jason51873, it's total BS that you should win. I mean you have tens of dollars worth of shop tools. They need to have class divisions for this kind of stuff. I mean, give me a tens of dollars work shop and I bet I can make something just as good maybe better. They need a home workshop class and a bum class.

Just is not fair to the REAL DIY ppl. The ppl that make stuff with nothing but mud and empty bottles, not people sitting in their parents' basements.

Seriously jason51873, cry moar. If you don't like the rules then don't enter. To suggest that there was no way pure creativity and a small budget couldn't have bested this winner is ridiculous.

N900 - That may be exactly it. It's about raising the value of their brand by showing off stuff that makes the public go "WOW!" Even if they lose money on this, the general perception of Dell will be improved so they may see an increase in sales for their other products. i.e. "Dell makes crappy budget computers. What, what's this? That Adamo XPS looks amazing! Dell sure has come a long way! Let's see what else they have..."

Hold up.

If I want to play games, get a console? Is that really the best you can come up with? Come on, it sucks that gaming on Macs is severely lacking. I don't even do much gaming at all, but just the other day I came across a game that looked incredibly fun. Unfortunately, it only works for PC. "Run it through Bootcamp or Parallels!" Tried, but the game ends up crashing on startup. Major disappointment and makes me miss my PC.

As for professional software, VB macros don't work on Office 2008. And Access? Oh, and RIM is just now finally releasing Mac syncing software for their BB.

"Windows is in business for no other reason than Apple never cared for corporate in the 80's and 90's. The progress OS X has made in 8 years is triple what Windows has done in 20...period." Riiiight... Apple HATES money. Pass the pipe this way, buddy.

FYI, I've been using both Macs and PCs regularly for over 20 years. I happily use both, but I cannot stand the superiority complex and RDF of some Apple users. Prior to OSX, Macs could not hold a candle to PCs. OSX is a fantastic OS, but it's not without its share of issues.

@Zachary Machat

You have to be kidding me about Apple's hardware quality. I have a "precision cut aluminum" unibody MBP. I had to exchange my brand new MBP several times because it had scratches and chips in the aluminum. Beyond cosmetic issues, the screen was a major letdown. "Stage lighting" at the bottom of the screen (Genius tried to convince me this was part of the design since the other MBPs at the store had the same problem) and severe light bleeding at the corners. Also, what the heck is up with the hinge? It's luck of the draw whether you get a stiff hinge or a really loose hinge. I complained to Apple that my lid would fall back whenever I used my MBP on my lap (on top of a laptop cushion) and I was told that "it's not a laptop--it's a notebook that has to be used on a table. The loose hinge is a feature." AAAAAARGH. They have excuses for everything and try to spin them as positives.

I like Apple's software and I like the design of their hardware, but their quality control sucks.

No RROD here. Just a semi-corrupted hard drive on a fresh out of warranty X360. Thanks MS!

Considering the absurd failure rate, was there a class-action lawsuit that I missed out on?

SoulinEther, again, it boils down to supply and demand. Firefighters risk their lives and possess the skills to save the lives of others. Not many people are willing to do this, nor are they capable of doing this. As far as demand goes, we absolutely need them, and we need the best people for the job. So there you go: low supply, high demand. Firefighters should be paid well.

THIS MAKES UNION BOSS ANGRY
FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

Dude, look at the big picture: it's about workforce productivity. Taking away this relatively brainless job of delivering mail forces people to seek another job, possibly one that requires more skill. Low-skill jobs with relatively high pay tell society that it's okay to fail at education and have low aspirations. This is why I hate most unions. They completely screw up the concept of supply versus demand, driving up the cost of labour way higher than the market would otherwise bare. It's no different than businesses colluding to fix prices. I understand why the creation of unions were necessary, but they are far too strong now and cause more harm than good.

ph, they do not design netbooks around your personal habits. Are DVDs old technology? Absolutely. But so what? No matter how many anecdotes you provide and no matter how you feel about social behaviour, the fact of the matter is plenty of people still use DVDs. Here's an anecdote of my own: just last month I went overseas on business and a client gave me some information on a DVD. This is not uncommon. This is the real world. You may not see it, but it's there.

I will be happy when everyone finally does away with optical discs. But digital download systems are still far from reaching maturity and not everyone in this world has access to a fast and reliable internet connection. Moreover, there is still a large population that are clueless about digital downloads but they are at least familiar with using discs.

Apple will never win this battle because they don't sell laptops.

I recently made the switch to Apple. The only thing it has going for it is OSX. I don't thing it's necessarily better than Windows, but it's different with its own advantages and disadvantages (FWIW, I've been using Apple computers for over 20 years but this is the first one I've owned). But here's what gets me... Apples don't "just work" as they would like you to believe. I've had to replace my MBP three times before I got one that wasn't defective. Throughout that process, I found out about all kinds of common problems which Apple likes to consider "within spec." And even the one I have now has a loose hinge that Apple claims is a feature. Consequently, numerous people have reported that Apple insists that the MBP is not a "laptop" so you must use it on a flat stable surface. No using it on the couch or in bed where the loose hinge will cause problems. Not impressed.

What's worse is that I also picked up a Time Capsule which is absolutely the worst router I have ever had. Constantly drops connections and it has a poor signal compared to my old cheap router (and yes, I've tried downgraded the firmware and tried different channels). Search online and you'll see that this is not uncommon so I don't know how Apple gets away with this.

At this point, I doubt that my next computer will be an Apple.

I still can't believe this Frankenstein "laptop" exists. It's like they thought "hey, let's cram as many devices together as possible!" with no effort for seamless integration. They may as well have duct taped everything together.