VAIO SB1A vs 13’’ Macbook Pro 2011 (Hi-End)

[bykgamer]

I’m looking for powerful 13’’ laptop to replace my old PC. I’ll be using it for everyday life stuff and coding. I’m really concerned about overheating. As it is said on Apple’s forum, new 15’’ MBP overheats. What about 13’’ MBP? Will the VAIO SB1A heat too? As it is built on the same CPU, but in addition has GPU.

Another question is which keyboard is better? As I can see both have non-standard keyboards.

I have never tried Mac OS X, so I don’t know is it better or worse than Windows.

 

[badtzwang]

If overheating is a concern, I would get the Sony SB laptop ....

All Macbook Pros are prone to higher running temperatures by the simple fact that they are made out of ALUMINUM. There's no getting around that.

 

[brentsg]

If overheating is a concern, I would get the Sony SB laptop ....

All Macbook Pros are prone to higher running temperatures by the simple fact that they are made out of ALUMINUM. There's no getting around that.

Care to explain this? Why would an aluminum body cause higher component temps?

 

[ExnomenDei]

If overheating is a concern, I would get the Sony SB laptop ....

All Macbook Pros are prone to higher running temperatures by the simple fact that they are made out of ALUMINUM. There's no getting around that.

Aluminium cases dissipate heat quicker. That's why fanless cases are almost exclusively made of alumiunium. While the plastic on the Sony might not get as warm, it will overheat more quickly than if it were to have an aluminium case. (they also make coolers out of aluminium, to give you an idea of how good aluminium is at dissipating heat - defeated by copper pretty much exclusively!)

The keyboards on Sony and Apple laptops are extremely comparable to one another. There's no reason to pick either unless you like a backlit keyboard - get the Macbook in that case.

If you're a power user, OS X should be extremely pleasant to you. A newbie (if you are one) will have no problem since they only need a few applications (email, web browsing, messenger, office), but it's the category in between where I don't think people like OS X as much. It's hard to say though - try it in a store!