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mttcee

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 13, 2010
19
0
Just sold my 2.5 yrs old MBA with 1.6 Ghz 80GB HD for $900 => That's stiil 40% of the original price. No other brand keeps its value like Apple

But the hardware of the Sony Z13 is just incredible
 

chrmjenkins

macrumors 603
Oct 29, 2007
5,325
158
MD
Buying something simply because it retains its value best is not a good path to user satisfaction. You should buy a MBA over a Vaio because you want Mac OS X.

Comparatively, the Air is underpowered and heavier, not a fair comparison IMNSHO. Seems like we'll see an update on the 20th though.
 

mttcee

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 13, 2010
19
0
Buying something simply because it retains its value best is not a good path to user satisfaction. You should buy a MBA over a Vaio because you want Mac OS X.

Comparatively, the Air is underpowered and heavier, not a fair comparison IMNSHO. Seems like we'll see an update on the 20th though.

Fully agree. I didn't mean it and #1 reason is OSX, but still amazing how good Apple keeps value.
 

macdaddy01

macrumors member
Jul 1, 2007
38
1
Cali
Just sold my 2.5 yrs old MBA with 1.6 Ghz 80GB HD for $900 => That's stiil 40% of the original price. No other brand keeps its value like Apple

But the hardware of the Sony Z13 is just incredible

I agree. I just sold my 1.5 yrs old MBA with 2.13GHZ 128GB SSD for $1500.
 

entatlrg

macrumors 68040
Mar 2, 2009
3,385
6
Waterloo & Georgian Bay, Canada
that may well be - but they are very expensive and just look like a chunky slab of plastic :D

Try it before you slam it.

Expensive? No.

Clunky piece of plastic? No.

It is a full powered ultra compact sub notebook so light you can't tell it's in your bag, the "plastic" poses no problem for me.

I certainly don't mind not having to keep my wrists off the SHARP edge of the MacBooks edge to prevent cutting them.

And, the 3 ubs ports, hdmi, killer keyboard, hi res screen is nice to have, as is the 512ssd drive and 8gb ram, I find it goes well with the i5/i7 processors and 1gb VM ... :) Think I noticed a Express card and SD card slot there too :D and that in THREE POUNDS :eek:

OH, one more thing ... it plays (and records) Blu Ray ... does seem kinda cool to pop a blu ray disk in the drive, one quick plug in of the hdmi cable (NO adapter required) and voila movie time !!
 

mttcee

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 13, 2010
19
0
Try it before you slam it.

Expensive? No.

Clunky piece of plastic? No.

It is a full powered ultra compact sub notebook so light you can't tell it's in your bag, the "plastic" poses no problem for me.

I certainly don't mind not having to keep my wrists off the SHARP edge of the MacBooks edge to prevent cutting them.

And, the 3 ubs ports, hdmi, killer keyboard, hi res screen is nice to have, as is the 512ssd drive and 8gb ram, I find it goes well with the i5/i7 processors and 1gb VM ... :) Think I noticed a Express card and SD card slot there too :D and that in THREE POUNDS :eek:

OH, one more thing ... it plays (and records) Blu Ray ... does seem kinda cool to pop a blu ray disk in the drive, one quick plug in of the hdmi cable (NO adapter required) and voila movie time !!


wtf you make me jealous. bought a mbp i7 3.5K$ half a year ago - still great machine but its so huge. best way to go IMO: mbp for heavy productivity and z13 for laid back surfing/fun/on the go and little productivity (office)
 

TheMacBookPro

macrumors 68020
May 9, 2008
2,133
3
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.1-update1; en-gb; MB300 Build/Blur_Version.2.0.26.MB200.T-Mobile.en.US Flex/P021) AppleWebKit/530.17 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/530.17)

So I should buy a product that lacks a BD-RW drive, numerous slots (sd, hdmi, 2x less usb, etc), with crappier specs (i7 v C2D, 8G v 2G RAM, 512quad ssd v 128ssd, GT330M v 9400m) just bc i MIGHT be able to sell it for a little more in 2.5 years?

You were only able to sell your mba for that much because the current one looks exactly the same and has similar specs to your machine.

I highly doubt that the second gen Air will have specs that are anywhere near my Z's specs. Hell i don't even think that the new Air will have specs similar to the cheapest Z.

