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Dude! You’re Getting a Dell vs. Apple War
Last night I received an email from Dell about a back-to-school special. Rather than just promote their laptops, Dell decided to compare their top student laptops and the Apple laptops with the same specs. The comparisons include the Macbook 15 and 17 inch versus the Studio 15 and 17 inch models.
I’ve never been a fan of Apple-Dell “comparison wars” because the systems (and cultures) are so different. Dell versus IBM, Toshiba, etc. makes more sense because of the identical operating systems. Most customers who want a Mac aren’t going to switch because of price. Everyone knows PC-based laptops are less expensive than their Mac-based counterparts.
I took a look on the Apple Student Store and couldn’t seem to figure out how Dell came to the pricing they list in the image below. I got a total of $2,102 for the Apple Macbook Pro 15 with the same items listed. The Apple price includes an 8gb iPod Touch for free.
Dell ends their promo email by letting us know that with the $1,000+ savings over a Mac, you can go buy an iPod Touch.
In my opinion, the two computers are entirely different. Not just in operating systems, but build quality and after care support. Personally, I don’t care how cheap PC’s are or how much more Macs are, its what each can offer the consumer, and if I were given a PC for free, I wouldn’t take it. I would have the Mac any day.
here is a story you will never hear from a Dell purchaser:
Well, I have a rather longish Apple story I feel needs to be shared…
My 20″ iMac (early 2006 model) fell out of AppleCare warranty on May 8th. On June 1st I awakened to notice it was turned off. Curious, I turned it back on, only to see the dreaded question mark-folder. I spent an hour or so trying to get the HDD to come alive, to no avail (no worries as I have Time Machine running on all my Macs). Unfortunately, as I tried using DiskWarrior, the system got progressively worse, until finally the screen wouldn’t light up at all and there was no boot chime. Uh oh…
I took it to the Apple store, where it stayed for almost a month as they tried to find out what was wrong. Unbeknownst to me, eventually, they replaced almost everything in the iMac, never once asking for my approval to do the repairs. I received a call a week ago saying “it’s ready, because it took so long, we’re not charging you anything for the repair”. I was thrilled! The bill turned out to be over $1k, and Apple did it for free. Cool, huh?
But it doesn’t end there.
I brought the machine home, restored from my TM backup and realized the airport wasn’t working, so I went through all the trouble-shooting to no avail – back to the Apple store. I wasn’t pleased about it, but I was still glowing from their generosity so I didn’t complain. Three days and a new (also free) airport card later and I was back home, ready to enjoy my Mac again.
Airport was still broken.
OK, now I’m upset. I spent the weekend calming down before doing an erase/install to insure something from my TM backup wasn’t corrupting some network settings. Nope, still no airport. So I drive it all the way back down to the Apple store and wait for about an hour as the Geniuses look it over. Finally, Andy (I got to know several of them pretty well, in part due to my laid back approach to all this, which surprised even me) walked up to me and said “Brad, I have good news!”. Thinking they had it figured out, I was relieved.
Then he proceeded to tell me how Apple had decided to replace my iMac with a brand new replacement. Not a refurbished one, but a brand new one. And because my model happened to be the top of the line from it’s time, I would be getting the newest top of the line iMac as a replacement (24″, dual 3GHz processor). Not only that, but since mine wasn’t an ‘off the shelf’ model, but had been custom ordered with more RAM from the factory, they would increase the RAM in the new machine by the same percentage .
Now keep in mind my Mac was not only out of warranty, but Apple had already dismissed close to $1400 in repairs on my old machine before deciding to just give me a new one!
No company is perfect, but this sort of action is how a company insures is has a customer for life. Kudos to Apple!
Thanks for sharing. I am in the process of deciding between the two. Practically computer illiterate. The laptop from Apple presented as mighty impressive. We’ve had a dell for our family computer for about 10 years. It’s been good to us. Your customer service story, however, could be a deciding factor.
My eyes aren’t as good as they used to be, but what are the asterisks beside the “4GB” and “500GB” numbers for both Dells? Comparisons are always full of…those things! LOL!
I bet they are not comparing gfx too.
Saying about quality, I have 2 macs and my current mac is the worse machine I have ever owned for problems. Its been back to apple twice and is due to go back again as the same problem I have had is back again. It was so bad I had to buy apple care because I knew the computer would not last the 3 years without having problems and it has. Apple should of replaced the machine but no they keep on patching it up.
I will get one more mac and if I have the same build quality issues and the crappy customer support then it will be my last.
Was it an aluminum iMac by any chance?
Well done Nick, thats a great story with a great ending. Apple have always kept me happy.
I noticed that Dell conveniently omitted the most popular MacBook in education, the 13″ MacBk Pro. This computer is a GREAT value and it’s no surprise that students and teachers alike are grabbing them up, especially withe the free iPod promotion.
I’ve been using Macs since 1988 and there is no way I could be lured to Dell because of price, or probably any other reason. Over that 21-year span I’ve lost count of how many different Macs I’ve owned—all-in-ones, desktops, laptops—every kind of machine going all the way back to the 4mb Mac Classic. About a dozen, I guess. In all that time I’ve lost exactly 1 motherboard, a couple of fans and, I think, three hard drives. I still use my 1997 Laserwriter II NT printer almost daily and I’ve never had ANY repairs done on it. I’ve had a couple of laptop batteries wear out. I still use my 2nd gen iPod daily (I think it’s about six years old). I’ve lost track of how many Apple monitors I’ve owned and I’ve only had to take ONE in for repairs. I guess your mileage may vary, but my Apple experience over two decades and counting has been extraordinarily great. No software or hardware platform is troublefree, but when I compare my experience to my friends’ Dell experiences there seems to be no comparison. And don’t get me started about troubleshooting your system. I’m not a technical person, but I’ve always done my own support on my Macs. No way I could’ve supported my own system had I been running Windows.
The difference in your price is the $239 for AppleCare. Presumably, Dell is claiming 3 years of support. So, to get the same warranty with the Mac, you have to buy AppleCare.
justin – i picked the applecare option in my pricing
The compare includes Microsoft office home and student as well. I actually looked at the config today and the Apple cost has gone up $10 dollars.
Maybe a student wouldn’t choose a Dell but a parent buying it would. Dells are serviced under warranty on the campus my son attends and there are student discounts from the school. Software is free or cheep. A parent is already paying tuition… I don’t think they are looking to buy a premium computer generally. Actually a statement was made they wouldn’t take a free dell laptop… but my son’s is free as incoming freshman with a B or better average from HS gets a free laptop. A Dell.. and bet me I am not buying him a Mac. You can uptalk them out the ying yang… free vs..whatever price point..not choice at all. He will be able to do do any business at school just fine. The poor kid… he will never know Mac nirvana. Personally I run Ubuntu on an old desktop… the idea of paying for an OS makes about as much sense to me as paying for an IM client… locking into the computer and the OS together… and paying for the privilege..how funny.