Difference Between MacBook M2 Pro and DELL Precision 5560
Introduction
This is a paper I created as a first time user of a MacBook coming from many years as a Microsoft Windows user. I have Windows installed in HP, DELL, my own built PCs, etc.
I have extensibly use Linux in PCs, but this is more a comparison and constructive critique of hardware in particular, and how specifically DELL and MacBooks compare from the hardware point of view. I picked these two machines because they are comparable in price and functionality.
Let’s start with the basics and describe the machines differences from a user point of view and what both companies can do to improve their design.
As a disclaimer, I am not receiving any remuneration of any kind from either company. This is purely my own opinion and wish for both companies to improve their designs so we the consumer can have a healthy competition and better choices.
Hardware Description
Since this is NOT a comparison from the point of view of performance, I will not be going into much detail about under the hood things. This is more of a product design, usability, and comfort.
DELL Precision 5560
Intel Core vPro 11th Gen i7-11850H
MacBook
Apple M2 Max Pro
Product Design
Keep it in mind designs are so difficult because you can’t please everyone. In the one hand you have people used to certain things and they are not incline to change. For example you might have people so used to the noice an AC window unit makes, that when they replace it with a silent one, they miss the noice from the older unit which helps them to fall asleep. In the other hand you have certain people that no matter what you give them, they will never be happy.
Therefore this paper is for the people in between these two groups, but also I would say everyone can make use of this report.
Comparison
Keyboard Design
DELL
MacBook
- The keyboard design in the 5560 is not bad, it’s similar to the MacBook in the layout, speakers position and trackpad.
- The pressure sensitivity on the keys is a little more mechanical feeling than the MackBook.
- The place to rest your hands while typing is a little smaller, not by much.
- The one thing I noticed is that while using the trackpad, the lower edge of the laptop case is very sharp and it was hurting my hands.
- The trackpad is not rich feature as the MacBook gestures, but this is probably more to do with Windows than the mechanical design of it. Also, the trackpad is not as responsive as the MacBook one.
- How about the Delete key next to the power on-off button, I mean like really close to it. I’ve pressed the power button by mistake more than a couple of times.
- Keyboard gets hot to the touch for no reason whatsoever. I am not playing video games or running power hungry applications.
- I don’t like the rubbery plastic feeling of the hand rest areas, it looks cheap.
- The MacBook keyboard is very good, the keys pressure sensitivity is excellent and the trackpad is great. The finger expressions and combination of gestures are very good and very responsive. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204895
- The speakers sound and quality are better compare to the DELL Precision.
- The air vents location are similar to the DELL ones, but for some reason the MacBook is way cooler than the DELL laptop.
The touch and feeling of the metallic hand rest areas are really good.
Body Design
DELL
MacBook
- The design of the body is very similar to the MacBook in the following ways: It’s made of aluminum and the thickness is the same. That’s about it. Actually only the top part is made of something that feels metallic, the bottom part is plastic.
- The lid is not easy to open, you need both hands to open it. The MacBook can be opened with one finger.
- I don’t like the plastic feeling of the hand rest areas of the keyboard.
- I like the fact that you can open the back and change components like memory and SSD. Although I believe you will be voiding the guarantee.
- The body of the MacBook Pro is supreme. It’s well made and the cooling feeling of the aluminum case on my hands is really good.
- The lid is easy to open and the curves and rounded corners of the body are beautiful.
- The uni-body as a metallic shell makes it feel not cheap and the absence of plastic anywhere other than the keys it helps with this feeling.
- Overall the design of the body of the MacBook is excellent in its simplicity and minimalistic nature. In this case less is more.
Energy/Battery
DELL
MacBook
- The DELL Precision is power hungry to say the least.
- If you unplug the charger with fully charged battery, and close the lid say and 11:00 PM, the next morning the battery will be drained.
- There is a lot of energy from the battery converted into heat, and the dispersion of this heat is not very good, maybe because there is too much heat to be dispersed.
- The fans seem to run almost all the time, with periods of times where they go into high speed for no apparent reason, as I am not running any application or game that consumes more power.
- Unplug battery life is not good, tops 4 hours if nothing too strenuous is running.
- The battery life in the MacBook Pro is really good.
- Although my work mostly involve developing software, reading and answering emails; I can have it unplugged with a full battery, and work a full 8 hours day and still have battery left at the end of the day.
- The heat dispersion is very good. I can hardly feel any heat in the keyboard or track-pad.
- I can’t hear the fans turning on at all. The only times I’ve heard the fans going on is during game playing or when doing heavy video editing and rendering.
- Most every night I will unplug it from the charger and close the lid. Next morning it will probably lost 5% of battery.
Video Editing/Rendering
DELL
MacBook
- The DELL Precision will not perform very well doing video or 3D rendering on battery.
- On battery the software will put it in low power in order to safe battery. This will make video or 3D rendering very slow.
- If the battery power settings is changed from slow to full power, then rendering of video or 3D sources will reduce the battery life to an hour.
- The noice from the fans and heat dispersing into the chassis and keyboard is uncomfortable.
- The MacBook Pro does a great job doing video editing and rendering on battery with its energy mode set to slow power.
- It is noticeable slower and the fans do turn on but not as loudly and frequently as in the DELL laptop.
- The battery last longer in slow power mode while performing video editing and rendering.
- There is a notable heat source coming thru the keyboard, but is rarely noticeable or uncomfortable.
- In High power mode, the MacBook performs the rendering and editing tasks as it is plugged to a power source. The fans will kick at a faster pace and a little more heat will be disperse thru the keyboard and chassis.
- Unplugged high power mode will give you a good 4 to 5 hours of video editing. And rendering.
Conclusion
In the end it’s my opinion that the MacBook Pro is a better engineered and designed machine than the DELL Precision. It helps to understand the history of the PC and Macs in order to assess the craftsmanship of both laptops. As the PC started with IBM, soon after it became a hobbyist machine where people could buy the parts and assemble them together most likely installing DOS and there after Windows. In actuality DELL started this way.
Turn the clock to 2023 and in the PC realm you have PCs made of many brand parts, Intel, AMD, Graphic cards from different manufacture, memory and SSD also from different manufactures and so on. Then Windows OS has to support all these different amalgam of hardware, adding version after version of the OS all these bloated ware of support making it a miracle that actually these PCs run at all.
In the other hand you have Apple with 40+ years of controlling every aspect of the hardware and software design of its machines. They too had gone thru a history of design changes and trial and error periods. But if you turn the clock to 2023 and the introduction of the M chips together with the integrated designs, you end up with the MacBooks which are design beautifully inside and out.
