Dell Vs. Mac...

Im in a bit of a situation here. I am going away to a school next year where a laptop is required. I have 2,000 USD to buy a laptop. I had my decision set on the refurbished Black Macbook which I was going to buy a hard drive, 4gb of memory and a external display for after I got it. this would cost about 2,000 total. However, after viewing the schools website I noticed they offer a savings on a Dell D630 with XP image of $760.00 off base price. For a total of $1,700.00 I can get it upgraded to...
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7700 (2.40GHz) 4M L2 Cache, 800MHz Dual Core
14.1 inch Wide Screen WXGA+ LCD Panel
4.0GB, DDR2-667 SDRAM, 2 DIMMS
160GB Hard Drive, 9.5MM, 7200RPM
8X DVD+/-RW w/Roxio and Cyberlink Power DVD™
9 Cell Primary and 6 Cell Media Bay Batteries
4 Year Limited Warranty plus 4 Year NBD On-site Service and CompleteCare
This means that it is a $2,400.00 valua at $1,700.00.
What should I do?

get what you want. if you're on a budget then do what you think is best for you. the big reason i like apple is because if anything goes wrong, going to an apple store to get it fixed or shipped is so easy. its a hassle trying to explain things over the phone

I used to be a long time Mac hater (loyal to Win-tel systems since the early 90's) until my work provided me with a spankin-new Macbook Pro. After getting acquainted with it I'll never go back to purchasing a PC again.

....and it will run Windows.

Does the school recommend a certain brand? Is the software you will need only made for a certain platform? Are you going into a field that traditionally uses one or the other?

I just switched to a mac and I really like it. In this thread, you will probably end up sparking another mac vs. pc debate. But the correct answer for you depends on the questions above - and maybe some questions I didn't think of.

Stefan

Here is a link to the schools recommendations. I know someone at the school who uses a macbook so I do not think I will have any problems.
http://notebooks.bridg​ew.edu/faqs.cfm

Oh.. Forgot... I will be purchasing Photoshop after I get the computer.

Apples are overpriced~!

Mac killed my inner child....

I voted for the Mac, I don't think the PC is giving you much over the Mac--and Dell laptops are the worst. I've had a couple for work--I'd take a MacBook any day over one.

You know as a student you get educational pricing on Apple hardware & software, right?

whichever you choose, save the several hundred dollar upgrade either company charges for 4gb of ram, and do it yourself for about $100 (at most).

Me personally, I've fallen in love with my iMac, and haven't even turned my PC on since then (about 2 months ago).

Apple gives an educational discount too, so check the website. Usually laptops are about 200 less with the educational discount.
Oh and it applies to software too.

olhhh... 50-50 tight race

go for the dell. you'll love the fact that you can keep it portable several hours on low voltage mode... and the fact that dell support is great for replacement parts (they will ship a lot of things to you if you want them too, apple will not let you repair the macbook yourself).

i myself would go with a m1330:
tarting Price $2,662
Instant Savings $799
Subtotal $1,863
As low as $56/month
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My Components
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Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7500 (2.2GHz/800Mhz FSB, 4MB Cache)
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it's got at least 5 hours on the 9 cell, 3 hours on 6 cell, LED backlighting (you have to see it to believe it).yes, you take a .2gh loss in power, but you gain a video card. and this is before premier discounts. you should look at getting one of the newer monitors though, though it's expensive the 24in (with just basic inputs, other one is much more, but has nice stuff) is great to have (you can just plug the monitor in the laptop and it'll automatically switch to it if you want it to)

Get a Dell XPS 1530... I have one in tuxedo black and it is SUPER sexy and screaming fast.

You have a $2K budget?

Get a Macbook, but go white. The basic config black is the same as the top level basic config white except it is black in color and has 40g more on the hard drive. That doesn't justify $200 more in price.

$1199 is the basic EDU discount for the white Macbook with 1G RAM, 120G HD, 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo. Add $200 for the 3-year warranty. Then buy more RAM from Crucial and a new HD from Newegg if you need more capacity.

But I highly recommend you check out your campus computer store if they sell Macs on site. The reason I say this is because campus stores often give better EDU pricing than the basic EDU prices quoted on the Apple online store (and in the Apple retail stores).

I work at UC Riverside and our campus computer store is about 10% lower than the Apple online store EDU pricing (students, staff, and faculty).

Depending on your school's Microsoft campus licensing, you should be able to get MS Office for Mac fairly cheap, if you need Office.

The only real expense will be Photoshop and pricing for Mac is the same as Windows (at least from the license prices I have access to).

Added:

I just went to your school's computer recommendation page and I think you should go with the Dell from the information I've seen. The Dell program is very good and from I can tell, it's campus subsidized. Since it's a campus negotiated program with Dell, you will probably get even more expedited technical support with Dell if something goes wrong with it. Also, that 4 year warranty is nice since most laptops go seriously bad after that 3rd year.

Personally, I would get the Macbook because I prefer working in OS X (FreeBSD) for regular use. But it sounds like you have no real preference either way as far as Operating Systems go.