I need a new laptop. Instead of buying one, I bought two and decided to live with each for a week or so and then decide which one would become *my* laptop. The two candidates are a Dell Inspiron XPS M1210 and an Apple MacBook. They both have the same core specs, same glossy monitor size, about the same weight. The Dell is running Vista and the Mac OS X 10.4.8 Tiger.

The following "review" is broken into two parts: Part One: the main things the laptop needs to do for me, and Part Two: the main things I have to do while using the laptop. So, without any further blabbering...

Part One: The main things the laptop needs to do for me are:
1) Work well for my life/work style.
2) Have good battery life and overal good laptop-ness.
3) Be relatively lightweight when traveling.
4) Be towards the top of the performance curve for current laptop technology so it's as snappy as possible but not be too expensive.
5) Have enough and the right kinds of holes to plug into the stuff I have.
6) Have an operating system that is easy and fast to use.

Part Two: The main things I have to do while using the laptop are:
1) Check my email with Thunderbird/IMAP.
2) Surf the web with Firefox.
3) Instant message on a few different networks.
4) Manage a bunch of digital pictures and email and/or upload them.
5) Manage a bunch of MP3s and put them on an iPod nano.
6) RDC into any number of computers I use for my work.
7) Run virtual machines so I can develop/test various solutions under various operating systems.
8) Do a little gaming.

Part One: The main things the laptop needs to do for me.

1) Work well for my life/work style.
I work with computer systems at work, and have plenty of geeky stuff at home as well. In our household we use computers for almost everything. My wife and I each have our own logins on a high-end Windows XP computer. It's a great machine for gaming as well as everything my wife does including VPN and RDC to her work computer. Another computer in the living room is plugged into the TV and we use it to show photos, watch movies, play music, etc. At work I use a very high-end workstation with dual monitors, Windows XP, and manage multiple networks, servers, services, operating systems.

My laptop is used both at work and at home, and not always just by me. My wife may use it on the couch, or we may pull up a recipe on it in the kitchen, sometimes a little in-bed research and even a little email from the "office" ;).

The majority of what I need to do for work is email, web, IM, and Remote Desktop. I use Thunderbird, Firefox, and Gaim mainly because they accomplish all my needs and then some, and especially because they make it a breeze to transfer all my accounts/settings from computer to computer simply by just moving the profile folder. As a result I have basically the exact same email/web/IM setup on my work, home, and other computers.

This is a good time to note why I dislike IE and Outlook. It's a PITA to transfer configs/customizations to another computer.

Other than that, I use Remote Desktop to remotely login to my computer at work, or computers on any number of networks I work with. Using RDC I can print my timesheet to our finance office printer, I can add and manage user accounts, SSH into LAN-only servers, and get all my work done.

At work my laptop is often not used, sometimes it sits in the bag all day. Other times I use it to test stuff or take into a meeting. When I travel, I rely on it heavily to watch movies on the plane, login from the hotel room, give presentations, do work, and sniff packets in airports (just kidding).

2) Have good battery life and overall good laptop-ness.

The Mac wins the battery life test over the Dell. Its battery holds power longer and gave me more bang for my buck. The Inspiron was a bit lighter than the MacBook with it's regular battery. Both laptops I purchased with secondary batteries, the Dell's having extra capacity than its primary. I swapped out batteries on the Inspiron fairly often, but it seems working around the house the MacBook always made it back to the power adapter before dying. Perhaps it's the nifty magnetic plug. In addition it seems when left to sleep or hibernate, the Mac would often wake up with a decent charge left while the Dell would be nearly depleted. My biggest complaint about the MacBook battery is the mechanism used to remove it: easy if you have a coin or other suitable device handy, but not so easy if all you have is your fingernail.

The MacBook and OS X overall dealt with energy more elegantly. From dimming the screen, to the energy control panel, to going to sleep and waking up, the MacBook was just better. My sense is the Apple product has better and more integrated quality control through all its components and software.

In general the MacBook is a more pleasant laptop to work with and has much better laptop-ness. Both have glossy screens, but the Mac's feels brighter and sharper. Both have trackpads but the Mac's is configurable to perform scrolling and right-clicking just by using the single pad. The MacBook doesn't look complicated and has nice and easy lines.

