Mobile Buyers' Guide, December 2009
by Jarred Walton on December 6, 2009 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Guides
What about Apple?
You might have noticed that we haven't said a word about Apple so far. There are enough fans that we felt a more thorough overview was warranted. Apple MacBooks fall into either the midrange or high-end categories, though it can be difficult to stomach the cost of the more expensive MacBook Pro models. Here's the rundown.
Apple MacBook
The Apple MacBook line becomes an option with $1000 to spend, though you're limited to the base model MacBook. It comes with a Core 2 Duo 2.26GHz, 3MB L2, 1066FSB CPU (presumably the P8400), GeForce 9400M IGP, 802.11n, Bluetooth, a 1280x800 LCD, 250GB hard drive, 2GB DDR3 (standard), and OS X. We'd go ahead and grab the 4GB memory upgrade as well, which bumps the price up to $1100. If you're not interested in Mac OS X, we'd skip Apple in general, but many people have made the switch and have no regrets.
Apple MacBook Pro
We have already done significant coverage of the latest MacBook Pro offerings. The short summary is you can get good performance and great battery life in an attractive chassis. As Anand puts it, most of the decision has been distilled down to choosing your LCD/chassis size… most, but not all.
The Apple MacBook Pro 13" model starts at $1200 (less if you don't go through the Apple store - see below). It's nicer than the $1000 MacBook, but you're still going to need to answer the question of whether you want to switch to OS X or not. If you're not looking to leave the MS Windows camp, we don't see much point in buying a Mac. 2.26GHz CPU, 2GB DDR3, and a 9400M IGP, all for just $1200. You can get a Dell Studio 14z with a faster CPU, the 900p LCD, a 3-year warranty, and an 8-cell battery for about the same price, or stick with a 2.2GHz CPU, 768p LCD, and 1-year warranty (but keep the 8-cell battery!) for $914. The Mac looks nicer, and it will deliver better battery life when running OS X, but by no means is it competitive in terms of pricing.
The base 15" model "forces" an upgrade from the 2.26GHz to a 2.53GHz CPU and from 2GB to 4GB memory. Beyond those upgrades, Apple charges a $200 price premium for the 15" model, part of which goes to the 1440x900 LCD and larger battery. This is the opposite of most PC laptops, where smaller laptops are usually more expensive (provided components are the same), since it takes more effort to cram the same amount of "stuff" into a smaller chassis. The 15" model also offers a $50 upsell to a matte LCD… highly recommended!
The move from the 15" to the 17" comes with a similar premium and required upgrades. You get a minimum 2.8GHz CPU, 9400M IGP + 9600M GT graphics, and a 500GB hard drive. There's another $200 charge for the larger MBP, which includes a higher resolution 1920x1200 LCD and battery upgrades. An anti-glare (matte) LCD is again available… too bad we can't add one of those to the 13" model.
While many people look to Apple when buying a MacBook, if you don't need to customize you can save about $50, and many merchants are currently offering up to $150 mail-in rebates. The base 13" MBP is available for $1050 after $100 rebate, and the upgraded 13" goes for $1300 after $130 rebate. 15" stock configuration MacBook Pros are available for $1500 ($130 rebate), $1750 ($150 rebate), and $2000 ($150 rebate). Finally, you can get the 17" MBP for $2200 ($150 rebate). The only drawback is that none of these offers will get you the matte LCD… so you're really looking at a $200 cost to upgrade to the matte LCD, which is a bit much for most users.
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fyleow - Sunday, December 6, 2009 - link
The Studio XPS 13 is a better comparison to the MBP than the Studio 14z IMO. The XPS 13 and MBP both have the same screen size, optical drive, and better build quality.JarredWalton - Sunday, December 6, 2009 - link
It's a different comparison which is more favorable towards the MacBook pricing, but the XPS laptops have always been a premium part. Given the price, I'd actually take the 14z, but some will prefer the XPS 13 with the slot-load DVD.It looks like you get about the same features for the same price, but Dell will get you 4GB plus the ability to upgrade quite a few other parts. I'd imagine the XPS 13 will need the 9-cell battery to match the MacBook battery life.
LCD quality I can't say, since I haven't had a chance to look at either laptop in person. I'm guessing the XPS 13 is better than the 13" MacBook and possibly the 13" MacBook Pro. I know the other XPS laptops have generally had decent LCDs at least.
Drag0nFire - Sunday, December 6, 2009 - link
Thanks for the article. Clearly a lot of thought went into the recommendations at each price point.For future reviews, I was wondering if it might be practical to do a review of tablet technology? I evaluated the options a few years ago and decided it wasn't worth it. But Win7 brings some exciting new opportunities...
