Apple's 4th Intel-powered Mac - a 17in laptop at £2K

[hardflipman]

i used the dell 1920x1080 and it's fine if a little small. interestingly it comes standard with the dpi setting set to increase font size to make it easier to read.
it's strange though, i use a 14" laptop at work with 1400x1050 and i find it's absolutely fine. but i can't run that resolution on my 19" crt at home. just seems a bit small...

another thing to bear in mind when doing the price comparisons is the software you get with the mac - definitely a better set of apps than the dell

[Bob Crabtree]

i used the dell 1920x1080 and it's fine if a little small. interestingly it comes standard with the dpi setting set to increase font size to make it easier to read.

Ah, right - that's an option I'd not remember, despite, not too long ago making just such a tweak for a mate who wasn't comfortable with the font size on his 19in LCD.

it's strange though, i use a 14" laptop at work with 1400x1050 and i find it's absolutely fine. but i can't run that resolution on my 19" crt at home. just seems a bit small...

Eek! Anyone able to explain why that might be the case?

another thing to bear in mind when doing the price comparisons is the software you get with the mac - definitely a better set of apps than the dell

That's true - but I thought I'd let someone else make the point, just in case it appears I was a bit too enamoured with the Mac. No one mentioned the built-in web cam as a difference, yet, but when you can buy decent enough web cams for Windows for under £20, that's not such a big factor.

[kempez]

Mac OSX and the iLife apps are great it has to be said. But then Open source apps for the PC are soo good nowadays that practically all of the "essential" programs I use are opensource. Like replacing Office with OpenOffice, Fireworks/Photoshop with The Gimp...the list goes on. Just a point I thought I'd make for us techies

But yes for your average user that has a Mac they will be happy with all of the "iApplications". Mac OSX is pretty seamless imo if a little strange at first impression for a windows user. Add to that fact *maybe* the average user being able to set up windows and you have a decent combo. Though I'm still in two minds as to whether someone who needed the power of either of these two laptops would find it easier to buy and use the Dell or Apple...hmmmm