It was fun, but in the end, I just find that I'm more productive on Windows, not to mention I prefer it to the Mac OS overall. So, I'm going to be selling my MacBook (and eventually my iMac) and shift back to PCs. I just ordered a new Dell XPS M1330, which is very comparable to the MacBook, but a little lighter and cheaper. Here are the specs it comes with...

• Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.4 GHz/800 MHz FSB/3 MB cache
• 2 GB memory (though I will be upgrading this to 4 GB as soon as it arrives)
• Vista Home Premium SP1 (though I just recently got Business 64-bit edition)
• 13.3'' LED backlit display
• CD/DVD burner
• Wireless a/b/g/n card
• Built-in webcam
• Intel GMA X3100
• Biometric Fingerprint Reader
• 8-in-1 media card reader

What do you think of these specs? Are they good for just over $1,200? I find it's very comparable to the MacBook, but better in some ways because the MacBook does not currently offer LED displays or fingerprint readers. Not to mention Dell has finally been improving its industrial design, as well.

Finally, I have the high-end "BlackBook." About how much would that fetch on eBay? I'm planning to start at $1,000, but might even do $1,100 considering its in perfect condition and many of the accessories, like the remote, I never even took out of the box.

How fast is the RAM? (667mhz, 800mhz, etc)

The stock RAM is 667 MHz, but I plan to replace it right away with a 4 GB kit from Crucial that runs at 800 MHz. I also have Vista Business x64 edition so I get full advantage of that RAM right away. Apparently, Vista (any flavor) 32-bit will only read a max of 3.5 GB.

Just do a search for the same product and see what it sells for other people, and checking bidding history to see what starting bidding started at.

What he said is the best way to go.

Yeah, I'll probably do that, as I've never used eBay before to sell products. I might throw in a few extras, too, like a carrying case that I have. I'm not so much interested in making profit as I am just getting it off of my hands.

One word of advice, never get DELL, unless you want to have awful support and expect for it to break, dont bother with them. ;p

I'll start the bidding at it's value.

$2 dolla!

lol

I've been buying Dell computers since the early 90s and have never had a single issue with any of them. I guess I'm just lucky.

There's nothing inherently wrong with Dell.

They're worth more than the majority of other computers out there And I am not on about the software, the hardware that Apple use is generally very high standard. They always use the latest intel, as the new iMacs can go up to 7 GHz, thats a lot compared to your standard computer at that price

Yes and never get, HP, Acer, Apple, Compaq, eMachines, Gateway, IMB, ASUS, Toshiba or Sony either...

I used to buy dells until I had lots of hardware and driver issues.
Acers seems to die really fast.
Gateway and emachines are the same company and I have not had either one.
Toshiba and hp though I have had the best luck with.
Sony are pretty good to but expensive.

Assuming that you have intel macs, why don't you just install windows on them? And with the iMac if the keyboard and mouse really bother you that much, get a couple of USB ones. Rather than spending a ton of money on a computer that is guaranteed to break in less than a year, why not stick with what you got and put windows on it?

I'm also a bit curious as to how long you've used OS X?

That sounds like a good idea.
Or even put a linux distro on it that works with Macs.
There are a few out there.

I've installed Windows on both of them and can't help but feel that Boot Camp is intentionally broken on both the iMac and MacBook. Simple things such as the trackpad simply do not work, and this has been documented on Apple's support board for months. Obviously, there is no intention to fix these very annoying issues. The keyboard and mouse do not bother me either, since I do use my own USB keyboard and mouse. I plan to transfer those over to my new laptop, as I might try out a docking station for a while.

I've also been using Mac OS X since February of last year and I don't have any real issues with it. It's a really nice OS but in the end, I just find that I often end up doing all my schoolwork and things on Windows, as I'm more familiar with the OS and I prefer how it does things. There's nothing inherently wrong with the Mac, but for me, it just became more and more pretty but less and less productive.

Also, how do you know that it's guaranteed to break in less than a year? My old Dell laptop from 2005 still works just fine, whereas my high-end BlackBook was shipped with a faulty battery that I had to get replaced just a week after owning the MacBook. And I usually give away my old hardware, too, like I did with my original MacBook. My siblings ended up with their first Macs because I gave them my old ones. This is the first time ever I'll be selling computer hardware that I own.

And while I might be spending a ton of money in your opinion, in fact an arguably better laptop than the MacBook is also costing me about $600 less.

First of all, Dell is made out of cheap materials, thus it breaks, if it hasnt broken for you, then you are lucky, aswell as, Custom computers are the best, you get your own stuff, and you dont get ripped off by big companies and the warrenty garbage..

