Dell Studio XPS 13 vs. Apple MacBook Pro 13

Hey everyone, I just published a comparison of the Dell Studio XPS 13 and Apple MacBook Pro 13 on Skatter Tech. We tried to cover as many grounds as possible. We've got a chart for feature comparison and one for price comparison. Let us know what you think!

P.S. I've included one chart below, follow the link for the full text and second chart!

http://skattertech.com/2009/08/apple-macbook-pro-13-vs-dell-studio-xps-13/

 

Dell Studio XPS 13 just fails on the areas of heat and battery life. Otherwise, it's a pretty neat 13" machine.

 

The SXPS 13 has some multi touch gestures for the touchpad, and the 2 headphone/1 input jack can be reconfigured as a 5.1 analog out (green, black, orange cables). Go for the Dell.

 

This was posted on a Dell forum so of course, your poll results are most likely going to favor the XPS 1340! The results would be the favor for the MAC if posted on the MAC sub forum as such...

I'm a Dell person...so of course..my obvious choice would be for the Dell, either way. MAC's are nice..but they are not my choice OS.

Cin...

 

They both have the same resolution, 1280*800
And the dells trackpad is multitouch, even tough its not as big as the apple one

 

The 1340 is 1366 x 768 isnt it? And the Macbook Pro is 1280 x 800

 

gotta love the onboard hdmi on the 1340 too

the res on both is 1280x800

 

A 13" chasis is meant for portability so I'd want to maximize battery life. Given that the specs are nearly equal between the two, the macbook has considerably longer battery life so I'd go for it. Lack of HDMI on the mac is a shame but not a huge deal since you could use the display port.

 

Actually is a MINI display port on the mac. To get it to hook up to anything other then the Apple Cinema Display you have to buy adapters from them.......

 

Well I'd still pay extra for an adapter and go with the longer battery life. Although I can't stand OSX but at least he'd have the option of using boot camp to switch to Windows 7.

 

are you sure about that? everyplace I look has different information. Some places say it's the HDTV aspect ration of 16x9 which is the 1366 x 768 resolution. other places state it's the 16x10 which is 1280x800.

the studio xps 16 is 16x9 ratio with support for a 1920x1080 display. so is the studio xps 13 keep the same ratio or change to a 16x10?

If anyone knows, please feel free to point it out!

 

Well, in my opinion, Windows is only usable on an Apple notebook if you leave it plugged in and hook it up to an external mouse. Basically, you lose all portability. Why? Because Apple write deliberatly poor drivers, (including trackpad and total lack of power manangement drivers, only one windows partition when using boot camp, etc). It's not worth it.

I suggest go with the Dell. Unless you prefer OS X.

 

i had a macbook pro 17" uniboady and hated it. mac os sucks.

 

If the macbook pro ran windows like all other laptops it would be a very good machine for the price. I have used Mac OS X and it's an OS suitable for beginners or people who want to use the computer very superficially. The sheer software freedom on windows (and even linux for that matter) alone means that the studio xps is a much more desirable machine.
I know about bootcamp, and you have to use it to realize it's not a real alternative.

 

Let's make too many generalizations here. MacOS definitely has its flaws -- especially in button-down corporate environments, for gaming, and for flexibility in supported hardware -- but it also has plenty of uses for demanding users. Most of the software engineers I know at Google use Macs for example (most meetings there with software engineers are full of Macs), as well as a large number of the good software people I know at startups. It's not for everyone, but it's not just for "beginners or people who want to use the computer very superficially."

 

I know thats why i asked. Its advertised as WXGA witch is 1366 x 768 so idk what to beleive

 

The 1340 is 1280x800, and 16:10 aspect ratio. WXGA can mean several resolutions, but it means 1280x800 when used with 16:10. The 1640 is 16:9, however.

