Comments on: How They Compare: Dell Studio 15 vs. 15” MacBook Pro

By: peter

peter — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 15:10:27 +0000

hi keith thanks for the review. I have been a pc user for years together now, `i have used a dell laptop too. After trying linux and lately mbp, I have just fallen in love with the mbp.
since this article speak the hardware perspective, I would like to share my experience in that field. I have found that apple use the best quality products to assemble a mbp, whereas I cannot say much for the other brands as they are cost concious, I agree features wise the other brands may have a lot to offer, but the unix platform of mbp and the beautiful osx is the ultimate in operating systems… i have been using the mbp for quite sometime now i don’t feel the need to go back to a pc at all. the simple reason being. viruses, trojans, spyware,malware etc….. the issues which never cropped up in a mbp.
whats the point of having the best hardware when the os gives up on you.

By: Shruti

Shruti — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 07:13:23 +0000

Hi Keith

I was quite sure that I’d buy Studio 15 and really liked your review.
I’d be using studio 15/ MBP for video editing mostly. My concern is I really don’t know which one to go for. I haven’t used Mac before.

By: shahveer

shahveer — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 07:01:36 +0000

greetingz keith
im a music producer from india / bombay.i am using cubase 4 with shit loads of vst and my hardware synths etc ….which laptop according to you would best suit my purpose ?? my choices are with – dell studio 1558 (i5 , 4gb ram) , hp dv6 (i5,3gb ram) or sony viao (same config as above) i need a fast and stable machine also keeping in mind the value for money factor
awaiting ur reply
thanx in advance
shahveer / spiral

By: daniel

daniel — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 16:46:20 +0000

I think that the problem in analyzing dells is that mostly no one has the same computer, each one has been personalized, instead there is only a few mac versions. I believe that a dell can perform as good or better now with the i7 quad core that is not available on mac for way less the price.

By: Merton

Merton — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 01:33:25 +0000

How much was the MBP and how much was the final price of the Dell Studio 15 after upgading?…

i guess that the studio (fully upgraded to match the MBP) was cheaper by at least a 100 bucks

By: single threaded tartiflet

single threaded tartiflet — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 20:53:25 +0000

I have a Studio 17 (P8400, 4GB RAM, 5400rpmhd blabla bla bla) and it’s such a dreadfull machine. It’s painly slow. In fact it’s Vista that’s slow. But never the less, it’s not a nice combo.

Mac’s are way cooler, faster, nicer.

By: Keith Hobin

Keith Hobin — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 20:01:10 +0000

Mikey: I think both the MBP and Dell Studio like would be good options for you. The final decision would come down to the price point and if you prefer the mac or widows OS. If your looking to save some cash, the Dell Inspiron line might be something to look at. If you take that $630 model and upgrade the graphics card and the wireless card to N, it should be a decent computer for you. Oh. And in the example you presented (assuming they are the same processes line, just running at different clock speeds), you should get better performance from the 2.66 GHz processor with 4 GB of DDR2. If you had said 6 GB of DDR3 (3 2GB sticks of ram), with a Core i7, then of course that would get the best performance.

By: Mikey

Mikey — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 06:50:10 +0000

Hey Keith,
I am a student in high school and looking to buy either a Mac book pro or a Dell studio 15. I might even use this for university. I am not gonna be hardcore gaming, but certainly for normal gaming. Definitely MS word, surfing, downloading movies, music, videos, etc. Any recommendations?

Also which would perform better 2.4GHz with DDR3 3GB OR 2.66GHz with DDR2 4GB?

By: Keith Hobin

Keith Hobin — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 02:30:28 +0000

Ben: Sounds like both of thoese are a bit overkill (at least my Dell Studio config) and overpriced for want you want to do.

Have you looked at netbooks? If your committed to Dell, look at the Dell mini 10. The mini 10 starts at $299 (but you would have to step up to the model that starts at $349 to have the ability to get a built in webcam).

Other netbooks to look at is the HP mini 1000 and Asus has a buch of netbooks too.

Hope this helps!

By: Ben

Ben — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 02:22:11 +0000

Hi Keith,
I am still not decided if I will get a mac book or a dell studio laptop. I will be using it for word processing, video chatting and online banking. Any recommendation?

