I did a spec compare this morning, and what I came up with is - without student discount from apple, and employer discount from dell, MacBook Pro is $1999, Dell XPS M1530 is $1369.

Pluses for Apple: Dual-link DVI, optical audio out, 1394b, Gigabit ethernet, 4WHr higher capacity battery, slightly more updated bluetooth, better form-factor

Pluses for Dell: HDMI (useful for 1090p TV outputs, can be converted to DVI, but not dual-link), 1GB more RAM, 120GB more HD, 1 more USB port, 2MP camera, upgradability to blu-ray

Once you factor in discounts, Apple comes out to $1799, Dell comes out to $1150. So, are those feature differences worth 56% price premium to you? some may think so. I'm not that someone.

disclosure - i've previously worked for Apple as Campus Rep, and currently in the interview process with them. And I've used a Mac for at least 5 more years than a PC, so if anything, I'm biased to a Mac.

I'd be willing to pay a 100% premium to own a Mac instead of a Dell.

As an EE who has friends working on Apple hardware design team (1 on MacBook Air, 1 on Mac Pro), I can tell you as a matter-of-fact that Apple's hardware engineering ain't all that. Though I can't say either way if Dell's is any better or worse.

It can easily depend on the exact specs, the day of the week, the mood of the Dell site's price-o-matic, etc. When Apple hardware is first released, it's usually a little cheaper than the equivalent Windows PC. But then the Windows machines' prices decrease linearly while the Macs step down every 6-8 months or so, and it's not long before the Mac is more expensive.

When I bought this MacBook Pro with the high-density 17" screen, it was cheaper than the equivalent Dell. Once I decided to buy refurbished from Apple, it was much cheaper. I'm sure now, though, the Dell is probably cheaper.

Another thing is that Apple sells machines that are much, much less configurable. You can spec a Dell up to the same specs as a MacBook, but you can't spec a MacBook down to the same specs as a Dell can go. Thus Dell gives you a full range of options while Apple gives you a couple of choices. If Apple's selection fits your needs, great. Otherwise you're forced into an imperfect solution in which you pay for things you don't need, or don't get things you want. That's just the price of doing business with Apple.

I think it's worth it, but I don't mind that others have different opinions.

It's all about quality, Apple only sells top of the line hardware, while other vendors, like Dell, sell you sub-par computers that will become obsolete in less than a year. Dell does sell good hardware as well, but it's never the hardware that they tout to be cheaper than Apple's.

Aside from RAM, Dell sells at a very close price as Apple.

Apple and other Intel laptop vendors use very similar parts: ICH8M and PM965/GM965. Apple notebooks use standard DDR2 SODIMMs (except for the Air, which has onboard RAM) and standard 2.5" or 1.8" hard drives. Apple laptops use standard Intel mobile CPUs (except the Air, which has a smaller non-socketed CPU). They use regular Broadcom ethernet chipsets and Realtek audio chipsets.

As far as price goes, comparing the price of two systems with equivalent parts doesn't make a lot of sense unless you specifically require those parts. Most consumers don't buy a computer based only on these factors. If you just want a "lightweight laptop", "something cheap that will surf the web", or "something with a long-lasting battery", the parts inside don't matter as much.

It absolutely goes both ways. When I asked around about how Vista runs on an MBP because I need it for work, I was torn apart on various forums. "Why install an inferior OS?" and "I can't believe you use Windoze/blowz/etc."

One person out of 11 replies even answered my question. One. And to his credit, he was nice; also the only one.

I don't know why Apple fanboys HATE Windows. And I mean HATE. I triple boot Vista/Ubuntu/OSX86 on my desktop PC. I'm very happy with the versatility this gives me without having to trudge through virtualization, and I wanted to know how this would pan out on a laptop. That was all. I didn't ask for opinions. I didn't try to start a "which OS is better" debate.

Conversely, PC guys laugh at OSX's lack of gaming support, or the lack of no right mouse button on laptops, the price (despite the Tom's article); and ask equally ridiculous questions and make the same type of cracks that the Apple fanboys do.

For what it's worth though guys, these ultra pompous (and many times inaccurate) I'm a Mac, and I'm a PC commercials are only making it worse, and making these Apple fanboys more arrogant.

Apples UI team wins against Windows hands down. There's nothing that comes close to iPhoto on the PC side for example.

Vista is a half-baked OS, not too different from OS X.0. SP1 is shaping up to be something of a comparable development cycle and development maturity improvement to OS X.1. So in that sense, OS X is 4 cycles ahead and Vista is just trying to copy.

With that said, there are also things to be said about lack of competition at times that forces Apple to add necessary features to their software. Example being DVD-Player didn't properly upscale 'til 10.5, even though it's been part of PowerDVD for a long time. Even today, DVD-Player drains a lot of CPU-cycle to do a simple task that should cost 1/2 as much processor utilization when in Windows.

All that being said, Apple is still an exciting company that impacts technology orders of magnitude more often than Dell or Microsoft. I consider myself an Apple fanboy, just a realist fanboy instead of a blind, cult-like fanboy.

Same here! I can say personaly that the high end custom build pc i had crashed more then ten times a day! And with the same software installed, my Mac pro crashes maybe once or twice in a year! No contest there!

I find most mac only soft are so well build and user friendly. The only drawback for me is the Mac gaming industrie.