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macbook pro 15" vs. sony vaio 17"

E

emilysb

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Hi,

I'm a lifelong pc-user who was right on the verge of buying a macbook pro 15". Then one of my clients said I should look into Sony Vaio. So now I'm torn. I'd like to make my decision this week. Seems like they are both good. I am looking for advice from people who may know about both.

I would be using my notebook as a desktop replacement, photoshop is my most memory-hungry program. I have used macs so probably wouldn't have a hard time getting used to the differences.

My mac hesitation comes from the fact that the core 2 is new and what if there are issues? I also have heard macbook does not run photoshop well. My vaio hesitation is that I'd still have to deal with antivirus crap and I have heard that their support is not all that good... and the typical stuff about pc components thrown together, never really tested to see if they work well together.

Thanks!
 
You are absolutely not going to get a balanced view here. The opinions on this forum will only be relevant if you're already set on the Mac.

But I would say look into the HP 17" laptops as well as a Sony if you're considering going the Sony route. I really like the nx9420 which was hardware-wise basically the same as the 17" Macbook Pro, but cheaper, better built and more reliable-running (but thicker and uglier). There's undoubtedly a core 2 duo version of that available now.
 
I had a 17" Sony laptop in the past and had loads of problems with it. Sony have just about the worst support. They effectively told me that unless you are using the laptop with a Sony branded mouse, Sony branded DVD-R media, Sony branded ... etc... and with the software build that they supplied (with all the uninstallable "trial" software included) they would not support their own hardware. So it went back, and it took over 2 months to get a refund out of them.

I will never buy a Sony again, which is a shame, because some of their hardware looks pretty good these days.

Apple products are far from perfect, I've had to have many repairs over the last few years, but their support is first rate - problems are always fixed very promptly, and that's very important.

Photoshop will be going universal in 2007, and you can run in rosetta for now. If you plan on keeping your laptop for a long time then I'd recommend and MacBook Pro.

I even booted mine with Vista RTM today under bootcamp with excellent results, so you can use vista/xp under bootcamp for photohshop as an interim if you need it.
 
well, you will be getting alot of poeple for the mac here, and i am one of them. Id say the macbook pro is superior in almost all ways, and sony has HORRIBLE support. Photoshop will be a UB in 2007 so right now the sony will seem faster but not for long… If you are thinking about a pc laptop id go with a different brand. Either way good luck, new laptops are always a 2nd cristmas.
 
fivetoadsloth said:
well, you will be getting alot of poeple for the mac here, and i am one of them. Id say the macbook pro is superior in almost all ways, and sony has HORRIBLE support. Photoshop will be a UB in 2007 so right now the sony will seem faster but not for long… If you are thinking about a pc laptop id go with a different brand. Either way good luck, new laptops are always a 2nd cristmas.
Click to expand...

That is so true.

Just read up on other Vaio users' experiences on forums or tech sites like slashdot. It seems almost as if those things are engineered to fail after a year.

"Nah, Sony can't be that evil!" Think again, it is the same sony that is so arrogant to price their PS3 out of the market AND have the gall to suggest that it will be sold out regardless of how much they price, it is the same sony which destroyed thousands of Windows computers with their music CD rootkits. Heck, it is the same sony that made "It's a Sony" from "oooo" to "pooo" over the past few years.

Sony is the company many can't wait to see go bust. Give Apple the money, they are more deserving of it. Besides what's so great about another PC with no backlit keyboard and no OSX? Are you willing to put aside your switch for this upgrade cycle and wait till next round just because of what someone else said?

Grow some balls and stick up for your own convictions man 😀

Just my $2.
 
i have a 15 inch sony vaio currently and i cannot wait to switch to a macbook (not pro, im a student and i dont need a pro)... i really have loved my vaio, it has served its purpose and i was looking into buying another earlier this year. BUT THEN, someone suggested i look into a mac and i have been convinced that it is the best move... so, problems with my sony: 1) BATTERY LIFE SUCKS- it is 2 years old, but i still get 30-45 mins, tops, without a charger. a few of my friends have new vaios, and they still get really awful battery life
2) i had to get my hard drive replaced last year (during exams...), but i did it thru best buy and it was fairly easy, so i dont know about sony's support
p.s.- the hard drive issue was because i got a virus because my school makes us use a HORRIBLE anti-virus

im really looking forward to my new macbook... i have not heard ANYTHING bad from anyone that i've talked to in the last 2 months who owns one

my vote is for the macbook pro 😀
 
emilysb said:
I'm a lifelong pc-user who was right on the verge of buying a macbook pro 15". Then one of my clients said I should look into Sony Vaio. So now I'm torn. I'd like to make my decision this week. Seems like they are both good. I am looking for advice from people who may know about both.
Click to expand...

