I want a new laptop: Sony FZ, Dell M1530, ASUS V2S, or MacBook Pro
Being in the market for a new laptop, I thought for sure I was going to go with a Mac Book Pro. I don’t mind paying the Apple tax for a beautiful machine and operating system. However, I don’t have any issues with Windows. Even on my cheap Dell machines, I’ve probably only seen a couple Blue screens of Death since 2000, and I’m slightly turned off by Apple fan-boys and Apple Computer themselves every time they bring up Blue Screen of death on PCs (here’s Anil Dash’s excellent commentary on it). It’s like Apple’s marketing is still living in 1999.
A computer is a tool to work on for me, not a lifestyle. Though, I recognize that if I spend 10 hours a day using the tool, I’d like the best I can get. I’d love to have one in a pretty form factor. Regardless, here’s my present situation.
I’m going to replace my current Dell 700m laptop (which is small, and been my workhorse for a lot of my Flex and AIR development). I think it’s great that I can still run the latest Adobe tools this unremarkable machine. I also have a Dell desktop with 3 gigs of memory (I use a lot of Virtual Machines during development) that I’d ideally retire. New laptop to replace both machines.
I’m having a hard time finding the ultimate laptop because of my requirements:
1) I’d prefer a smaller 13.3 inch screen (like the Sony SZ series, beautiful machines, lacking on graphics power) since it’s nearly impossible to use a 15.4 inch screen on an airplane. However, just because the screen is smaller, I don’t want to sacrifice computing performance, especially on the video side because I most often will work tethered to a big-ass monitor. This means I really want a 2.4 ghz Duo Core, and 256 8600GT or better.
2) ESATA. Why, oh why, don’t more laptops, other than the ASUS support eSata? I don’t want one of those ugly cards protruding from my laptop, either. The speed gains over FireWire 800 are tremendous, especially when connected to external RAID. And since I usually have my development environments housed by a VM Ware image, I need all the drive performance I can get.
3) I’d prefer something with a DOCKing station to avoid connecting all my devices like: monitor, mouse, printer, eSata external drive, external DVD burnder, iPod, etc…every time I hook it up. Now, I realize some of this can be avoided by using a USB hub, but my previous experience is that not all my USB devices work reliably through an USB HUB. And never mind the high-end monitor hookup. Nonetheless, a dock isn’t a deal breaker for me, especially if a computer came with builtin eSATA port!
4) And for the run of the mill that should be supported by most laptops: gigabit ethernet, wireless N, bluetooth.
Some of the interesting laptops I’m looking at are:
- The Sony FZ series. These are beautiful, with great screens. Reminds me a lot of a MacBook Pro, except that I can get one with a BluRay DVD burner in it for about $1500. It seems to sacrifice some graphics power, though. I really like the form factor of the smaller Sony SZ, though, and the SZ has a docking station. No eSATA.
- The new Dell M1530, (and the less powerful, yet smaller M1330). This is a beautiful machine, and Dell’s finally starting to come out with some compelling design. However, the resolution sucks (1280×800, which is the same as my present 12" monitor) for now and I’d rather wait until an LED based screen with a higher resolution. No docking station available.
- ASUS V2S. This seems like the ultimate for me (after realizing I may have to get a larger monitor). It has eSATA, a dock available. However, the V2S has terrible review regarding it’s graphics processor, it seems ASUS has crippled the 8600 in it, probably in the name of battery conservation. I haven’t been able to find a local retailer to check this machine out in person, either.
- Lenovo. The business power-horse for so many years, but really, I’m so tired of that drab-black plastic finish. They’re having a sale and I could get a powerhouse laptop for $1400 or so.
- and, of course, The Mac Book Pro. No dock, no eSata, no 13.3 version. And I’m aware of that ugly 3rd party dock. But there’s something I like about Macs. The fact that I can run Windows software (like Visual Studio 2008) on this via a VMWare image is huge. I get a real Unixy OS. I wish the Apple store would have some Macs on hand running Windows software so I can see how well they work (I don’t trust the blogs that Parallels and VMWare Fusion work totally as advertised). I think if Apple really wanted to boost sales, I should be able to walk in and see Microsoft Outlook running on a Mac Book Pro as I have no doubt in my mind this would cause more Macs to fly off the shelf.
Rumor has it that Apple is adding a machine in January, so maybe I’ll wait to see that. I can’t believe that Apple, who caters to higher end video editors and photographers will continue to ignore the need for eSATA. If I’m dropping $2500 for a laptop, I’m going to expect it to have everything top-of-line. And I’m fully aware of adding eSata through ExpressCard, but it’s just one more thing to hookup.
