[Cody Dawg]

Okay, so I have a little extra cash from income tax and I was thinking of upgrading to a new PowerBook. Mine is wearing thin and has a lot of miles on it.

So, I went PowerBook shopping.

I'm going to shell out about $2300 for the 15" model I want.

On a lark we stopped at Circuit City to check out the new PSP.

But, we also saw the notebooks there. Then we went to Best Buy then to a local Florida store called BrandsMart.

I can buy a new Sony Vaio FS550 with Intel Pentium M 1.60 Ghz, DVD+/-RW, 512mb, 80GB, bluetooth and all of the other things, for $999.



It has the beautiful XBrite screen which is REALLY nice.

It took restraint to not buy it. I mean, I'd be saving over a grand.

I'm trying to stay brand loyal, but it's hard. Apple needs to be a little better on their prices, I think, because the competition is tough. I've dealt with Sony tech support and to be honest, they're very good - at least in my experience.

Does anyone else think that Apple's price points need to be better? I know this is like beating a dead horse as far as a topic goes, but sheesh, the Sony's are nice for PC systems.

Comments?

[Cody Dawg]

It looks really nice.

I'm glad I didn't buy it, I think, but it's nice. I'm just cost-conscious. Still that XBrite screen at 15.4 inches at $999 on sale is a great deal.

[Skip Breakfast]

Good price, but Bob help you if you should ever have to reinstall the OS on it.

[dreilly1]

Sony does make nice laptops. If I were going to get a PC laptop, I'd get one of those. (Not the crappy dell laptop that I use for work...)

My Dell is a Pentium M 1.6 GHz, and it's not exactly the quickest new computer I've used, especially running XP, and even with all the eye candy turned off. It's functional for now, but by the time I get it swapped out in three or four years (assuming I last that long here... ), I think it will be rather pokey. All things being equal, I think a 1.5 GHz G4 PB (running OS X, no less) would eat it for lunch.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Cody Dawg

I can buy a new Sony Vaio FS550 with Intel Pentium M 1.60 Ghz, DVD+/-RW, 512mb, 80GB, bluetooth and all of the other things, for $999.

I'm trying to stay brand loyal, but it's hard. Apple needs to be a little better on their prices

First of all, you should try to come up with a (as good as possible) Apple's to apple's comparison.

I don't know if the $ 999 for the Vaio is a regular price or a special deal. Seems to be a special deal, since Sony has a SRP $ 1,499 AFTER REBATE !

Secondly, the Vaio has shared GPU memory and not a dedicated GPU.
The HD is slower (4200 vs. 5400). It is heavier (6.28 vs 5.6). Pentium M 1.6 G vs. G4 1.67.
OS X vs. XP. Etc...

Other "pro" features of the Powerbook

* DVI port
* backlit keyboard
* BT
* 1000 MB Ethernet
* NO VIRUSES AND SPYWARE

-t

[Cody Dawg]

Yeah, yeah, the viruses and spyware thing is the biggest positive for me.

But, the Sony is VERY nice.

Thanks for contributing.

[Cody Dawg]

Well, today is Saturday and I have to go to Miami for a little business meeting and on the way back I am going to buy a new PowerBook.

I think the Windows notebooks are good buys, but the aggravation that comes with them is not worth the savings.

I'm pretty psyched! Haven't bought a new PowerBook in about a year.

[kikkoman]

Originally Posted by Cody Dawg

I'm pretty psyched! Haven't bought a new PowerBook in about a year.

I'd be psyched too if I could be a new Powerbook every year.

[Cody Dawg]

Well, I shared mine with my spouse and he is the IT director-by-default for our company and he brings it to court hearings and investigations and all kinds of places and it's taken a beating. He kept saying, "I'll buy you a new one - let's go," but I just wanted to wait until other necessities were taken care of. Like buying a new central air conditioning/heating system for our home, dental work for everyone (including a new rear bridge for my husband that is more costly than I realized), etc.

