advantages of mac book over Vaio..?

[Tucking Fypo]

i want to know that what are the advantages of buying apple mac book over sony vaio's which give windows vista pre-installed.

I want to know why should i consider a macbook over other laptops....?

[Brad.]

i want to know that what are the advantages of buying apple mac book over sony vaio's which give windows vista pre-installed.

I want to know why should i consider a macbook over other laptops....?

If you're looking to use Windows Vista then why are you considering spending so much on a Macbook?

No really, what are you looking to use on a Macbook?

[Tucking Fypo]

i am an engineering student and want to buy a laptop for my studies..

my friends suggested me to by mac..

thats why i was just asking..

[Chicane-UK Veteran]

There is no "The MacBook is better because xxxxxxxx" explanation. Ultimately comes down to which one you prefer and which OS you prefer to use - Leopard or Vista! Go and try both and decide which you feel does the things that you want best!

[Tucking Fypo]

i have used vista but didnt performed upto my expectations..

even xp and linux distros were good than vista..

one more question that what if i want to install linux with mac os?

willl i be able to that for my study purposes.. and what about warranty after i install linux...?

[furby]

You can install linux on your mac without too much trouble. It won't affect your warranty at all.

What model of vaio are you looking at? I have been playing with a macbook and vaio sz for a while. The build quality is much better on the mac than the sony in my experience, things feel flimsy of the vaio and have broken off but the mac is untouched. The keyboard on the mac is also (for me at least) nicer to type on. The battery life on the macbook is also better but at the disadvantage of size/weight. The vaio does feel nice and light to carry around.

But like Chicane said, go and try them out, you'll know pretty quickly which is the one for you

[Chicane-UK Veteran]

I'd be brave enough to say that if you thought Vista was a let down but you like some distro's of Linux, you'll probably like MacOS X.

I'm an old Linux user (started back in the mid to late 90's) and whilst I admire it hugely and how far it has come, i've never really got on with it on my primary desktop simply for driver incompatibility and (on the whole) immature software. MacOS X is the ideal environment for me - pretty, with excellent hardware support and built on a UNIX core which means I can drop to a shell at any point and use commands i'm used to such as editors, network diagnostic tools (ping, etc etc), ssh/sftp client and so forth.

As I say - try em both out and see what grabs you :)

[sn00pie]

You should buy a MacBook because of Mac OS. :) You really have to give it a try before you can say anything, I absolutely love OS X, and can't wait to purchase my MacBook!

[PyX]

Yeah, buying a Macbook to ditch OS X and use Vista is a little dumb IMO.

Maybe Macbooks can show great performance (except graphically) but use OS X if you're willing to buy a Mac.

[utdarkviper]

I'm an engineering student going on my 4th year soon. A Windows laptop is going to avoid a lot of pain in the future as your classes will require certain software that just won't work on a Mac unless you go out of your way. For engineering purposes a windows laptop is going to be your only option. I recommend a Dell as support is great and fast, in case you ever need it you will be happy. My Dell laptop is still functional for engineering purposes and now that I have moved off-campus I bought a desktop, which in the future you may do as well. At that point you can get a Mac :)

[markwolfe Veteran]

^^^ A Mac can easily be a "Windows laptop".

[giga Veteran]

I'm an engineering student going on my 4th year soon. A Windows laptop is going to avoid a lot of pain in the future as your classes will require certain software that just won't work on a Mac unless you go out of your way. For engineering purposes a windows laptop is going to be your only option. I recommend a Dell as support is great and fast, in case you ever need it you will be happy. My Dell laptop is still functional for engineering purposes and now that I have moved off-campus I bought a desktop, which in the future you may do as well. At that point you can get a Mac :)

I know several engineering students here (georgia tech) with Macs. :whistle: We use a lot of Matlab--which is available on all three platforms.

[osirisX]

Get the Vaio.

[offroadaaron]

for studies and laptop use, the macbook is easy and user friendly... Its great for the it just works side of things. I say that but lots of people i know try to use a macbook and they go back to a windows machine... I also know lots of friends says OMG so much easier on a mac.

It comes down to personal preference, and mine for a laptop is definitely Mac OS.

[ATLien_0]

If you are an engineering student, you will probably be using AutoCad a lot which is not compatible with Mac.

So you could either buy a windows laptop or a mac and run windows on the side for your engineering apps.

