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Date Configured: 06/05/07

Best of Field
(in my opinion)
Apple MacBook Pro
Dell XPS M1710
Dimensions:
160 cubic in. 15.4" x 10.4" x 1.0"
298 cubic in. 1.7" x 15.5" x 11.3"
Weight: (all bays filled)
6.8 lbs
8.7 lbs.
Battery Life:
up to 5.75 hrs. (63 WHr LiON battery)
unknown; assuming up to 5.5 hrs
(80 WHr LiON battery)
Keyboard/Trackpad:
Scrolling trackpad; Backlit keyboard
Scrolling Trackpad
Preventative Safety:
Sudden Motion Sensor; MagSafe power adapter
--
Processor: (Notes)
2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
L2 Cache:
4.0 MB
4.0 MB
RAM Type:
DDR2 -SDRAM PC2-5300 (667 MHz)
DDR2 -SDRAM PC2-5300 (667 MHz)
Front Side Bus:
800 MHz
667 MHz
RAM Included:
2.0 GB (2 DIMMs)
1.0 GB (2 DIMMs)
Max. RAM:
4.0 GB (2 slots)
4.0 GB (2 slots)
Hard Drive Capacity:
160 GB
120 GB
Hard Drive Type:
Serial ATA/100
Serial ATA/100
Hard Drive Speed:
5400 RPM
5400 RPM
CD:
24x10x24x CD-RW
24x10x24x CD-RW
DVD:
8x4x8x DL DVD±RW
8x8x8x DL DVD±RW
Floppy/Other Drive:
--
Flash Memory Slot
PCMCIA Slot?
1 ExpressCard/34 slot
1 ExpressCard/34 slot
Bay Type:
Fixed
Fixed
USB Ports:
3 USB 2.0 ports
6 USB 2.0 ports
FireWire Ports:
2 FireWire ports
(1 @ 400 Mbps + 1 @ 800 Mbps)
1 port @ 400 Mbps (4-pin)
Other Ports:
--
front-side media buttons
Infrared:
Yes
Yes
Video Card:
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT
NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GS
Video RAM:
256 MB GDDR3 dedicated
256 MB GDDR3 dedicated
Dual-Disp. Supp:
Mirroring & Spanning
Mirroring & Spanning
VGA Out:
Yes
Yes
DVI Out:
Yes
Yes
S-Video Out:
via optional adapter
Yes
TV Tuner:
optional (El Gato systems, etc.)
optional
RCA Out:
via optional adapter
Yes
Display:
17" TFT WXGA (widescreen)
17" TFT WUXGA (widescreen)
Brightness:
???
???
Native Res:
1680x1050 (1.7 Mpx)
(1920x1200 option available)
1920x1200 (2.3 Mpx)
Max. External Res:
2560x1600 (4.1 Mpx)
(unkown; assuming 1920 x 1200 (2.3 Mpx))
Audio In:
Built-in mic; Analog In; Optical Digital Audio In
Analog In; digital audio in
Audio Out:
Headphone; Analog Out; Optical Digital Audio Out
Headphone; Analog Out; Digital Audio Out
Stereo Speakers:
Yes (+ integrated subwoofer)
Yes (+ integrated subwoofer)
Video Camera:
integrated iSight video camera
optional
Ethernet:
10/100/1000 Base-T Ethernet
10/100/1000 Base-T Ethernet
56k Modem:
optional USB modem available
56k v.92 fax/modem
Wi-Fi Card:
Integrated 802.11a/b/g/n (248 Mbps) card
Integrated 802.11a/b/g (54 Mbps) card
Bluetooth Wireless?
Integrated Bluetooth 2.0 card + EDR (3 Mbps)
Integrated Bluetooth 2.0 card + EDR (3 Mbps)
Hardware Extras
Apple Remote Control
--
Included OS:
Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger;
BSD Unix; X11 Window System
Windows Vista Home Premium
Windows Support:
Native via Boot Camp;
also via 3rd-party Virtualization
Native
Mac Support:
OS X (Native)
Mac OS 8 only (via emulation)
Unix/Linux Support:
Various flavors (Native)
Realtime Metadata Search/Organization:
Spotlight
Instant Search
Window/App Management:
Dock / Cmd-Tab / Expose
Task Bar / Flip / Flip 3D
Modular Desktop Utilities:
Dashboard
Gadgets/Sidebar
Task Scripting:
Automator/AppleScript
Windows Script Host
Save-as PDF:
Native
--
Faxing:
Yes (requires optional modem)
optional (3rd-party software)
Zero-Config Networking:
Bonjour
Handwriting Recognition
Inkwell
Pen Computing
Voice/Speech Recog.:
Voiceover
Yes
Web Serving:
Apache w/Perl, Python & PHP included
--
Data Backup Utility:
(iBackup, PsyncX, etc. available as free download)
Scheduled Backup
Developer Tools:
Xcode, Script Editor, etc.
