I need your help.
It’s time for me to pick out a new laptop. My main focus is portability (aka battery life). I thought that left me with 1 option; Apple. I was surprised to find that I had two; Apple and Sony. Both OEMs are offering a current generation laptop with very similar pricing and varying specs. I will say that purely looking at the specs there is no clear winner as they each have benefits the other doesn’t. I’ve also added some accessories to the list that I would get with either one and their prices.
Please look though the specs below and tell me why you would choose one or the other.
Option 1
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Apple Macbook Pro 13
Battery: 7 hours
Weight: 4.5 lbs.
Height: 0.95″
Construction: Uni-body Aluminum
Features: (Core)
13.3″ LED backlit 1280×800 (16:10)
Core i5 (2.3 GHz)
4GB DDR3 1333
320GB 5400RPM
Intel Graphics HD3000 (384MB shared)
DVD/CD-RW
Features: (Extended)
Wi-Fi networking a/b/g/n (2.4 & 5.0GHz) + bluetooth
Thunderbolt port (integrated display/Intel Light Peak port (10Gpbs (6.2Gbps actual))
Apple Airplay support (Apple TV or Airport device required)
Facetime camera (webcam)
Mini-DP out
backlit keyboard
multi-touch trackpad + gestures
Apple OS X (Snow Leopard, Photo Booth, Front Row, etc)
iLife (iPhoto, iMovie, Garageband, etc)
Accessories:
$219 Apple Care (3 year)
$99 Apple TV
$63 Bluetooth Keyboard
$63 Magic Mouse
$48 Twelvesouth Book Arc
$27 Mini-DP to DVI
$129 SSD
$85 8GB RAM upgrade
$80 Book Book case
$30 external HDD enclosure
Ancillary Benefits:
EPP (work discount)
Cost+Apple Care (+accessories): $1346 (1970)
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Option 2
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Sony Vaio S
Battery: 6.5 –> 7.5 hours. (13 – 15 hrs via add-on sheet battery)
Weight: 3.8 lbs. (4.8lbs with sheet battery)
Height: 0.95″
Constrution: Magnesium Alloy + Aluminum
Features: (Core)
13.3″ LED backlit 1366×768 (16:9)
Core i5-2410M (2.3 GHz)
4GB DDR3 1333
320GB 5400RPM
Intel HD 3000 + Discrete – Radeon 6470M (512MB dedicated) graphics (switchable)
Blu-Ray ROM / DVD/CD-RW
Features: (Extended)
Wi-Fi networking b/g/n (2.4GHz) + bluetooth
USB 3.0 support (5.0 Gbps (3.2 acutal))
Intel Wireless Diplay support (adapter required)
built-in webcam
HDMI/VGA out
Backlit keyboard
multi-touch trackpad
Windows 7
Adobe Elements
Adobe Acrobat Standard
Accessoreies:
$180 Sony service plan (3 year)
$99 bluetooth keyboard
$69 bluetooth mouse
$99 WDi adapter
$100 add-on sheet battery
$129 SSD
$85 8GB RAM upgrade
$80 Book Book case
$30 external HDD enclosure
Cost+warranty (+accessories): 1300 (1991)
