laptop advice ?

i am looking at purchasing a laptop shortly, i have narrowed my choice to the 15' macbook pro or a 15.4" sony vaio
for the same processor, ram, similar video card etc the vaio is about $900 AUD cheaper

the sony vaio also comes with PS elements, macbook comes with Iphoto - elements for the mac is about $aud extra

my question to you all is - what does the mac do that is worth that extra money ? for less money i can get the sony which is very similar and has 20gb more hard disk space

is the mac really worth the extra money ? and why,

i have never used a mac before, but if it is heaps better i am willing to change

If you buy the Mac then you can dual boot Windows and OSX. YOu can use a Mac as a Mac or put Windows on it as well. If you buy a Windows machine you cannot use OSX at all and cannot benefit from its stability and security.

Tough call. I use both platforms. for my Raw workflow, Mac. Accounting and Web dev, PC. Although the PC is actually pretty good for Photoshopa and Lightroom. Like mentioned, running Bootcamp/XP on A Mac is the best of both worlds.

Quickbooks Pro for Mac is a disaster.

I have to work on laptops. I'd be sure to get all the warranty I could (from the manufacturer). The life of comparable parts in a PC last longer.

not heard great things about Sony computer equipment tbh.. i always found it a touch pricey too. that said i wouldnt say go mac either (my opinion), there are plenty of other great laptop manufacturers out there.

Na, Sony's are great... a little overpriced now days but quite nice. I've owned Vaio's for 10 years without any problems. I just recently went to building my own systems. However, I'd always recommend a Sony. In this thread though, I'm just not sure what's best for the OP. I lean towards the Vaio.

One guy I used to know reckoned he used to get more broken Sony's coming to be repaird than any other brand.

I wouldn't believe there's weight behind that statement as Sony's always been known for using the best parts... however, from a technical standpoint, it is safe to say that the number of service calls for ALL laptop companies are about the same.

the sony model i am looking at is the VGN-FE28GP
core duo 2.0ghz
1gb ddr2
120gb 5400rpm
dvd rewriter
10/100 network card
802.11a/b/g and bluetooth
pcmcia and the new little cardslot (cant remember what its called)
Nvidia geforce go 7600 graphics card


the apple is a 2ghz
100gb 5400rpm
1gb ddr2
dvd rewriter
gigabit network
not sure on wireless networking and bluetooth
no PCMCIA just the new little cardslot
ATI graphics card (again not sure which one)


matthewlrigdon - i dont have a 300D, i have an eos 300 which is a film body
and my 350D came with photostudio



at this point i am leaning towards the vaio as it is cheaper, has similar specs and is easier to get software for.

thank you all for the advice

If we're talking small then I saw a very small Fujitsu Lifebook and a very small Avaratec.

I have had my black MacBook for 2 weeks now and I love this over XP, you can do so much more without the hassle.

I'm currently on my 4th Sony VIAO (3 Desktops and a notebook) in fact I'm currently running three of them. I've had no major problems with any of them other than adding more RAM to both of the older PCs. I've also spent many years working on a MAC for design and photo work to be perfectly honest I prefer the Sonys to MACs. My latest Sony was bought after considerable thought as to which platform as I said the Sony won and with the money I saved I got a better than average moniter.

the same specs can't really be compared. I found this when I bought my first Mac lappy, even though the specs are the same, you'll find the Mac will run more stable and faster, especially with heavy apps. For a photographer the apps you get with the apple are worth the $ spent, like Matthew said, with idvd, imovie, iphoto, and iweb and linking together the creative scope is pretty endless, and i wouldn't put their level below professional use, there's a lot of creative companies using these apps wisely everyday for their marketing.

and as others mentioned- the ability to run both windows and OS-X. You might not like parting with the extra $ at the time, but you won't have any regrets in the future.