Ultimately, its your choice, but dont complain when your new dell gets owned by something stupid and then the support cant do anything for you.

I suppose I've just had bad experiences with just about every PC manufacturer out there. The only time I've had a decent PC that lasted me a long time is when I've gone out, picked out the parts, and built it myself. I thought Sony was pretty high quality, but when I had an issue with the motherboard, I had to ship it to their repair center in texas and I was without a computer for 10 weeks. They sent it back, and it was still not fixed... had to send it again and was again without one for 10 weeks. Generally, I seem to have problems with any PC manufacturer honoring their warranties. They only tend to be more reliable if you're a business customer and have several machines with them. Even so, it's a pain in the butt to get them to take care of the problem. In contrast, my main board on my MacBook had an issue with it because I had plugged something into the USB slot that I shouldn't have. It was still under warranty, so I took it into the Apple store and they had it fixed within 1-2 days. On top of that, they replaced the outside case because of a discoloration defect in the plastic that was originally used.

I've never had these issues with Bootcamp.. It's always worked great for me. I do have first gen intel MacBook though. Maybe that's the difference? Although I've only used XP.

But if you don't like it, you don't like it .

Lol, i know what you mean, i had troubles with my HP monitor from futureshop, apparently, the button broke on it and i had to keep using the power cord to turn it off and on and i guess i played with it to much and one day, i got a power surge and bam, whole screen got screwed, but then i wasnt that worried, after all, i did buy the 4 year warrenty... So i head to futureshop, they say, yea, we will fix it, 2 months later, they call me, saying its on its way, another 2 months later, they call, telling me that the button is not covered by my warrenty and its apparently physical damage and if i want to fix it, i gotta pay 200 bucks... Ofc, i told them to forget the button, so after that, 2 weeks go by, i go, pick it up, they repaired everything except the button, total of 4.5 months without it.


After that, i needed to figure out how to get that button fixed so i went to the store (russian store, quite small, but awesome) where i got my custom desktop done, and the next day, i get it back for 50 bucks, still works to this day, goes to show how those big companies and their warranties work eh,

Yes, I've heard all the horror storries regarding pre-built, they dog Apple for poor quality, too. But the simple fact that I've never had any MAJOR issues. Sure, I've had to call Dell a few times because of longer shipping times, a missing USB cable, etc. But I've not had any major hardware issues with them since... ever. Every computer I've ever bought from them has worked fine, and I find that they are generally decent when it comes to upgrading, too. The current Dell PC that I have I've upgraded the RAM multiple times, changed the graphics card, added in a gigabit Ethernet port, added a wireless card. For pre-built, they are easily expandable.

I won't complain because I don't foresee any major issues. They may be a big corporation, but they are still obligated (under warranty) to fix a hardware issue in the unlikely event one arises. I figure that if Dell had a major quality control issue, surely I'd have see one by the now in the 10+ years I've been buying computers from them.


I've always wanted to build a PC myself, but I just don't have the time. As much as I like hardware, I just can't dedicate all my time to it. Not to mention building a laptop from scratch is notably much more difficult than building a desktop.

Try going into Boot Camp and using the trackpad for tapping and double tapping. You'll find it doesn't work. Scrolling is very, very choppy. This is obviously a flaw in the Boot Camp software, as Apple advertises that your Windows installation will benefit from the MacBook's hardware. Like stated, many have complained about this issue and it's never been fixed. Not to mention Boot Camp also has dodgy Bluetooth support. My Apple wireless keyboard does not work, even when paired up with the Windows installation.

So far my track pad works decently well, and I've never had much of an issue with bluetooth either. I connected my Wii remote to it and use it for a few games. Although, I did replace the bluetooth driver... I've always done that with any Windows system, mac or not.

I really don't use the track pad much at all. It works fine for me on OS X or Windows. Only complaint I have is that the mouse moves around a lot when I type, which this does not happen in OS X because the mouse pointer is hidden when using the keyboard. Generally I use an external mouse on either system. With windows, I use my high res wired mouse for gaming.

I've never had a major issue with any laptop I've ever purchased (Sony, Toshiba, Dell, HP). I build my own desktops, but buy laptops.

I build mine as well.
I am working on building a new one with a pink case I purchased from newegg.com.

I bought mine, has 2 problems with it, one, it whistles rarely but its a quite whistle, i just turn on music, and two, my display card is screwed so i cant play games, no a problem though, i dont play them these days anyways..


But yea, build desktops, buy laptops, thats the way to go

Ran a network of Dells for a high school, it was fine... maybe a little overpriced, but technical support, and the machines themselves were actually pretty decent.