So, when income tax came back I was thinking I'd go buy another PowerBook. I just got a 10% any system (corporate discount) and I figured I'd use it on an open box buy - they said they'd honor it used in conjunction with my 10% letter from Apple. So, it will be 10% off the open box price plus 10% off of that. 20% total. I figure that's a good deal and I don't feel as guilty about it.

Gotta get going, though!

[wdlove]

I agree that the Sony Viao looks very nice. The really big problem us that you would have to deal with Windows.

[Gankdawg]

1.6GHz? Lame. But that's part of why it's $999. Echo the sentiments of having to live with Windows.

[Cody Dawg]

Hi Cuz!

(As in 'cousin' - the "dawg" parallel is amusing)



I agree. The 1.6Ghz is lame. But, it's a Pentium M and they're trying to save on power.

I haven't even opened the PowerBook yet. I'm so tired!

Night.

[Randman]

Those XBrites look good on the display shelf but working on them in the long run is a different matter all together.

[IceEnclosure]

Originally Posted by kikkoman

I'd be psyched too if I could be a new Powerbook every year.

keep in mind she's kinda priviledged. the rest of us don't get to have this dilema.

WPB, Polo Parties, Worrying about all the minor problems of the U.S whilst trying to figure out which stories the news thinks (are) important.... yea. While driving around town in a Suburban with a 1.6lb dog.

don't hate her for it tho. I'm drunk.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by IceEnclosure

keep in mind she's kinda priviledged. the rest of us don't get to have this dilema.

WPB, Polo Parties, Worrying about all the minor problems of the U.S whilst trying to figure out which stories the news thinks (are) important.... yea. While driving around town in a Suburban with a 1.6lb dog.

don't hate her for it tho. I'm drunk.

POST OF THE DAY !



-t

[Mastrap]

Sony was one of my clients a while back, which meant that I got to play with almost the entire Vaio range. In my personal opinion, it's a case of style over substance. If I had to go for a PC laptop it would always be an IBM thinkpad.

[OreoCookie]

... you'd have to deal with windows. Is that worth it?

[effgee]

Originally Posted by sonstyle.com

"... Graphics: Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 900 128MB Dynamically Shared Video Memory ..."

Impressive - that is perfect for writing emails, surfing, writing letters ... and, uhm ... nothing else. YGWYPF**




** - You get what you pay for. As Always

[DeathToWindows]

The only windows-based units that I will touch are Thinkpads.

[IceEnclosure]

Thinkpad. That's a good laptop. and a friggin' awesome name.

[Cody Dawg]

Those XBrites look good on the display shelf but working on them in the long run is a different matter all together.

Hey, care to elaborate? I was wondering about that.

keep in mind she's kinda priviledged. the rest of us don't get to have this dilema.

WPB, Polo Parties, Worrying about all the minor problems of the U.S whilst trying to figure out which stories the news thinks (are) important.... yea. While driving around town in a Suburban with a 1.6lb dog.

don't hate her for it tho. I'm drunk.

Okay, I hope you don't have a hangover this morning - seriously. But, I have to set the record straight!

I don't think I'm privileged. I'll tell you what I am: I am a woman that does not buy jewelry or clothes or fancy handbags. I wear either khaki shorts and a white shirt around the house or a pair of blue jeans and a white shirt when I go out. I shop at Target for most everything. I buy everything on sale.

Most women devote thousands of dollars to their wardrobes and/or jewelry in a year. Not me. Yes, I have a few outfits for work and meetings, but I'm not a shopaholic in the least.

And my cars? One I bought brand new (the Saab) because I got a great deal on it and I got an advance from work because they were going to give me a big auto allowance ($400 per month for the year), but I made them a deal to pay me the auto allowance in one lump sum up front - and they saved $800 in the deal. The car was returned after being bought and had 76 miles on it and they discounted it because it needed a new axle. I got a great deal on it.

The Suburban we got because my little gas-saving socially-acceptable Nissan Altima was smashed in hurricane Frances last year.

