Dell XPS 13 9370 vs. Apple's 13-inch MacBook Pro, the ultimate comparison

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Comments

  • Reply 41 of 116
    CinthetykCinthetyk Posts: 1member
    I can't say that I'm a fanboy of any specific computing ecosystem, but I certainly can say that this thread doesn't do Apple any favors. A few of you are objective, rational people who think for themselves, so for that I applaud you.

    On the topic of the actual article, I realized that I seem to be in the minority of hating the MBP touchpad. I'm also not a big fan of the XPS keyboard. Odd.
    bvzKITA
  • Reply 42 of 116
    cgWerkscgWerks Posts: 2,952member
    Soli said:
    3) This Dell is thinner than the MBP, but according to certain posters here Apple only cares about thinness. Maybe they need to rethink that and realize Apple tries to make the best machine they can for a given price range, performance, and utility, which is why components, like the speakers, are usable.
    If that Dell ran macOS... sold!
    I sure hope Apple can come close to matching what Dell has done in June.
    It looks like a good keyboard can be put into a thin laptop then. I guess I stand corrected. :wink:
    tht said:
    Apple are letting retailers have big sales because there are trying to clear inventories for the laptop updates coming this summer.

    Haven't they been having those sales for a year or so now?
    edited May 2018
  • Reply 43 of 116
    cgWerkscgWerks Posts: 2,952member
    sflocal said:
    Windows is the standard at businesses.  That’s not going to change anytime soon.  The admin at a shop I consult with blew a gasket when I wanted to use my Mac on their network.  Now, more folks are doing it, he’s being ordered to allow it, and guess which users have almost zero issues?

    i think he fears that Macs threaten his job security.
    Most of them like that just hate Macs, and couldn't even tell you why. They aren't even aware Macs are easier to take care of, so it isn't a job security thing. It's an ignorance thing.

    “If Dell were to improve the trackpad, speakers, and display brightness, the XPS 13 would be a near perfect product.”

    Those are some pretty big caveats.  Three elements of the machine that are major user interaction points. Dell wins, in the author’s view, on the keyboard.  Fair enough.  Oh, and I’m guessing you’d want the webcam position changed too if you’re talking about turning it into a near perfect laptop.  And the display color accuracy and viewing angles and resolution.  And maybe the bloatware removed and the OS swapped out.  But other than that list of major elements... lol
    And, it has more ports (with better integration), smaller trackpad, better keyboard, better CPU, etc. If I could pick and choose what I like best from each, that would be great. But I think the Dell wins overall, IMO, despite it's shortcomings (if it weren't for Windows). The shortcomings of the Mac are just too much.

    semisolid said:
    The camera location sucks, just sucks.  I video for hours every day and hate the location. I can't even sneak in some typing while on video because my fingers will dominate the view.
    I agree there, but unless you have to web-cam with laptop only, I'd use a real web-cam anyway. The built-ins kind of suck in either case, though the Apple one is better positioned.
    bvz
  • Reply 44 of 116
    bluefire1bluefire1 Posts: 1,301member
    Ever use Dell customer support?
    Exactly. I'm sticking with my MacBook Pro
    dewmewatto_cobra
  • Reply 45 of 116
    cgWerkscgWerks Posts: 2,952member
    bluefire1 said:
    Ever use Dell customer support?
    Exactly. I'm sticking with my MacBook Pro
    Oh, I'm no big fan of Dell. It's more an indicator of just how far Apple has fallen.
    If Apple were still on their game, there wouldn't be a point to such articles and we Mac people wouldn't be looking with envy at PCs.
  • Reply 46 of 116
    croprcropr Posts: 1,122member
    I founded in 2012 a software development company and in the company we have both Macbook Pro (13" and 15") and Dell XPS (13" and 15") as standard machines for the developers, so I have a pretty good view on the pros and cons of both machines.   All Dell XPS 13" machines are Ubuntu pre-installed, Dell XPS 15" comes always pre-installed with Windows, but the first thing we do is to install Ubuntu on it.

    I think the article is pretty good written without a lot of bias (this is not always the case).

