would really like to see Apple go after that $800-$900 laptop market.
Their iPod product line covers all the bases, doesn’t it? Why not the Mac product line?
I’m not at all bothered by the integrated graphics since I wouldn’t play Quake 4 on a consumer laptop nor would I be producing 3D animation on one. I think it’s smart to delineate the MacBook and MacBook Pro with the GPU. Would I prefer to have a GPU on a MacBook? Sure. But for what I would buy a MacBook for, it wouldn’t matter.
| May. 18, 2006 | ||
| 6:08 pm |
Thought we werent adding extra s/w 
Agreed re:webcam / remote, though personally neither of those two options matter to me. They are ‘nice to haves’ but if given the option I would buy a cheaper machine without them.
Bluetooth, however, is a different story, and I hadnt spotted that. Module is $30 or something.
However, the approx $400 differential is still more than half of an average after-tax weeks wage in NZ :-(
The problem is that the differentials just get worse and worse as you go up towards higher end.
Lowend MacBook Pro v’s Dell 6400 comparison is just painful once you configure them as close as possible. The Dell has DL DVD writer plus 100GB v’s 80GB in the MBP. MBP has the better video card. Costs?
MBP NZ $4100
Dell NZ $2650
The main issue is that the NZ Mac distributer is just that, a distributer, not Apple. And they are well known for raping prices :-(
Sigh. Maybe one day I will be able to achieve my Utopian dream. A small portable-ish laptop formfactor (ie 13") that has enough grunt to run Aperture with acceptable speed (and is supported to do so, unlike the MacBook). Then I will have a field laptop that I can just take home and plug into a larger screen/bt keyboard&mouse;/external drives, and use it as my primary w/s as well.
At the moment, you either have to choose portability or the ability to run Aperture properly :-(
Oh, and not have it cost 1/3rd more than a comparitive Dell would be nice too 
Not sure if a webcam is essential.... but N E WAY....
The other notebooks have more RAM, supports S-video out, better DVD writers, bigger screens and more importantly they have card readers.
My DSLR and these notebooks would already make a great package for a world-bound photographer.
So verdict, um no. I give it a couple of weeks and the PCs will be even cheaper (even more significant in NZ, Australia, Singapore and most of Asia where Apple can’t compete on prices and features).
MacFan wrote: Dual cores is nice, but it’s not really necessary for consumers. It doesn’t really affect consumer applications or iLife applications. Look at MacWorld’s benchmarks of the MacBook compared to the single processor G4 in iTunes and iMovie.
I kinda agree with this, while individual apps may not run much/any faster (eg iMovie render), a dual core makes for a much more fluid experience overall when you are working in multiple apps as you can have two threads running simultaneously, rather than timeslicing on a single processor.
If I had the money when I got my G5, I would have not brought the RevA PM G5 1.8 Single that I got cheap and would have anti’ed up for the Dual instead.
Informer wrote: My DSLR and these notebooks would already make a great package for a world-bound photographer.
So verdict, um no. I give it a couple of weeks and the PCs will be even cheaper (even more significant in NZ, Australia, Singapore and most of Asia where Apple can’t compete on prices and features).
Agree with you completely on both accounts. The price differental will be even worse in a few months, though based on recent trends, Apple is likely to keep the same price and give you a faster processor instead.
External card readers are a pain in the ass in the field and the MB-Pro is too big for overseas travel photography where every kilo counts, both on the plane and in your backpack.
Aperture is awesome for doing sorts/selects and this combined with the MacBook would make a great field laptop, but apparently the MacBook does work with Aperture, but isnt officially supported. Which means that its quite possible that Apple would quietly just drop support in the future.
Where Im going with this is that there is still a gap in the line, a more-portable pro-level laptop. It doesnt need a X1600 in it, but at least a GPU thats going to do a reasonable job with Aperture and is supported as an offical option.
If it wasnt for this sticking point for me (lack of media card reader is a slight pain too) then my order would already be in.
Basically Im sitting in no-mans’s land in Apples lineup. I need a decent video for Aperture and portability. I can get one or the other. Why does Apple always do this to me? Its the same for the desktops. I really dislike AIOs since you cant upgrade the machine independant of the display. The mini would cater for my normal needs if it had better graphics card and the PowerMacs are a crippling price.
Honestly, the only reason Apple have me as a customer is the OS and apps, the hardware options they provide ALWAYS force me to either compromise my ability to do/use something or else cost me 3x the price I would otherwise be paying. The lack of reasonable price/performance video cards for my G5 PM is a PITA too!!
Dont get me wrong, I love my G5 PM, but trying to make a decision on what to replace it with is driving me nuts!
The high-end PowerMac is the most competitively priced Mac ever.
The Macbook is missing too many “basic” features. PCMCIA or Expresscard, a Card reader, modem, office suite, 1GB of ram, bigger screen, DVD burner etc.
The GPU isn’t really a problem at that price but the 512 ram certianly accentuates the issue.
Just a detail:
The MacBook may use S-video, but with an optional adapter.
