Comments on: Dell XPS M1530 vs. Apple MacBook Pro

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:40:17 +0000

Damn, that’s crazy…

By: john

john — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:46:39 +0000

Guys/Gals,

got a macbook (white) while my XPS was in the shop (I dropped it). love the feel of the mac. i know a macbook pro would be faster. it was like sex with a stranger…

however, when i got the XPS back i could see how much faster it was and that my two critical programs just weren’t feasible on the mac (MS Access and FrontPage). plus, my hd screen on the XPS is totally awesome.

Macs are great for typical computer use but not as good for this power user.

By: UKCOD

UKCOD — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 22:21:11 +0000

For all you design students, check out Parallels. With this software, you’re going to be able to dual-boot Windows and OSx without shutting your computer down just to switch to the other side. This makes using AutoCad/Rhino/or any other Microsoft program MUCH easier, while running your Adobe programs over on the other side… At the University of Kentucky College of Design, pretty much EVERYONE runs this configuration… Boot Camp will work, but you’re going to spend a lot of time shutting down to switch side. Hope it helps…

By: Sahas Katta

Sahas Katta — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:47:33 +0000

Just call them up! So yes it looks like the Hard Drive is broken. That means all your data is most likely gone. :( If you call up Dell and have accidental warranty they will replace it for you for free! If you don’t you can either have them send a technician out to fix it or send it in to tell you the cost.

If the rest of the laptop seems 100% intact physically and you have no warranty, just go buy a laptop Hard Drive and put in yourself. If you know anything about computers or have a friend that does, they should be able to do it for you in just a few minutes!

By: Shanalee Whitely

Shanalee Whitely — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:22:23 +0000

i have recently both a xps 1530 lab top, accidentally it dropped Friday. i don’t know what to do, i have email dell of the situation but they have not yet reply. it is not completing it normal booting process, it is telling me that it has some failer in hard drive while booting. the only thing that keeps coming up is diagnostics, all the test pass except the hard drive test. what should i do, send back the laptop or fix it out hear?

By: researcher

researcher — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 04:07:40 +0000

dear once-a-mac-now-a-pc-again,
i am actually going back to pc too!mac is great and all, but its just not worth the money for what you get. you can get a 2.26 ghz macbook from apple with a 13″ screen, or you can get a 17″ core i7 4 gb ram 320 gb hd, 1 gigabyte video card from dell for thesame price! i bought the macbook im typing on with the assumption it would be adequete, but technology advances fast, and this thing is slow.

By: once_a_mac_now_a_pc_again

once_a_mac_now_a_pc_again — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:57:44 +0000

I used to have the MBP, and now I have the Dell Studio XPS16. I had too many problems with my MBP, so they sent me the newest one. Except the video memory is no longer discrete. Trust me, it sucks.

This dell has the ATI 4670 with a gig of memory and I love it. I can run games I could never run on the MBP in bootcamp. And this is with vista, not XP (from my experience, XP is better for gaming, considering the resource usage).

Unfortunately, I’ve had bad luck finding full functionality with the ATI 4670 on OSX. If any of you have had better luck, I’d like to know

By: cheap computers

cheap computers — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 19:21:39 +0000

Its good that Apple won the keyboard war with its beautiful backlit keyboard with an ambient light sensor.

By: Sahas Katta

Sahas Katta — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 06:20:12 +0000

That’s an acceptable issue with their product and service. I have the XPS M1530 and one I accidentally dropped it. It knocked the heat sink out of place. As a result the laptop was overheating like nuts. It got so hot that i almost burnt myself touching the palm rest. It even left a slight imprint in the desk i had placed it on. I called dell after noticing how hot just a few hours after booting it up after the fall. First rep said to let it cool down and try again and wasn’t helpful. I attempted to do that. Got just as dangerously hot again. Called up again, the second rep freaked out when I told him how hot it was. He said not to turn it on again. They sent out a BRAND NEW (not refurb) replacement unit of the same specs the same day with overnight shipping. I just had to put my old unit back in the same box with a provided pre-paid label. I’ve been using it for about 2 years now since that incident, no problems since.

I even just loaded up Windows 7 Pro x64 on it just a few days ago!

By: researcher

researcher — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 05:18:05 +0000

for anyone who cant decide whether to get a mac or a dell, over the last 2 years the choice has been clear to me.
right now i am typing on a 5 year old ibook g4 which btw runs surprisingly faster than my mom’s supposedly fast core2duo beast, which has been virus-ridden ever since she got it. first, blue screen of death, which took dell a month to fix, then a while later she got it again, and the sound chip stopped working. so they sent a repair guy, who decided to replace the entire motherboard, which in the dell fashion had no effect whatsoever. she then later had the harddraive replaced, and once again, this didnt do a thing to help. finally i took it in my own hands to fix it which took me about a month of talking to dell and a bunch of other crap. finally i fix it and much to my happiness, she sold it now, and decided to get a macbook! she has had it for about a month and so far no problems. she said it was fun to use and easy. after getting a myself a macbook to replace this ibook, i find it annoying to work on a pc. its like i take so many of the things macs do for granted, when i use a dell, i wonder how people can put up with it, and i realise why so many people hate computers. ever since i have used macs, now im not being a fanboy, but, i hate pcs!

