I just got a Dell E1505, Core2Duo 2GHz, 2GB, 160GB hd, X1400 256MB (128MB dedicated) and a 3 year warranty for $1250US. A similar MacBook Pro would cost twice that.

Windows has less style, and does multitask a little worse and handles ram a little worse, but not that much worse, and I find Windows to be as stable as Mac OSX, maybe even more so since I remember getting a lot of “application unexpectedly quit” errors on Macs.

Anyhow, I’m a happier computer use since I quit being such a fanboy of any brand and just getting what I think will do the job well for the best price. Lately, that has been windows machines. I can also build awesome Windows desktops using mostly the same chips as Apple for about half price as well.

I miss my Macs, but, not that much.

Ultimately, it depends on what you want to do. For me, I need a strong, mobile platform that’s dependable and runs what I need. The deal was a great deal at the time, and I admit that - it was just a deal. At the base prices, the two aren’t that different, and while I’m not privvy to student discounts, I can get Mac hardware a lot cheaper than the average person.

For my purposes, a MacBook Pro would be too much, and far too large a notebook to carry around. At the time I got my 640m, I could have gotten a similar deal on the 6400 for a lot cheaper, and invested the extra money in a graphics option that didn’t suck, but the mobility was the most important thing for me.

My complaint was never the price - both systems were in the pricerange I was looking at, and I just got lucky on my 640m’s/E1405’s extras. The complaint was that I expected more from the MacBook, and I was surprised by how my 640m dispelled a hell of a lot of myths regarding Dell for me.

I’ll bold the advantages of each product:

Here are the specs of my MacBook Pro which cost me $2006… =D Kind of appropriate for the year ($2245 including 3yr-warranty) . It does make it the single biggest purchase of my life.

2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4MB on-chip shared L2 cache
2GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM2×1GB
120GB Serial ATA Drive@5400rpm
Dual-Layer SuperDrive 6X
128MB ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X1600(I’ll be curious to find what it is clocked at when I get it)
15.4″ Glossy 1440×900 screen
54-Mbps AirPort Extreme
Built-in Bluetooth 2.0 EDR (Enhanced Data Rate)
60-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery
85W MagSafe Power Adapter

Dimensions:
Height: 1.0 inch (2.59 cm)
Width: 14.1 inches (35.7 cm)
Depth: 9.6 inches (24.3 cm)
Weight: 5.6 pounds

Ports:
2 USB 2.0
1 FireWire 800
1 FireWire 400
DVI out
Combined optical digital input/audio line in (minijack) (If the Dell has it, they don’t list it)

Software:
OS X 10.4
iLife ‘06
iWork ‘06
Photo Booth
Front Row

Also includes apple remote and iSight camera

I also bought Aperature 1.5 for $149 and a 3yr-warranty for $239

Now for the Dell (Inspiron E1505) Total $2408 (3yr-warranty included)

2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4MB on-chip shared L2 cache
2GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM2×1GB
120GB Serial ATA Drive@5400rpm
Dual-layer 8X CD/DVD Burner
256MB ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X1400HyperMemory™
15.4″ 1680×1050 screen (Note: I don’t know about screen quality, I’m just bolding this for its 36% higher resolution)
Dell Wireless 1390b/g
Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0 Enhanced Data Rate)
85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery

Dimensions:
Height: 1.44″ (36 mm)
Width: 14″ (356 mm)
Depth: 10.45″ (265.5 mm)
Weight: 6.0 pounds

Ports:
4 USB 2.0 (I have 4 USB divices, so I’d actually prefer the USB ports to the FireWire ones on the MacBook Pro)
VGA-Out

Software:
Windows XP Pro
Microsoft Office Small Business Ed
Corel Photo Album 6 Premium -Photo Management
Sonic DigitalMedia and MyDVD Plus
Whatever other garbage DELL pre-installs

So in conclusion, from the hardware side, the MacBook Pros currently fare better against the DELLs than the MacBooks do. I’d say that the plusses of the MacBook Pro far outweigh the pros of the Inspiron in this catagory.