Apple vs. Dell part deux

Given the great response to my article yesterday comparing prices for a high-end notebook from Dell and Apple, many of you requested I take a similar look at a more affordable configuration. While you can get a notebook for under $1000, unless your needs are very modest you'll quickly find yourself exceeding that figure when you add a little memory, a faster processor, and so forth.

The target audience for this configuration will be the "road warrior". This person is always on the move, usually by air or by train, so they need a reasonably easy to carry computer, but one with a full size keyboard. The Dell E1405 (13" x 9.5" x 1.5", 5.3lbs) and Apple MacBook (12.8" x 8.9" x 1.1", 5.2lbs) both fit the bill.

Both notebooks were configured with the following components:

• Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5600 (1.83GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 667 MHz FSB) processor
• 14.1-inch (Dell) or 13.3-inch (Mac) wide screen display
• 1280×800 resolution
• Integrated graphics
• 1GB DDR2 2 DIMM SDRAM at 553Mhz (Dell) or 667Mhz (Mac)
• 80GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
• 24X CD Burner/DVD Combo Drive
• Integrated Audio
• Standard battery
• Internal Bluetooth (2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate)
• Internal 802.11g wireless
• CD burning software
• 1Yr Ltd Warranty (Mail-in)
• Customer support (at least 30 days)

Total price (before taxes and shipping) as of 04Dec2006 10:30pm EST:

• Dell: $1,037
• Apple: $1,224
• Difference: $187

As before, the computers could not be configured *exactly* the same way but I tried to get them as close as possible. Here are some of the differences that favored the Mac:

• Includes a built-in camera for video conferencing. 
• Thinner and lighter than the Dell
• Longer customer support (90 days vs. 30 days)

And here is one that favored the Dell machine:

• It has more USB 2.0 ports (4 vs. 2).

For this audience, Dell has the price edge. Compare this to an Apple advantage in the higher end market served by the Dell XPS series and Apple MacBook Pro. Note that while you could use these lower-end machines for development (if you don't mind the small screen), I would suggest you spring for some extra memory to bring the machine up to at least 2GB.

If the size of the computer, battery life, and speed aren't huge issues for you, you might also want to look into the AMD Athlon-based Dell Inspirion 1501. Configuring a similar 1501 (14" x 10.5" x 1.4", 6.2lbs) with a dual-core TL-50 AMD processor will set you back $812, or $412 less than the Mac. You could go lower than that if you want by sacrificing processor speed and memory, but I wouldn't recommend it.