I like it. Good specs and a decent price for a Mac. It’s only about $300 more than the 14-inch Dell with this weeks coupon applied and about $200 more if you try to match software packages… That’s about where Apple should be.
It costs almost exactly the same as the HP DV1000 (14 inch)he exact same specs. Almost the same size, with the MB being a bit thiner, appox. ight, HP having better battery life, both have webcams, both have comparable software packages etc.
The HP should be cheaper to buy from BBY, CC etc and the Mac should be a little better speced at MacMall.
Overall a good job by Apple.
| May. 18, 2006 | ||
| 8:42 pm |
The MacBook may use S-video, but with an optional adapter.
Yes, it says that on the Tech Specs page at Apple.com.
| May. 18, 2006 | ||
| 8:45 pm |
PS. Apologies for sounding a bit negative about things.
I guess Im just really disappointed as Id been really hoping that they would do a model of the MacBook that was slightly more pro-orientated since they were killing the 12” PB.
PPS. I think they have hit the sweet spot with the MacBook and that ese will sell like hotcakes. Its just a shame that there is still such a price differential in NZ.
Not sure if a webcam is essential.... but N E WAY....
The other notebooks have more RAM, supports S-video out, better DVD writers, bigger screens and more importantly they have card readers.
My DSLR and these notebooks would already make a great package for a world-bound photographer.
So verdict, um no. I give it a couple of weeks and the PCs will be even cheaper (even more significant in NZ, Australia, Singapore and most of Asia where Apple can’t compete on prices and features).
Yes they have more ram but the two cheaper PC laptops offer it as a promo. and the two more expensive ones are £150 more. And yes they offer a DVD writer but for the same price as the 1.83GHz HP you can get a DVD writer in plus a 2GHz processor. Also, the screensize isn’t that much of an issue. If you read the table you’ll see that they have pretty much identical resolutions. Now having used 12” iBooks, 14” iBooks and 15” iMacs all at 1024x768 I can tell you that the screen size makes no difference at all, it is the resolution. The thing I don’t get is that when a PC laptop has a smaller screen at the same resolution you call it a great feature?
As for the price points, prices always vary around the world. People in the US always go on about how Dell’s 30” monitor is way cheaper than Apple’s yet in the UK Dell’s are more expensive
|
| May. 19, 2006 | |
| 12:32 am |
Some further imperfection in your review :
- All notebooks has a card reader except the Mac, a huge advantage since you don’t need to carry around another device or hog up one USB port (an absolute lifesaver)
- Most screens (except the Sony) are bigger, which translate into a better view of your movies and pictures. 13.3 vs 14.1. Resolution for all notebooks are reasonable though not great, if the Mac supported a 1400x1050 or even 1680x1050 then I will be impressed otherwise it is the same as any other notebooks.
- Mac is using 2 UGLY 256MB RAM chips, who the hell sells 256MB RAMs these days????
- Mac needs a 15 pounds adapter to enable video out, ouch!
- Mac video uses a 64MB shared memory with main memory, Dell is 128MB.
- Mac doesn’t write to DVD, Dell does.
- 30” ACD is 1799 pounds, Dell is 1249, get your facts straight.
- And I was right, prices continues to drop except for...the Mac. Dell now starts at 599 pounds, which is ridiculously affordable.
The 640m starts at £649, but lets take the 6400 starting at £599. You select the £599 model, click customise and it jumps to £755. Remove the support and it does go back to £599 but try and match the MacBooks specs: 1.83GHz Core Duo, XP MCE, Remote, Bluetooth, Webcam it goes up to £792.88.
The card reader is useful if you need a card reader but not everyone does. Plus it isn’t that hard to carry around a USB cable to plug your camera in.
The MacBook does have the same resolution as the bigger screens which for a laptop is more important. Yes bigger screens are important on a desktop for movies and photos etc, but that’s because you are generally sat further away. On a laptop you are sat up close to it so the difference in screen size between 13.3” and 14” isn’t that much, especially at the same resolution
The 2x256MB chips I do agree with you on, why they are doing this I don’t know. However there are options from many vendors to have 2x256MB chips.
We already know that the numbers for the Macs are unsure it could be 64MB it could be 80MB it could be 128MB. We just don’t know exactly because they list different numbers
The mid range MacBook costs £899 with a DVD writer and 2GHz Core Duo. Add the 2GHz Core Duo to the Inspiron 640m and it goes to £925.12. Still more expensive. It is still very competitive
The price of the Dell monitors seems to have come down quite a lot, but you also need to get your facts straight. The 30” Dell monitor is £1471.10
As I said before the start at prices don’t give competing products. This is what I don’t seem to get about some PC users. They say “Yeah, but you can get this computer for less than a Mac” without realising that it has less features. It’s like me saying that I can get a Dell laptop for less than an HP, when the the HP has a 1.83GHz Core Duo and the dell has a Celeron.
|
| May. 20, 2006 | |
| 8:54 am |
One thing you missed is that the new MacBook has mini-optical jacks for both sound input and output giving total access to multichannel sound processing. Do even any PC’s offer this at all?