[DreadBoat89]

I know several engineering students here (georgia tech) with Macs. :whistle: We use a lot of Matlab--which is available on all three platforms.

we dont just use matlab...

as an engineering student, i've found that majority of cad software is either available on windows or unix. if you want to get a mac, you need to fork over a premium depending on what mac you get plus an additional $100-200 for windows to use with boot camp. engineering programs like CAD will require a good amount of resources, so using virtualization wouldn't be the best idea.

theres no real advantages of a macbook over a decent windows laptop other than os... and that just becomes a matter of preference.

[Elliot B.]

Get the Vaio.

+1, for the amount of software available for Windows (Y)

[mancode20]

If you get a laptop, get an HP. My dad just recently bought a Dell Inspiron 1525 and had to exchange it because something went wrong. The battery died and wouldn't recharge or something. Read many horror stories about Dell laptops for some reason. Go with HP.

[giga Veteran]

we dont just use matlab...

as an engineering student, i've found that majority of cad software is either available on windows or unix. if you want to get a mac, you need to fork over a premium depending on what mac you get plus an additional $100-200 for windows to use with boot camp. engineering programs like CAD will require a good amount of resources, so using virtualization wouldn't be the best idea.

theres no real advantages of a macbook over a decent windows laptop other than os... and that just becomes a matter of preference.

Since when is a Macbook a premium? Especially with the included student deal going on with an iPod touch? Vista OEM is $100.

But you are right that cad is resource intensive and that a discrete video card is something you'd want which the Macbook doesn't offer.

[DreadBoat89]

Since when is a Macbook a premium? Especially with the included student deal going on with an iPod touch? Vista OEM is $100.

But you are right that cad is resource intensive and that a discrete video card is something you'd want which the Macbook doesn't offer.

well i consider something like the black macbook and the macbook pro a premium. the black macbook has an igp and costs $1500-1600 and if you want dedicated graphics you have to fork over $2000.

i cannot picture myself spending over $1500 on a laptop, let alone one that has an igp...

[NeoXY]

^^^ A Mac can easily be a "Windows laptop".

Yeah but if his just gonna use windows anyways, seem silly to get a mac THAN use windows when he can get a more bang-for-the-buck PC and use windows.

Get the Vaio, as an engineering student, getting a Mac will cause some headache mainly because of the lack of software.

[abcdefg]

Get the Vaio, as an engineering student, getting a Mac will cause some headache mainly because of the lack of software.

That Mac will run Windows so there isn't lack of software.

[giga Veteran]

well i consider something like the black macbook and the macbook pro a premium. the black macbook has an igp and costs $1500-1600 and if you want dedicated graphics you have to fork over $2000.

i cannot picture myself spending over $1500 on a laptop, let alone one that has an igp...

Blackbook is a rip--we all know that. I'd never fancy paying just for a paintjob. ;)

MBPs are a bit overpriced, but nothing out of the ordinary for what it offers to be honest. It's a very nice machine when you consider the entire package and design.

[Linkinfamous]

If you're an engineering student, check to see what software packages you'll need to be using. Many of them could be Windows only, and Parallels is a terrible option for some of the more processor intensive or 3D CAD apps, and I don't think anyone here can honestly say that they enjoy dual booting...

I mean, I've certainly used my fair share of Windows only stuff in various engineering classes: Xilinx's IDE for FPGA work, Any of Microchip's PIC compilers, AutoCAD, LASI, SolidWorks, various little apps a prof has thrown together for some lab, some silly toolsuite we used in a Physics lab for a DAQ, etc.

Also, If you have or can get a desktop too, I'd recommend a convertible tablet PC instead of a laptop. They're incredible for classes, and HP has the tx2500z, which is very nicely priced, especially as you can generally find a coupon for several hundred dollars off, bringing even it down to like $1200 even fully spec'd out.

Edit: Ok. Xilinx's ISE isn't Windows only. It can run on Linux, too. But not OSX.

Edited July 15, 2008 by MioTheGreat

[1759]

If the required SW is only available for Windows, then there's really no point in a MB - most of the working time would be spent in Windows, and a Windows laptop can be had for less, and offer more features.

I don't know if I would go with a VAIO though either, Sony is about as expensive as Apple, but YMMV. My dad has one, and it's been reliable for him, he's had it for a couple years, and no problems. I like the new Dell Studio line, they look nice, and have good/money performance ratios.