Visual Basic/C#/C++/J#/WebDeveloper available as free downloads
File Compression:
System-wide Zip compression
System-wide Zip compression
File Encryption:
FileVault encryption
--
Parental Controls:
Yes
Yes
64-bit Processor Support:
Yes (no recompiling needed)
Yes (apps must be recompiled??)
Visual/Audio Accessability:
Very Good
Very Good
Word Processor
TextEdit (Word compatible)
iWork Pages Trial; MSFT Word Trial
or OpenOffice (free download; Word comp.)
NotePad; MSFT Works 8
or OpenOffice (free download; Word comp.)
Spreadsheet:
MSFT Excel Trial
OpenOffice (free download; Excel comp.)
MSFT Works 8
OpenOffice (free download; Excel comp.)
Presentation:
iWork Keynote Trial; MSFT PowerPoint Trial
or OpenOffice (free download; PwrPt. compatible)
OpenOffice (free download; PwrPt. comp.)
Database:
Filemaker Pro Trial; OpenOffice (free download)
MSFT Works 8;OpenOffice (free download)
Drawing/Painting:
OpenOffice (free download)
OpenOffice (free download)
Page Layout/Publishing:
--
--
Website Authoring:
iWeb 1.0
--
Font Management:
FontBook 2.0
no on-the-fly font enabling/disabling
Projects/Planning:
OmniOutliner
--
Web Browser:
Safari RSS 2.0
Internet Explorer 7
Image Viewer:
Preview 3.0
Windows Photo Gallery
PDF Viewer:
Preview 3.0
Adobe Reader
E-Mail/Address Book:
OS X Mail / Address Book
MSFT Entourage Trial
Windows Mail / Contacts; MSFT Works 8
Calendar Program:
iCal 2.0
Windows Calendar; MSFT Works 8
Data Synchronization:
iSync 2.0
Sync Center
System Data Transfer:
System Migration Assistant
Easy Transfer
Chat:
iChat AV 3.0
(ICQ, MSN, Yahoo avail. as free downloads)
Windows Messenger
(ICQ, AOL, Yahoo avail. as free downloads)
AV Conferencing:
iChat AV 3.0
(video: up to 4 people; audio: up to 10 people)
Windows Meeting Space
(up to 10 people)
Remote Desktop:
optional (both free & commercial solutions)
optional (both free & commercial solutions)
Multimedia Software:
Front Row; Quicktime 7.0; DVD Player 4.5
Windows Media Center (w/XBox 360 support);
WMP 11
PVR Software:
(via optional ElGato software)
Windows Media Center
Financial:
--
--
Reference:
Dictionary/Thesaurus; Sherlock 3.0
(various free online resources available)
(various free online resources available)
Digital Photography:
iPhoto 6.0; PhotoBooth;
ImageCapture; Comic Life; Aperture Trial
Windows Photo Gallery; PaintShop Studio Trial;
PhotoAlbum Starter Ed.Google Picassa free dload
Digital Video Editing:
iMovie HD 6.0
Windows Movie Maker HD
CD Burning/Music:
iTunes 7.0; Disc Burner
Sonic RecordNow!; Vista Disk Burning; WMP 11;
MusicMatch; iTunes 7.0 free download
Audio Engineering:
GarageBand 3.0
--
DVD Burning/Authoring:
iDVD 6.0; Disk Burner
Sonic RecordNow!; Sonic MyDVD;
Windows DVD Maker
Games Included:
Chess
Chess Titans; Mahjong Titans; Inkball; etc.
Total Software Titles Available:
Either Fewer or More depending on whether the Mac uses BootCamp
Additional Software:
Asstd. system software
Free Services:
1 month .Mac trial
6 month Earthlink dialup
Viruses/Trojans/Worms:
No true malicious viruses known
which affect Mac OS X.
In General: more common, more serious
Includes "Windows Defender/Security Center"
Firewall:
Built-in
Hardware Warranty:
1 yr. ltd./mail-in
1 yr. ltd./mail-in
Software Support:
90 days phone
1-yr phone
Customer Service:
Subtotal:
Base system price: $2,799
Base system price $2,299
+ 2.33 GHz Core2Duo upgrade: $425
+ 120 GB / 5400 RPM drive upgrade: $25
+ 8x DVD±RW upgrade: $40
+ Wireless 355 Bluetooth upgrade: $20
- Rebates if any:
--
--
+ Ground Shipping:
n/c
n/c (ltd. time)
Total Price as configured:
(tax not included)
$2,799
$2,809
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