Daily Marauder

MACBOOK AIR, MEET THE SONY VAIO TZ

Last week at MacWorld, Steve Jobs unveiled the thinnest computer in the world, aptly named the MacBook Air. In his keynote, he compared the newest MacBook addition to the previous thin record holder, the Sony TZ series. I thought this comparison deserved a closer look. Let’s check out the features to see who the real winner is in this tête a tête. (Note: In comparison, I compared both standard models for the MacBook Air and Sony Vaio TZ)

Thinness: MacBook Air

At .76” at its thickest section, the MacBook is thinner than the Sony Vaio at 1.17” at its thickest section.

Weight: Sony Vaio TZ

The MacBook Air may be thinner but it’s a wee bit heavier than the Sony Vaio TZ.

Screen: MacBook Air

The screen on the MacBook Air is the same viewable screen as the MacBook at 13.3”. The Sony in comparison is a bit small at 11.1”. That said, the resolution on the Sony is slightly better than the Macbook Air.

Price: MacBook Air

The Sony is listed as $2099 on the Sony Style website but available for $1849 on the B&H site. Click on the Sony image at the bottom for the B&H site. Still, the MacBook Air is cheaper.

Hard Drive: Sony Vaio

Both are 4200-rpm PATA drives. Sony’s has 100GB to Macbook Air’s 80GB.

RAM: MacBook Air

Apple’s comes with 2GB of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM. Sony’s comes with 1GB of 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM.

Speed: MacBook Air

Both have Intel Core 2 Duo processors. The MacBook Air’s runs at 1.6GHz while the Sony’s runs at 1.06GHz.

Connecting on the Go: Sony Vaio

Being the sometimes proud owner of an Apple iPhone, I have become overly in tune with the Wi-Fi hotspots in NYC. Based on this hyper awareness, I understand the catastrophe that would occur if someone clipped the wings on my Edge network. It may not be 3G, but it’s a Wi-Fi replacement when I need one. In addition, it works quite well in the standard Google search realm. The MacBook Air offers wireless and Bluetooth connections. The Sony Vaio offers wireless, Bluetooth, Sprint EDVO, Ethernet, and a modem (OK, a little overkill on that last one.) The Sprint EDVO, available by monthly subscription, offers a nice mobile replacement when Wi-Fi is unavailable.

Battery: Sony Vaio

The Sony offers 4.5 to 7 hours of run-time and as an extra incentive, the battery is replaceable. The MacBook Air offers 5 hours and, as is generally the case with Apple, cannot be replaced.

Keyboard: MacBook Air

Apple offers a full keyboard as compared to Sony’s mini me. In addition, the Apple keyboard is backlit in low lighting situations as typically found on overnight flights and in dark conference rooms.

Optical Drive: Sony Vaio

The long and short. The Sony has a DVD drive. The Apple doesn’t. Apple claims the sacrifice on optical drive is satisfied by a remote drive feature. I say: That doesn’t help me on a NYC to LA flight. I want my DVD drive yo.

THE LOW DOWN:

At least in this comparison, MacBook has a slight lead with 6 leading features as compared to 5. That said, even though I don’t dig the mini me keyboard, I’d rather have a built in DVD drive than extra dependence on a Wi-Fi network or another box to carry around. The MacBook is sexier by far but a bit impractical. I’d have to go with the Sony Vaio. Either that, or could you just put the DVD drive back in Apple? A girl has to have her Peep Show on the plane.