Let me refresh your memories:



I got insurance money so I went and bought the Suburban from our family dentist/orthodontist who was selling it deeply discounted to get rid of it. He bought his wife a new VW Touareg (sp?) because the Suburban was too big. I got it for - literally - 50% off the retail sticker price and I got to pay for it with insurance money (thanks Geico - they were GREAT).

I am a very conservative person and I also work as much as possible while trying to stay in good shape and be a good mom.

Oh, and the dog? He weighs 3.5 pounds.



Lastly, ThinkPads ARE really nice, aren't they?

[powerbook867]

I have a 2 gigahertz Dell Lattitude for work w/ XP professional and a gig of ram. Machine was re-imaged about 6 months ago, no spyware, no virus'...

Two words describes it....slow and clunky. Congrats on the new powerbook!

[Cody Dawg]

Now, I was chatting with a friend who is a M$ engineer (he's actually from Israel and working in Redmond, WA right now) and he was telling me that Longhorn is going to need a terabyte of space to run? And dual core processors?

How is Longhorn going to run on their Windows notebooks?

If Apple is able to pull a notebook G5 out of their hat before they can put Longhorn on any notebook systems that will be another Apple coup de grace.

[effgee]

A terabyte?

LOL - your buddy is either high or a custodial engineer ...

[Oneota]

Well, who knows...by 2007, 2.5" 1TB drives might not be all that uneconomical!

[powerbook867]

Minimum processor requirements for longhorn is supposedly 1 gigahertz and as much ram as you can afford The 1 gigahertz mark has no eyecandy for the new gui. The install will probably be 3 - 4 gigabytes...

A terabyte sounds a bit much...

[brapper]

Originally Posted by Oneota

Well, who knows...by 2010, 2.5" 1TB drives might not be all that uneconomical!

FIXED.

[Cody Dawg]

effgee

A terabyte?

LOL - your buddy is either high or a custodial engineer ...

Link.

By the time Longhorn ships, according to Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, PCs will have 4GHz to 6GHz processors, more than 2GB of memory, at least a terabyte of storage, and graphics accelerators three times more powerful than those offered by ATI and Nvidia today. He says that Longhorn is designed to take advantage of all this muscle, and nowhere is that more evident than in the in the rich, three-dimensional interface known as Aero.

[effgee]

Cody, that means nothing - and least of all is it a statement regarding the system requirements of Longhorn. Plenty of PC buddies of mine run developer versions of LH on their WinBoxes and none of them have 1TB of disc space.

You are aware of the fact that a full installation of Tiger, for example takes up three-point-crooked gigabytes of space - whereas your buddy claims that Longhorn will need 1000 gigabytes of space - almost three-hundred times as much?

double-LOL!

The largest hard drives (single drive, not RAID) Joe Schmoe can purchase today is 400GB - offering less than half the storage space required by Longhorn?

triple-LOL!

Let's be optimistic for a sec and assume that by this time next year Joe will be able to buy a 1TB hard drive - that would mean that he can install Longhorn on his new computer. Good stuff - but wait ... he won't be able to install anthing else - no applications, no documents, nada!

quadruple-LOL!

Come on now - there was obviously some sort of miscommunication going on between you and your buddy (your Hebrew, his English, phone company?) - and the result was funny as hell. If that's be the worst thing that will happen to you this week then I'm jealous already ...

[MaxPower2k3]

there's a big difference between computers having a terabyte of storage in a few years and Longhorn requiring a terabyte to run. Even now, that much storage is getting much more common as more and more people are using their computers as media servers and the like.

On sale, you could probably find a terabyte of total storage (probably 4x 250GB drives) for around $500. Not cheap, but certainly not prohibitively expensive.


edit: effgee got to it first

[nredman]

Originally Posted by IceEnclosure

keep in mind she's kinda priviledged. the rest of us don't get to have this dilema.

WPB, Polo Parties, Worrying about all the minor problems of the U.S whilst trying to figure out which stories the news thinks (are) important.... yea. While driving around town in a Suburban with a 1.6lb dog.

don't hate her for it tho. I'm drunk.

indeed, post of the day - thats awesome

[IceEnclosure]

Originally Posted by Cody Dawg

Okay, I hope you don't have a hangover this morning - seriously. But, I have to set the record straight!