Also, Sahaskatta, Some of the information on the XPS 13 on your chart is incorrect. Specifically,
- It only has an SD card slot, which can also take memory stick/memory stick pro, but isn't an 8-in-1 reader as stated.
- CPU speed is up to 2.66Ghz, not 2.53Ghz. You may have had older information on this, since the 2.66 wasn't originally available (though the motherboard has always supported it).
- The remote is an extra, as with the Mac - or at least, it is here in NZ. I didn't get a remote with mine but that might be different in other countries.

 

As already said, the SXPS 13 has a WXGA 16 : 10 monitor (meaning it is 1280x800). I can post a picture of my screen resolution if necessary XD.

The SXPS 13 also has a multi-touch trackpad.

The chart lacks hard drive information (e.g. the SXPS comes with 7200 RPM options) and L2 cache information (i.e. the performance benefit on the P9600 will come more from having double the L2 cache as opposed to the 0.13GHz per core). Lastly the GPU should probably be specified to be a 9500M GE as opposed to a 9500M GS.

 

You are correct about the screen res! Checked with Dell. They stated the SXPS 13 is 16:10 ratio with a 1280x800, while the SXPS16 is 16:9 with 1920x1080.

Regarding the SD card slot, take a look at Dell's Spec sheet: http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop-studio-xps-13?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

It clearly states a 8-in-1 Media Card Reader

And about CPU speed, if you look at the first chart which displays each laptop's best features, it shows it can go up to 2.66. However I think you may have looked at the second chart, which was created for the purpose of comparing prices at the closest specs possible!

And as for remotes, the XPS I bought came with one. As goes for all the people I know who bought XPS's as well. If you didn't get one, if you call Dell they usually will send you one for free! One of my friends didn't get a case with his XPS m1530, called them up and they sent him one overnight shipped! But as you said it might be different in New Zeland.

 

Sorry yeah, I think I just read the CPU specs backwards. Never mind then! And you're right, it does officially say 8-in-1. All it actually lists on it is SD/MMC (which is basically the same thing) and MS/Pro. I wonder what the rest is meant to be? 8-in-1 seems a little tenuous for them to be claiming.

 

yeah and regarding 8-in-1 i have a very strong feeling it's a bit of marketing ploy involved. I have the XPS m1530 for personal use, and it also had a similar claim. What i think they get to the big number 8 is by counting two or three for SD by counting SD, SDHC. Then for Memory Stick they might count MS and MS Pro. And also throw in MS Duo and MS Pro Duo!

so by doing that you'll easily get to 8 but still more flexible than the Mac's simple SD card reader...

 

Just to say: I had the latest generation of white macbook (not the pro)
but anyway I didnt enjoy switching to mac, i gave it a 5 month shot and found out i was very limited and overall its very expensive. i bought my mack for $1100 because i upgraded it to 4 gb ram ($100 more than stock).

Now i bought a dell studio xps 1340 from best buy
Now i have 500gb @ 7200 rpm unlike macs 120gb @ 5200
backlit keyboard which is more comfortable to type on.. sd card reader which i didnt have with mac.... 2.4 processor @ 1066 front bus, unlike macs 2.0
plus im able to overclock it to 2.7 and run it very stable all the way upto 2.8
faster ram 4gb. same video card but it has more potential to over clock. and best part I payed $899. $200 dollars less and tones more!!!

Im not trying to diss mac owners, this is just a personal opinion. Dont take nothing serious.

 

Poll results so far:

Mac 13...Dell 25...Pretty good.

Nice comparison you did there, @Alex

Cin...

 

i owned both i however no longer do, i returned my macbook after just 2 days, i prefer the sxps13 with win7 on it. but the build quality on mac is 10x better then dell.

reason i prefer sxps i really dont know.

 

There has to be something...price, hardware options, etc....

 

price wasnt really an issue..just $300 difference between the two laptops.. i guess i like windows more then mac osx, yes i know you can run bootcamp but when i tried i jacked it all up and windows wouldnt boot, i suppose that helped me decide?

 

$300 can be quite a bit and the addition of a Windows license wouldn't necessarily help that XD. That said, Bootcamp is no longer necessary for Windows installation (i.e. Macs now support traditional BIOS).