13" Black Macbook vs. XPSM1210 vs. Vaio TX

[deathBOB]

wow what a complicated thread. a friend of mine wanted a mac, so he got a black MB, a professor of mine wanted a mac, so he got a MB, my girlfriend wanted to run all her engineering programs and loves ASUS, so she got an ASUS...Doesn't it just depend guys

No! There can be only one notebook to rule them all!

How is the heat on the MB? Can you use it in your lap?

 

[0ptional]

No! There can be only one notebook to rule them all!

How is the heat on the MB? Can you use it in your lap?

I use mine on my lap often. Not like sitting looking down on it. I lay back and bend my knees and push the screen back and type with it on my legs.

 

[GnomeCop]

the c2d macbook has been awesome so far. The only thing is if I plan on doing something that is going to throroughly stress the system for an extended amount of time... I NEED a laptop cooler. 90% of the time, for work though, its fine the way it is.

 

[DamienThorn]

I'm currently in the market for a new notebook, and had purchased a macbook over the Christmas break from an Apple store in Toronto. It went back in 22 hours.

I love OSX - it's pretty, fast, and reasonably intuitive. I liked the appearance, size, and weight of the macbook. The keyboard on it is great. I *hate* the ergonomics - after two hours of use my wrists were red and puffy because the macbook has sharp edges. I've been working in IT for 6 years, and have dealt with hundreds/thousands of notebooks. None of them hurt to use. Make *damn* sure that, before you decide to buy something, that you actually try it for a while.

For myself, I'm looking at some of the really small ASUS models and the XPSM1210. They're small, reasonably lightweight, and I know for a fact that they're comfortable. Also, dell tech support (should you have a problem) rocks of late. In the past few months we've noticed a massive improvement in the people that we're talking to and dell's willingness to help us out. In essence: dell tech support (currently) rocks. (I've dealt with their tech support for years, and I know firsthand that hasn't always been true.)

 

[six_storm]

I'm currently in the market for a new notebook, and had purchased a macbook over the Christmas break from an Apple store in Toronto. It went back in 22 hours.

I love OSX - it's pretty, fast, and reasonably intuitive. I liked the appearance, size, and weight of the macbook. The keyboard on it is great. I *hate* the ergonomics - after two hours of use my wrists were red and puffy because the macbook has sharp edges. I've been working in IT for 6 years, and have dealt with hundreds/thousands of notebooks. None of them hurt to use. Make *damn* sure that, before you decide to buy something, that you actually try it for a while.

For myself, I'm looking at some of the really small ASUS models and the XPSM1210. They're small, reasonably lightweight, and I know for a fact that they're comfortable. Also, dell tech support (should you have a problem) rocks of late. In the past few months we've noticed a massive improvement in the people that we're talking to and dell's willingness to help us out. In essence: dell tech support (currently) rocks. (I've dealt with their tech support for years, and I know firsthand that hasn't always been true.)

I'm a huge fan of OSX and I will agree that the MacBook ergonomics are a bit funny. I'm not a huge fan of the keyboard buttons, but I really don't mind the edges; I hold my wrists above the keyboard, not resting them on the lappy itself. Oh well, different strokes for different folks.

I'm about to purchase a MacBook for my girlfriend's family, I know they'll love the ease of use OS and programs such as the iLife series.

BTW, keep an eye out for the Keynote on Monday at MacWorld. I'm praying that the 12" MBP will be announced!!! :crosses fingers:

 

[ikellensbro]

Seeing as I've used my base white MB for 4 solid months now, I can safely say that I am NOT blown away by the hardware or OSX.

OSX is pretty, yes. It is far from perfect, jsut like XP. Sure, Spotlight and Widgets are nice and good, but it takes 5-10 seconds to load them the first time. XP (and Vista, with many of the features built in) can do just about anything cosmetic in OSX if you want to but some people don't need that extra fluff. This includes the remote, iSight, and iLife: the entertainment dies away after a week or two, and people like me realize they don't use these features (which add to the price) that much.

One of my biggest gripes is the lack of hard drive space. Sure, Garageband and iDVD are great for those that use them, but they were taking up close to 8gb of space after updates. Not to mention things like the included printer drivers (nice) taking up 2gb (not nice). This adds up rapidly when you try to use iMovie for any movie longer than 30 minutes.

