Which laptop to buy? Apple Macbook or Sony Vaio SZ

have been looking at laptops for about 20 days or so. I have reviewed Sony, Apple, Dell, HP, Toshiba, IBM, Acer brands. I have also tried out the following with my own two hands.

1) HP : 2025
2) Toshiba Satellite (2 models : one with a Pent M and other Celeron)
3) Sony TX, SZ, FE, FJ, FS
4) IBM Lenovo
5) Apple Macbook

I need a laptop mainly for preparing for further studies. I want to go for an MS or MS-PhD program. Hence, I need it for web browsing, documents, programming stuff, GRE/TOEFL preparation, paper presentations etc. I feel that my requirements are:
1) It should not be big (14" screen or less)
2) It should not be heavy. I should be able to carry it to conferences, public places, during travel etc. (2.5 kg or less)
3) It should have a large hard disk (100 GB or more would be nice)
4) It should have a good battery life (at least 4 hours)
5) It should be able to play multimedia pretty well (good speakers and good visual display)
6) I would prefer it having a webcam (although that is not an absolutely must)
7) I should be able to play games ocassionally on it (I am more inclined towards strategy games like Age Of Empires, Warcraft etc)
8) It should be reliable and rugged.
9) I would prefer a fast processor keeping in mind that it can't be upgraded later (Core Duo is very preferable, maybe 2.0 GHz).

Cost is not a very important consideration for me at this time. This does not mean that I don't value money, but if I get what I want, I don't mind spending upto a certain limit.

After much consideration I have been able to narrow down my options to two brands : Macbook and Sony SZ.

I would like to know which one to go for. I am a computer engineer. So I have worked with Unix & Linux. But for mainstream work I have always worked on Windows and everything in my office is on Windows. But I am not such a Windows Fan. So, please help me out in deciding which laptop would be good for me.

 

Please refrain from posting the same question in mulitple forums:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=74863

 

Well leave the MacBook away, that the worst notebook quality wise I ever owned. Glad I could return it just to find the same crap in the MacBook pro. Stay way from Apple at all costs, the MacBooks may be tempting but they have bad bad build quality.

 

Based on what do you find the macbook crap?

All people I know really like this laptop.
If it had a better graphic video card, I would have bought it instead of the SZ...

The SZ is made on the fragile side... I've had mine for 6 months, paint is wearing off the plastic, and both plastic edge are now moving (e.g they don't clip to the main case anymore)

 

Well than you never had a MacBook if you have to ask this. Mine did develop several problems in the first days alone including gaps in the casing so large I could stick a credit card in, it became so hot that is was unpleasant to work with, the well known discoloration problem and finally after a little over a week the screen died on my first one. In total I had three MacBooks and I had to return them all because the were made to stand in a museum (the look good to be honest) but could not withstand daily use. I then moved to MacBook Pro just to find a different batch of problems like whining fans, extreme heat (even worse than the MacBook) and others. After two MBPs I gave up and returned them never to look at Apple again. I then got a SZ2 I use happily ever since.

Maybe I was extremely unlucky but 5/5 Macs so ridden with problems, no thank you. If you take a look at www.appledefects.com you can imagine the fun you'll have with those. Don't say I haven't warned you.

 

If you ask the Mac folks they will say Macbook.

If you ask the Sony folks they will say SZ.

If you ask me who plays with Macs and PCs every day, I say SZ.
-The Macbook has crappy GPU, my SZ plays games great. Although the ones you mention don't seem too taxing and will work OK with GMA950.
-SZ is light, much lighter compared to the Macbook. I think if they didn't use all the cool heavy magnets and lighter materials in the body it would have been better.
-Not sure which is the sturdiest of the two but I do notice while playing with the Macbook that the build quality is poor.
-Speakers are OK on both laptops but the screen on the SZ is far superior (my opinion), it can also be VERY brightn (I have premium model).
-The CPU is easily upgradeable in the SZ.

About not being a Windows fan, what do you mean? At one point I got sick of windows and went with Mac. Once the neat hardware and software tricks of the Mac faded I went primarily back to the PC. I love both but find myself spending 90% of my time on the SZ. Funny thing about all this is that you can have Windows on Mac and Mac on Windows with both machines. And if $$$ is not much of a concern then get both (what I did, Macbook Pro not Macbook).

EDIT: I fogot to mention about the web cams on both these machines... The Macs cam seems to be a little better. If you use it everyday to talk like me you'll wish the SZ had a superior one.

