Macbook vs. Dell D820 (core 2 duo)
I've been happily using a macbook 1.83ghz 2gb ram for development with parallels / windows 2003 server / visual studio for a couple of weeks. its been a very good experience, everything is fast and responsive.
Today I'm using a Dell D820 Core 2 Duo and I pulled my parallels image over to the Dell to keep working. Its working ok, somehow parallels is only allowing 24bit color under windows but I'm working that out with parallels. Everything else works fine.
Impressions on the Dell Core 2 Duo? Its friggin junk.
overall feels like bad quality. plastic is cheap.
downgrades:
only 10/100 network adapter. We have gigabit here in the office and I use it for backups.
No touchpad two finger scroll...didn't think i'd miss it but i do. (Update: turned off by default, gestures available under mouse settings)
No DVI out. Has a nice video card...but no stupidDVI out.
Weird placement of ports...they are all over the place. 2 are stacked making one unusable.
No bluetooth. My favorite mouse is BT.
Intel VT turned off by the factory, had to turn it on in the bios.
horrible little eraser head mouse pointer thing on the keyboard - always hitting it...gotta shut that damn thing off. (Update: was able to shut the nasty thing off in mouse settings, whew).
and overall impressions on speed? its way slower than the macbook. why i don't know, its a fresh install of windows xp and has 2gb of good ram. Parallels is NOT a joy on this machine, its much slower.
For the $1800 my company paid for this thing, they should have spent a lot less for a macbook with MORE features, or spent a few bucks more for a better quality Macbook Pro.
dell specs:
D820, core 2 duo t7400 2.16ghz, firewire, gigabit network card (only connects at 100, go figure, same cable, connection as macbook used which got 1000), wireless g, nvidia quadro NVS 120M, 80gb 5400rpm HD, 15" (1280x800), 2gb ram. $1800
mac specs
macbook 1.83ghz, 2gb ram, 100gb 7200 rpm HD, bluetooth, firewire, wireless g, scrolling trackpad..blah de blah, go see apple.com. $1099 + $149 (HD) + $209 (ram). $1457
Today I'm using a Dell D820 Core 2 Duo and I pulled my parallels image over to the Dell to keep working. Its working ok, somehow parallels is only allowing 24bit color under windows but I'm working that out with parallels. Everything else works fine.
Impressions on the Dell Core 2 Duo? Its friggin junk.
overall feels like bad quality. plastic is cheap.
downgrades:
only 10/100 network adapter. We have gigabit here in the office and I use it for backups.
No touchpad two finger scroll...didn't think i'd miss it but i do. (Update: turned off by default, gestures available under mouse settings)
No DVI out. Has a nice video card...but no stupidDVI out.
Weird placement of ports...they are all over the place. 2 are stacked making one unusable.
No bluetooth. My favorite mouse is BT.
Intel VT turned off by the factory, had to turn it on in the bios.
horrible little eraser head mouse pointer thing on the keyboard - always hitting it...gotta shut that damn thing off. (Update: was able to shut the nasty thing off in mouse settings, whew).
and overall impressions on speed? its way slower than the macbook. why i don't know, its a fresh install of windows xp and has 2gb of good ram. Parallels is NOT a joy on this machine, its much slower.
For the $1800 my company paid for this thing, they should have spent a lot less for a macbook with MORE features, or spent a few bucks more for a better quality Macbook Pro.
dell specs:
D820, core 2 duo t7400 2.16ghz, firewire, gigabit network card (only connects at 100, go figure, same cable, connection as macbook used which got 1000), wireless g, nvidia quadro NVS 120M, 80gb 5400rpm HD, 15" (1280x800), 2gb ram. $1800
mac specs
macbook 1.83ghz, 2gb ram, 100gb 7200 rpm HD, bluetooth, firewire, wireless g, scrolling trackpad..blah de blah, go see apple.com. $1099 + $149 (HD) + $209 (ram). $1457
Comments
update:
Parallels slowness and resolution fixed with installation of Parallels RC2. w00t.
I'm impressed with parallels most of all, drag my development environment around anywhere is fabulous. Worth the $49 and $79 (windows and mac versions)
Love that MacBook ... d*ll go away ...