Switchable graphics means it'll last around 4.5 hrs with the Intel HD Gfx (2.5 on the dedicated gfx) And the battery's removable :D
 

Mike225

macrumors 6502a
Jul 15, 2010
521
0
SF BAY
wtf you make me jealous. bought a mbp i7 3.5K$ half a year ago - still great machine but its so huge. best way to go IMO: mbp for heavy productivity and z13 for laid back surfing/fun/on the go and little productivity (office)

I would think the opposite if anything. I actually dont see much need for the Macbook Pro at all to be honest.
 

mttcee

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 13, 2010
19
0
I would think the opposite if anything. I actually dont see much need for the Macbook Pro at all to be honest.

its much better for web dev: having ps, fw, flash und textmate simultaneously open and having a great gui with expose, spotlight, trackpad gestures etc. is crucial. you are much faster und the work feels more convenient
even apples exchange integration with mail is far superior to outlook on windows (search gigabyte of mails in seconds, try this with outlook)

windows/z13 => surfing, office, mails via gmail and movies => a great netbook
 

jnc

macrumors 68020
Jan 7, 2007
2,308
14
Nunya, Business TX
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You were only able to sell your mba for that much because the current one looks exactly the same and has similar specs to your machine.

Well that's not even close to right. His MBA would have the X3100, slower FSB, shorter battery, DDR2 RAM, Micro DVI, slower processor and smaller hard drive than the "current" one (which is not really very current, but still leaps ahead with Mini DisplayPort/HDCP, DDR3 RAM, nVidia GPU etc, had Ethernet capability out the box, and a much-needed price cut)
 

ReallyBigFeet

macrumors 68030
Apr 15, 2010
2,956
133
wtf you make me jealous. bought a mbp i7 3.5K$ half a year ago - still great machine but its so huge. best way to go IMO: mbp for heavy productivity and z13 for laid back surfing/fun/on the go and little productivity (office)

If you are using a Z13 for such lightweight duties, you'd have been better served with an iPad.
 

Alkiera

macrumors regular
Mar 11, 2008
109
0
Unless you wanted to surf the flash-enabled web like most people do...

I read his list of uses for the Z13 and thought, "Gee, I do all that stuff on my smartphone."

And that includes Flash 10.1. And the device is < 1/2" thick, weighs less than a pound, fits easily in most pockets. (Dell Streak, hacked to run Android 2.2)

Hastings101 said:
Personally I like the feel of a laptop more than all of the touch screen interaction while web browsing, maybe he does too.

If I'm sitting at a desk or table, maybe. Using a laptop on one's actual lap is an overrated experience. Give me a tablet device any day. Also, how is using a laptop with a trackpad involve any less touch interaction? If you're using a mouse while sitting on the couch... well, more power to ya.
 

fibrizo

macrumors 6502
Jan 23, 2009
411
5
I read his list of uses for the Z13 and thought, "Gee, I do all that stuff on my smartphone."

And that includes Flash 10.1. And the device is < 1/2" thick, weighs less than a pound, fits easily in most pockets. (Dell Streak, hacked to run Android 2.2)

If I'm sitting at a desk or table, maybe. Using a laptop on one's actual lap is an overrated experience. Give me a tablet device any day. Also, how is using a laptop with a trackpad involve any less touch interaction? If you're using a mouse while sitting on the couch... well, more power to ya.

Personally though, I own a EVO4g, and while it runs flash, it's honestly not that great vs an actual notebook/computer. Alot of flash based sites use mouse over and such. If you want to do flash based games etc, you can forget it. Also as good as the mobile browsers are, they still don't quite work as well as the full browsers.

Don't get me wrong, I have an ipad as well, and I enjoy doing couch browsing on it, but if I have to do anything that involves entering alot of info on forms or having multiple windows open, I'm on my desktop or laptop. Also since I've been using macs with the glass touchpad, I've never hooked up a mouse lol.

Honestly if it was just browsing and such the Toshiba protege R700 series is probably the best, with 3.2lbs 13 inch with DVD and 8 hour battery life i5-i7 etc... and intel integrated graphics....And only costs like 900$... which is only slightly more than a high end ipad lol

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834214024

If they would put those basic specs into the next MBA, make it slick and apple and add 200$ for apple premium and I'd be buying one right off.
 

narayanagame

macrumors newbie
Aug 28, 2010
3
0
wtf you make me jealous. bought a mbp i7 3.5K$ half a year ago - still great machine but its so huge. best way to go IMO: mbp for heavy productivity and z13 for laid back surfing/fun/on the go and little productivity (office)

wtf are you talking about.z13 can do 10times the productivity work twice faster than ur crap 3.5k$ ****.
dont comment without knowing the facts.mbp is heavy,costs twice as much as z13 for same hardware,has no real ports,no BD support and has damn ****ing resolution with glossy crap laid on it.

to the OP the main reason to go for MBA for any person ll be looks and may be light in weight(hope to see on 20th oct) and finally the OSX
 

stockscalper

macrumors 6502a
Aug 1, 2003
917
235
Area 51
If Apple releases that 11 inch screen, underpowered with inadequate storage Air that's been rumored then I'll be getting a Vaio.
 

