Apple products come with a price tag that will add too much to your debt. If you don't mind forgoing that 'just so design' and the clean minimalism of the Apple experience (from the packaging to the cathedral, sorry, shop), or simply want to be different from the mainstream, here are the products for you:

Instead of an iPhone, get the HTC Wildfire S

Price difference
£95 on pay as you go or £10 per month with Three VS £29 plus £46 per month on T-Mobile for the new 16Gb iPhone

Key differences

• Comes in a variety of colours
• Smaller – a 3.2 inch screen in comparison to the iPhone’s 3.5 inch screen
• Scratch resistant glass unlike the iPhone
• 5mp camera in comparison to the iPhone’s 8 megapixels
• A battery that lasts 690 hours on standby in comparison to the iPhone’s mere 200hrs
• A battery which lasts 7hrs whilst phoning in comparison to the iPhone’s 14hrs
• Displays the Android user interface for downloading Android Apps rather than Apple’s iOS and the App Store
• Slower processor – 0.6Ghz single core processor in comparison to the iPhone 1Ghz dual core processor
• Lighter – 105g in comparison to the 137g iPhone

Key features

• Has 3G and Bluetooth capacities
• 16Gb storage – just as much as the iPhone

Instead of an iPod Touch, get the Phillips Go Gear Connect 3

Price difference
The 8Gb version is available for £83 from Play.com VS £130 for the latest 8Gb iTouch from Amazon

Key differences

• Displays the Android user interface for downloading Android apps rather than Apple’s iOS and the App Store
• Smaller – a 3.2 inch screen in comparison to the iTouch’s 3.5 inch screen
• Based on Phillips success in sound systems, this MP3 player features FullSound, SoundPersonalisation and Surround for Movies technolog
• You download songs onto the device through Phillips special software – Songbird – rather than iTunes. Songbird, like iTune’s Genius feature, allows you to like music so that it can then create a playlist of similar songs
• No camera

Key Features

• 4 hours of video playback
• Bluetooth
• Available in 8Gb or 16Gb versions
• Is essentially a smartphone without the phone

Instead of a Macbook Air, get the Dell XPS 15Z

Price difference
£609 for the 4Gb version from the Dell website VS £1,143 for the MacBook Air (the Core i5, 1.7 GHz, 4Gb version) from Amazon

Key differences

• Larger 15.6 inch screen in comparison to the Macbook’s 13.3 inches
• Superior resolution (1920 x 1080 in comparison to the Macbook’s 1440 x 900)
• 8hrs battery life in comparison the Macbook’s 7hrs
• Larger hard drive capacity at 500Gb in comparison to the Macbook’s 256Gb

Key features

• Ultra slim at 0.92 inches thick – thought sadly not to the extent of the Macbook Air (0.68 inches)
• Fast Intel Core processor
• 1.3mp webcam

Instead of an iPad, get the Google Nexus 7

Price difference
£159 for the 8Gb version or £199 for 16Gb VS £399 for the new 16Gb iPad

Key differences

• More than half the price!
• Smaller – a 7 inch screen in comparison to the iPad’s 10 inch screen
• Half the weight of the iPad
• Fits into large pockets
• Has only a camera which looks towards the user rather than one on the back looking outwards
• No 3G capacity

Key features

• Is as fast as any Android tablet
• Has the most recent Android operating system
• Has a powerful processor and graphics chip

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