Which brings me to my next gripe: OSX and its applications are not 100% stable. I recently had 1 hour of raw footage, cut and edited down to 50 minutes, have its audio corrupt in iMovie. This wouldn't be so bad, if iMovie were not designed so poorly that its built in audio filters (which would fix the audio problem) would try to apply itself to the entire raw clip, for every cut section, eating up all the possible hard drive space.

Macbooks are still not that great of a hardware value, considering 1gb of memory is a necessity, and factory fresh and updated the 60gb hard drive has 40-45gb useable. The screen is underwhelming as well, and the keyboard lacks a critical feature: both backspace and delete keys. They're also oversized for 13" WS, and weigh more than 14" WS that cost less. Compared to PCs, my MB takes at least twice as long to connect to non-protected networks as well.

MBPs, on the other hand, are very nice, but still overpriced.

It seems I'm the only person on earth that doesn't buy into Apple's BS and propoganda. I do feel OSX shows its strength best on a laptop, except the whole single mouse button (although 2 finger right clicking is somewhat useable). Yes, iMovie did bite me in the ass, but I'm very underwhelmed with my experiences so far.

 

[Apallohadas]

Wow, an honest review!

According to that guy on the first few pages, his mac walks on water, fries eggs, and can pitch in the World Series.

 

[0ptional]

Wow, an honest review!

According to that guy on the first few pages, his mac walks on water, fries eggs, and can pitch in the World Series.

Of which I said neither of those things.

I like the software bundle and I like the hardware, it isn't the best price in town, but I like it, I like it better than any PC notebook I've used lately as well.

I also said that I didn't have experience with the other two PC notebooks he is mentioning so I just gave my opinions and experiences with my MacBook, see if he gets anything from them.

And as a side note, I recently dropped my MacBook while on the plane from the US to Spain and the cable that powers the backlight came lose, it still worked if I touched down the side on startup, but it was annoying. I made an appointment at the Apple store "Genius Bar" when I got home, took it there, told them what happened, they dissasembled it in the back room, and brought it back good as new. It was maybe 30 minutes of time total and was extremely inconvenient as I was able to set up the repair on my own schedule.

In this post I claimed nothing about my Mac walking on water, frying eggs, or pitching the world series. Thank you for your time and consideration of my opinion as simply, an opinion, and as such is for the OP to decide it's worth.

Speaking of whom, I haven't heard from Sin01 in this topic for a while, I wonder if he made his own decision or is still looking around.

 

[ikellensbro]

Of which I said neither of those things.

I like the software bundle and I like the hardware, it isn't the best price in town, but I like it, I like it better than any PC notebook I've used lately as well.

I also said that I didn't have experience with the other two PC notebooks he is mentioning so I just gave my opinions and experiences with my MacBook, see if he gets anything from them.

And as a side note, I recently dropped my MacBook while on the plane from the US to Spain and the cable that powers the backlight came lose, it still worked if I touched down the side on startup, but it was annoying. I made an appointment at the Apple store "Genius Bar" when I got home, took it there, told them what happened, they dissasembled it in the back room, and brought it back good as new. It was maybe 30 minutes of time total and was extremely inconvenient as I was able to set up the repair on my own schedule.

In this post I claimed nothing about my Mac walking on water, frying eggs, or pitching the world series. Thank you for your time and consideration of my opinion as simply, an opinion, and as such is for the OP to decide it's worth.

Speaking of whom, I haven't heard from Sin01 in this topic for a while, I wonder if he made his own decision or is still looking around.

Did you actually pay for the $99 a year special service? I thought you couldn't reserve repairs with the normal warranty?

 

[0ptional]

Did you actually pay for the $99 a year special service? I thought you couldn't reserve repairs with the normal warranty?

All Mac's come with a year of repairs and 90 days of phone support.

You log in at the Apple Store's Genius website and set up an appointment, and go in, and they'll set you up so long as you're within that first year. I have the extra warranty which extends both phone and repairs to 3 years but that didn't change how I was treated at this repair. All they had from me was my name, no e-mail or anything.

 

[Apallohadas]

Obviously owning a mac saps all sense of humour and sarcasm from your body...

Edit: Btw, you sound like a mindless droning commercial for Apple. Typical of Apple-fanatics (Applatics or MacManiacs if you will.)