By: Keith Hobin

Keith Hobin — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 02:42:16 +0000

Hi Morales,
I am very happy with my studio. I don’t have any major problems with it. The one thing that annoys me a lot is that sometimes it does not wake up from sleep immediately, specially if it was hibernated for a long period. What happens is that it just has a black screen, but it is powered up and the keyboard back lights will activate if you have them turned on. The trick is to just let it sit and it will start up with no problems, bit just takes a minute, be patient. This has been reported to be a general Vista problem, so its not really the Studio 15.
Really the choice is yours, although it is easy to switch, and you can always install windows on any of the intel macs, I liked the fact that I could customize my Studio to just the way I wanted it, instead of being stuck with two configurations, and still pay more. Plus I got features like a EDVO card and biometric scanner that you can’t get on a mac.

Thanks for writing in, be sure to check out the rest of the site!

- Keith

By: Morales

Morales — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 01:22:41 +0000

Hello, Keith
I can not decided in what laptop to buy, I want to buy the Dell Studio, but many people said to go with a MBP because is so worth it, but personally the software is confusing I like the PC software better. I was reading some comments at Bestbuy.com and by the comments were not so good. Most often said they get a black light when turn on or other issues. How you had any issues with your Dell? I am also considering the MacBook 13inch.. and its is only 949.00..

By: Keith Hobin

Keith Hobin — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:31:37 +0000

Hi zura,
I’m glad to hear that my article help you out!
Good luck trying to tri-boot your studio, it’s easy enough to dual-boot unbutu (try wubi (wubi-installer.org), it makes it super easy)
Installing leopard is going to be a bit more difficult, especially finding drivers for things like the wi-fi radio and sound. Apple really does not like hacintoshes.
- Keith

By: zura1977

zura1977 — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 23:00:36 +0000

Hi Keith thank you for posting this detail review it did help me make a educated choice. At the end of my search i ended up with dell Studio 15 and the biggest reason was not the style or a price but: hdmi and fingerprint reader. However i will try to have this pc run in a dual boot with mac osx leopard and Ubuntu. ilife 09 is just too good.

By: Jun101ph

Jun101ph — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 10:54:57 +0000

Hi! I just ordered my Studio 15 yesterday. I am really excited to receive it soon

By: Trevor

Trevor — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 12:55:31 +0000

Im waiting on my studio 15 to arrive look like a nice machine.

By: ryan

ryan — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:57:01 +0000

the studio 15 is the best, i am still waiting for mines to ship

By: Hunt

Hunt — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 05:01:51 +0000

There is nothing wrong with a good Dell, the only problem people run into them is when they buy a $400 laptop and expect it to perform and last as long as their next-door neighbor’s $1200 XPS. My family has had a great desktop for six years now that has worked wonderfully. Vista isn’t a bad workhorse, and its better than XP in most regards. I still prefer Leopard for all of my media and main computing, but its nice to have Vista when I really need to get work done because I leave all my music, movies, and podcasts off the less fun operating system so I can focus a little more on that lab report or english essay. Oh, by the way, I actually have the high-end white Macbook, not a Macbook Pro. I am a student so I could not afford a Pro or and could not justify the black finish. I am perfectly content now because it is a nice feeling to be the only Mac user in a programming class and have the only laptop that can actually code out of the box (Thanks to XCode). The white makes that statement that “I’m have a Mac user and I’m not ashamed to show it off”.

By: Keith Hobin

Keith Hobin — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 21:52:57 +0000

Matt,
that’s great, i understand that people do switch, and that Apples do support more operating system (Well, at least with ease). But this articles focus was on the hardware.

Jay, thank you very much, thay is the whole reason i have gone with Dell for a while now, It just offers a level of customization that other manufactures like HP, Sony, and Lenevo don’t offer. Its also why i have never bought a computer in store and always by mail (during the dial up days) or most commonly, the internet.

By: Matt Williamson

Matt Williamson — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 21:07:48 +0000

Hey Keith, good article. My only comment would be that there are PC people and then there are Mac people, sometimes you convert PC guys to Mac carriers, but not really the other way around.

I was a PC guy for a long time, now that I am on a MBP though, I am sold. Real UNIX in my laptop, with Leopard and also the ability to run XP or Vista natively too? Awesomeness.