Anyone else out there with some ideas on some machines? I’m in no rush. At this time I just "want" a new computer as opposed to "needing" one. (It would be nice to consolidate everything, though.) Knowing me, I’ll probably end up waiting this one out.
Comments
Comment from Barney
Date: November 30, 2007, 12:48 pm
I just got a Lenovo T61, and I love it. I’ll agree with about the finish, but I’m usually looking at the illuminated part anyway, so whether the outside is pretty or not is kind of irrelevant. I run a windows host with a pile of linux VMs for all my servers, which is fantastic: one Eclipse (windows), and multiple CFs (Linux). I didn’t look at the ASUS, but from the HPs, Dells, Macs, and Sonys I looked at, the Thinkpad was the best bang for the buck all around.
Comment from Rick Smith
Date: November 30, 2007, 1:03 pm
Despite the problems I’ve had with Dell as a company, I purchased a top-of-the-line m1330 and absolutely love the machine. It’s small, powerful and the LED screen rocks! The 1530 looks nice to me, but having now used the machine for several months there’s no way way I’d want one any bigger.
Comment from tom auch
Date: December 19, 2007, 9:05 pm
Very useful info. Just purchased an FZ 270Sony. It had all I wanted including brighter screen and wireless N. Best buy actually had the best buy (haha) but got it customized on the web site with 2gb ram and 2.0 ghz proc for about 1100$. Never heard of eSATA….dont need dock…everything runs off a USB…get dual monitor mode though so you can double your screen real estate
thanks
Comment from Dave Skalbeck
Date: January 29, 2008, 10:06 pm
I will never buy a Dell product again. I get more —— bad advertising when attempting to search the internet then i can stand. I have been in the real estate business for twenty years and the first computer I ever had, circa 1993, was far better then this piece of junk I have now.
Comment from simona
Date: February 12, 2008, 12:07 am
Hi, I’m looking for something similar. Respectively: core 2 duo& dedicated graphics& WSXGA monitor, especially for movies in hd and photoshop. Also, HDMI/ DVI and eSATA port. But there are few options outthere. The new dell laptops have HDMI, but no eSATA. HP has a business line with HDMI. Both have docking station, but no docking station w/ eSATA port… at least I have no knowledge of that. Asus laptops like G1S come with both HDMI& SATA ports, but no docking station, so I’d need a hub to add USB ports.
So, I’m currently looking for a universal docking station with provided eSATA for fast transfer. Targus has a docking station which connects through an Express card eSATA, but there is no additional eSATA on it. I’ve got 2 cavalry external hdd w/ eSATA, how can I use at least one of them through a docking station?
For those who don’t use eSATA: this a 3 GB/sec transfer speed port ! Very useful for large files.
I would appreciate any ideas. Hope others will benefit as well.
Comment from todd
Date: February 12, 2008, 9:01 am
Simona, check out the forthcoming Lattitude E series, which will have eSata: http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/01/dell-latitude-e-series-leaked/
(I hope it isn’t too long in coming.)
I have the feeling that eSata will be one of those features that’s standard in about a year or so, especially as more and more external NAS/Drive enclosures support it. We don’t have to sacrifice drive speed when using external drives anymore!
Comment from Colin
Date: February 13, 2008, 3:10 am
Just thought I’ll clarify;
‘I think if Apple really wanted to boost sales, I should be able to walk in and see Microsoft Outlook running on a Mac Book Pro as I have no doubt in my mind this would cause more Macs to fly off the shelf.’
Apple 101: OS X offers a change to Windows and Mail is almost the OS X equivalent of Outlook in Windows. I say almost because I use Mail since I started with my MacBook and never really used Outlook back on my Windows Desktop. Apple store staff however, can easily name applications that comes with a standard Windows system and name you alternatives.
Now with (MS) Mac Office 2008 shipping, there is Entourage (apparently an Outlook type of program) shipped along with Office. Again, I don’t use it so can’t comment.
I was converted 16 months ago and have found my simple MacBook with 2.0GHz Core Duo + 2GB RAM more than enough for my student needs (gaming aside for my Xbox360) Anyway, hope you find your ultimate system soon : )
Comment from simona
Date: February 13, 2008, 2:38 pm
WOW ! The new Latitude E seems to break into a new chasis, much thinner than usual Dell’s bulky laptops. I’d expect an HDMI port & discrete graphics as well :-)
Thanks Todd !
Pingback from Simplified Chaos » Small Form Factor Development Laptops Rule!
Date: February 26, 2008, 11:08 pm
[...] right now with that, though, I don’t game and probably don’t need it). In my previous post I mentioned my wants in a laptop, I’ve only recently narrowed it down to having to be [...]
Comment from try leopard out first (like a week) before you get an mbp!!
