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Hardware question for the Techies in the room...

S

Sounds Good

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jul 8, 2007
1,692
57
Hi guys,

I currently have a Sony Vaio laptop with the following specs:

Intel Core2Duo P8600 2.4GHz
3GB RAM
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3400

How would the above specs compare to the new Macbook Air 11.6" lappy in both basic power and also in graphics capability?

Thanks in advance... :)
 
your first step, of course, is to look for reviews (including benchmarks) for your machine, then do the same for the new Airs (here you go).

also, the 2.4 C2D (P8600) is exactly the same CPU that was in the 2010 13" MacBook and MacBook Pro. so for CPU you can look at reviews of those machines.

a lot of people are very skeptical of geekbench, but its one thing to look at. (the GB scores for the new Airs are much better than the 2010 13 MBP.)

in terms of CPU, it should be a step up. how much depends on which Air (or which CPU you pick for the 11"). how much you'll notice depends on what you do.
 
Last edited:
nebulos said:
the 2.4 C2D (P8600) is exactly the same CPU that was in the 2010 13" MacBook and MacBook Pro. so for CPU you can look at reviews of those machines.

(the GB scores for the new Airs are much better than the 2010 13 MBP.)
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Excellent. Thank you.
 
Sounds Good said:
Hi guys,

I currently have a Sony Vaio laptop with the following specs:

Intel Core2Duo P8600 2.4GHz
3GB RAM
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3400

How would the above specs compare to the new Macbook Air 11.6" lappy in both basic power and also in graphics capability?

Thanks in advance... :)
Click to expand...

It depends which 11" the i5 2gb 64gb or the 11" 4gb 128gb. I would recommend the 128gb by the way. i5 pwns c2d and 4gb vs 3gb of ram. I don't know much about graphics cause I'm not a gamer. Radeon HD 3400 vs Intel HD 3000. I don't know which one is better. I don't want to google that either.
 
Sounds Good said:
Hi guys,

I currently have a Sony Vaio laptop with the following specs:

Intel Core2Duo P8600 2.4GHz
3GB RAM
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3400

How would the above specs compare to the new Macbook Air 11.6" lappy in both basic power and also in graphics capability?

Thanks in advance... :)
Click to expand...

Get an Air. Period. It'll feel way faster not only due to Sandy Bridge but... SSD!

Graphics, dunno. But what games are you trying to run? Starcraft 2, WoW, Doom 3, Crysis, etc. all run well on an MBA so.
 
LeakedDave said:
Get an Air. Period. It'll feel way faster not only due to Sandy Bridge but... SSD!
Click to expand...
I'm seriously considering it. Still have lots of questions and concerns, but I'm getting there.

LeakedDave said:
Graphics, dunno. But what games are you trying to run? Starcraft 2, WoW, Doom 3, Crysis, etc. all run well on an MBA so.
Click to expand...
No games. Just light video editing -- family video type stuff -- but no games.
 
Sounds Good said:
No games. Just light video editing -- family video type stuff -- but no games.
Click to expand...
The integrated GPU in the latest Air is more than enough for what you need, they're even good for games that are not too demanding on GPU.

Get the Air, the latest CPU is easily twice the power of what you have, at least you won't expect the CPU power any worse than your current setup.

Perhaps the people in the PC world will have an impression that ultra slim or 11" small laptop will be underpowered. The latest 11" Air will blow you away for sure.
 
Seems like a very easy question to answer but seems like you not getting solid facts.

It doesn't make much sense to compare a Core2Duo to any of the Core i series processors because all of them are faster than C2Ds (unless you are talking about desktop Core2Duo Quad). You are going to notice that any Core i3/5/7 will be faster than your current Vaio.

That being said, don't be confused with the fact that just because a laptop has Core i3/i5/i7 they are all equal. The Macbook Air runs a ULV (ultra-low voltage) Core i3/i5/i7, by no means anywhere near the performance you would get from a regular mobile Core i3/i5/i7...same as you will not get the same performance from a mobile Core i3/i5/i7 and a desktop Core i3/i5/i7. The only current Vaio that uses the ULV is the CTO 11.6 Y series. So Macbook air does not = Corevette, more like a quick hybrid.