Sony seems to be one of the only PC makers that understands (like Apple does) about form and not just function. I have used Sony laptops, but have never owned one. However I have owned other Sony gear, and based on my support experiences with them I can't recommend them. The hardware seems to be very well made, but on those odd times you need support the company can be very hard to deal with. Things you expect should be available on the website won't be, that sort of thing. Also their behavior over the past year or two really leads me to believe they are truly a company to be avoided.

My experiences with Apple's support have always been very good.

Thing is, Emily, I think if you'll give yourself a fair chance to use OS X for a while (meaning weeks, not hours 🙂 ) you will probably love it. Especially if you play around with the apps - iMovie and the like - that are very well designed and easy to use. It's really a different paradigm than with Windows. But on the off chance that you don't love OS X, though, you can install Windows on your Macbook Pro and still be good to go. OR If you do love OS X but still need one or two Windows-only programs, you can do that on the MBP too. With the Vaio, it's Windows all the way whether you like it or not.

I came over to OS X from Windows (with a stopover in Desktop Linux land) about three years ago, and have never regretted it. I do boot to Windows on occasion though, to play games. 😀
 
I would say I have been convinced 🙂 Tho my new question is... if I buy the 1 gig can I upgrade to a 2 gig easily?
 
emilysb said:
I would say I have been convinced 🙂 Tho my new question is... if I buy the 1 gig can I upgrade to a 2 gig easily?
Click to expand...

Yes, the RAM is user changeable and easy to do. It is also way cheaper to do it yourself.

I just wabt to point out also that Sony, with the battery recall and so much hope riding on the PS3, have a real possibility of if not going under, having to scale back signifigantly in the years to come, which could leave you with even worse support than these other people have reported.
 
If your primary application will be Photoshop, it is well worth it to upgrade your
system to 2 GB RAM.

I would also recommend the matte display for color correction.

Most of all, you'll find that working in Mac OSX frees you from all the hassle
of Windows malware and viruses.

If you do plan to dual boot into Windows, you'll need a copy of Windows XP Home
or XP Pro INCLUDING SP2 or wait for Vista.

The good thing is that you can run your dedicated Windows applications OFFLINE and then keep all your online work confined to your OS X partition.

If you do use your Windows partition online, you'll still need to install all the
customary A/V protection for that partition.

One last thing, there's a wealth of support here in these forums and in the Mac user community virtually giving you 24/7 support for any problems you may encounter.

Buy the C2D MacBook Pro with confindence.
 
I have a 17" sony vaio (A-190) which I run Linux on but I'm intented to replace it with a new MacBook Pro ASAP. The laptop is two years old and though it was a display model its still in great shape and has only one small hardware issue which I know and can easily avoid. Also the display (1920x1200) is truly spectacular and I have yet to see a Mac compare with it (or any laptop for that matter). The battery life is not terrible - 1.5 -2 hrs in linux (with wireless and screen at lowest intensity), probably more in windows and also depends on what I'm doing (I use Xgl which is CPU intensive).

There are several reasons I'm replacing it, however. The main one is poratability. At 8.6 lb (I think) its not heavy for a 17" but its not light either and the power supply is huge. Also, suspending doesn't work spectacularly in Linux but even in windows I get only 20 hrs of battery life when I "sleep" it. Compare this to a Mac which can sleep for days. This is important if you want to move the laptop around casually. Also, I want to run OS X since it looks so nice (though I might end up going back to Linux, knowing myself ;->) so a Mac is a good thing.

Again, although I think this machine has been nice to have, I would not recommend it to someone else unless they really see themselves never carrying it around. I thought that I wouldn't need to transport it but I ended up wanting a portable machine and 17" just aren't that (definately not sony's anyway). Hope that helped.
 
Who care's if it's sony, dell, hp, ibm or any other PC manufacturer. An iBook G4 would be better then the Vaio you're thinking about. Get a MBP man, or a refurb 17" MBP (CD) And recive the best of both worlds.
 
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