Comments on: Quick Pricing Update: Time To Pick On IBM

By: ReelSmart.com » Macs Cost More, Right? Well No Actually!

ReelSmart.com » Macs Cost More, Right? Well No Actually! — Sun, 09 Apr 2006 07:13:10 +0000

[...] Well let them read these stories from “Musings From Mars” blog where he compares Apple to Dell and IBM: of-course-macs-are-more-expensive quick-pricing-update-time-to-pick-on apple-beefs-up-imac-line-widens-price dont-all-computers-need-help-desk-guy [...]

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Gary,

The prices for Dell fluctuate wildly. You should never have to pay list, they're always running "deals". They change them every week.

I got a decent system for my sister-in-law last december. It is not a firebreather, but it will nicely do what an average home user would want. It came with software, but I change them out to openoffice & firefox, which is about all they will use.

Here are the specs for the system:

Order detail - order placed 2004-11-26 10:32:53
Dimension 3000
IntelÂ® PentiumÂ® 4 Processor (2.80GHz, 533 FSB), MicrosoftÂ® WindowsÂ® XP Home Edition Qty: 1
Unit Price: $629.00
Dell Dimension 3000 Series IntelÂ® PentiumÂ® 4 Processor (2.80GHz, 533 FSB)
Memory 512MB Dual Channel DDR SDRAM at 400MHz
Keyboard and Mouse Bundles Dell Quietkey Keyboard and Dell 2-button Scroll Mouse
Monitors FREE UPGRADE! 15 in (15.0 in viewable) E153FP Flat Panel Display
Video Card Integrated IntelÂ® Extreme Graphics 2
Hard Drive 40GB Ultra ATA/100 7200RPM Hard Drive
Floppy Drives and Additional Storage Devices 3.5 in Floppy Drive
Operating System MicrosoftÂ® WindowsÂ® XP Home Edition
Mouse Mouse included with Keyboard purchase
Network Interface Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
Modem 56K PCI Data/Fax Modem
Document Management AdobeÂ® AcrobatÂ® Reader 6.0
CD or DVD Drive Single Drive: 16X DVD-ROM Drive
Sound Card Integrated Audio
Speakers No Speaker Option
Productivity Software WordPerfectÂ®, Powerful Word Processing
Security Software No Security Subscription
Digital Music Dell Jukebox - easy-to-use music player and CD burning software
Digital Photography Dell Picture Studio, Paint Shop Pro Trial, Photo Album Starter Edition
Limited Warranty, Services and Support Options 90 Day Warranty, 90 Day At-Home Service, and 1Yr Technical Support

Internet Access Services 6 Months of America Online Membership Included

Dell Home Customers: Save 10% off the Dell Dimension 3000!
Expires on 2004-12-02 05:59:59 - $62.90

Dell 720 Color Printer
Free Dell Color Printer 720 Qty: 1
Unit Price: $0.00
Dell Color Printer 720 Free Dell Color Printer 720

Hardware Support Services 1Yr Ltd. Warranty , 1 yrTechnical Support , 1 yr Advance Exchange

ADDITIONAL DISCOUNTS AND COUPONS

Dell Home Customers: FREE 3-5 day shipping with purchase of ANY new Dell Home System! Limited time offer.
Expires on 2004-12-23 06:00:00 - $99.00

Sub-Total $554.70
Shipping Discount -$99.00
Shipping $0.00
Tax $9.72
Total $564.42

I'm not a dell employee or any relation to a dell employee that I know of.

I'm not knocking Apple, I would like to get one someday, but just using price as a comparison, pc's are cheaper.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Leland,

I don’t know why I called you Gary. Sorry.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

So now the graphic card is importent. But it is ok to compare an fx5200 to a quadro in your professional system?

the intel extreme integrated is bad, but it is still a real gpu.

And what is you supposed to do with that professional system, calculating pi? it got bad graphics, tiny hd, to little ram.

You are still off on the cpu, put in dual xeons 3GHz or a p4 3.8

By: Kriz

Kriz — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Since you list a free carrying case and mouse as a bonus for the IBM you should mention that you can get these same kind of deals from most Mac catalog places when you order, and since Mac’s are available from them at the same prices as from Apple it shouldn’t hurt your comparison much to mention that (albeit you can’t do as much configuring from catalog’s as you can with Apple).

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

take a look at HP laptops next time

here you got an hp zv6000 for $1099 ($1049 with mail in coupon), thats cheaper then your ibook but it outperforms the powerbook for 1,999

Hardware:
Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Home
AMD Athlon(TM) 64 3200+
15.4" WXGA Widescreen
Graphics Card 128MB ATI RADEON(R) XPRESS 200M w/Hypermemory
512MB DDR SDRAM
80 GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive
DVD+/-RW/R & CD-RW Combo w/Double Layer Support
802.11b/g WLAN

Software:
HP ImageZone Plus
Symantec Norton Antivirus 2005 (includes 60 days of complimentary live updates)
InterVideoÂ® WinDVDÂ® 5.x (select models)
Muveeâ„¢ AutoProducer DVD Edition 3.0
InterVideoÂ® WinDVDÂ® Creator 2.x Sonic RecordNow 7.x
MicrosoftÂ® Works 8.0
MicrosoftÂ® Money 2005

By: Leland Scott

Leland Scott — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

That HP is indeed a good deal. When I went to the HP store today, though, I didn’t see any of that software bundled with the product. The only thing it came with was HP ImageZone Plus, and I had the option to purchase Microsoft Works and the Antivirus software. There wasn’t even an option to purchase the rest. The system you purchased is priced at $1,232 (after discount) from HP, without all the extra software you have.

The key here is the AMD processor, which is more powerful than what Intel offers but much less expensive. Dell seems to rely on Intel almost exclusively for their consumer products.

Apple is definitely vulnerable in their laptop line at the moment, because that line is several years old and needs to be updated to the new G5 chip. Once that happens, Apple notebooks will be able to beat any of the PC vendors, I predict. Because other than the processor (which also requires the faster graphics card by the way–I couldn’t configure the system without going up the 128mb card), that system looks more like an iBook than a Powerbook, and you can get an iBook for less than that, when you fully account for the differences including software.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

About the software for the hp, if you click on the spec button you will get a listing with software that are included, you cant choose if you want the software or not.

I just looked at the price today again and its still $1,099 without the mail in coupon. You get an instant $200 rebate.

the powerbook have the looks going for it comparing it to the zv6000, and that is probably a big reason ppl buy macs, they are pretty. But its rather hard to validate a purchase of a mac only looking at the specs. If you factor in the much better look and build quality of the macs it might be worth to shell out some more money.