Reward myself

Earlier this week the Senior Director of my department presented me, my boss and a colleague with a company award of distinction for our work in what they call "The Internet Sweep Project". The award included a monetary component! I think I see an Apple Cinema display or MacBook in my future. I am trying to decide between a MacBook (the MacBook Pro are too much for my needs) and an Apple Cinema Display. A 20" display would suit me just nicely. Currently I have a 17" Dell Trinitron that I purchased 5 years ago with a new Dell system. The resolution and quality are superb but...it is time I had something less buly on my desk. A 20" wide screen display would suit my programming needs (programmers like large wide displays). I took a look at the specifications for the MacBook and MacBook Pro and decided that the Pro is more laptop than I need. Someone at the office brought in a new 17" MacBook Pro. The notebook looks huge. I can not see myself lugging around something that large. A 13.3" screen seems small at first but I want something lightweight. The current Dell Inspiron my wife uses weighs as much as a small child. Of course I could add $200 and get both but...

Comparing prices: Mac Pro versus PCs

I had done a similar comparison when the new Intel based iMacs were introduced.

 

From MacWorld New desktop machines leave no doubt about Mac’s price-competitiveness

If you caught the Mac Pro’s introduction during last week’s Worldwide Developers Conference keynote, you know that Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president for worldwide product marketing, punctuated his demo of the new high-end desktop by uttering the “D” word—Dell. Specifically, Schiller brought up Dell to compare its price to the standard 2.66GHz Mac Pro Quad’s $2,499 price tag. By Schiller’s math, a similarly configured Dell Precision 690 would run you $3,448—around $950 more than the Mac Pro.