Landing Gear

As far as I know, there are actually three Sony machines on sale, released in the past few days with Sandy Bridge chips, the S, the C and the (new) F which has "Up to Intel® Core™ i7-2820QM (2.30GHz3, up to 3.40GHz with Turbo Boost4) quad core processor available."

Despite the rumors on endgadget, sonyinsider, NBR and elsewhere, I am interested in the more likely next generation Z, which was, in the past, the Sony flagship machine.

Also, if they would just please make a new version of the TT (and I don't mean the X), that would make a lot of folks happy.

DenverBrian

...and the Dell blue trackstick is abysmal compared to the ThinkPad trackpoint.

painintheuk

Hi all.

I am hoping for advice for buying a new laptop. My 4 year old laptop with a near dead battery, full hard drive and a power cord that needs *just* the right twist to work, is ready to go to die.

The new Sandybridge laptops are now out with their better battery life and graphics handling so I am hoping to buy soon.

I have been looking forward to the T420S for a couple of months. I have used a 14" light-ish machine for years (currently a Dell D630) because of my heavy travel. Even lighter would have been better, but now I am thinking that maybe 15" might be worth the weight in exchange for more screen real estate. I really want a *great* screen, which I currently don't have. I would like at least 5 hours of (real) battery life, though more is always better. It needs to be fairly rugged since I usually just toss it in my backpack when I travel.

I am struggling with the Mac/PC decision. I have always recommended Apple to people when it was appropriate. I have always 'needed' a Windows machine because of work or play. I might be able to get over this now, though I'm not sure.

Should I get an MBP, or is there something else out there for me if I move up to 15"? (T520? Dell XPS15?)? I currently use MS Office extensively (especially PPT, Word and Excel) and have to work with others around the world on the same documents. For images, I use Lightroom and may get a stronger image editing program soon. The more specialized software that I used to use isn't really a concern, and I could always run it in an XP window. My desktop is a wickedly quick Windows 7 PC that won't be replaced for at least 2 years, so everything has to work together smoothly.

So... Can I work with a MBP? Are there any difficulties? What else should I compare it with? Price is not the prime issue, but I'm not looking for a Vaio-Z with dual-SSD type machine (which is too small in any case).

Thanks,

Dr. PITUK

nkedel

Upsides to 15": everything you've said.
Downsides to 15": weight (averages around 1lb-1.5lb more), marginally to significantly lower battery life because of more screen to backlight, bulk

As for a really *great* screen, the quality of screens has gone up on the average in the past couple of years, but there is still a lot of variability between models. It also dependsd on what you're looking for -- quality of color gamut specifically (RGBLED over WLED) -- viewing angle (IPS over TN) -- high resolution -- or just brightness and sharpness.

Given the raves the MBPs get, you should definitely have a look at the 15" MBP. If you decide it's the best hardware for you, you can always just pitch the MacOS and run Windows on it, or you can get a larger hard drive than you otherwise would and dual-boot.

One often un-mentioned plus of the MBP is it's one of the few 16x10 machines left vs. 16x9 on most new PCs. The extra vertical real estate is something I miss on my current-generation Dell.

The other issue is cost, and whether you need a quad core; the cost for the MBP is higher than a comparable PC laptop, but not hugely so, looks like around $200 over a comparably equipped T520 give or take -- the bigger difference is the minimum CPU spec is much higher: there are no dual-core or i5 options on the MBP, so you're looking at about another $200 you could save if the i5-2520 or -2540 is fast enough (both blazingly fast by the standards of any prior generation chip, and somewhat more battery-efficient than the quad-cores.)

The MBP also gives up the ability to conveniently put a second battery or second hard drive in instead of the optical drive, if that's a capability you'd value (OTOH, this is also missing on most consumer PCs; it's business feature, and you're limited to "enterprise" models these days.)

Lenovo T520 is a very nice machine; we've gotten our first few in-office. Make sure if you look at one, that you look at the FHD (1920x1080) screen, which is wide-gamut and brighter vs. their regular panels. (Specs-wise on the 14", BTW, the slightly heavier T420 actually has a brighter 1600x900 screen as an upgrade option than the base 1600x900 on the T420s.)

I can't recommend Dell's consumer lines if durability is a major concern, even their high-end media/gaming boxes like the XPS line. The best option to look at would be the Latitude E6420/E6520 and my guess is that the screens on those will disappoint especially compared to the MBP 15" or the 1920x1080 option on the T520. They're also a little porky compared to the Lenovos.

Unless the documents you use are absolutely huge or involve some very complex macros (/.net scripting) then you would probably be fine running a virtual environment under the MacOS. CrossOver (Wine-based API emulation) might work, but probably is not going to be reliable enough. Others will have to comment on whether the MacOS version of Office will be adequate.

You'd want a native Windows partition for that if you prefer to run your image editing on Windows; unlike office, performance for this will suffer signficantly under virtualization. On the other hand, the Adobe apps on MacOS are supposed to be very good, so just running that under MacOS might be the better option.

ilikechowfan

does anyone know how well the 13.3in macbook pros with the new sandy bridges compare to the old ones with discreet gpus in terms of gaming?

nkedel

Marginally behind, but in the same ballpark: Notbookcheck.com shows 3DMark 2006 scores show 4700 for the GeForce 320M in the prior 13" and 4090 for the Sandy Bridge (HD Graphics 3000 in marketing terms.)