 

[0ptional]

Obviously owning a mac saps all sense of humour and sarcasm from your body...

Edit: Btw, you sound like a mindless droning commercial for Apple. Typical of Apple-fanatics (Applatics or MacManiacs if you will.)

I had a bit post typed out, but I figured you'd rather me just accept the fact that I'm a MacHead (which is the word I prefer), and just tell you that I'm happy to give information about OS X to others while still retaining my strong XP/Vista knowledge whilst doing it.

 

[Apallohadas]

You have yet to display this strong knowledge. You HAVE displayed that you have a fondness for all things OSX and Apple.

There's a new review on the front page that refers to OSX vs Vista. The reviewer is (as expected) a die-hard Macaholic, but he does go more into detail about trying to enforce his opinion with facts.

Much of your standpoints so far, have been that you prefer the much more expensive Mac because:

1) It's pretty
2) Once you download (insert links 1-20) like I have it's 'just as good as windows'.
3) It's not a Dell (insert anecdotal stories and not comparative statistics based on documented events.)

I'll be realistic. I started my computing career with Apple. I even did tech support back in the days when they used recycled plastics for their boxes.

Macs are 1) Pretty, 2) geared towards people with money and 3) geared towards those same people that might drop a live toaster into the bathtub. While standing in it.

If you don't mind paying alot more (3-4x more) for equivalent power, then it's a great buy. If you want to save an extra thousand and won't mistake your DVD drive for a cup holder, then a PC is just fine.

 

[six_storm]

I believe that when you buy an Apple, you are really buying the OS. I won't disagree and say that Apple has reasonably priced hardware because they don't, they just have an expensive way of using their OS. I would agree that buying a cheaper computer would be the best thing to do (depending on what you do on a computer), but I'll say that cheaper isn't always better (OS wise).

 

[SILVR 6]

You have yet to display this strong knowledge. You HAVE displayed that you have a fondness for all things OSX and Apple.

There's a new review on the front page that refers to OSX vs Vista. The reviewer is (as expected) a die-hard Macaholic, but he does go more into detail about trying to enforce his opinion with facts.

Much of your standpoints so far, have been that you prefer the much more expensive Mac because:

1) It's pretty
2) Once you download (insert links 1-20) like I have it's 'just as good as windows'.
3) It's not a Dell (insert anecdotal stories and not comparative statistics based on documented events.)

I'll be realistic. I started my computing career with Apple. I even did tech support back in the days when they used recycled plastics for their boxes.

Macs are 1) Pretty, 2) geared towards people with money and 3) geared towards those same people that might drop a live toaster into the bathtub. While standing in it.

If you don't mind paying alot more (3-4x more) for equivalent power, then it's a great buy. If you want to save an extra thousand and won't mistake your DVD drive for a cup holder, then a PC is just fine.

QFT!

I've never really understood the whole "pay more for a mac" idea that has been around forever. Now at least their using some 1/2 decent hardware (intel). I"ve seen a few mentions of Asus notebooks. I'm quite fond of their notebooks. I've had 3. First was a W5ae (12.1 Pentium M) Then a W3J (CD T2500 14.1 x1600) and my most recent purchase a few days ago was the W5Fm, which is in my sig. I think specs wise and features it is close to a MB the XPS 1210 (minus gpu) and like the sony notebook. I'm in canada so my price was 1729+ not sure what that would be in American $$$ probably around 1500.

This is going to get flame war like but from my experience people who buy the MB's ect are getting them to be cool or just love OSX to death, other than the operating system I can't see a reason to get a mac unless it was the same price or less than a comparable PC notebook.

 

[0ptional]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834220111

1498
12.1" Screen
2.0ghz Core 2 Duo
120GB Hard Drive
1GB of RAM (supports up to 1.5GB) - this sounds weird is that right? 1.5GB cap?
DVD+/- R/RW D/DL
Bluetooth
802.11a/b/g
Intel GMA950
Microphone and Webcam
Modem
VGA port
S-video port
Express Card slot
4-in-1 card reader
3 hour battery life
4LB

Software included:
Multimedia Software:
ASUSDVD XP 6.0
Power Director V3.0 DE
Medi Show V2.0 SE
ASUS LifeFrame

Virus & Tool Software:
Symantec Norton Internet Security 2005
Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0
NERO Express V6.0



VS.