Date: April 8, 2008, 6:18 pm
falling prey to the apple marketing machine, i bought my first mac (macbook pro) last september.
today, i’m looking for deals on a thinkpad t61p (and preying someone will be dumb enough to buy my mbp from me).
i’ve never used an OS so unreliable and unstable. it’s like using a virus-ridden public school computer–only it looks good and is overpriced. and i don’t care what anyone says: if you can’t maximize a screen with a click, something’s messed up. and i’d like to break that huge mouse clicker into two, so i can finally have a dedicated right click button.
if you’re not a creative professional who needs final cut (or whatever creative apps that are mac-only), you really want to think long and hard before shelling out so much cash for an mbp. oh yeah, i’ve tried parallels and fusion. moving windows around in fusion was all choppy (and fusion was all confused using spaces), and i have to do a cold restart after a few days of leaving parallels loaded with xp (although apps do seem to work decently–but again, it’s NOT like using it on the main OS).
some other observations: office 08 sucks compared to its windows’ counterpart, there is no official blackberry syncing software for the mac, as far as i know there’s no way to modem-tether a blackberry curve over bluetooth (it works fine on xp), mbp’s have sleep/wake issues which require a cold restart (sucks while you’re in class and about to get called on while your damn computer has held your notes hostage; though this problem seems to have gotten better with the os updates), the keyboard is NOT crisp (feels slightly mushy and under-sensitive), i can’t use the scanner function on my printer b/c there’s no mac driver, and the display can’t bend back much beyond the 90 degree up-position (i get the urge to just snap the damn thing off). and this is stupid, but i think the thing looks way too effeminate–that huge, glowing apple on back of the display. god i hate that thing.
so all in all, i’m ready to be microsoft’s bitch again. after trying out the sexy-dumb broad, i’m ready to go back to the ugly-smart one. just need to take out some more student loans, i guess. what a waste. but if you want to look like a pretentious, effeminate hipster, this is definitely the machine to buy. god i hate that glowing apple. i have the urge to break the thinkpad that sits next to my mbp in class b/c i’m jealous. i’m, crazy but i know the apple OS is not fit for human consumption. well, i guess if you’re a “creative professional,” you may have a lot more time to troubleshoot with applecare.
Comment from Todd
Date: April 8, 2008, 8:22 pm
Hey @try leopard out first, You’ve got me laughing.
Over the past few months, I’ve settled down my need for an Apple, removing OSX from my laptop replacement as my main machine. The PC companies wised up quite a bit and there’s a lot of nice machines out there now (the new e-series forthcoming from Dell actually look really nice). And Apple seems to be playing catchup with a lot of technologies (why they don’t have eSata for all those graphics pros?). Wait until Apple finally releases a touch screen/tablet laptop, those fans will make a lot of noise, even though PC laptop users started with it in 2003ish…
I came to the conclusion that what I really needed was a way to test some software on OSX, and that I’d rather stick with my trusted and true toolset, Windows XP that so dialed and tweaked.
Not to mention, a few weeks ago I was at my friends house using their Mac and Safari crashed 3 times in the 15 minutes I was using it by just surfing the web. Two of my other friends with Macs have had have things fixed at the Apple store on it (so I’m not so sure one is really paying for Apple quality). And personally, Apple still leaves a bad impression in my mouth about the iPod I purchased that lasted about 13 months. And who’s a big fan of total lock-in?
And for the $2500 price tag that Mac Book Pro was going to cost, I could afford a $600 mac mini, which was plenty powerful for testing software and a $1900 kickin’ laptop with Blu Ray, plenty of RAM, processor and decent enough graphics.
There’s a few pieces of software that I wanted on OSX, Final Cut Pro, Quicksilver, and I prefer their 3 column file manager view (I’ve tried a lot of buggy windows software that tried to mimic this). Nothing can be done for Final Cut Pro (but I’m no pro video editor and sometimes my wants are eclipsed by my needs), but for the later, there’s plenty of sexy launchers on Windows now — I’ve been using DashCommand, and while there’s a lot of great explorer alternatives, I’m still just using mostly command line. I still haven’t found my ideal Explorer replacement…but it’s all workable. And Picasa image editor I feel tops iPhoto by far. Nor was I never was in love with the OSX keyboard. Lenovo, now that’s a keyboard.
There’s also the laugh-out-of-the-boardroom factor with Apple. It doesn’t get the respect from the business folks. But, I still like that silver chasis….so oh well…it’s all just tools to me. 10 hours sitting at a keyboard looking at a monitor, is still 10 hours at a keyboard and a monitor.
Comment from Muhammad Ismail Faruqi
Date: May 31, 2008, 3:53 am
Try HP dv3000. It`s 13.3 and has eSATA. Don`t know whether it has a dock though.
Write a comment