In one computer lab alone at my school, there are 24 Dell desktops in there - in the 4 years I've been there, only 2 have ever had hardware issues that prevent them from being used, and this is with average high school kids using them all the time.

I plan on buying an XPS M1530 within the next month or so. I know a friend who has one, and it's a very sexy laptop.

Same here. My campus probably has thousands of Dells deployed and they've always worked fine.

And nothing against the Mac users here, but in the year and a half that I've been using the Mac, Leopard actually gave me two kernel panics, whereas neither XP or Vista has ever BSOD'd.

I've never had those on Windows, but how do you get it on a "vanilla" Apple Mac? I thought it was only on a hackintosh (OSX 86) machine when you didn't upgrade properly...

Don't get me started on Kernel Panics, Fedora gave them out like it was candy on Halloween.

Haven't had one on Ubuntu yet.

Well after a fresh install of Vista, completely new, I got around 5 BSOD's within the first hour..

Well after a fresh install of Tiger on my Powerbook I got around 5 kernel panics within the first HALF hour. Leopard won't even install without the kernel panicking. On my iMac however, both run/ran perfectly without a single kernel panic in the time each was installed.

I'm not sure what point you're trying to make here, but the fact of the matter is Quillz has tried Mac OS X - experienced stability problems, didn't take to it, and found himself more productive on Windows. There is no right or wrong... he didn't like it, so he's switching to use something more suited to the way he works.

Edit: I've also used Vista on a number of laptops / PCs and it's been perfectly fine... if not a tad slow on the most underpowered of those (Bah, Celerons). FWIW it runs very nicely under Boot Camp on my iMac.

Careful with the Dell warranty. The motherboard on my Dell laptop died and I was told it wasn't part of the equipment that was covered by the warrenty, therefore it would cost £250 to repair.

Do you mean the extended warranty? Or the standard one you get when you purchase any electronic device? If it's the latter, then they're wrong. As far as European law is concerned if it stops working through no fault of your own within two years of purchase they are liable to repair or replace it for you. This applies to the product as a whole, not the parts.

I can't remember tbh, it was four years when I'd started uni. I can't believe how time flies...

In both instances I question the condition of your hardware, both OSes have been proven to be perfectly stable under decent hardware.

Fedora9 however, has had fun trying to keep compatible with software and stable since day 1 of release. Jumping on that the day of release was a waste of time.

Guys, the plural of "anecdote" is not "data". I also have two Vista machines which I don't experience issues on one of them... but on the other... Yet I don't try to claim it's due to the brand/OS/alignment of the moons. It crashing a few times for you does not make that setup crap.

I'm just about to finish installing Leopard on a Dell so we'll see how that works.

Not long put $50k of dell equipment into a clients office, no problems with it (desktops/racks/laptops), I must admit though all the laptops had a blue screen straight away until they were updated.

By chance is that Fedora 9? I had never seen one in Fedoa 6/7 (never installed 8), but I have Fedora 9 in a VM, and I see them way to often

After three years of upgrades with the same "shell", I finally upgraded everything and got a new case.

Intel quad core with 4GB of RAM using Vista x64. The only thing I kept was the video card. Nvidia 7800GT. Very nice build.

Ah sounds good I am in the middle of building a new computer. All it is right now is a case and a motherboard.

If you're anything like me, that will take you forever. It takes me longer to pick the case and a board than anything else.

Ah the case was what inspired me to build a new one. I found a neat looking pink case on newegg.

I'm typing this from Tiger on the Powerbook now. FWIW the issue is related to the Computer Name assigned by the installer. As soon as the system boots stable enough for me to navigate to System Preferences and change the computer name the kernel panics stop.

As for Leopard... well... take a look at the Apple Support Forums. They're full of people having problems on PPC systems.

I have basically the same model (only a bit better in some areas). It is very nice...I have had and sold all sorts of Dell models. The XPS' have a much better build quality. I recommend getting THIS for it try code pcworld20 for 20% off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY6pYOtb328

Yes!

Such a nightmare, loving Ubuntu, only crashes I've had was caused by MythTV freaking out. Ever since I've uninstalled it I've had nothing but uptime.

My Acer was sh**e. Couldn't turn it on at times! I've had a Toshiba recently and hat was quite good. What r u using right now?

I hate Acer and Toshiba ... customer support was crap too after their crappy laptops fell apart.

HP is great, I love the customer service... good quality overall. (I'm using HP dv6000 for the past year, and it's been running great)

That's a recommendation to note. I'll def bear that in mind next time need new one. We've got a fujitsu siemens at the moment (had a couple of problems with it but the wide screen is great)