[quote author=“cellery”]I’m glad I went with Sony this time around, as Apple is unpredictable with their product refereshes and sometimes it takes almost a year to refresh their notebook line.
This time it’s not Apple’s refesh time that’s got my Machead friends worried, it’s the build quality of their products lately. One of them has an iBook that’s had no less than 3 logic board replacements in the last year. He bought the Applecare plan but is not happy with Apple at the moment (not that he’ll ever switch…). I’ve heard there are problems with the brand new 15” Powerbooks too.
[quote author=“Drachen”][quote author=“cellery”]I’m glad I went with Sony this time around, as Apple is unpredictable with their product refereshes and sometimes it takes almost a year to refresh their notebook line.
This time it’s not Apple’s refesh time that’s got my Machead friends worried, it’s the build quality of their products lately. One of them has an iBook that’s had no less than 3 logic board replacements in the last year. He bought the Applecare plan but is not happy with Apple at the moment (not that he’ll ever switch…). I’ve heard there are problems with the brand new 15” Powerbooks too.
They didn’t want to fix the logicboards at first…people sold their non-working units for pennies on the dollar.
Build quality is one reason I buy Sony for a lot of my electronics. The stuff made in Japan always lasts forever in my experience, and I hope the TR continues that fine tradition. I’m a part time Mac fan, but I’ve become disenchanted with Apple as of late on the notebook front. They’ve stuck with the G4 for 3 1/2 years now, an aging architecture that doesn’t scale well and is killing battery life. One reason I loved Mac portables was their cool operating temperatures and great battery life, but those are now Pentium-M hallmarks.
Interestingly, the new S series is sort of what I was hoping they would make. It’s a 13.3” Widescreen model (a little bigger than the 12” i was hoping for).
- Pentium M 1.5 GHz
- Up to 1GB of RAM
- ATI Radeon 9200 with 32MB of RAM
- 1280x800 13.3” XBrite WideScreen
- 40GB Hard Drive
- DVD-R/RW drive
- Port Replicator connector
- 802.11b/g
- Bluetooth
- VGA out
- RJ11, RJ45
- USB x 2, iLink x 1
- Weight: 4.17lbs.
- Standard battery 5.5 / Enhanced Battery 8
- Power management off: Standard battery 4 / Enhanced 6
Wow, the battery life is better than the TR series! At 4.17lbs it’s fairly portable especially with a nice 13.3” screen. I do like the discrete graphics chipset even though it isn’t the Radeon 9600 I had hoped for.
Hmm my Japanese isn’t great but it looks to me like you can have one with a 1.8Ghz Pentium M, 60GB hard drive and Mobility Radeon 9700, on top of everything you listed above?
That to me sounds almost perfect (though like you i would have prefered a slightly smaller screen/footprint, but as TR owners, wouldn’t we all? )
Interestingly, the new S series is sort of what I was hoping they would make. It’s a 13.3” Widescreen model (a little bigger than the 12” i was hoping for).
- Pentium M 1.5 GHz
- Up to 1GB of RAM
- ATI Radeon 9200 with 32MB of RAM
- 1280x800 13.3” XBrite WideScreen
- 40GB Hard Drive
- DVD-R/RW drive
- Port Replicator connector
- 802.11b/g
- Bluetooth
- VGA out
- RJ11, RJ45
- USB x 2, iLink x 1
- Weight: 4.17lbs.
- Standard battery 5.5 / Enhanced Battery 8
- Power management off: Standard battery 4 / Enhanced 6
Wow, the battery life is better than the TR series! At 4.17lbs it’s fairly portable especially with a nice 13.3” screen. I do like the discrete graphics chipset even though it isn’t the Radeon 9600 I had hoped for.
Hmm my Japanese isn’t great but it looks to me like you can have one with a 1.8Ghz Pentium M, 60GB hard drive and Mobility Radeon 9700, on top of everything you listed above?
That to me sounds almost perfect (though like you i would have prefered a slightly smaller screen/footprint, but as TR owners, wouldn’t we all? )
Yeah as nice as it is, 12-13” is still too big for me. My last notebook was an 8” screen, even moving up to the TR was hard.
I have a way to give my current TR to a family member, or I could sell it right now on Ebay for about $1,600 (its only 3 months old).
Then again, my TR is more than capable for my needs. It depends on the cash flow at the time they release the US versions. We will see. Either way, I’m pretty excited about what Sony is doing. :D
I’m a part time Mac fan, but I’ve become disenchanted with Apple as of late on the notebook front. They’ve stuck with the G4 for 3 1/2 years now, an aging architecture that doesn’t scale well and is killing battery life. One reason I loved Mac portables was their cool operating temperatures and great battery life, but those are now Pentium-M hallmarks.
Oh my god, is there actually a disenchanted Mac fan? Wow, I thought thouse didn’t exist.
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