Here's a standard MacBook configuration–the middle one, which is neither stripped down nor high-end…
Then let us configure laptops as similarly as possible from the country’s two largest PC manufacturers (HP and Dell) and one which, like Apple, is associated with sexy-but-not-dirt-cheap machines (Sony).
The Dell was the XPS M1330…
The HP was the Pavilion dv4t…
…and the Sony was the VAIO VGN-SR190.
All the shopping is done at the manufacturers’ sites, since they all provide extensive tools for custom configurations, letting us pick machines that were as close as possible in specs.
Let’s begin by running through a few dozen specs and see how the four machines compare.
CPU
Thank heavens for Intel Macs–their existence makes it a lot easier to compare to Windows computers than in the days of PowerPC. The MacBook has a 2.4-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with an 800-MHz frontside bus. So does the Dell. The Sony and HP have a slightly more potent 2.4-gig Core 2 Duo with a 1066-MHz bus. ADVANTAGE: HP AND SONY
RAM
Everybody has 2GB of DDR2 SDRAM. I’m not going to worry about the speed, in part because it doesn’t matter much, and in part because HP doesn’t specify it. PARITY
Hard Drive
Everybody is configured with 160GB, but HP is having a special: 250GB for the price 165GB.ADVANTAGE: HP
DVD Burner
The MacBook and HP have 8X, dual-layer ones. Dell and Sony don’t specify the details, but those are pretty standard specs, so let’s give everybody PARITY
Graphics
The MacBook and Dell have Intel’s GMA X3100 integrated graphics. The configurations of the other machines I chose have better integrated Intel stuff: HP has the X4500, and the Sony has the 4700MHD. Unlike the MacBook, the Windows machines can be upgraded with discrete graphics; good for ‘em, but that’s not a factor in this comparison. ADVANTAGE: HP AND SONY
Display
The MacBook, Dell, and Sony have 13.3-inch glossy displays with 1280-by-800 resolution; the Sony’s has LED backlighting, which isn’t a huge pro in my experience. I couldn’t find an HP with a comparable screen; the one I chose has a 14.1-inch screen. ADVANTAGE: HP, ASSUMING THAT A BIGGER SCREEN IS BETTER
Battery
It’s hard to do an apples-to-apples (pun unavoidable) comparison here. The MacBook has a 55-watt hour lithium polymer battery, and claims 4.5-hour battery life. I bumped the HP up to a premium lithium-ion battery that HP says provides up to 3 hours and 15 minutes of life. The Dell has a 56-watt hour, 6-cell lithium-ion battery, and I don’t see any claim about its life. The Sony simply says it delivers up to six hours of battery life. Everybody’s going to find each notebook delivering different battery performance in different real-life scenarios here anyhow, so I’m sort of forced to put all four laptops at PARITY here for want of better information.
Power Brick
I really like the MacBook’s undersized AC adapter, wrappable cord, and MagSafe connector.ADVANTAGE: MACBOOK
Wi-Fi
The MacBook comes with 802.11 Draft-N; I configured the other machines comparably. PARITY
Ethernet
The MacBook comes with Gigabit Ethernet. You can argue that this is overkill today, but better to be overspec’ed than underspec’ed. The other machines have garden-variety 10/100 Ethernet.ADVANTAGE: MACBOOK
Bluetooth
In the Mac world; Bluetooth is standard. With PCs, it’s generally optional but available. I configured all the machines with it. PARITY
Modem
The MacBook doesn’t come with one, so I didn’t add one to the Dell or HP. The Sony comes with one standard. ADVANTAGE: SONY, IF YOU LOVE DIAL-UP
USB
The MacBook, HP, and Sony come with two USB 2.0 ports. The HP comes with three of them (one of which is shared with an eSATA port). ADVANTAGE: HP
Firewire
The MacBook and Sony come with FireWire-400 ports; the Dell and HP don’t. ADVANTAGE: MACBOOK AND SONY
Expansion Slot
The MacBook has no ExpressCard slot. Everybody else does. ADVANTAGE: DELL, HP, AND SONY
VGA
Everybody can output to a VGA display, but Apple, in an odd bit of scrimping, requires you to buy the dongle for its mini-DVI adapter separately. ADVANTAGE: DELL, HP, and SONY, BUT ONLY SLIGHTLY
HDMI
The MacBook and Sony lack it; the Dell and HP have it. ADVANTAGE: DELL AND HP
Sound
They’ve all got audio in, audio out, and a microphone. The HP has two headphone jacks.ADVANTAGE: HP, VERY SLIGHTLY
Memory Card Reader
The MacBook doesn’t have one (and the fact you can’t get one built into any Mac portable is a bummer). The Sony does Memory Stick and SD. The HP had a 5-in-1 reader; the Dell has an 8-1 one. ADVANTAGE: DELL, HP, AND SONY
Webcam
They all have one. If I were truly obsessive I’d compare resolution, but HP doesn’t quote a spec, and Wikipedia says that the MacBook’s iSight’s effective resolution varies from application to application. Let’s just give ‘em all PARITY
Keyboard and Touchpad
They all have ‘em! I’ve used and liked the Macbook’s. but haven’t spent enough time with the others to compare, so I’m giving all the machines PARITY here.