As far as graphic goes it's a little difficult to put this in to perspective for you if you are not interested in a few aspects of video performance, but I'll narrow it down. Both the Intel HD 3000 (MBA video) and the Ati Radeon 3400 allow for 1080p playback which is a good standard to have. Both are also capable of producing a 1920x1080 resolution but that's if the monitor will allow it, which the MBA will not. When it comes to video rendering I will keep it simple and say the ATI Radeaon HD 3400 series supports DirectX 10.1 the Intel HD 3000 family supports DirectX 11.....11 is higher than 10.1....Both will be able to video edit (the 3400 will take longer considering the processor and the age of the video card itself) with no issues aside from the wait time.
 
I currently had this model of the Sony Z series I got in April :

http://www.docs.sony.com/release/specs/VPCZ13BGXBJ_mksp.pdf

I put a listing on Craigslist and sold it the same day. Purchased the baseline 13 MBA and I am extremely satisfied with my purchase. This is my main computer hooked up to a LGIPS236 monitor.

I'm losing SSD space from the Z as well memory (had it maxed it out at 8GB/DDR3/1066) but I've made my decision to keep (music,pictures,etc) on a cloud base server. If anyone has any info or setup reviews on what type of virtualization software to use for Windows 7/XP would be greatly appreciated.

I'm still in shock on how fast it boots/shuts down when using it. Funny thing I just realized that I can add more then one desktop screen on the computer (face palm). Was this a Lion feature or have you always had that option in OS X?

:apple:
 
vkuber said:
I currently had this model of the Sony Z series I got in April :

http://www.docs.sony.com/release/specs/VPCZ13BGXBJ_mksp.pdf

I put a listing on Craigslist and sold it the same day. Purchased the baseline 13 MBA and I am extremely satisfied with my purchase. This is my main computer hooked up to a LGIPS236 monitor.

I'm losing SSD space from the Z as well memory (had it maxed it out at 8GB/DDR3/1066) but I've made my decision to keep (music,pictures,etc) on a cloud base server. If anyone has any info or setup reviews on what type of virtualization software to use for Windows 7/XP would be greatly appreciated.

I'm still in shock on how fast it boots/shuts down when using it. Funny thing I just realized that I can add more then one desktop screen on the computer (face palm). Was this a Lion feature or have you always had that option in OS X?

:apple:
Click to expand...

I've owned the Z11, Z14 which I sold and now I just ordered the new Z21. My wife currently owns the Macbook Air 11.6 Core i5 4Gb/128SSD. I have to say the MBA is a good laptop but I'm still a fan of the Z series. I do think that Vaios out of the box run a little sluggish, which is why you should do a clean install, also might help to remove the recovery partition which takes up about 20gb.

As far as virtualization software for the Mac, I would highly recommend Parallels. I have a lot of experience using virtual machines and I have to say the coherence mode still blows me away. You also have the option to connect your mac to your old windows computer and basically turn your old windows computer, settings and all, in to a virtual machine on your Mac. It also automatically moves over your music, pictures, videos and documents in your My ~ on your windows computer to their respective folder on the Mac (took about 12 hours for me over the network wirelessly).
 
Tae.One said:
Seems like a very easy question to answer but seems like you not getting solid facts.

It doesn't make much sense to compare a Core2Duo to any of the Core i series processors because all of them are faster than C2Ds (unless you are talking about desktop Core2Duo Quad). You are going to notice that any Core i3/5/7 will be faster than your current Vaio.

That being said, don't be confused with the fact that just because a laptop has Core i3/i5/i7 they are all equal. The Macbook Air runs a ULV (ultra-low voltage) Core i3/i5/i7, by no means anywhere near the performance you would get from a regular mobile Core i3/i5/i7...same as you will not get the same performance from a mobile Core i3/i5/i7 and a desktop Core i3/i5/i7. The only current Vaio that uses the ULV is the CTO 11.6 Y series. So Macbook air does not = Corevette, more like a quick hybrid.

As far as graphic goes it's a little difficult to put this in to perspective for you if you are not interested in a few aspects of video performance, but I'll narrow it down. Both the Intel HD 3000 (MBA video) and the Ati Radeon 3400 allow for 1080p playback which is a good standard to have. Both are also capable of producing a 1920x1080 resolution but that's if the monitor will allow it, which the MBA will not. When it comes to video rendering I will keep it simple and say the ATI Radeaon HD 3400 series supports DirectX 10.1 the Intel HD 3000 family supports DirectX 11.....11 is higher than 10.1....Both will be able to video edit (the 3400 will take longer considering the processor and the age of the video card itself) with no issues aside from the wait time.
Click to expand...
Wow, now THAT's what I call a good answer -- thank you!

On a side note, I still have my doubts about moving to a Mac, but we'll see. I'm kinda waiting to see the new Ultrabooks since I don't actually have any problems with Windows (and I absolutely love having dedicated Home, End and Backspace buttons! :)).
 
