As we all know, that Apple has successfully blows us away with its new product line up. The new iMac, the new mac mini, the attention grabber Magic Mouse, the fancy aluminium Apple remote, and yes a newly redesign MacBook!

I am still quite pessimistic on Apple’s desktop capability as in Asian market consumer would rather go grab parts and build their own computer into one mean powerful machine. So I am going to highlight the new Macbook.

Jobs already said that Apple is going to sell this line up for quite awfully a long time as it is the best notebook ever. And this line of Apple computer, I think will create more switchers to the mac as they’re into a budget wise notebook.

At that, a question rises. Is it on budget notebook?

Well, I am trying to be unbiased here. And let’s take Dell for a pricing benchmark. I took the comparison on both Dell Online Store & Apple Online Store (US).

Let’s start with Dell. Okay, the Macbook is the entry level and offered as the low-end notebook for consumer. So, for its match I take Dell Inspiron 13.

For a start at basic configuration, The Dell Inspiron 13 I choose is as follow:
- Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T8100 (2.1GHz/800Mhz FSB/3MB cache)
- 4 GB Dual Channel DDR2 (2Dimms)
- 320 GB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
- Intel GMA X3100
- 8X Slot Load CD / DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-RW Drive) – Since the mac offers a simple DVD then this is the one I choose.
- Dell Wireless 1505 Wireless-N Mini-card
- 85Whr Lithium Ion Battery (9 cell)
- Dell Online Backup 10GB for 1 year
- On Call Services 30 days (They charge you for your cry for help?)

At that, I could go to the Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T8400 (2.4GHz/800Mhz FSB/3MB cache) and add $50 from my previous choice

Now lets dig in to the customization that I think would match the Macbook:
- The Windows Vista Premium Edition SP1
- Microsoft® Office Home and Student 2007 – Word, Excel + PowerPoint
- McAfee SecurityCenter, 36-Months (Having a PC, and wouldn’t go to all that trouble, lets have what the store suggest)
- Sony Imagination Studio Suite (To match up iLife with iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, iWeb, iDVD)
- And  an additional Wild Tangent Orb game pre-installed

And this would make the Dell Inspiron cost you $1,820 before discount ($1,478 after discount)

Now at that price, the new Macbook has already equipped with Snow Leopard 10.6 (Can’t wait for the 10.6.2 to get it more stable. Not much to complain but my usb modem isn’t working as it should be. And that’s my ONLY let downs on Snow Leopard.. ANNNDD The power of iLife 09

And with the specification:

• 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM – 2x2GB (Standard being 2 GB – but bare in mind this is DDR3 not DDR2)
  
• 320GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm (Standard being 250 but I upgrade to 320 to match Inspiron specs)
  
• NVidia GeForce 9400M with 256 MB shared Memory
• built in iSight
  
• None
• SuperDrive 8x DVD+/-R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW
• iWork ’09 preinstalled (optional just to point out that this business software can also replace the need of MS Office)
  
• None
• None
• None
• None
• Microsoft Office Mac 2008 – Home and Student Edition (Why not have them both? Or you can loose MS Office and deduct $149)
  
• None
• None
• Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter
• 1-year subscription of 20GB MobileMe
  
• None
• None
• None
• None
• AppleCare Protection Plan for MacBook / MacBook Air / 13″ MacBook Pro – Auto-enroll – 3yrs protection plan (that includes calls for help)

All those to go with the multi-touch track pad, a beautifully designed notebook, at a price of $1,694.65

On that number, before discount Dell worth $125.35 far more expensive than the new Macbook. Okay so after discount Macbook is far more expensive compared to the Dell Inspiron 13 by $216

Or is it? Look more carefully at the specs. You can go for cheap, but are you willing to neglect the value for money?

Look again, and then decide which one is truly expensive and which one is robbing you blind? At that, I’d like to make comment on Apple’s 3 new ads. They have all the right to say so.

Cheers