Mac vs PC... pulling the trigger

[shfle]

If you want a decent sized screen, the MBP is the only way to go unfortunately and the extra power comes in handy occasionally too. I was just trying to get at the fact that it'd be great if Apple would put more features people needed (e.g. card readers, HDMI output) especially after paying so much!

I actually do agree with you on these points, Apple does seem to neglect the home/budget user (Especially in the laptop department).

Seeing as my wife has more or less commandeered my Powerbook these days, I would buy a budget laptop in a flash if Apple were to release one. I already have an iMac for when I need to do any serious work, so would only require it for web browsing and using office apps on the road etc.

Unfortunately I can't see this happening in the near future as Apple (As any other successful company), likes to maximise it's profits and I feel that it is wary of such a machine eating into the more lucrative profits of the higher end machines.

Call me cynical but I think the reason that no HDMI port has been included so far is that it would eat into the sales of MiniDV to DVI adaptors (For Macbooks and iMacs) at £15 a pop!

On a slightly different point, lets see what (If anything) materialises from this:-

http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/18287/


PS
The cheap price points that Dell are selling at are not exactly working wonders for the company:-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7586979.stm

After recently announcing a 19% increase in sales, they now report a 17% drop in profits! Things not looking that rosy then but I suppose that is the price you pay by selling with such low profit margins.