Sounds Good said:
Wow, now THAT's what I call a good answer -- thank you!

On a side note, I still have my doubts about moving to a Mac, but we'll see. I'm kinda waiting to see the new Ultrabooks since I don't actually have any problems with Windows (and I absolutely love having dedicated Home, End and Backspace buttons! :)).
Click to expand...

I'm a little bias but I do own an Air and a Vaio Z and I will say the Vaio Z is superior in most if not all aspects. Many people really like the Apple look at feel which would be a plus for the Air but I like the classyness of the Vaio Z. I would also give the speaker quality to the Air, Z speakers of notoriously bad.

I wouldn't say I like Sony as a company or what they provide for the their customers but I've been around computers for a while and I usually like to avoid using most of the stock software that comes on PC (Vaio Gate) and just customize it to the way I like it. A big plus for the Vaio Z is the use of the Core i7 2620m (CTO/Owner-made version) which is the dual core processor that is also used in the MBP. This gives it the power of the MBP and the portability of the MBA. It also has an accessory called the sheet battery which is basically a battery that looks like a thin dock that gives the laptop 11+ hours of life.

Samsung also has their series 9 which is basically the same specs as the MBA. I would choose a MBA over the Samsung simply because the MBA looks better (I still wish the MBA keyboard was silver) imo.
 
Hiya Taeone, how does the sony feel on the lap, is it as comfortable as the macbook air. Let say for typing out a document, surfing the web and watching some youtube. Also does the dual fan sound louder when compared to the macbook air when you are gaming? Does resuming from sleep take about the same time as a macbook air? And how is the actual battery life on daily use, is it comparable to the macbook air? I really like the Sony Viao Z, it was just recently launched in my country, problem is they only brought in the most expensive model.:( It is going to cost me more than twice the amount i paid for the base macbook air 13 2011 even with applecare accounted for.

Hiya Sound_Good, the macbook air 11" 2011 is much much faster than the sony viao that you have, it will be a noticeable improvement over it. Please do consider getting the model with at least 128gb flash drive and 4gb of ram, either processor would be an upgrade but the i7 is noticeable faster based on benchmarking, at least for the 11inch model. The hd3000 is also better than ati hd3400 series.
 
Last edited:
MacLappy said:
Hiya Sound_Good, the macbook air 11" 2011 is much much faster than the sony viao that you have it, will be a noticeable improvement over it. Please do consider getting the model with at least 128gb flash drive and 4gb of ram, either processor would be an upgrade but the i7 is noticeable faster based on benchmarking, at least for the 11inch model. The hd3000 is also better than ati hd3400 series.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info, MacLappy. Yeah, I would get the 128GB and 4GB RAM if I go with the 11' MBA. Still trying to make sure that size will work for me (vs the 13").
 
MacLappy said:
Hiya Taeone, how does the sony feel on the lap, is it as comfortable as the macbook air. Let say for typing out a document, surfing the web and watching some youtube. Also does the dual fan sound louder when compared to the macbook air when you are gaming? Does resuming from sleep take about the same time as a macbook air? And how is the actual battery life on daily use, is it comparable to the macbook air? I really like the Sony Viao Z, it was just recently launched in my country, problem is they only brought in the most expensive model.:( It is going to cost me more than twice the amount i paid for the base macbook air 13 2011 even with applecare accounted for.

Hiya Sound_Good, the macbook air 11" 2011 is much much faster than the sony viao that you have it, will be a noticeable improvement over it. Please do consider getting the model with at least 128gb flash drive and 4gb of ram, either processor would be an upgrade but the i7 is noticeable faster based on benchmarking, at least for the 11inch model. The hd3000 is also better than ati hd3400 series.
Click to expand...

I currently do not have the Z2 as I ordered it and I'm still waiting for it to arrive. You can try to ask those questions in the forum, I put the link below. Battery life is listed at 8 hours but I would say its a realistic 4-5 hours. The Z1s that I had weren't loud but the fan did run for longer periods, probably due to the Z1 only having one fan. The Z2 also has the 3rd gen SSD which is a lot faster than the 2nd gen SSD in the MBA so boot times and resume times will be really quick.

I agree with Sound_Good. I would get the 4gb of Ram and 128gb SSD. That's the model I went with and I'm happy with it. I think any less than this would be too much of a compromise. I still believe that the 4gb/128gb should be the base model.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...c-z2-vaio-z-2011-series-owners-thread-63.html
 
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