Fair enough. I appreciate your trying to be objective (that's why we should leave this "image" stuff aside-- we could hardly get more subjective).
I never said hardware isn't important. I more or less said you seem to be privileging FSB & MHz, for example, over other aspects of hardware that the PB offers but not the Vaio: FW800, BT2, a larger screen, plus options for far more RAM, double the VRAM, a backlit keyboard, more HD, DVD-burning, and maybe others I'm forgetting at the moment (what speed is the VAIO HD-- Sony doesn't say). Now none of these might be important to you in your specifc case, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. If FSB, for example, is important to you, maybe you should buy based on that, but don't pretend it's the only "objective" variable when it comes to hardware. And by the way, though I will not argue that the PB doesn't have a slower FSB-- I'm sure it does-- these double- and quad-pumped intel FSBs do not always have their performance translate directly when compared to the G4. 400 is not necessarily 2x 200 in a given application, for example. Again, too many variables to be making blunt, blanket statements.
As for your flash example, I replied that there were too many variables to consider, andthat it was far from test conditions. RAM, browser, other open apps, what the person in the store before you did with them, etc. could all have an effect. I also said it looked fine on my computer, only a rev. C 12" PB, no complaints here. Hardware performance is important to me: that's a big part of why I got a Mac, actually, but I don't expect everyone else to feel that way.
I will humbly suggest that you seem overly concerned with receiving "objective" advice, when in fact that applies little in the sorts of discussions we have had in this thread. So much depends on the individuals' use, their needs, their desires, their budget. You seem too ready to see a lack of objectivity in everyone else, when in fact you-- like me or any other consumer-- is operating from their own personal viewpoint, not some magical ground of objectivity on which you alone stand. Your views on macs and who uses them are based on the subjective perspective of someone who hasn't used them a lot. Spend some more time with the computers and I'd guess these generalizations and stereotypes will melt away. I could be wrong, but you have to agree you are not speaking from much experience when it comes to Macs, and that might undermine your attempt at objectivity in your own statements about them and their users. Anyway, I'm not trying to be harsh, I am trying to help, and throwing around "objective" without much care makes that harder to do.