I don't think...

Oh, and the dog? He weighs 3.5 pounds.



Lastly, ThinkPads ARE really nice, aren't they?

Just havin' a little fun with ya Cody Dizzawg.. and yes, my hangover is in charge today.

To Hell with the Air and Sea Show, I'm layin' in bed and buyin' a Gateway laptop online!!

[MilkmanDan]

Do you need a hug?

[powerbook867]

I can hug you to CD... It was just a little mistake... How's the new powerbook????

[Cody Dawg]

Hi Everyone:

I haven't used the PowerBook yet. I opened it up and got it up and going and just now downloaded all of the updates. Which, I shouldn't have bothered with, because I just came back home from the Apple Store with Tiger and am getting ready to load that on next.

IceEnclosure: Are you REALLY buying a Gateway online?

REALLY?

C'mon - tell the truth!

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by Gankdawg

1.6GHz? Lame. But that's part of why it's $999. Echo the sentiments of having to live with Windows.

It's a 1.6Ghz Centrino processor, which does the "AMD" thing-it processes more efficiently, and thus effectively as fast as a processor with a faster clock. Of all the computer crowds, no Mac user should poo-poo a computer because its clock is slower!

The VAiO is a very nice computer, and the model Cody found is one of the best. The problem is that it's still set up to do things that most users don't do. It, like all VAiOs, is tweaked for video and audio manipulation (that's where the VA in the name comes from). Because of this, there's a lot of capability that lays unused while you're surfing and doing word processing.

Also, Mastrap is right about the product line-style has won out over substance. They are not as substantial or rugged as PowerBooks. And Skip Breakfast is right about reinstalling the OS. Sony typically messes with the install disk so that there are a LOT of things you don't need installed by default, and speaking as a Windows person, it's a PITA to either manually configure the installation not to add the crap, or manually remove it afterward.

I wouldn't worry too much about spyware and viruses; the current targets for these are people who do not ever think that they'll get infected. P.T. Barnum was right, by the way. Anyway, with a decent antivirus package (I like Symantec's Client Security) you install it and then never have to worry about it. Watching out for spyware is a bit of a chore, but with a good AV package (see above) you're aware of anything that's gotten through when it tries to call home. Spyware is even simpler to deal with than viruses, and they are no big deal if you pay attention.

All that said, I'd go for the PowerBook in a heartbeat.

[Cody Dawg]

All that said, I'd go for the PowerBook in a heartbeat.

Whew! I was thinking that I'd made a mistake in buying the PowerBook...I was thinking that I should have bought the VAIO!



Good commentary though, ghporter. You really know your stuff.

[Mastrap]

Originally Posted by ghporter

It, like all VAiOs, is tweaked for video and audio manipulation (that's where the VA in the name comes from).

That's correct, but there's more to it. The VA also stands for an analogue curve that changes into the I and 0 of the digital world. Next time you see the logo, look out for it. I worked on the launch of the VAIO series in Europe and our entire ad campaign was build on that graphic. Good times, but even then the Powerbooks were just... better.

[phantomdragonz]

Originally Posted by Skip Breakfast

Good price, but Bob help you if you should ever have to reinstall the OS on it.

If you would have gotten it I bet thrashbarg would have had some words of wisdom...

(HHGttG)

Zach

[chris v]

Originally Posted by OreoCookie

... you'd have to deal with windows. Is that worth it?

It's worth a grand not to, as far as I'm concerned.

Also cody, think about what all software you'd have to buy. If you're honest and don't pirate, that could add up pretty quick to more than a grand.

[storer]

Jeepers! That's a good deal... Aussies are getting ripped off.

[Mafia]

Originally Posted by chris v

It's worth a grand not to, as far as I'm concerned.

Also cody, think about what all software you'd have to buy. If you're honest and don't pirate, that could add up pretty quick to more than a grand.

people buy software for windows!?!?!?!