OK so I didn’t add VAT. The fact that you’re still wrong remains no matter how you change it. The way I see it, Dell is just like Apple but without the expensive image and pricetags. Take it or leave it, Apple will always charge more for no good reasons.
And its not only my camera that takes storage cards, my PSP, PDA and phone. If I can save myself from carrying cables for all of these then I’m forever greatful for the convenience of the built-in card reader.
How does it sound when your video card takes 64MB or more RAM from your computer that only has 512MB?
RPVB3, mini-optical jacks? What’s that? Hang on I’ll ask my mum if we need that.
Informer, I already told you that the dell monitor has obviously come down in price, last time I checked it was more expensive than the Apple one.
Plus I don’t get how when a Mac has something that PCs don’t it’s not needed but when PCs have something a Mac does it’s essential. I mean if the MacBook had a media card reader but the others didn’t you’d not see it as essential.
Just face it, the MacBook is very competitively priced. Yes the PC laptops have some things that the MacBook does but the MacBook has things that the PCs don’t have. I’d take sudden motion sensor, two finger scrolling and the magnetic screen catch over a media card reader any day. Some people wouldn’t, so they’d go for the PC.
And as for the ram, I can get 2 512MB sticks from crucial for £100. Sell the two 256MB on ebay and you can probably get £20ish back so that’s £80 for 1GB of ram. That still puts it cheaper than the Dell, HP and Sony laptops. And this is what I mean by competitive, sure it isn’t the cheapest, but it’s in the mix price wise
|
| May. 21, 2006 | |
| 2:07 am |
You are obviously someone who doesn’t really use a computer for very many real world applications.
If the Mac had a card reader, then good. That is a better advantage to own a Mac without having to compromise oneself to buying EXTRAs. Because that is what Mac owners seem to be doing all the time (video adapters for one).
Just face it, you’re trying to prove to us that the Macbook is a good deal, but the fact remains, who the hell pays more for a black notebook, has no card reader, has a smaller screen, shared video memory, inferior memory, it goes on and on.
Oh and most people who buys these Macbooks probably have no idea how or where to buy RAM. They will most likely buy from Apple, which puts the macbook beyond the so-called budget into another mac mini debacle (another over-rated product that was once perceived as affordable but was just another load of crap).
1GB of RAM from Apple is £70 which puts the MacBook at £830. Still cheaper than the Dell. Remember that the MacBook listed is the low end MacBook. As I’ve said, with identical resolutions, an inch of display size isn’t going to make much of a difference, but an inch smaller laptop does. In case you missed the chart in the article, all but the £1599 Vaio have the same shared video memory. Also the MacBook actually has superior memory, just less of it (They’re 677MHz chips instead of the 533MHz in most of the other laptops).
And you are just flailing here for arguments to make the MacBook a bad deal. I’m not saying it’s the cheapest laptop, I’m not saying it’s the best deal, I am saying it’s competitive and it is a good deal. IMO opinion the extra software you gain far outweighs the lack of a media card reader. In others it won’t.
|
| May. 21, 2006 | |
| 11:03 pm |
Plus I don’t get how when a Mac has something that PCs don’t it’s not needed but when PCs have something a Mac does it’s essential.
Because he’s a troll. The iPod’s screen is too small, but those cell phone screens are just fine!
Make sure you add the price of a fresh copy of Windows to that Dell because informer needs to wipe that Dell’s hard drive and install a real copy of Windows that doesn’t include spyware, which is what Dell installs on all their systems.
And its not only my camera that takes storage cards, my PSP, PDA and phone.
Yeah, we wouldn’t want to have to carry a little $19 USB card reader along with your laptop, your cell phone, your PDA, and your PSP. LOL!
Which cell phone and PDA do you own, seriously?
And what the heck are you using a Memory Stick™ PRO Duo card for on that PSP anyway? The PSP has WiFi and so does the Mac! Do you have an adapter for that Duo card so you can use it on the Dell? How much did you spend on that Memory Stick Pro Duo card? $80 for 1 gig?
Oh yeah, using adapters for expensive proprietary Flash cards from Sony is just fine because it’s not Apple.
| May. 22, 2006 | ||
| 9:27 am |
You know, that’s a good point, most phones have bluetooth, PDAs have WiFi and the PSP has WiFi, what’s the need for media card readers?
|
| May. 22, 2006 | |
| 10:26 am |
1.
Now go and do the same comparison in New Zealand. These prices include GST (same as VAT).
Dell 640m = NZ $1709 (~ $1050 US)
MacBook = NZ $2359 (~ $1450 US)
The ONLY difference that I can see (very quick look) between the two is that the Dell is running a 1.66GB Duo instead of a 1.83. Same RAM, HDD etc. Upgrade to the 1.83 for NZ $165.
Oh AND the Dell has a dual layer DVD writer.
Im not even going to mention the pricing differences in NZ when it comes to the Macbook Pro :-(