By: Me

Me — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 22:10:57 +0000

I have had my Dell “beast” for 4 yrs…time for a change. I am in the process of deciding and at the end of it all I will likely pick Mac. Simply put Dell service!! My screen was bad from the beginning but after several VERY long calls and a bogus fix…then of course it went completely dead after the warranty was up. To top my disappointment off…a replacement screen from dell was going to cost at least an arm. I ended up ordering one and replacing my self from an online company out of Vancouver. Needless to say I am looking forward to not lugging this huge beast around and just walking into a store when I have a problem enough said!!

By: Sahas Katta

Sahas Katta — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:14:59 +0000

Just wanted to let everyone know, Skatter Tech published a comparison of the new Apple MacBook Pro 13 to Dell Studio Studio XPS 13 recently! You can view the article here: http://skattertech.com/2009/08/apple-macbook-pro-13-vs-dell-studio-xps-13/

By: Dell XPS M1530 VS Apple Macbook Pro | Supply-Battery.com

Dell XPS M1530 VS Apple Macbook Pro | Supply-Battery.com — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 02:42:15 +0000

[...] Informations from: http://skattertech.com/2008/03/dell-xps-m1530-vs-apple-macbook-pro/ [...]

By: steve smith

steve smith — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 13:38:25 +0000

because people buying a computer shouldnt be ablout what john michelle and kayla like it should be about what you like and how it fits into your life because what the others like u may not and at the end of the day you have 2 deal with shelling out the money for the computer.so i highly recommend testing both

By: steve smith

steve smith — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 13:33:55 +0000

linda just cause you and a few others have a couple of problems does not mean the dell sucks. my mom and sisters both on the dell and havent had any problems.and i say dell costumer service is jolly well cracker jack in fixing roblems in my familys experience. how ever since computers are our friends for those of you who want an MBP get one i hear apples are nice just a little high on the price side but price no matter what the product can be accommdated for anything when it comes to electronics crazy rebates and insentives if u buy at the right time. for those trying to decide between the dell xps m1530 and apple mac book pro test drive both at your local electronics store or borrow a frineds see how you like them and pick the better one for your personal needs

By: Linda

Linda — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 03:51:34 +0000

Let me just tell you about my experience with the M1530, I wish I had never purchased this paperweight. I month after I bought this, in October, I was on the internet and suddenly my comp froze, got a black screen and later found out my hard drive was bad. I have been reading many reviews on the internet as a result of many bad experiences to follow with Dell Cust Svc. As it turns out, these computers must have been a bad batch because MANY others are having similar problems with this model purchased around the same time. I suggest you do not buy Dell, I wish I hadn’t, thier customer service is terrible, I wasted 4 hours being transferred several times to EVERY dept and no one could help me or was willing to be accountable for a bad product. I am still in limbo, no one has helped me, and I still have to call back tomorrow to try to resolve this. DO NOT BUY DELL, GO WITH MAC!!!!!!!!!!!

By: Well I think......

Well I think...... — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 10:47:13 +0000

Well I am getting my mac tomorrow and I was also decideing between apple dell and even hp but after looking at the specs and the quality of build the apple stood out by far. Even if the cost was double the hp or dell. Even though I am just moving to mac I think that I will be for the better.

By: kody janzen

kody janzen — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 18:25:58 +0000

I’m a mac user myself, and I don’t disagree that the dell was a better deal, because they did price the macbook pro to high, But that’s not what I disagree with, the only problem with going with the Dell would be that it has Windows Vista, in my opinion, any price paid for a computer that has Vista is overpriced.

By: ghola

ghola — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 04:32:42 +0000

Dell 1520, $1150 got me T7300 4mb, 4GBMem, 8600m gt, 320GB HD, 1400×900 glossy, running WinXP 64+OSX 10.5.2+Mandriva(<-best OS for basics).
Using M-Audio Firewire for sound because this is a music machine for Cubase and Logic. On mouse left+right click support( apparently thats a feature for mac)

Let the fan boys simmer on that.

By: Nick

Nick — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 19:06:22 +0000

Another thing that dell has going for them is security features. I was looking at the XPS today and it came with lo-jack and finger print scanning. My macbook pro has neither and is less than 3 months old.