#1 reason to choose MBA over Sony's Z

[TheMacBookPro]

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...

*Mac

Somehow, just somehow, I doubt that the Windows 8 will be too advanced for an i7 chip. It probably won't require over 4GB RAM, let alone the 8GB fitted to many Zs.

You certainly won't be choosing an Air for its futureproof-ness. A Pro with the i7, yeah, but definitely not an Air with a C2D.

 

[millertime021]

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

Bro, if you think a 5 pound MBP is heavy, you need to grow a pair and go to the gym or something.

Also, no real ports? Damn I knew they got me with that fancy advertising and those tricky letters. USB? Dang. I knew that was totally worthless. SD card reader... Guess they tricked me again. Audio out? Damn I knew those headphones were worthless.

 

[HowieR32]

*Mac

Somehow, just somehow, I doubt that the Windows 8 will be too advanced for an i7 chip. It probably won't require over 4GB RAM, let alone the 8GB fitted to many Zs.

You certainly won't be choosing an Air for its futureproof-ness. A Pro with the i7, yeah, but definitely not an Air with a C2D.

Hmm... I see your point!

i7 indeed, I hadn't realised that it had such beef. I could suppose say that my post be generalised for 'most' PC laptops. That Sony is just a beast! (I secretly want one too now )

But for the lowly C2D Macbook Air, I would be comfortable in buying one and knowing it would be future-proof. You can still run PowerPC PowerBooks up to OS X Tiger. (I am not sure how well though?). My MBA revA has now gone through 2 versions of OS X: Leopard -> Snow Leopard.

My other machine, a 2007 MacBook Pro, is also a C2D (and also considered not performance competitive to other PC laptops of the same price) and had shipped with Tiger. It has since been updated to Leopard and Snow Leopard.

3-years and 3-versions of the OS. All on its first partition. How many PC laptops can attest to that?

 

[TheMacBookPro]

Bro, if you think a 5 pound MBP is heavy, you need to grow a pair and go to the gym or something.

Also, no real ports? Damn I knew they got me with that fancy advertising and those tricky letters. USB? Dang. I knew that was totally worthless. SD card reader... Guess they tricked me again. Audio out? Damn I knew those headphones were worthless.

What if I have to carry around my laptop all day long? Nothing to do with 'going to the gym'. 3 pounds is noticeably lighter and easier on the back/wrist (if you hold it with one hand like I do) than 5 pounds.

As for 'lack of ports'- you can't truthfully say that the MBP is 'good' in terms of number of ports. It lacks eSATA, more than 2x USB (hell my 9" netbook has 3), HDMI and VGA output.

Hmm... I see your point!

i7 indeed, I hadn't realised that it had such beef. I could suppose say that my post be generalised for 'most' PC laptops. That Sony is just a beast! (I secretly want one too now )

But for the lowly C2D Macbook Air, I would be comfortable in buying one and knowing it would be future-proof. You can still run PowerPC PowerBooks up to OS X Tiger. (I am not sure how well though?). My MBA revA has now gone through 2 versions of OS X: Leopard -> Snow Leopard.

My other machine, a 2007 MacBook Pro, is also a C2D (and also considered not performance competitive to other PC laptops of the same price) and had shipped with Tiger. It has since been updated to Leopard and Snow Leopard.

3-years and 3-versions of the OS. All on its first partition. How many PC laptops can attest to that?

My old Vaio SZ Came with XP back in 2007, upgraded to Vista later that year and upgraded to 7 last year.

 

[HowieR32]

My old Vaio SZ Came with XP back in 2007, upgraded to Vista later that year and upgraded to 7 last year.

That's good mileage, but did you have to format for the OS upgrade?

 

[joelypolly]

I think the thing most people miss with the Z is the height of the notebook
"Z11 (extended battery):
front thickness including the rubber feet: 25.9 mm (1.08 inches)
maximum thickness on the back without the battery: 34.0 mm (1.34 inches)
maximum thickness with extended battery:47.4 mm (1,86 inches)"

This compares to the MBA that is less half the height of the Z so you can fit a lot more hardware in that space. While many have said that the Z is solid you still to have take into account that metal weighs more than CF or Plastics.

 

[TheMacBookPro]

That's good mileage, but did you have to format for the OS upgrade?

Yes, but only because I wanted a clean install- not because I didn't have the choice.

I had to do a full reinstall on my 08 Aluminum MacBook (Leopard to SL) because it broke the trackpad driver for some reason.

But generally yeah the Mac OS has a better 'upgrade' method. I had no problem upgrading my early 08 MBP from Leopard to SL.

I think the thing most people miss with the Z is the height of the notebook
"Z11 (extended battery):
front thickness including the rubber feet: 25.9 mm (1.08 inches)
maximum thickness on the back without the battery: 34.0 mm (1.34 inches)
maximum thickness with extended battery:47.4 mm (1,86 inches)"

This compares to the MBA that is less half the height of the Z so you can fit a lot more hardware in that space. While many have said that the Z is solid you still to have take into account that metal weighs more than CF or Plastics.

The bottom (keyboard) slice of the Z is (brushed) metal as well, although the bottom is plastic and the top is carbon fibre.