 

imhop you are missing the main point. both builds are ****ty for the money. .but the ability to boot into the vastly superior osx or windows cant be beat/
i've used both and unless your a techno freak and love virus's osx is for you. it's also much much more stable. that being said (i have both) i carry the sz when i travel because of the two expansion slots. it is criminal of apple to include only an express card slot in the pro and nothing in the macbook. if you need pcmia or express (or ever want expansion card options) go viao,

skip edge it sucks and get a sprint rev a evdo card or what i have which is verizon evdo

 

OSX much more stable??? That's a good one. The few weeks I had Macs I suffered more OS related crashes than in years with Windows XP. And I've never installed anything on those machines. They crashed, shut down randomly, you name it. OSX being the better OS is absolutely not true. It may look better (a lot better in fact) but as one said, the gimmicks won't convince you for long. I personally cannot decide what's worse, Apple hardware or Apple software. My OSX experiences are plain bad. I have no idea why people like it so much, this is one slow and unstable system! And that it is not battered by viruses comes from the fact that nobody uses it. If 50% of the systems would run OSX you bet it will suffer from malware just as much as Windows does, it's not a target of malware programmers thats all.

 

I've had macs running OSX for years, I almost never had to reboot the machine other than after installing an OS update.
They always behaved consistently, always in the same good predictable manner.

I unfortunately can't say the same thing with my SZ. Each time I plug an external screen, I can not predict how the screen will be recognized, what resolution it will be on etc.
When I select to Shutdown the SZ, there is no guarantee whatosever it will actually shutdown. Often it just get stuck right after closing all windows.

And let's not talk about all the BSOD that I experience here and there...

I couldn't comment on the build quality of the macbook as I do not own one (only an intel imac, and powerbook G4), but now your remark convinced me you're just trolling. Or maybe you thought you had to reboot MacOS X because you were too used to Windows..

If only I could install MacOS X on my SZ (I tried, but power management and audio do not work)

 

Definitely incorrect. Unlike most windows user (who run as administrator) and macos really being a unix machine, each application run in their independant world. so a windows-like virus just can't spread on a macos machine (or linux, bsd etc...) as it does on windows.
A Trojan is always possible, but a virus is extremely unlikely

 

It is correct that Mac has Windows beat on this feature and Vista is the same way but I don't think this is going to work once Vista is released, all counter measures will be broken in time. If Mac has more users than there's will be broken by someone who cares.

Back to topic. I think Vaio is the way to go at this time. "I have always worked on Windows and everything in my office is on Windows". It will cost you more $$$ in the long run if you go Mac. And I still say get a Macbook along with the SZ, you'll find they do the same thing, both will be fun. Unfortunately for Mac users the world is dominated by Windows users. Fortunately for Mac users the marketing Dept at Apple is tricking us into thinking their products are the way too go like Microsoft did long ago so you'll have more products for the Crapitosh. HeHe, just kidding, it's what some of the Mac haters in my lab call it. My Boss only buys Mac/Apple stuff and is trying to convert the rest of the lab. What's up with some Mac users?

 

@jyavenard: See, we have had totally different experiences. I had so many problems with OSX inlcuding crashes yet you had pratically none. I don't know why that is and if it was MacBook related somehow. BUT in contrast to you I NEVER EVER had a problem with Windows XP MCE I installed fresh on my SZ2, no BSOD, not external screen issues, nothing. Maybe that is the difference. You know OSX and know what works and what not. I do the same in the Windows world. And if you like to buy a MacBook go a ahead and do so. I'll never understand what it takes to be such a dumn loyal servent of Apple and buy every product be it as flawed as it may be. Apples rep regarding build quality has gone downhill, that is a fact. Look at the massive amount of problem the MacBooks hand MBPs have hardwarewise. Just look at the stupid ones a 6year old would have noticed during construction like the staining. But hey, it's Apple so it must be good right?











I don't consider this acceptable at any level. On the 3 MacBooks and 2 MacBookPros I had in a couple of weeks before giving up and buying the SZ2 I had suffered the same as shown in pic 1,2,4 and 5. Plus things you can't show like mooing fans, whining etc.

Give the virus issue your comparing apples to oranges here. You're telling me that a windows virus would not work under OSX. Well I'd be shocked if it would. But they are not meant to work under OSX. You bet you can design a virus that works und OSX no matter if you praise it or not. By the way, if every little thing in OSX works "in its own world" how do certain parts of the OS and the software communicate??? Must be telepatic, otherwise this is just a possible way to spread a virus.

