Now It’s Apple Hardware vs. PC’s

I’ve been following Apple a lot off late, and it’s probably because of my interest in the Mac OS or because of Apple’s taste for building good looking hardware. With the release of Boot Camp, Apple has brought itself into direct competition with PC manufacturers for computers that can run the Windows OS. This move may not be as radical as one would expect at first, because once we start comparing Apple’s hardware to equivalent computers from other manufacturers, it is evident that Apple’s hardware is far more expensive.

In order to make my point clear, I wish to draw a comparison between the MacBook Pro and the Dell Inspiron 1705, which can also run the Mac OS after a little hack.

MacBook Pro: $2499

15.4-inch TFT display with 1440×900 resolution
1.83GHz Intel Core Duo with 2MB shared L2 Cache 667MHz frontside bus
1GB (single SO-DIMM) 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
100GB 5400rpm Serial ATA hard drive
Slot-load SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW)
ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 with 256MB GDDR3 memory

Inspiron E1705: $2138

17 inch Wide Screen XGA+ Display
Intel® Core™ Duo Processor T2400 (1.83GHz/667MHz FSB)
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz (2 Dimms)
100GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
256MB NVIDA® GeForce™ Go 7800
Remote Control for Windows XP Media Center Edition

Looking at the prices above, why would people want to switch from PC hardware to Apple hardware considering the superiority of PC hardware in terms of both price and specifications. It clearly shows that if Apple wishes to compete with PC manufacturers, then only Apple’s style statement can win it for them, and not technical specifications. On the other hand, with it becoming easier to run the Mac OS on PC’s, Mac hardware users may even be tempted to switch to PC harware. Maybe switching to Intel wasn’t such a good idea after all?