Notebook Notes
Notebook Shopping
The 17" MacBook Pro with our insider discount starts at $2,599 with 1GB RAM, 120GB HD and ATI 256 Video. The Apple store version is at $2,799.
Today’s opinion is that the Dell Inspiron 9400, starting at $1,495, is ‘comparable’ to the MacBook Pro. The Dell’s default Core Duo chip is slower and $99 will get me 256 MB video. Today, it is difficult to see why $1000 more is needed to reach Apple.
A viable generality may be that modern notebook computers are all hot—the CPU and the GPU gets hot. So it boils down to a choice between hot plastic or hot titanium.
Eyeing the Area-51® m5750
So news feeds leave me with the assumption that the Intel® Core™2 Duo is “eagerly awaited.” A review of the m5750 points to the T7200 2.0GHz—“for the rest of us.” With an 80GB, 7200RPM HD and 1GB RAM, the m5750 gets upwards of $1,929.
For penny pinching, the Dell Inspiron 9400 comes to mind. With an 80GB, 7200RPM HD and 1GB RAM—and a 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 7900 GS (adding $299), we push up through $1,568 (with $200 “Instant Savings”—limited time offer).
So now the question is, ‘What is the tangible difference between these two?’