With the vastly faster processor (as compared to the old 13" - marginally faster or slower than the old 15") it should be at least as good for gaming.

painintheuk

Wow. Thanks (again) nkedel for the quick and detailed reply.

I used to understand multiboot systems enough that I had a multi-boot Windows/OS2/Linux machine which worked like a dream whenever I needed it! It makes me realize how far behind I have fallen, though that is a whole different thread .

Any screen that I can adjust myself (I'm going to buy a calibration device for my desktop as well this summer) will hopefully give me a true enough image. My screens are generally bright enough in perfect and even not so perfect conditions (at the highest setting), though a screen that I can use outside would be brilliant. The current Latitude has terrible horizontal and vertical viewing angles. Resolution (for photos) bothers less. I think that my old Tosiba (5? 7? years ago) was the best I've had so far. I totally agree with you about the 16x10. I don't like that it is so difficult to look for reviews of screen quality. It is easy enough to find for desktop monitors, but not for laptops.

I am very interested in how the Mac and W7 versions of Office compare. I used to think that they were the same, but personal experience has recently suggested that there can be some critical (unadvertised and unexpected) differences transfering documents between the two platforms in PowerPoint and Excel in particular. I used to have to deal with specialized statistics and modeling software, but that is not an issue any more, so I have more choice and less need of speed. The quad core would be more about longevity and image/video processing if and when I decide to do more on my laptop.

One small issue about the photo software is that LR comes with a dual licence - I can use the same software on Mac and PC. If I decide to add Photoshop, then I have to buy a second (very expensive even as a prof) licence.

After all of this I am leaning more to the MBP. If it is not working after a few months then I can wipe it all and go back to W7. I will look in to the advantages and disadvantages of dual-boot and running XP in a window.

I very much look forward to reviews of the various new machines.

Thanks

Dr. PITUK

nkedel

Brightness will be better on any modern LED-backlit screen than a tradition CCFL screen like the D630; none of then work well in direct sunlight but the higher-brightness new screens do work better outside than older ones did.

Is the Latitude the standard 1280x800 screen or the 1440x900? The latter on the D630 has a slightly better viewing angle, but it's still a pretty average screen.

Sadly, the E6420 I just bought still has a pretty average viewing angle at best. Supposedly the T520 is better; we got the first in at work last week but I haven't had a chance to play with it.

One thing that doesn't help is that some manufacturers will use more than one exact model of screen with similar-but-not-exactly-identical specs. Hence my wife's otherwise-identical (last-generation) Dell having a slightly brighter (and cleaner color) screen.

Quad core will help with video processing quite a bit; for most other purposes coming from a D630, the generational jump to a current i5/i7 will probably be more noticeable than the difference between the dual or quads.

painintheuk

Thanks for the advice. I did (do) have the 1440x900.

I'm still undecided . It looks like the new versions of Office 2010/2011 seem to work together much better, so that gives me a bit more confidence moving to the MBP. Weightwise it also seems to be quite a bit lighter than many of its 15" competitors. I would also get an upgraded anti-glare screen, a spare battery and the 7200rpm drive, but those are small (and expensive) details .

I'm going to try to get my hands on some of the new W7 machines to get a better feel. For example some of the new Toshiba machines look nice, and I've had good luck with them in the past. Asus apparently gets good reviews, but I don't think that I can easily customize them. I may also look at some consumer machines.

Soon I'm going to have to actually make a decision and pull the trigger! I have a couple of 'easy' weeks coming up and would like to get it all working then.

Thanks and I'll let you know what I pick.

Dr. PITUK.

DYKWIA

Just bought a new Sony S i7 series laptop. I've been a MacBook guy for the last few years, but I found i wasn't using MacOS, and just using Windows 7 via bootcamp.

Very pleased so far. The fan is a bit loud at times, but not too bad. Battery life is good at around 7 hours. I also bought the extended battery - it's a flat battery (arf!) that sits underneath the laptop. I've not measured it yet, but it should be another 7 hours on top.

Cheers,
Rick

nkedel

For people who want a beefier GPU in a business class machine (whether for gaming or otherwise) , the overall cost difference between the Lenovo W520 and T520 has gone down to compard to the prior generation (T510/W510) and the W520 at $1471 (on cdw) only a little more than the Dell 14" with a weaker.

mintirish

I am in the same boat as you - own a D630 and waiting on the 420s - I am really excited to be able to use the machine on battery and the lighter weight.

My IT guy ordered the machine over a week ago and he still doesn't have it - freaking killing me!

nkedel

We're still in the same boat even on a first demo unit for the T420s.

mintirish

That sucks - they delayed the listing the T420s for a couple weeks after the T420 and T520 - looks like shipping is delayed as well. I wish they wouldn't have listed it until it was ready to ship.

nkedel

I spoke to soon; the first demo came in this afternoon. Looks very nice; one point I'm not sure if it's a plus is that they got rid of the old 1.8" HDD slot for an even-less-standard 7mm 2.5" slot (standard is 9.5mm) which makes planning what kind of SSDs to buy for those users who get them problematic (plus there's no 256gb option direct from Lenovo showing now) but which may open up more options than the 1.8" did.