Fingerprint Scanner
The Dell has one. ADVANTAGE: DELL
Bundled Media Software
This gets a little tricky. The MacBook, like every Mac, comes with iLife ‘08. It’s an excellent, well-rounded suite, although I’m not prepared to say that it’s better than every Windows-based equivalent in every respect. I tried to configure the others at least somewhat similarly: The HP comes with Corel’s Paint Shop Pro and MediaOne, the Dell comes with Roxio Creator 10 Premiere, and the Sony comes with Sony’s Photo Plus and Video Plus. It would be an interesting exercise to delve into all these apps and name a definitive winner, but for now I’m going to give the ADVANTAGE to theMACBOOK.
Bundled Productivity Software
iWork, unlike iLife, is an extra-cost option with Macs. The Dell doesn’t come with anything in the way of productivity apps. The HP comes with Microsoft Works, and the Sony comes with Microsoft Works SE–and damned if I can figure out how to get rid of them. ADVANTAGE: HP AND SONY, I suppose, if you need Microsoft Works; personally, I’d rather be able to delete them and save a few bucks.
Operating System
Okay, now this is rife with potential for controversy. The MacBook, of course, comes with OS X 10.5 “Leopard,” and the others all pack Windows Vista Home Premium. Some people prefer Mac OS X for perfectly understandable reasons; some prefer Windows for perfectly understandable reasons. I feel strongly that OS X is a more pleasing general-purpose OS to spend time in, but there are meaningful contingents of computer users–including both gamers and some business users–for whom Windows is the more logical choice. I’m therefore going to declare PARITY here and note that I choose to use a Mac as my primary machine (but spend plenty of time in Windows, too, both on my Mac and other computers).
Weight
Apple says the MacBook weights five pounds. Dell quotes “starting at 3.97 pounds”; HP (which has a larger screen) quotes 5.48 pounds; Sony quotes 4.14 pounds. It’s possible that the MacBook is a tad heavy for the form factor, but I don’t know whether the companies all did their weighing in a consistent fashion. So I’m giving everybody PARITY.
Thickness
Some folks like bragging rights to owning an unusually thin notebook. The MacBook is no wafer-thin MacBook Air, but it does measure in at a fairly svelte 2.75cm. I’ll use the maximum thickness of the others, which are all tapered: The Dell is 3,.38cm, the HP is 3.91cm, and the Sony is 3.37cm.ADVANTAGE: MACBOOK
Case Color
Apple still manages to get $100 more from buyers for a black MacBook–amazing. (Um, I own a black MacBook myself.) Sony charges an extra $50 for some colors; Dell, an additional $25. As far as I can tell, HP doesn’t do color choices. I just chose the cheapest case style for everybody. PARITY
Warranty
Everybody comes with a one-year warranty. Policies are one thing, but ultimately, you want a machine that’s going to be reliable, and which comes from a manufacturer that will not only promise decent service but deliver. PC Mag just published its annual reader survey and its readers rated Apple meaningfully higher than than Dell, HP, or Sony. ADVANTAGE: MACBOOK
Aesthetics
In theory, a more handsome PC might be worth more money. I’m not going to touch this one except to say that there are Apple products with dramatically better industrial design than the competition, but while the MacBook is a good-looking machine, it’s not radically nicer than the others, and your taste may vary.
Shopping Experience
If my math is right, I said that the machines were at PARITY in nine of the categories above. The MacBook had an ADVANTAGE in six categories, the Dell in five, the HP in eleven, and the Sony in eight.
I’ve withheld one huge fact about each laptop until now: their prices. Here’s the damage as quoted for each of the machines I configured
MacBook: $1299 (white case)
Dell XPS M1330: $1287 (including an “instant rebate” of $100)
HP dv4t: $1218.99 (including an “instant rebate” of $100)
Sony VGN-SR190: $1608.99
The logical reaction to those prices isn’t, of course, “Good grief, Macs are expensive!” It’s more along the lines of “The Sony looks fairly pricey, but the other ones are pretty comparable.” (McCracken’s Third Law of Computer Buyng specifies that when you’re spending $1000 or more for a system, you shouldn’t obsess over price differences of $100 or less; buy the machine you feel most comfortable with.)
So for consumer notebooks, the official Technologizer answer to the question “Are Macs more expensive?” is as follows:
“Actually, a MacBook is in the same ballpark as a roughly similar Dell or HP, and less than a Sony. If you’re tempted by a MacBook and can afford its pricetag, go ahead and buy one–it’s a decent deal.”
By Harry McCracken |
