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Thinking about a return / swap for sony f series

C

cferra

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 5, 2010
151
66
After using the MBP i7 for a few days, and loving the asthetics etc.. I am finding myself wondering why not go with the Sony F series . On paper, the machines are very close, in fact with the sony f using a better i7 chip, more graphics memory, 1gb, hi-def 1080p screen and blu-ray. With the specs very closely matching the new MBP I could most likely if not now, in the very near future hackintosh the sony... I bring this to the forum, what do you think I should do?

Chris
 
The 17" MBP has a so-called HD screen, albeit it has 1920 x 120 more vertical pixels.

If you want to go to the trouble hackintoshing the Sony, go for it.

It's your decision, but know, that you might have trouble finding appropriate Mac OS X drivers for the Sony's components.

Btw, are those specs what your really, really need? Or is that more for bragging rights?
 
cferra said:
After using the MBP i7 for a few days, and loving the asthetics etc.. I am finding myself wondering why not go with the Sony F series . On paper, the machines are very close, in fact with the sony f using a better i7 chip, more graphics memory, 1gb, hi-def 1080p screen and blu-ray. With the specs very closely matching the new MBP I could most likely if not now, in the very near future hackintosh the sony... I bring this to the forum, what do you think I should do?

Chris
Click to expand...

Step 1: sell your mbp for a sony
step 2: sell your sony for a mbp:D
 
For the money, the Sony F is amazing.

Not sure I'd futz with Hackintoshing it though. But if you're cool with running Windows 7 and need the quad core to render and compress things, go for it.

One thing though, I had one and returned it. I thought the vertical viewing angles were just too awful to live with. Also, I was not not feeling on the 1920x1080 res, this 16:9 trend blows. The screen is a personal preference thing, it may not bother everyone, and it did look good within its limited viewing angle.

Also, the quad i7 is hot chip. Sony did a good job with the fan, but the fan will always run, and when you go to peg all 4 cores, the fan will definitely speed up and be pretty audible. That's not Sony's fault, it's a hot chip, any quad core i7 is going to have to run the fan pretty high.

Otherwise, I rather liked the Sony F, but am generally happier with my new 17" MBP, though it lacks the quad core and has 512MB VRAM. The Sony had eSATA built-in, which was nice.

If you need the power and can live with the screen, the Sony F is it.
 
All good points, i can say that its not for anything crazy ... it's more the longevity factor, I don't want to get a new notebook for at least 4 years. Or unless a have to have feature comes out, like lightpeak etc.. Its just about getting the most for the dollar.. honestly. Times are tough, work is scarse.. and I have lusted over the macbook pro for ages.. but i think the apple really dropped the ball this last update.. argh.. lol decisions decisions.
 
the quad core i7 in the Sony is not better in every task, it's aven worse in non multithreaded apps. And it draws much more power.
 
Don't do it, man! Specs, specs, specs...forget the specs for a second- they'll never say anything about a machine's real life performance. Your i7 MBP will last you well beyond 4 years, take for example the users on this forum who are still using their G4 powerbooks.
 
Hardware isn't the last thing. You won't get OSX on a Sony or something of that sort. If OSX is not important to you (which surely doesn't seem so) then you can go for any beastly computer in the world and it would be irrelevant.

The end user experience comes from the software. Hardware is there just to support it.
 
I've just recently (just!) returned to Macs; picked up the new MBP. I've bought/used PCs for years, usually 2 or 3 new models every year. I bought the new Sony Vaio Z, and returned it for the MBP. The Sony F is a great looking computer, but battery life is an issue.

The one thing I find on the MBP that I just adore and find it really hard when it's now missing on my other laptops is the touchpad. The Mac touchpads are simply awesome. Click anywhere, huge, perfect recognition with no stuttering, and the multitouch gestures. Once you get used to 2-finger inertial scrolling, it's really, really hard to go back. I keep swiping 2 fingers on all my other machines, honestly.

This feature alone (among many to commend the MBP) makes the Apple laptops worthwhile.

Oh, another complaint about the Z was the non-standard hard drive connections and interface. Upgrading the drives on the Z is nontrivial and involves purchase and hacking of adapters. The MBP has a standard SATA cable and mount; simple!
 
The trackpad is second to none, and I love the flick momentum support on the 2010 models. OS X is not a real issue, there is a huge community dedicated on getting it working on standard PC hardware. I am sure that it will come along for the vaio on the very near future.
 
We are talking about a 3 hour battery life vs 9 hours. Completely different priorities here. The F series is nearly twice as thick and a pound heavier as well.
 
If money really is tight why on earth would you buy a brand new machine. You can def do everything on a gen or two old laptop (mac or pc). This is especially true since you said you're not doing anything crazy.
 
I just came from a Sony F - pm me if you want to buy it :)

Anyway, both are great machines but the MBP (I have the base 15") is just on another level. The design and build is superior to the Sony F.

The Sony has a nice display, I really didn't find much fault with it. The keys felt good, although a little mushy. The fans were a bit louder than I liked. Overall a great machine but I am enjoying the MBP more.
 
I was able to get the MBP with various gift cards lol. I am going to keep the MacBook Pro. For the reasons mentioned, and also for the sheer fact that I have wanted to have one for so long. lol :)
 
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