Now before you laugh, it is a pretty fair comparison, but I thought I'd point out the pretty ridiculous stuff for you.
First off, Dell compares their Studio 15 laptop to a Macbook Pro 15. I can hear the laughs now. But in the configuration Dell uses, both machines have Core i7 chips, top of the line stuff. Dell doesn't disclose the CPU speed, so that's kind of weird. Secondly, they say the Studio 15 has 6 colors available compared to...silver...or should that be Aluminum? The Software section of the comparison(s) is always the funniest. Dell tries to pass off the Windows Live Essentials package as being as good as the iLife suite. Now I'm no hardcore Mac user, but that's just crazy. Live Essentials is decent with Movie Maker, Photo Gallery and whatnot, but compared to iLife? Don't think so.
Then it comes to price. As always with me, it is ALWAYS ABOUT PRICE in the end. If not, then you're just rich and buy diamond studded burritos from Taco Bell.
The price for the Dell? $949 (that IS a good deal for the specs) versus $2,199 for the Macbook. Ouch.
Pretty much the same comparison goes for the 17" versions of the respective laptops.
Then we get to the desktops, the Dell Zino versus Mac Mini and the Dell Inspiron tower versus the iMac.
The first comparison makes sense, since Dell basically stole the Mac Mini idea from Apple and made their own cheaper clone. The specs on the Zino are quite good, 4GB RAM versus 2GB, 750GB Hard Drive versus 320GB...but the AMD Athlon II CPU in the Dell comes up a little short against the Core2 Intel in the Mac Mini.
Then we get to the software part again. I guess the Dell doesn't come with Windows Live Essentials (even though you can download it for free...what, did they get lazy?) but instead comes with...ready for the laugh track? McAfee Security Center (that IS funny) for 15 months. Supposedly the Mac Mini doesn't come with iLife either.
Dell again wins in the price category, but they should discount it more for having to waste time uninstalling McAfee.
Finally, the comparison of the Inspiron desktop and the iMac. Really, should there be a comparison? Yes, the iMac is a desktop, but it really is quite different. I personally like separate components in case something breaks, but then again, I work with run down worked to within an inch of their life electronics on a daily basis, so having a six foot mouse cable on my desk really doesn't bother my chi.
Again, McAfee is the separator here, along with the choice of 4 colors and (what I think is nice) a Blu-Ray combo for the Dell. Rolling in at $900 versus $1500 is pretty nice for the Dell too, but if I'm going to be dumping $900 into a desktop, it sure as heck isn't going to be a Dell, it's going to be a custom built, expandable gaming rig that I can grow into and that doesn't have some proprietary special power supply. But that's me.
In conclusion, you can see these types of comparisons are useful...as long as you know the little details that make them not so useful. But then again, when some people buy a car, they only care about the color.
-Nate
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