3) Be relatively lightweight when traveling.

Including power adapter, extra batteries, and accessories both laptops fit and rode in my Timbuk2 shoulder bag very nicely. The Inspiron being more square and bulky was easier to grab and fit on the airplane tray. The MacBook, being so glossy, made me want to use use two hands when moving it around. Also the all-white MacBook showed dirt much more than the silver/black Inspiron M1210.

4) Be towards the top of the performance curve for current laptop technology so it's as snappy as possible but not be too expensive.

Here are the specs of the two:

Apple MacBook

• 13" Glossy Screen
• CPU: 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• RAM: 2 GB DDR2 SDRAM
• Video: Intel GMA 950
• HDD: 80GB 5400 RPM
• DVDRW: Yes
• Mouse: Apple Mighty Wireless
• Extra Battery: Yes, w/ same capacity
• Extra Power Adapter: Yes
• Mini-DVI to DVI-D, VGA, S-Video adapters
• Software: Parallels
• Warranty: 1 Year
• Cost*: $2,055.95

Dell Inspiron XPS M1210

• 12" Glossy Screen
• CPU: 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• RAM: 2 GB DDR2 SDRAM
• Video: 256MB GeForce Go 7400
• HDD: 80GB 5400 RPM
• DVDRW: Yes
• Mouse: Dell Wireless
• Extra Battery: Yes w/ 3X capacity
• Extra Power Adapter: Yes
• Warranty: 3 year with Accidental Damage Protection
• Cost*: $1,989.56

*Note that the costs above reflect the educational discount my agency receives.

Both laptops have the built-in camera, although the Inspiron's can be rotated to face out.

Neither laptop lid uses a latch with release button. The MacBook has a handy recess below the trackpad button for you to get a hold of the lid to lift up, but the Inspiron has a lip that juts out above the camera. The end result is you put your thumb on the camera more often with the Inspiron than the MacBook.

Cost-wise the Dell is the better bargain with the better video adapter, the warranty, and more free software.

5) Have enough and the right kinds of holes to plug into the stuff I have.

With the original purchase I included the Apple "Mini-DVI to DVI" adapter which I assumed would allow me to connect to any DVI cable. Wrong. It only works for DVI-D cables, not DVI-I. The difference is the "I" cables have some extra pins for analog VGA signal, which is handy because you never know what you're going to want to plug into. So I had to go and buy the Mini-DVI to VGA adapter which lets me plug into VGA projectors, but I can only plug into DVI projectors if they are DVI-D. This is a significant PITA and exactly the kind of thing that burnt me out on Apples 8 years ago. A standard DVI-I dual link port is only twice the size of Apple's proprietary Mini-DVI port, and the argument that the Mini-DVI saves space is ridiculous since on that side of the MacBook there's at least two inches of unused space. The Inspiron has a standard VGA port on it. The Inspiron also has four USB ports, two on each side, whereas the MacBook only two.

6) Have an operating system that is easy and fast to use.

The Inspiron XPS M1210 came with Windows XP, but I had a copy of Vista Business I installed clean. Dell hasn't released any drivers for Vista yet, so the M1210 is "Windows Vista Capable". The install went fine and everything worked with the built-in drivers. The laptop scored a 3.4 in the Windows Experience Index.

The Inspiron XPS M1210 came with Windows XP, but I had a copy of Vista Business I installed clean. Dell hasn't released any drivers for Vista yet, so the M1210 is "Windows Vista Capable". The install went fine and everything worked with the built-in drivers. The laptop scored a 3.4 in the Windows Experience Index.Vista has a number of improvements over XP, the main one in my opinion is the file navigation window. They've revamped it so now it's much easier to navigate folder hierarchies and get to where stuff is saved. Everything else isn't very noteworthy. The propaganda that splashed on the screen during the install talked about an "easier to use operating system" but so far it seems more complicated. The control panel and other screens are very text-heavy and there are lots of options everywhere, making it both difficult to find the particular option you're after, and frustrating when you can't find it.

