Apple vs Sony

I recently (this week) purchased the new Apple MB over the Sony Z after much research.

I am upgrading from the Sony SZ purchased in 2006. I am a life long PC user. Although I have a lot friends and engineers that I work with that are apple zealots. I would consider my self a business and general purpose user (PIM, email/IM, office, web, pics, movies, occasional game, etc). I bought the Sony SZ primarily do to the screen size (the only quality laptop withe a 13" screen I could find, this was before the Dell XPS 13", Toshiba Protege). I did not really look a the apple products as they were too proprietary for me in 2006.

The reasons I chose the new apple MB over the new sony Z are

* Software - OSX is superior (faster, stable, easy) to Vista/XP. Also, you can have both with MP (BootCamp and Vmare), so I can still have access to all any Vista/XP software that may not be available to OSX. Mozilla Firefox works well with MB and is better than IE and Safari. In general, the MB will be less maintenance, etc and I will be more productive and less fustration.

* Hardware - Although MP is about 1 pound heavier technically (4.5lb vs 3.4lb), the MP feels lighter, stronger, thinner, slot drive vs pop out... more solid, and with the new aluminum looks great, high end, sleek. The Z carbon fiber does still look great as well, but is second to the new MB & MBP. Apple moving to more standard architecture (intel, nvidia, etc) , which creates an improved platform not only today but moving forward. The same with the OS, in that they are all becoming closer together with OSX and Vista becoming very linux like. Both of which means more options in SW, HW, and reduced costs. To me this decision moved more to Apple vs Sony/Dell/Toshiba/HP/etc as opposed to Apple vs Microsoft.

* MB was less expensive $2098 (2.4 ghz proc, 4GB mem, 320GB disk, 3yr service) vs Z $2339 (2.4 ghz proce, 4GB mem, 320GD disk, 3 yr service). When I buy a new computer I always buy the max Mem/Disk. It is disappointing that the MP or the Z doesn't offer a 500GB drive yet, dell does.

Lastly, both Sony and Apple are priced very high and one can certainly buy more hardware for the $$$. However, from a total cost of ownership view, especially factoring the time doing system maintenance, reboots, crashes, viruses, etc for me the new Apple MB provides the greatest value. As well as a great looking machine.

Sony does have much better connectivity options with HDMI, etc, but USB will work for my Verizon broadband card, camera, printer, phone, and other peripherals. The connectivity advantage doesn't outweigh the MB software environment for my needs. Blue Ray is cool, but not at an additional $500 on the Sony Z.

So I am now an official Apple Guy... but not really in that the world's are converging in that I run both OSX and XP/Vista on my new laptop that is from apple... I wouldn't be surprised if some day I run OSX and XP/Vista on a Dell or Sony! I hope this helps.

 

I'm glad it worked out for you buddy.

It's always the case of what will work for individual people.

Cheers!

 

Quote: Z $2339 (2.4 ghz proce, 4GB mem, 320GD disk, 3 yr service).

which kind of Z is that? so overpriced

I got mine (look at sig) for $1550 after tax from sony style

 

I always thought that Apple computers are overpriced, you have to pay for the latest fashion which is fair if that what you want, and just to compare I got my M1330 about five months ago (the spics are in the signature) for about $1200 (I used $250 coupon)

 

the macbook also costs about 1200. maybe a bit more.

of course, you COULD spend 2000 on one if you want.

you could also spend 2000 on a macbook pro. or a variety of other things.

but a macbook costs 1200 approximately.

 

Why? It's much cheaper to upgrade both of those things yourself. Then you also get to learn some experience, which was my case. I also felt good because I knew that it was done by me.

 

^second that-if you done that yourself,you would save lots of money!

 

Great price, from a store or the web?

 

How do u like the XPS? I thought it was/is a great machine and great value, wish it ran osx.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=380&name=Laptop-Hard-Drives here

 

I have heard that, how much cheaper?

 

With the Macbook 2.0, 4GB RAM upgrade costs $150, and a 320GB 5400 rpm HD upgrade costs $200. That's from the Apple Store.

You can get 4GB of RAM and a 320GB 7200 rpm HD for both under $200. And you also get to keep your old RAM and HD for backups.

 

Thank you. In the Mac world is common/better to buy the machines with smaller mem/disk and do the upgrades yourself?

 

Yes. Though I dont know right now with the price of ddr3 ram if its that much cheaper to buy it aftermarket. Newegg is probably cheaper, but we dont get the same deals here in canada, so I dont know about ram. HDD though, yes.

 

also,you could buy apple care from ebay for 150$

 

imo it all comes down to which OS you prefer, because in terms of screen and functionality (ports) the Z blows the MB out of the water

 

^true,like a proverb say-you can;t have everything....

 

Agreed, the sony has a better screen, but not that much and it does have more connectivity options if you need them... for me USB is all I need and the OSX operating environment is so far superior (stability, speed, secure, eas) to Vista and/or XP that it make up for the screen... Also, i like the little things like power cord, the feel, sleekness, simplicity, etc... if I had to run vista I would buy the Sony Z, fortunately I only need to run it once in a while and when I do I fire up VM and it is great.

 

it is good that you like it-enjoy!

 

yeah.. i used to own a Z and i honestly think it was more sleek than the MBP i currently own. I guess the black carbon fibre is just too sexy

But i am also a recent mac switcher and am loving the experience

 

One other comment on connectivity. Not that I planned this but my Verizon Broadband USB device has a micro sd card slot, which give me another option for pictures, although I still primarily use the usb cable from my sony camera to both my MB and SZ.

 

black mbp ...mmm...

 

Well said and agreed. I still like the dark carbon fiber look vs the alum... in a perfect world MB and MBP in a dark alum ... maybe because I am new to it, but I am still truly blown away by OSX experience.

 

I've owned both Z and Macbook for a while. Most important differences to me were the Sony Z is 500 grams lighter, has a better screen and better battery life (6 hours with some tweaking).

Macbook's design is better in my opinion, the touchpad is larger and works better. And the Macbook also feels sturdier to me. If it is actually more durable I don't know.

Sony SR is actually more the competitor of the Macbook in terms of target market, price and weight. Both are consumer notebooks, while Z has a more business orientation.

 

what is that saying... once you go black, you never go back

carrying a spare battery was also nice

thx, i am new

 

dchap15, you can use the edit button to edit your last post, instead of posting multiple messages after another.

 

I don't think that applies just to the Mac world, but probably every brand.

 

Have to agree with that, but macbook has the better graphics

 

Better than the SR?
I thought they performed the same

its so sad that the integrated card in the mac outperforms the discrete card in the Z

 

Like Strongerthanall said, they score similar.

Both Nvidia 9400M and Ati 3470 score around 2100 in 3dMark 06.

Not really. Nvidia 9300M scores around 2100 too.

 

really?
maybe it was the processor then.

When I compared the SR to the Z playing TF2 the SR performed a little better

 

Well 3dMark is just a synthetic benchmark. In game results may vary. Most people say Ati3470 does a little better in games.

The differences are small though.

 

I thought u meant the Sony "SR" as you can see in the quote I have made, which has the Intel Integrated HD4500

 

Sony SR is available with HD4500 or Ati 3470.