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Which computer?

  • XPS 13 HD Ultrabook

    Votes: 6 85.7%
  • MacBook Air 13"

    Votes: 1 14.3%

Dell XPS 13 HD Ultrabook or MacBook Air 13"

3K views 32 replies 9 participants last post by  quetzal 
#1 ·
Looking at these 2 computers.

Essentially I want something small and portable for work, pretty much only running excel, word files and Adobe files. Storage is not really an issue, most of our documents will be cloud based but I think at least 128GB is necessary. I like the speed of the solid state drives.

Most reviews online point to the Dell, which I have always had great luck with. Wouldn't mind giving a Mac a try though.

Thoughts?
 
#4 ·
Thanks, do you use Excel?

My main concern is that my current excel files might not format correctly or that when I create a sheet in excel it might not function correctly on a co-workers PC.

We have small issues in formatting from PC to PC, I don't want to make it worse on a Mac.
 
#7 ·
Well then just give me the XPS 13, problem solved!

I feel like if Excel is my primary use (other than web based) I should go with a PC.

I am however intrigued by the new office 365, which uses more of a web based format to keep things the same no matter what (or who's) machine you use.
 
#8 ·
Whatever works for you. Excel is pretty lightweight. Overall I like Mac osx more than win 8 and the ease of using virtualization makes it nice to just load a few os's up and use them for what they are good for. You can use VM's either way but it is easier to load win VM's under macosx than macosx under windows. Build quality the Mac is very good probably the best
 
#9 · (Edited)
if work is paying for this, then go with the macbook air (or even a macbook pro if you wanted to pinch pennies and save some money)

if you're paying personally for this it doesn't sound like your requirements are actually high enough to justify either and you could make do with just getting a chromebook and doing everything with network connectivity

disclaimer: yeah I'm an Apple fan boy. I prefer to do everything in a unix/mac world. The shit that I have to do for customers still living in a Windows only world, I make do within a virtual environment running Win XP, Win7, ...
 
#13 ·
Thanks again for all the input. I never even considered the X1 so I will look into that. I think I would like the Mac, but know I would encounter issues. Like Gonein3 mentioned, I keep hearing about Office and specifically Excel issues on the Mac's.

I would like to come take a look at the 3 but I have a busy week and probably need to get this ordered by the end of the week. Thanks for the offer though. It's nice to get advice from someone that has direct experience!
 
#14 ·
I like the MBAir, don't have one, but running Macs at home now. Others are right, the Excel stuff doesn't always work the same / convert over properly if using Mac Numbers. If sticking with Windows 7, I don't think you can go wrong with either one.

If you have to choose between Windows 8 and Mac.....get the Mac.
 
#15 ·
Nope I would use Windows 7 Pro not even considering 8. Hell I would take XP if I could.

I was about sold on the X1, until I read some reviews that the battery life is pretty bad (3.5 hours avg). I forgot to mention, I use the laptop in the field and typically charge it at lunch but I need a good 5 hours of use (the screen usually can shut off for about 10-20 mins an hour).

Oh yeah is there anyway to load CD roms without buying an external drive? Ha, it just occurred to me that my software is on CD.
 
#20 ·
Plotts this is what I was referring to.

Open up MacOSX laptop which was paused on Fedora - then swipe over to MacOSX then to WinXP and back through.

I had Win7 and Win8 on there but removed them. Win7 was ok but Win8 was just a big waste of space.



I swapped in cheesy youtube music so you wouldn't all hear my crazy kids going nuts
 
#26 ·
one of my beliefs when it comes to supporting (IT field)

you see a multitude of laptops that allow you to survey performance.
But then you are also surveying a demographic of typically idiots that don't know that you should never spray 409 cleaner into the laptop since you spilled jelly all over the keyboard.


:p
Mac = ducati
PC = faster GSXR at half the price :)
 
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