    In my experience Dell has a clearly better keyboard (like the old MBP) and is faster.  MBP has a clearly better trackpad and a better webcam.  About equal is screen, build quality and battery

    The same applies for the OS.  MacOS is on some aspects better than Ubuntu, but on some others it is the opposite.  Most tools my developers use, run on both platforms. The Adobe Creative Cloud and Sketch are essential apps for my designers and are not available on Ubuntu, so my graphical artists have a Mac.  My developers agree that Dolphin, the KDE based file manager on Ubuntu is significantly better that Finder on macOS.  Maybe it is time Apple spend some time on Finder.   The cloud services we develop run on Ubuntu servers and here Ubuntu on the Dell XPS has an advantage. On a Mac we could use solutions like Vagrant, but this results in a performance hit. 

    Some Dell XPS configurations can be upgraded, which is an asset.

    In terms of hardware failures the Dell XPS machines had less failures that the MBP  (the weak connector of the MagSafe adapter in the older MBP is the culprit for the difference).   However in case your laptop needs to be serviced by a technician, Apple has a much better support network that reacts faster.

    A starter configuration the Dell is about 20% cheaper.  This difference increases  to 35% if we opt for maxed out configurations.

    So is the price difference justified?  For graphical designers it is, for back end developers it isn't, for front end developers I am not sure.  And that's why I have both machines in my company.



    edited May 2018 columbusavon b7bvzcgWerksmuthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 47 of 116
    People try too hard to give PC laptops credit for things that obviously aren't as good. Look at the XPS design: in order to get a superficial MacBook Pro appearance with a bit less weight, they've sandwiched carbon fiber in between aluminum. Is that really the same quality of build? No. Is it really an equivalent in terms of the looks or industrial design? No. Dell also cuts a number of corners with both the display and the trackpad, which are two critical components of daily use. That's a fairly strange choice, and it appears to have been done mainly to get the overall size of the laptop to look smaller vs. a MacBook Pro. Is it really worth it? Unlikely. 
    StrangeDayswatto_cobra
  • Reply 48 of 116
    kamiltonkamilton Posts: 282member
    lkrupp said:
    For me and I bet most Apple fans it doesn’t matter if some PC laptop has more ports, is faster by a few milliseconds, has more cores or whatever. It’s always macOS vs Windows for me and I can’t imagine using that POS operating system. I bought my wife a Dell laptop with an i7 processor, good amount of RAM because the $2000.00 software package for her Bernina 830 sewing/embroidery machine only runs on Windows. The Dell has Windows 10 installed with all current updates applied and still takes almost three times longer to boot up than my 2013 iMac running High Sierra. On the Dell sometimes it can connect to the sewing machine, sometimes it won’t and the wife has to use a USB stick to move her designs onto the machine. If I won the fastest tricked out Windows PC money could buy I would sell it for whatever I could get for it and buy another Mac. End of story.
    If it ain’t a Mac... take it back!
    StrangeDayswatto_cobra
  • Reply 49 of 116
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    So Dell is MBP's biggest competitor?
    And, the Dell is comparable to the MBP?

    For me, the real story was:   "Chevrolet hardware just caught up to Porsche hardware"

    Two thoughts:
    1)   Dell is simply not in Apple's league.  If you're going to compare hardware, use a quality manufacturer like Lenovo.   That was really illustrated to me watching a recent interview of the Fed President.  The reporters were all at desks with their laptop and, with only a few exceptions, it seemed to be evenly split between MacBooks and Thinkpads.   These guys are pros who rely on their laptop for their living.   They aren't going to trust their job to a Dell or any other consumer brand.

    True, anybody can buy an Intel processor and stick it in a laptop.  But, design and build quality matters.

    2)  Comparing Apple hardware of any type to another manufacturer's is misguided -- particularly for MacBooks that use mostly off the shelf internals that anybody can buy and stuff into a case.   Anyway you look at it, laptop hardware is a commodity -- like a washing machine.   You might like this feature over that feature, but essentially they are all pretty much similar.

