Forums | MacLife

Random User · 2009-08-05 9:54 am

2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo mobile, 4 GB DDR3 RAM, 500 GB hard drive, 16" LED back-lit widescreen LCD, Blu-ray player (slot load) and a Radeon HD 3670 with 512 MB VRAM

Not a bad laptop for only $1099.

I immediately wiped the drive from having Vista and installed Windows 7 RC 64-bit.

It is running so smooth it is scary. I am going to be decommissioning my Mac Pro for this little guy I think. Time to change things up a bit.

In six months or so I plan on getting an Alienware system from Dell. At that point I will give this laptop to my daughter (11 years old) who has a desk in the living room for it. She currently is on a Mac mini and gets irritated when she can't run certain software due to not having Windows. She said she doesn't want to leave OS X behind because she likes the OS but at the same time hates the software limitations. She is torn like most of us are by the choice of interface or compatibility.

The laptop runs a little warm. Much warmer than my MacBook which is at 2.4 GHz as well. But it is much faster than the MacBook at the same speed. The MacBook seems sluggish most of the time and I cannot fathom why that is. Even with a default install of OS X with no additional apps installed such as the iLife suite, it seems to be a little slow on boot, app loading, and general responsiveness.

Maybe it is a result of it running slower to reduce heat output? I know that the Radeon video card makes a difference in UI responsiveness but it shouldn't make THAT much of a difference.

I like the fact that Dell includes OS reinstallation discs that are JUST the OS. No bloatware and no shareware. I like having a clean OS install to work with. I'm not using Windows Vista with it and have no intentions of doing so but it is nice knowing that I have the disc if I need it for some reason.

Random User · 2009-08-05 9:56 am

Oh, and it has 3 USB ports, 1 eSATA port with USB Powershare, VGA out, HDMI out, dual headphones out, microphone input, webcam with mic, SD card reader, Firewire, and like I mentioned it is a slot load Blu-ray player along with being a DVD+/-RW dual layer and CD-RW recorder.

NightCougar_37 · 2009-08-05 11:28 pm

Your comparing a budget Mac with lowend board + shared VRAM vs a decent midrange with dedicated VRAM and twice the amount...of course its gonna whip the lil Macbook like its nothing.

Great pick there...better than what Apple can offer at the same price. Just, as you found out, it will run warmer. Got a lot better power under the hood than you would with a Macbook.

Random User · 2009-08-06 3:31 am

Oh don't misinterpret me. I wasn't trying to make a full comparison to my MacBook. I know that there are some significant differences between the two. But you can still feel OS X run at its normal pace versus the sometimes lightning fast response times of Windows 7.

OS X is beautiful, elegant, and almost over-designed. It's the Cadillac of operating systems. It also comes at a premium in horsepower.

I have both Windows 7 and OS X Leopard 10.5.7 installed on the MacBook. The Leopard side of the house is noticeably slower at doing most tasks compared to the Windows 7 install.

It isn't as if the MacBook under OS X is unusable or anything. Far from it. But it has the occasional delay here and there. Drive churning sometimes too. 4GB of RAM with a 2.4GHz proc isn't a slouch of a machine by any hardware benchmark yet you can feel the speed difference just as you can feel the acceleration difference between a Cadillac and a Mustang. (I won't go any further with car analogies as they just get everyone in trouble. LOL)

Windows 7 and even XP scream on the same hardware. Sure there is plenty to dislike about Windows and its lack of security and plethora of viruses and the like but pound for pound it is a faster more responsive OS in my experience. Is it as refined as OS X? Nope. Is it as capable an OS as Leopard? Mostly. But when you are just doing basic every day tasks it does just fine.

Leopard is my preferred OS. Windows is just lacking too much in the way of features (i.e. disc burning, dvd playing, etc out of the box) and stability. (Although Windows 7 makes a big dent in these gripes.)

My position was simply that Windows 7 RC was stable and very quick. It makes better use of the hardware you put it on given all other factors the same.

Will I give up my Mac? Hell no.

Will I set it off to the side and run this laptop as my primary machine? Sure I will. For a while anyways. Then I will come back to my Mac again.

I like to switch things up every now and again. Keeps me current on the operating systems and their features, benefits, bugs, and failures.

So no, I wasn't trying to compare Apples to Oranges. I should have made it clear that I ran Win7 on the same MacBook as a comparison before I bought the Dell. Would have made a difference in how folks saw my point of view I guess.

Oh well, live and learn.

gd · 2009-08-09 3:08 am

For a moment it seemed that you were switching back. Have you tried the latest version of Ubuntu? If you have, how is it?

Forums | MacLife

#1 2009-08-05 9:54 am

Picked up a new Dell ...

#2 2009-08-05 9:56 am

Re: Picked up a new Dell ...

#3 2009-08-05 11:28 pm

Re: Picked up a new Dell ...

#4 2009-08-06 3:31 am

Re: Picked up a new Dell ...

#5 2009-08-09 3:08 am

Re: Picked up a new Dell ...

Board footer