Mac vs. PC, the final decision

[damselfish]

I'm narrowed down my search for laptops to the Dell XPS M1330 and the 13" Macbook Pro. Or maybe just the Macbook, not sure yet. They're both relatively light, though the Macbook weighs a fraction of a pound more than the XPS.

Dell Pros:
- Lighter
- Compatible with my other toys
- Easy fixes. Seriously, I can just take it in to a shop anywhere I feel like or ask a friend to fix it, also free Microsoft Office. I have yet to find a word processor I like for writing papers as much as Word. Abiword comes close, but it's not nearly as polished feeling.
- Stands out in an environment that is 98% Mac. I know, this is a very shallow reason, but part of my cringing at getting a Mac is the fact that everyone else has one and Macs are not so good at the whole individuality thing. Granted I'd probably slap a case or a skin on it anyway, but... but ick!

Dell Cons:
- Shorter battery life

Mac Pros:
- Much longer battery life
- I like the OS more
- Runs better on the same hardware
- Tends to last longer, from what I hear

Mac Cons:
- The proprietary everything. Mom's iPhone crapped out and we had to deal with the genius bar, and ugh. I try to tell myself it's not that bad but the Mac store makes spiders of unease crawl up my spine.
- Dubious compatibility with my toys

I need Office for Mac, though I hear rumors that I can run Windows Office on a Mac via a program even more fun than bootcamp? Can anyone explain how I'd do this? Like I said, I own Windows Office and the idea of paying $150 for three licenses (ugh, the idea of limiting licenses will turn anyone to software piracy) for a new environment is just ridiculous to me.

Comments

[sister_coyote]

For what it's worth, my household has had excellent luck with Dell laptops -- the boy and I both had Inspirons that we were quite happy with (mine is still trucking along after three years without any issues at all, which is pretty good in laptop time, in my experience), and my roommate's boyfriend has an XPS that he loves (he dual-boots Linux and XP on it, and it too has lasted quite some time).

This is not to be construed as an anti-Mac comment, since I have friends who have been very happy with those, too. Just a data point. :)

[damselfish]

I have a four-year-old XPS laptop that I'm fond of. It's starting to have a few issues here and there, but... it's four-years-old. I always kind of boggle at the way people complain about Dells as if they're universally terribad so obviously I should go with Apple because, frankly, I've had more issues with Macs imploding than Dells. Which isn't to say Macs are bad, just that laptops are touchy little creatures. Universally.

Admittedly I'm kind of tempted by the lifetime of a Macbook since it's much longer than a PC. I figured that after four years the technology would have changed so much there's no point in holding on to an older box, but my computer has 2 gigs of RAM and a 2.0 Ghz processor, and a 5400 rpm hard drive. It's still not that far behind what "pretty good" machines are running. In fact I think the XPS I'm looking at is using the same video card as a baseline, too. Okay, it's half the price my XPS was back in the day, but still!

And it doesn't read as anti-Mac, just pro-Dell.