Mobile Buyers' Guide, December 2009

What about Apple?

You might have noticed that we haven't said a word about Apple so far. There are enough fans that we felt a more thorough overview was warranted. Apple MacBooks fall into either the midrange or high-end categories, though it can be difficult to stomach the cost of the more expensive MacBook Pro models. Here's the rundown.

Apple MacBook

The Apple MacBook line becomes an option with $1000 to spend, though you're limited to the base model MacBook. It comes with a Core 2 Duo 2.26GHz, 3MB L2, 1066FSB CPU (presumably the P8400), GeForce 9400M IGP, 802.11n, Bluetooth, a 1280x800 LCD, 250GB hard drive, 2GB DDR3 (standard), and OS X. We'd go ahead and grab the 4GB memory upgrade as well, which bumps the price up to $1100. If you're not interested in Mac OS X, we'd skip Apple in general, but many people have made the switch and have no regrets.

Apple MacBook Pro

We have already done significant coverage of the latest MacBook Pro offerings. The short summary is you can get good performance and great battery life in an attractive chassis. As Anand puts it, most of the decision has been distilled down to choosing your LCD/chassis size… most, but not all.

The Apple MacBook Pro 13" model starts at $1200 (less if you don't go through the Apple store - see below). It's nicer than the $1000 MacBook, but you're still going to need to answer the question of whether you want to switch to OS X or not. If you're not looking to leave the MS Windows camp, we don't see much point in buying a Mac. 2.26GHz CPU, 2GB DDR3, and a 9400M IGP, all for just $1200. You can get a Dell Studio 14z with a faster CPU, the 900p LCD, a 3-year warranty, and an 8-cell battery for about the same price, or stick with a 2.2GHz CPU, 768p LCD, and 1-year warranty (but keep the 8-cell battery!) for $914. The Mac looks nicer, and it will deliver better battery life when running OS X, but by no means is it competitive in terms of pricing.

The base 15" model "forces" an upgrade from the 2.26GHz to a 2.53GHz CPU and from 2GB to 4GB memory. Beyond those upgrades, Apple charges a $200 price premium for the 15" model, part of which goes to the 1440x900 LCD and larger battery. This is the opposite of most PC laptops, where smaller laptops are usually more expensive (provided components are the same), since it takes more effort to cram the same amount of "stuff" into a smaller chassis. The 15" model also offers a $50 upsell to a matte LCD… highly recommended!

The move from the 15" to the 17" comes with a similar premium and required upgrades. You get a minimum 2.8GHz CPU, 9400M IGP + 9600M GT graphics, and a 500GB hard drive. There's another $200 charge for the larger MBP, which includes a higher resolution 1920x1200 LCD and battery upgrades. An anti-glare (matte) LCD is again available… too bad we can't add one of those to the 13" model.

While many people look to Apple when buying a MacBook, if you don't need to customize you can save about $50, and many merchants are currently offering up to $150 mail-in rebates. The base 13" MBP is available for $1050 after $100 rebate, and the upgraded 13" goes for $1300 after $130 rebate. 15" stock configuration MacBook Pros are available for $1500 ($130 rebate), $1750 ($150 rebate), and $2000 ($150 rebate). Finally, you can get the 17" MBP for $2200 ($150 rebate). The only drawback is that none of these offers will get you the matte LCD… so you're really looking at a $200 cost to upgrade to the matte LCD, which is a bit much for most users.