Honestly I don't have anything against OSX personal. It's just that OSX and I got off on the wrong foot. I thought a (neat looking) MacBook or MacBookPro would be nice mainly because I could run Windows too. But I had so many problems with those laptops it turned me away pretty soon. So if it works for you I'm happy for you. It did not work for me. And if Win works for me why should you care? The one and only thing I really hate are those people trying to convince others that OSX is the cure for all bad things in Windows. That is clearly not that case. Both have their strenghts and weaknessess

 

I did not say a Windows virus wouldn't work on Apple, that would be too obvious

Just that how a virus work on Windows, and what make viruses possible on Windows do not apply on any Unix based OS.

I've been using Windows since Windows 95 and have been developing on both platform (windows and mac) ever since.
MacOS X is a nicer platform to develop on. It's not really a matter of taste. Working with any peripherals is a breathe on MacOS X. I remember writing the USB drivers on a mac, I never had to reboot the machine while developing it. While on Windows it was an utter pain. Depending on which USB port you plugged your device, you had to reinstall the drivers , multiple reboot etc..

You've had a bad experience with your apple laptop, but when I see how bad your laptop looked like, I think your issues were more related to hardware issues than an OS issues.

I use Windows almost 20hours a day, so yeah I do encounter a lot of issues. Which I can reproduce on any PCs as it's a Windows issue.

 

I had a bad experience with the MacBook.

It burned my leg it was so hot, and the leading edge of the keyboard was sharp and uncomfortable. Battery life was poor. There are absolutely no expansion card slots or media card slots (!?)

However, it did perform well. I gave it to my Mac friends, and am looking to get a Vaio SZ. If I were in school I would definitely get the SZ, as you will be carrying it around more and need the light weight and battery life, plus you wont run into any compatibility issues with software.

 

I'm not going to comment on the whole OSX thing, but: I'm very happy with my SZ and mine has proven to be pretty sturdy (it even survived an accidental and amazingly dumb kick to the screen without any visible damage).
As for not being a Windows fan: Welcome to the club. I mainly Windows on mine for gaming and the occasional office stuff (though not anymore, really). I have Zenwalk Linux running on mine flawlessly (it's a Slackware derivative). I only use the Intel graphics in Linux because 2D and basic 3D acceleration works and if I wanted to play games, Windows is the better option anyway. But there's a script on linux-laptop.net that allows you switch between the GPUs.
So far, I didn't do any battery tests, but I assume it's going to be similar to Windows. If you're interested, I could do some battery tests though.
I can't tell you about webcam and bluetooth support, my SZ doesn't have those. And I don't have a firewire device to test that but from what I've read, it works. As for Suspend-to-RAM and Suspend-to-Disk, I haven't tested those either. I could try it, if you want me to.

In conclusion, Linux works very well on this laptop, including 3D acceleration, Fn-Keys and dynamic CPU control (load-based in my case).
edit: Oh, right. And I get all the eye candy I can handle as well. My WM is Enlightenment 0.17 (CVS).

 

That may very well be the case but you know when 5/5 Apple laptops you had were faulty in one or another way you kinda loose patience and confidence. The second MBP was pretty good infact and free of problems until the screen died the fourths day of heavy use. I need a laptop I can work with not one I need to bring to the service partner once a week. I don't have time for that. I really, I mean really, loved the idea of a MacBook (Pro) but those weeks were totally annoying. I simply have to rely on my machine because I need it for work. If it quits on me I can't earn money and that is a huge no-no. I never had a probem with my SZ2 since day one. I'm not changing the hardware often or develop on a system based level so those restricitons don't apply to me.

 

About Linux on the SZ

I never got the suspend/resume to work well with the nvidia card. On Intel it works (kind-of) and more often than not will just not resume...

Battery life isn't anywhere as good as with Windows unfortunately.

I'd be interested in the screen to change GPU. Or is it just a script allowing to check which GPU is currently being used and configuring X depending on the GPU...
I'd be surprise if a linux script can change a GPU without a reboot

 

Nah, it's just a screen changing the Xconfig at bootup. I think the other option isn't even possible, hardware-wise. If someone does find a way to do it, I would sure like to know as well.

As for battery life: What CPU governor are you using?