TheMacBookPro

macrumors 68020
May 9, 2008
2,133
3
Well that's not even close to right. His MBA would have the X3100, slower FSB, shorter battery, DDR2 RAM, Micro DVI, slower processor and smaller hard drive than the "current" one (which is not really very current, but still leaps ahead with Mini DisplayPort/HDCP, DDR3 RAM, nVidia GPU etc, had Ethernet capability out the box, and a much-needed price cut)

Sorry- I was only looking at screen res and the processor.

And AFAIK the 320M is still inferior to the 330M GT in the Z...? Which weighs the same. (or does it still have the 9400m?)

MDP... not really. Few devices support it right now, but I agree that it has potential.

Isn't the Ethernet still on a dongle, just packaged with the air now? Or is it integrated now?

Here in Hong Kong the base Air still costs about the same as the base Z, which has an i5-540M and GT330M graphics and a 500GB HDD. It did just undergo a price cut as well though. I'm guessing the prices are just around the same in the US as here?

wtf you make me jealous. bought a mbp i7 3.5K$ half a year ago - still great machine but its so huge. best way to go IMO: mbp for heavy productivity and z13 for laid back surfing/fun/on the go and little productivity (office)

Um, my Z (specs below) is pretty much the same in terms of specs (i7, 8GB RAM, GT330M), except with a BD-RW drive, 512GB SSD and a higher res screen in a smaller and lighter package.
 

bloodycape

macrumors 65816
Jun 18, 2005
1,373
0
California
I dunno if prices are the same since in America(and I think Canada) we don't get the HDD option(was an option on the old C2D Z), so we get SSD standard, even in the base model. I kind of wish we got hdd standard because that would, A) make it a little cheaper, and B) give users who don't need the speed of an ssd but, need/require more space another choice besides going external.
 

exigentsky

macrumors regular
Aug 25, 2007
125
0
Just sold my 2.5 yrs old MBA with 1.6 Ghz 80GB HD for $900 => That's stiil 40% of the original price. No other brand keeps its value like Apple

But the hardware of the Sony Z13 is just incredible

If the Sony Z upgraded its graphics card to the Nvidia 400M series (currently a 1 GB 330M), I'd have purchased it immediately. I hope Apple will really upgrade the specs on their notebook line because so far, the Sony Z clearly outperforms Apple's entire notebook line.
 

bossxii

macrumors 68000
Nov 9, 2008
1,754
0
Kansas City
Easy question.

OSX.

Maxed out the Vaio Z is nearly $4800 with tax, and your still stuck with Windows...

And yet Mac owners are the crazy ones.:rolleyes:
 

TheMacBookPro

macrumors 68020
May 9, 2008
2,133
3
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A306 Safari/6531.22.7)

*you're

My Z can (and does) run Snow Leopard, thank you very much.

Mind telling me what's so horrible about Windows 7? Or are you just another mindless Apple fanboi?

I love my iMac and all, but I fail to see any major advantage (in OS X) over W7 that would make me buy inferior hardware for a similar price.
 

HowieR32

macrumors member
Jan 27, 2010
64
0
The SONY has much better specs than the MBA and so do most PC box/books over Apples.

But who cares?

The best reason to use a mac is MAC OS X. It runs natively and purposely for MACs and so the system compatibility is always assured. Sure, you can use Snow Leopard on any of these Wintels, but that's more tinkering than most people are willing to undergo themselves.

The fact is that the SONY Z will undoubtedly be obsolete in spec within the Wintel software environment much quicker than a Mac does within the OS X environment.

Basically, that means the hardware of Macs last longer than PCs. That's why Macs hold their value better than PCs, you can use an old macbook for a long time and not worry that it will be rendered completely impractical to use when the next version of OS X comes out.

Imagine the case for the the Sony once the next version of Windows is released... No one really knows if it will still be good enough! I doubt it, remembering the woes of those who had to downgrade from Vista to XP...
 
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