[citation][nom]tgandy[/nom]Well besides being half the price. I don't know many Mac owners, but all of them use Parallels to run Windows software that they don't have native. But they just don't want to hear it when I challenge them on this situation.-Andy[/citation]This is entire review is akin to comparing a large navel orange to a clementine.
As others have pointed out, the number of CPU cores alone should have raised the editorial red flag. The screen size is also a big difference. Viewing 19x10 on a 15" screen is much different from looking at a 17" screen at the same resolution. This significant of a form factor (and price) difference renders the comparison invalid. As another commenter suggested: put the 15" MBP up against the Dell and come back with the review.
Also, I want to take the author to task regarding the photographic comparison between the Dell XPS unit and an older Dell Inspiron. Why on earth is the Inspiron a part of this review? I thought that this was a comparison between the XPS and the MBP. In fact, there wasn't a single Tom's Guide-generated visual comparison between the two hardware units. This is another editorial red flag that should have kept this article from seeing the light of day.
Lastly, I can't believe that the default trial software that comes on a Windows machine is being touted as an asset or something of any measurable value. As a professional who has configured thousands of 'Wintel' machines (using model machines & cloning), the very first thing that I do is remove that crap and install all of the useful utilities and licenses that I have spent the time / money to download and acquire via optical media. That is the exact same thing that a Mac user would do if they haven't ordered that software pre-installed. If Dell made available the option to have a "clean" Windows installation (as some consumer makers do), that would be a *huge* plus in my book.
Additionally, so what if people are using Parallels on their MBPs to gain access to necessary tools? Thousands upon thousands of people use virtualized environments on Windows machines to emulate older Windows versions, Linux / Unix environments, etc. because they need access to useful tools or for testing purposes. It is a non-issue.
FYI, I do own a handful of iOS devices, but my primary (self-built) machines and professional expertise lies in the world of Windows. I have limited hands-on, professional time with OS X desktop and laptop-class units.