Hey!

First things first - let me state that I am not intending to play games on this - I have narrowed down to these 3 purely based on specs and its individual brand reliability in the market. I intend to primarily use:

• Visual Studio 2008 Pro a lot (develop and deploy on Windows platforms)
• SQL Server 2005
• Oracle 10g
• Adobe Photoshop CS4
• Microsoft Expression Studio
• Google Sketchup

I currently use a desktop PC (Core2Duo 2.66Ghz with 3GB DDRII memory) running Vista Business 32-bit - and I have to admit that, especially for Visual Studio, its quite sluggish to a point where it affects productivity.

Furthermore, I intend to only use the notebook on a table - with a cooled surface, like granite :) - so I would appreciate people's input with regard to heat issues.

Im aware that the Dell's primary exhaust gets blocked by the lid when open, but some reviews don't seem to place extraordinary emphasis on heat issues resulting from this.

My options for the Dell/Alienware:

• Core i7 720QM
• 4GB DDRIII memory
• ATI mobility 3670 (512)
• 128GB Solid State Drive
• 16-inch Full HD RGB-LED LCD display (1080p)
• 3-year next-business-day support

My configuration for the Apple MBP:

• Core2Duo 2.8Ghz (Im assuming the T9600)
• 4GB DDRIII memory
• 128GB Solid State Drive
• standard 1 year support

The one advantage I think of with the MBP is that I can have the addition of OSX (though Im unsure what I would use it for, but purely to play around with a much-boasted-about OS)

What are your thoughts on this, especially regarding build-quality, heat, performance and battery-life?

Much thanks! ~shalan