| hp dv1000 | Apple 14" iBook G4 | |
| Processor | 1.4 GHz Intel Pentium M | 1.33 GHz PowerPC G4 |
| Cache | 1 MB level 2 cache | 512K SRAM level 2 cache |
| System bus speed | 400 MHz | 133 MHz |
| Memory | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Type of memory | PC2100 (266 MHz) SDRAM | PC2100 (266 MHz) SDRAM |
| Video card | Intel Extreme Graphics | ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 |
| Display | 14.1" TFT XGA Widescreen | 14.1" TFT |
| Resolution | 1280-by-768 | 1024-by-768 |
| Video memory | 32 MB | 32 MB |
| Video bus | AGP 4x | AGP 4x |
| Hard drive | 60 GB 4200rpm | 60 GB 4200rpm |
| Hard drive bus | ATA/100 | ATA/100 |
| DVD read | 8x | 8x |
| CD read | 24x | 24x |
| CD-R | 24x | 24x |
| CD-RW | 16x | 16x |
| FireWire | 1 400 | 1 400 |
| USB | 3 2.0 | 2 2.0 |
| Modem | 56 Kbps | 56 Kbps |
| Bluetooth | Add $25 | Add $50 |
| Ethernet | 100BaseT | 100BaseT |
| Wireless networking | 802.11b/g |
802.11b/g |
| Software | Windows XP Home, MS Works suite, McAfee antivirus | Mac OS X 10.3, iLife, AppleWorks, 30 days EarthLink, some other stuff |
| Size | 1.18" x 13.15" x 9.24" | 1.35" x 12.7" x 10.2" |
| Weight | 5.3 pounds | 5.9 pounds |
| Warranty | 1 year parts and labor, mail-in service; 1 year phone support | 1 year parts and labor, mail-in service; 90 days phone support |
| Price (inc. tax and shipping to King County, Washington) | $1077 | $1413 |
Desktop system
| Dell Dimension 4600 | Apple Power Mac G5 | |
| Processor | 2.8 GHz Pentium 4 [hyperthreaded] | 1.8 GHz PowerPC G5 |
| Cache | 512 KB on-chip | 512 KB on-chip |
| System bus speed | 800 MHz | 600 MHz |
| Memory | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Type of memory | DDR PC3200 SDRAM | DDR PC3200 SDRAM |
| Video card | NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra with DVI and VGA ports | NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra with DVI and ADC ports |
| Video memory | 128 MB | 64 MB |
| Video bus | AGP 8x | AGP 8x |
| Hard drive | 80 GB | 80 GB |
| Hard drive bus | Ultra ATA/100 [Serial ATA on motherboard] | Serial ATA |
| DVD | 16x | 10x |
| DVD-R | 16x [w/dual layer support] | 8x |
| CD | 40x | 32x |
| CD-R | 24x | 24x |
| CD-RW | 24x | 10x |
| FireWire | - | 2 400, 1 800 |
| USB | 6 2.0 | 3 2.0, 2 1.1 |
| Modem | - | - |
| Ethernet | 100BaseT | 1000BaseT |
| Speakers | - | - |
| Software | Windows XP Home, Microsoft Works Suite, Norton antivirus, some other stuff | Mac OS X, Mac OS 9, AppleWorks, some other stuff |
| Warranty | 2 year parts and labor, onsite service; 2 year phone support | 1 year parts and labor; 90 days phone support |
| Price (inc. tax and shipping to King County, Washington) | $567 | $1631 |
To sum up:
- The new iBook is reasonably good value at only $336 more than a faster, lighter weight, widescreen PC compatible laptop.
- However, the new Power Mac G5 strikes me as being overly spendy - a similar PC costs $1,067 less. Heck, you could nearly buy 3 PCs for the cost of 1 G5.
A note on the pricing: Dell pricing is via their Small Business site. HP pricing is via their Employee Purchase Program site and reflects a 5% discount or so. Sadly, I couldn't include yesterday's Dell pricing - they had an amazing one day sale that dropped prices on their very best notebooks down to the $800 range.
