I originally called this article “Dude, Where’s My Dell?”, because I figured that there was no way that Dell would beat Apple. Now I’m not so sure. Here’s the story…

Feeling the slow, inevitable decline of my 12” PowerBook G4, I decided it was time to go ahead and shop for an upgrade. I settled on the Mac mini 1.66 GHz Intel Core Duo. For a new monitor (currently I’m using an old 15” LCD in tandem with my 12” G4’s display), I chose Dell’s outstanding 20.1-inch Widescreen Flat Panel monitor instead of Apple’s ultra-sexy Cinema Display. Why the Dell? Well, simple: the Dell is brighter, has a higher contrast ratio, and is about $300 cheaper. No contest.

So I ordered both items on Friday – one from Dell and one from Apple. For both I chose the free ground shipping option.

Here’s where it starts to get interesting. I was sure that my Apple order would beat my Dell order to the door. This belief was reinforced when I checked my order status for both orders on Sunday, and saw that Apple had already shipped. So there it is – Apple beats Dell, just as I expected. Hah! Except wait – on closer inspection I saw that only part of my Apple order has shipped – the keyboard and mouse. The actual Mac Mini is still waiting to be shipped. Ack! I had already given Apple the benefit of the doubt, and I had already started railing on Dell for being so slow and stupid! Now I may have to eat my words!

So now it comes down to a race between Apple and Dell. Who will make me happier? Who will make it to my door first? In a world where Dell and Apple have become direct competitors (now that Apple officially runs Windows), the outcome of this little anecdotal experiment will be very telling.

Who will it be???