First thing’s first. I don’t care if you’re a Mac person at all, but one can’t do a post about 17″ laptops without talking about the MacBook Pro. This is the flagship of the wide-screen line of notebooks, and for good reason. This computer can be configured with up to a 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor (Apple with Intel?), and an armada of RAM and hard drive space. It’s got the usual DVD-R/W drive attached as well, and comes standard with the Mac OSX operating system. Pretty standard for a Mac. Of course, all this performance comes with a pricetag: It starts at $2499 and goes up briskly from there. You can easily spend $3000-$4000 on this system, but if you’re into graphic arts, the large screen and system speed can’t be touched.
The next best 17″ laptop on the market as far as I’m concerned is the Dell Studio 17. This competes with the Mac fairly well, and even includes a lower price tag. This computer comes with a quad-core Intel i7 processor rated up to 2.8 GHz, and up to 8 gigabytes of RAM. At that point, you might as well not even have a hard drive! It also comes offered with 1 gigabyte of video RAM, which makes it a great platform for graphic design, movie production, or any other video-intensive project you might have. Better yet, if you’re a gamer this is the laptop for you. Windows comes standard, which makes it compatible with just about every A-List game that comes onto the market. Unless you were to go with a high-end desktop, you’re not going to get better performance from a gaming laptop. Best yet, prices start at $1099, which blows the Mac out of the water.
So, there’s my unbiased opinion on the matter. I’ve heard wonderful things about the MacBook Pro, but if you’re looking for the best compromise between price and performance in a 17″ laptop, you can’t beat the Dell.
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