    Daniel did say he would compare the OS's "at a later date" -- and that's good.  Largely, it's the OS that really set the machines apart.   But it's also more than that.   The MBP provides access to the Apple ecosystem that includes ongoing security that can be trusted, support, integration with other Apple products, and other things that combine to make Apple products "just work".

    But, the article made one thing clear:   If you want a thin, light, highly portable but very powerful laptop, you will be paying well into 4 digits for it regardless of the manufacturer.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 50 of 116
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,332member
    The moral of the story here is that if you pay as much or more for a Windows PC from a decent supplier like Dell as you do for a similarly spec'd Mac you should be able to get a PC that is legitimately comparable to the Mac. This is fully what I'd expect. But time and time again we have to listen to the sad chorus of commenters and pundits claiming that Macs are "so much more expensive" than PCs and all of the "Apple Tax" BS. The reality is that the PC market is flooded with lots of low spec, horrible build quality, and low performance junk that is sold at junk level prices. Look at Dell's sales sites and you'll still see x768 displays. Go to a big box retailer and actually lay your hands on the flimsy plastic notebooks being sold at bargain prices. Apple doesn't serve the junk market that many PC vendors do. It's not a knock on PC makers either because a lot of people are adequately served by the low end stuff and as long as they understand the notion that you get what you pay for there's no reason to complain. No harm and no foul, but the price arguments against Apple have to stop and this Dell XPS is a great example of why. 
    GeorgeBMacwatto_cobra
  • Reply 51 of 116
    DAalsethDAalseth Posts: 2,783member
    wizard69 said:
    I got really pissed off with Apple and their Mac division and went out an bought an HP ENVY with the new AMD Ryzen Mobile processor. 
    I just set up a couple of HP Envy laptops for systems at work. VERY nice systems. Unfortunately our robot control software is Windows only, so I had to set them up with Win 10. But I was impressed with the hardware. 
    edited May 2018
  • Reply 52 of 116
    cescocesco Posts: 52member
    Gone are the days Apple would have 1st crack at Intel's new chips.
    cgWerks
  • Reply 53 of 116
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    cesco said:
    Gone are the days Apple would have 1st crack at Intel's new chips.
    Except for some PR for Intel with a low volume Mac Pro and a unique-to-Apple mid-cycle Intel chip in an iMac I can’t recall that ever happening.

    I think Apple needs far too many high quality units for first day sales for that to be a reality.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 54 of 116
    stanthemanstantheman Posts: 332member
    By now, this is an old story. Every year, manufacturers of Windows computers hope to overcome deficiencies in their operating system with incremental hardware updates. After 30+ years of experience with Macs, I’m happy that I didn’t accept that trade-off. Those who opted for Windows machines may have saved seconds each day on routine computing activities, while spending hundreds of minutes each year removing viruses and performing other major maintenance on their computers. Overall, neither approach can objectively be proved better than the other — but one approach (Mac) is better for me, while the other approach is better for people who have the time and energy for coping with Windows. I applaud their tenacity!
    Solimuthuk_vanalingamStrangeDayswatto_cobra
  • Reply 55 of 116
    KITAKITA Posts: 392member
    I'd be curious how something like the MateBook X Pro would fare. It has a 14" 3000x2000 display with the same brightness and color gamut as the 13" MBP. They also managed to stick a low power dGPU in there, the NVIDIA MX150 with 2 GB GDDR5.


    edited May 2018
  • Reply 56 of 116
    croprcropr Posts: 1,122member
    People try too hard to give PC laptops credit for things that obviously aren't as good. Look at the XPS design: in order to get a superficial MacBook Pro appearance with a bit less weight, they've sandwiched carbon fiber in between aluminum. Is that really the same quality of build? No. Is it really an equivalent in terms of the looks or industrial design? No. Dell also cuts a number of corners with both the display and the trackpad, which are two critical components of daily use. That's a fairly strange choice, and it appears to have been done mainly to get the overall size of the laptop to look smaller vs. a MacBook Pro. Is it really worth it? Unlikely.
    Premium tennis rackets, which endure a lot of forces during the game, are made of carbon fiber and not of aluminium, so don't say that fiber leads to a lower build quality.  Aluminium has a much better heath dissipation and that is the reason why Apple is choosing it, not because of the higher strength. 