Apple's offering:

1499 (Black) or 1449 (White)
13.3" screen
2.0GHZ Core 2 Duo
120GB HDD
1GB of ram (supports up to 2GB)
DVD+/- R/RW D/DL
Bluetooth
802.11a/b/g (OS X) and 802.11a/b/g/n (Windows) [802.11n driver isn't done for OS X yet]
Intel GMA 950
Microphone and Webcam
No Modem
Mini-DVI (requires 19$ adapter cable for VGA)
No S-video (requires 19$ adapter cable from Mini-DVI to S-video)
No Express Card slot
No Card reader
4 hour battery life
5.2LB

Software included:
iLife suite: iWeb, iPhoto, iDVD, iMovie, GarageBand, iTunes, Quicktime

I see the differences, but this makes the price premium on the MacBook, black, or white, seem even less...

 

[ikellensbro]

Yes, you pay a price premium for OSX, not the hardware.

Optional: Well, Apple had me thinking with the extra premium plan that was the only way to reserve a service time (I also have Applecare). Thanks for clearing that up.

 

[0ptional]

Yes, you pay a price premium for OSX, not the hardware.

Optional: Well, Apple had me thinking with the extra premium plan that was the only way to reserve a service time (I also have Applecare). Thanks for clearing that up.

Well, AppleCare allows you to make an appointment the day you want to have it, the premium "ProCare" plan allows you to schedule 14 days in advance and they have their own special reserved time slots. But I had no problem getting in, even after the huge holiday season rush. My appointment was 10 minutes later than I had planned but that's to be expected as they don't have a set time limit so people can stay before you as long as they want.

I sat down, told the lady what was up, she said alright, took it in back, knew what was wrong, we shared a laugh after it was done and I took off. 30 minutes.

 

[comicbob]

I'm gonna get my .02 in here.

From reading this, it sounds like the most common disputes are between those who have strong preferences, some arguements, to me, reflect a lack of knowledge of the construction of the operating system, and some more !!!!!!ism. But I'm not perfect either.

I really love pcs, if only for the sole purpose that I can mess around with them to a greater extent than one can with a mac. I wouldn't trade my dell Latitude D820 for anything. With saying that, if I had to go back and by a laptop all over again, the macbook would be a serious competitor for my attention. I still would have gone with the Dell.

First off, osx gives macs a bad name, in my opinion. Why? mostly of the stereotypical userbase. OSX is really, really pretty. The layout and icons used make give it a really comforting, smooth look, and for some reason, it associates macs with snobby people. What most people dont know is why macs are different from pcs.

The two differences are the use of proprietary hardware and a unix based operating system with a well done gui. From my experiance, to match the speed and response time of a mac, a pc must run linux.

For those saying macs are way over priced, I tend to disagree. The price is based off of the hardware used. I have noticed that Macbooks are significantly thinner than the majority of all laptops ever made. Smaller parts cost more.

The use of proprietary hardware I think increases stability because osx does not have to support the hundreds of hardware configurations possible, whether in a laptop or desktop platform. And all computer, past, present, and future, have had and will always have problems.

Because the operating system of a mac is based off of unix, computer vulnerability and security is not as high as it is on a windows system. Just like linux, osx runs users in user mode, never as root. This makes program access harder for unauthorized users, and reduces vulnerability to the core system files. Most windows users run as a user with administrator priviliges, or even as the administrator. Just one reasons why macs are not as vulnerable to viruses as pcs are.

One of the more important part of any computer is the user. How a computer is handled and operated dictates the outcome one will have. I remember reading a tech support transcript in which a woman "organized" with windows system folder by putting all the .dll in one folder and all the .exe in another. osx system files are found dynamically, so even if moved, can be found. The point of this is that knowledge comes into play when using either. I am a college student living in a dorm, and have had to fix many more pc/windows related problems than mac related ones.

Lastly, it all comes down to user preference. I feel anything multimedia related should be done on a mac, and anything else done on something else.

**Some people need to actually look at peoples arguments objectively instead of making third grade sarcastic rebuttals, and some need more explanation.

 

[doubleJ]

Edit...
Deleted as questions would be better served in the mac forum.
JJ