Comments on: Back-to-school laptops: Dell Studio 1535 is tops for less than $1,000

The Dell Studio 1535 is the best mainstream back-to-school laptop.

[NCTARHEELS]

a low end macbook with education discount is $999

[mike10778]

Yeah, a 999 macbook with less RAM, a much smaller HDD, a lower processor, etc.....

[chronoex]

Make that a $999 Macbook with a processor of the same speed, better hardware architecture, and a vastly superior operating system environment.

[fl1ckmasterflex]

better hardware architecture? what ********. there is absolutely no difference between them. macbooks infact have hardware DRM so you cannot install osx on other computers.

[rnaoncfixd]

Macs don't need 4GB of Ram because the operating system doesn't tax it as much as Vistas does. By the way, that laptop has Vistas on it. Sure, you could downgrade, but then, the new software and everything that's coming out in the next couple of years will no longer be compatible with it.

Aside from making this a Mac vs. PC debate, I think that the Dell looks like a great laptop! Dell is a slightly reliable brand that could probably last you through college years, assuming your just taking a bachelors. If you're really into using Windows based systems, then I'd definitely agree with the reviewer.

I just bought a computer for college for my son this weekend. We looked at the Dell, and while it seemed a nice machine, the MacBook easily won the "which one would you prefer to use" contest.