Thanks!
jabber - Sunday, December 6, 2009 - link
Got mine delivered a few weeks ago. 1.3Ghz CULV works a treat, really slick and teamed with 4GB of ram, a 320GB 7200rpm HDD and a Geforce 105M grahics it zings. Joy of joys it has a decent sized screen and a DVD burner. Ran it yesterday at work for 7 hours and it still had 2 hours+ left to run when I got home.Playing Eve online I get around 40FPS at high quality settings and 60+ at mid settings.
CULV is the way to go.
Mk4ever - Sunday, December 6, 2009 - link
Since their release, I haven't heard a word about them at Anand's.Do you hate them? Are they stealth to your radar?
The HP Smart Touch tx2 has a lot of features that are not available on anything else. And afaik, it still has the best IGP/GPU on a Tablet PC.
Popular, cheapest tablet, small size, good balance of performance/options...
Are you willing to look into it?
JarredWalton - Sunday, December 6, 2009 - link
Thanks for the comment. Tablets are certainly something to mention, and I'll see about updating post-conclusion tomorrow.Personally, I've never been sold on the tablet concept. I've used a couple and came away unimpressed... it's not a feature I feel I need. So yeah, I pretty much overlooked the category.
Getting the price down is certainly a bonus, and the tx2z is about the cheapest I've seen for a tablet. I'm not sure if having a better GPU really makes a difference, but the HD 3200 is certainly 2-3 times faster in graphics tests than the GMA 4500MHD. For under $1000 for a reasonable configuration, it looks good for those that want a tablet PC.
At least one review (CNet) for the tx2z says that the tablet input is sluggish, and battery life is mediocre with the default 6-cell battery (around 3 hours). The 8-cell battery can get about 5 hours of battery life, but it juts out the bottom of the chassis and that's not a good feature for a tablet IMO.
At present, I don't know that there's much more to be said. If HP offered to send one, I'd look at it, but they haven't sent much of anything to us (the HP Mini 311 came direct from NVIDIA).
Mk4ever - Monday, December 7, 2009 - link
All the points you mentioned are absolutely valid. I'll add some points from my experience.I decided to get a small notebook with good IGP a bit more than a year ago. My best option was a ATI 3200 IGP, and I wanted a 12' notebook max. My only option at the time was HP tx2510us. It was a tablet. I didn't like that fact, but it was my only option. It was offered for around $950 back then.
The tablet part turned out to be a great bonus indeed, that I can not overlook in a future purchase. I still rarely use the touch, but it is really useful when using Adobe Illustrator, and for commenting on word documents or solving math problems without a calc (to train my lazy brain) or taking notes. Also flipping the screen alone adds to the portability of the PC, as you can handle it easier when you are standing up or walking, or even wanna read a pdf or a file like how you would hold a book while reading.
The thing is, for the price, the flipping screen and the touch part can be considered as a free bonus. It can be really useful. If you don't like it, simply don't use it, and it is still a great notebook.
I agree with the abysmal battery life, but to tell the truth, and from my experience, it is in line with what most low/midrange laptop batteries offer. And my battery life saw an improvement with Win7.
The HP tx series is popular. When my friend got me my tablet (I live in Middle east where the model wasn't available, he bought it for me from Circuit City or Wall Mart I guess), he told me he saw 2 other people buying the same tablet at that moment. Reviews of how convenient it is for guys in colleges fill the internet. They like the portability of it with the screen flipped to take notes during lectures.
Also, HP tx2 series is especially interesting to review for 2 reasons: One of the few that support multi-touch ( Windows 7 finally supports that feature, and I guess it's worth reviewing this feature on a Technology website, whether it's bad or good, so we know what to expect), and because it has an AMD Turion Ultra, which I haven't seen reveiwed on Anadtech ( it should at least be compared to regular Turions, to test energy savings and battery performance claims to say the least, don't you think?)
I hope you will consider reviewing an HP tx2, if you get the chance.
JarredWalton - Monday, December 7, 2009 - link
Thanks for the feedback. Multi-touch on tablet might make it more useful, though I honestly don't like the idea of touching my screen... fingerprints, bad! :) I've actually tried (several times) to get a laptop with a Turion Ultra. Now I'm looking for Turion II Ultra. I'm hoping AMD can help out, but HP I think is one of the few currently making laptops with Turion II Ultra CPUs, and the big OEM thing can be a problem. We'll keep at it, though....MrMom - Sunday, December 6, 2009 - link
Any matte screens available for under $1k? All this glossiness makes my head hurt!IlllI - Monday, December 7, 2009 - link
here http://www.photodon.com/c/Standard-Custom-Sizes.ht...">http://www.photodon.com/c/Standard-Custom-Sizes.ht...don't limit your options just b/c of the screen