    The screen is about equal.  There are some differences in specs, but in practice there is not much difference.  I have both of them at my desk now, and I don't see any difference.  Maybe the graphical designers in my company will notice the difference, but I don't.

    About cutting corners, Apple cut the corners in the keyboard, a vital component of a laptop.  And that is bad because Apple did  have an excellent MBP in the past.  The Dell one is just superior. 

    The trackpad of Apple is indeed better, but not exceptionally better.  The trackpad might be important for you but not for everybody.  My graphical designers use Wacom tablets and the majority of my developers  use a simple mouse


    KITAavon b7cgWerksmuthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 57 of 116
    avon b7avon b7 Posts: 7,622member
    KITA said:
    I'd be curious how something like the MateBook X Pro would fare. It has a 14" 3000x2000 display with the same brightness and color gamut as the 13" MBP. They also managed to stick a low power dGPU in there, the NVIDIA MX150 with 2 GB GDDR5.


    I think the keyboard is spillproof too! It's getting very good reviews (both keyboard and the unit as a whole). That 14" screen basically fits in the same footprint as the 13" MBP.
    edited May 2018 KITA
  • Reply 58 of 116
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    cropr said:
    People try too hard to give PC laptops credit for things that obviously aren't as good. Look at the XPS design: in order to get a superficial MacBook Pro appearance with a bit less weight, they've sandwiched carbon fiber in between aluminum. Is that really the same quality of build? No. Is it really an equivalent in terms of the looks or industrial design? No. Dell also cuts a number of corners with both the display and the trackpad, which are two critical components of daily use. That's a fairly strange choice, and it appears to have been done mainly to get the overall size of the laptop to look smaller vs. a MacBook Pro. Is it really worth it? Unlikely.
    Premium tennis rackets, which endure a lot of forces during the game, are made of carbon fiber and not of aluminium, so don't say that fiber leads to a lower build quality.  Aluminium has a much better heath dissipation and that is the reason why Apple is choosing it, not because of the higher strength. 

    The screen is about equal.  There are some differences in specs, but in practice there is not much difference.  I have both of them at my desk now, and I don't see any difference.  Maybe the graphical designers in my company will notice the difference, but I don't.

    About cutting corners, Apple cut the corners in the keyboard, a vital component of a laptop.  And that is bad because Apple did  have an excellent MBP in the past.  The Dell one is just superior. 

    The trackpad of Apple is indeed better, but not exceptionally better.  The trackpad might be important for you but not for everybody.  My graphical designers use Wacom tablets and the majority of my developers  use a simple mouse


    I don't think Apple cut any corners with their keyboard.  Rather, they simply pushed too far, too hard trying to get a thin and light keyboard.  Basically, it's more of a design problem than the result of corner cutting.  When they originally released it they were quite proud of it.  

    Now, if Steve were still here...   (LOL...  Just kidding!)
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 59 of 116
    linkmanlinkman Posts: 1,035member
    KITA said:
    I'd be curious how something like the MateBook X Pro would fare. It has a 14" 3000x2000 display with the same brightness and color gamut as the 13" MBP. They also managed to stick a low power dGPU in there, the NVIDIA MX150 with 2 GB GDDR5.


    MateBook X Pro? Just how is that not trademark infringement? Huawei even capitalizes the B in the name. And the laptop is very similar looking to the MacBook Pro. If I were Apple I'd definitely be suing.
  • Reply 60 of 116
    I have been looking at XPS Laptop since I bought the retina MacBook 2015. the XPS is a great machine and Apple should take a serious look at it. 

    ;Max Yuryev
    I have been an Apple computer user since 1981 but using windows at work most of my life. If you (Max Yuryev) made the switch 4 years ago, you did not have the best timing. Software quality has been going down for the past 4 years on macOS and iOS. I help people to do thing on macOS and iOS but now, I see bugs on both OS everyday. Things that don't follow the "It's just Work" that was the macOS Before.  
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