The Mac OS X 10.4.8 has it's own quirks and clugs but in general is more pleasant to use. I can find things quicker, open them quicker, and navigate quicker. The Dashboard and Expose make navigating a breeze. Visually the Mac is more fun to use and customize.

The MacBook boots up faster, gives me the login prompt sooner, and gets me logged in to the desktop sooner. The Inspiron on the other-hand launches applications quicker and doesn't seem to bog down as much when running 5, 6, 7 or more programs. Under heavy multi-tasking load the MacBook creeps.

There are nits and picks as well as features you'll just love in both operating systems. They're so complex there's room for all kinds of responses and it really depends on a person's personality. The Mac is simple, elegant, and direct. Windows is more complicated, potentially more frustrating, but invariably more powerful. Myself, I prefer the look and feel, and the overall navigation of the Mac more than Vista.

Part Two: The main things I have to do while using the laptop

1) Check my email.

After installing Thunderbird and copying the profile folder over to the Inspiron, voila there are all my email and settings, just as I expected. The same is true for the MacBook although I got errors when I launched Thunderbird with the new profile and it took me a bit to figure out I had to change the security settings on the copied profile files so I had read/write access.

2) Surf the web with Firefox.

For Firefox, after installing, copying the profile files over, and setting the security it initially worked as expected but then began to crash fairly regularly. So I trashed the profiles folder and its run nice and solid ever since. I'll just have to try to remember/recreate all those cookies, saved passwords, URLs, bookmarks, and settings.

In both Vista and Tiger I had to hunt a bit to find the correct profiles folder location. In Vista, the Documents & Settings folder layout has changed a bit and it took me a while to figure out that I had to put things in the "Roaming" folder (why it's named that I have no idea). In OS X I found the profile folders in my Libary folder.

3) Instant message on a few different networks.

In Vista, I installed Gaim, copied my profile over, and I was in business with all my networks and account settings (as well as the familiar Gaim interface). On the Mac, there is no native version of Gaim. There is a ported version via darwinports.com but I didn't want to wrastle with the installation procedure. Instead I took some Mac fanboy advice and installed Adium. After creating the settings for my various networks (Yahoo, MSN, ICQ, and multiple Jabbers) I was up and running. The Adium interface is much nicer than Gaim with better sounds and better notification. Overall, I wish Adium was available for Windows! I haven't checked on how and where it stores its profile, but at this point I'm not concerned about moving my Adium config to another Mac.

4) Manage a bunch of digital pictures and email and/or upload them.

Picasa works great in Vista, and seamlessly lets me use either my Gmail or Thunderbird for sending many pictures in one email. I can also drag-and-drop straight out of Picasa onto my SmugMug Java uploader. Picasa is the best application for managing lots of photos I've ever used (we have over 9,000 in our household library).

Unfortunately, there is no Picasa for Mac. The bundled software, iPhoto, at first appears excellent. It allows me to manage all my photos, retouch, etc, much the same way Picasa works. The iPhoto interface is nice and shnazzy and I was excited about it until I went to email some pictures, and that's where it fell short. iPhoto wants to use Mail or Entourage to email stuff, but I want to use Thunderbird or Gmail, why can't I? The iPhoto options don't allow for Thunderbird or Gmail like Picasa, and there don't seem to be any good workarounds. So I took the time and configured Apple's mailer for use just when emailing photos, I added both my work and Gmail accounts and told it to never retrieve email and never remove messages from the server. Then I practiced sending some pictures. Sending a single picture worked fine, but multiple pictures the recipient only got a huge page of gobbleygook. Somewhere along the line the encoding got messed up and after spending almost two hours on just this one feature I decided to just give up. I must say I'm very surprised, the Mac being touted as a computer for artists and designers.

5) Manage a bunch of MP3s and put them on an iPod nano.

In Vista, I use a software program called Ephpod which allows me to drag-and-drop songs to the iPod without having to worry about associating it with one computer or having my folder structure get mangled. For the Mac I decided to give YamiPod a try and found it to be just perfect. It lets me move songs to and from the iPod with no hassle, no frills. Exactly what I wanted.

6) RDC into any number of computers I use for my work.
The new version of RDC in Vista (also available in XP via Windows Update) works even better than the previous version. Fortunately there's a version of RDC that works on the MacBook. One big glitch in the Mac version, though, is that I couldn't launch multiple instances of RDC without making multiple copies of the binary file. And even worse, it seemed under heavy use the RDC program on the Mac starting acting funky, not responding, and exhibiting otherwise flaky behavior.

7) Run virtual machines so I can develop/test various solutions under various operating systems.

In Vista I installed VMware Server. This free software is so wonderful I can't stop drooling about it. I have virtual machines for Debian, Redhat, Ubuntu, IPCop, Windows 2003, Windows 2000, and many other systems I support and develop for. I can basically run an entire development lab on one computer. The only limitation is RAM, and with 2GB there's plenty.

For the MacBook, I purchased Parallels which appears to function much the same way VMWare does. The features are nearly identical, although Parallels affords a bit more option for sizing and resizing virtual disk images. When installing Ubuntu Dapper Server in Parallels I ran into a hitch. And with Edgy it had a similar problem and the switching between full-screen VM and windowed was buggy. After a little research my Dapper Server issue was resolved, and serves as a good reminder that contrary to the cheeky Apple commercials (with Justin Long), things don't really "just work". Fortunately the Mac community is plenty active and chances are if the issue isn't too rare there will be a post about it on some blog or forum somewhere. In regards to VMs, things "just worked" a lot more for me using Vista and VMWare.

I also gave Apple's Bootcamp a try. Even though in beta this worked flawlessly. The MacBook now dual-boots Tiger and XP. In XP, the Mac driver disk worked great and everything is functional and quick. Now I can at least use Picasa without have having to stuff it through an emulator. On the other side of the coin, the Apple license won't let me install Mac OS on the Dell.

8) Do a little gaming.

My main rig at home is a gaming monster with excellent 3D graphics, so I don't need much from my laptop gaming-wise, but it's nice while traveling to be able to do a lil' fragging or play some Texas Hold 'Em. I was able to install and play Battlefield 2142 in Vista at modest quality settings with no problem on the Inspiron. This was a pleasant surprise, as I've never owned a laptop with such a decent video card. The MacBook comes with some built-in games, and from what I know about the video chipset and its shared memory it's not even worth trying to run any 3D games. So, on the Mac it looks like I'm stuck with Big Bang Board Games. Weee.

Summary

The Dell Inspiron XPS M1210 is a great little laptop. Even without Dell releasing any Vista drivers for it, Vista works great. It out-performs the MacBook in all my observations and runs the applications I need much better (VMWare, RDC). The MacBook, on the other hand, feels a bit slower, but is a pleasure to use, and often I've found myself overlooking the bummers just because the Mac OS is so refreshing. The MacBook is also the better physical laptop - the layout of the buttons, etc is just more appealing (except for the ridiculous "mini-DVI" port). Also because the Mac is so superior with power management, I found myself just closing the lid and then being able to almost instantly resume working hours later, whereas the Dell laptop I did more shutting down and booting up.

Recommendation

If you're on a budget, and need something that "just works" and does so for as long as possible, then get the Dell with the Accidental Damage Warranty. Comparable insurance on the MacBook would run another $300 but with the Dell it's factored into the costs I listed above. I would especially recommend this for families or students. Apple has a strong showing in schools, but in my experience kids will learn anything and chances are Windows is what they'll have to deal with in the real world.

If you absolutely must have the Mac OS then the MacBook is a great choice. Just don't spill chili on it or let your baby drool all over it. But be aware, that even though the learning curve for Windows XP or Vista may be a bit steeper than the Mac OS's, you'll enjoy a far broader range of available peripherals (printers, scanners, camers), software, and user groups in the Windows world. That being the case, it seems the few Mac components tend to be of higher quality.

If you're a technical person like me, then the Mac is also a great choice for you. You can enjoy the best of all worlds, especially with Boot Camp. Granted, for my needs the Mac is a little more hassle, but I find the pay-off is worth it just to be using such a nice operating system.

And so my choice? The MacBook. Congratulations Apple, you won me back over.