For the ’show-off’ aspect of our personality, it’s well justified to pay a few extra bucks to acquire the elusive half eaten apple on our machine, isn’t it?
If you’re one of those who’s tired of choosing your newest machine, we’re here to make your choice easy. In the Harry Potter series it was prophesized that every wizard is destined to a specific type of wand and if attained, great things can be expected from the twosome. Similarly, each one of us is a wizard and our notebook is our wand with which we create our own worlds, our own magic and hence, it is imperative that we choose the perfect machine that serves our needs.
The entire Notebook market can be divided into three segments – the economic buy, the performance-cum-quality driven buy, and finally, the buy to flaunt. And unarguably, the new MacBook Pro basic model falls in the third category. I believe we all subscribe to the fact that a MacBook is not an economically logical buy. The few extra thousand bucks might not be justified, if you think about the distinguished features it offers. Take, for instance, the Facetime HD webcam, the new Intel connectivity platform – Thunderbolt, and an SDXC card slot capable of addressing a 2TB SD memory card (if that ever comes into market). All said, the sleek design would be the real calling for true Apple fans and to top it further, the new Retina Display Feature of Apple promises to make your viewing experience a real pleasure.
Despite all this, the very few customization options and almost impossible upgrades make it a very tough call to decide on the huge investment that the machine calls for. Another drawback that is passed on as a legacy from all previous MacTops is the overheating problem and the problem of battery life. Our dear half eaten fruit logo-ed company is known for its innovation has somehow, proved to be a failure in addressing such basic issues.
When it comes to notebooks driven by high performance and quality, my personal favorite is the new Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook. With its elegant elemental Silver Aluminum body and a powerful core i5 2467M processor with Turbo Boost 2.0, this little devil is sure to take your breath away. The backlit keyboard, large touch pad, edge-to-edge Gorilla Glass over the display, and small footprint all add up to an impressive package. And all this at a competitive price when compared to the various other Ultrabooks available in the market, including the MacBook Air. Although coming late into the Ultrabooks market, Dell sure did prove its worth all over again. However, our job is not to tell you the goodies right? Let’s bring out the real picture. After a lot of detailed inspection, the only drawback we could find with this hotselling machine is that the RAM is only upgradable to as much as 4GB. Makes us a little sad doesn’t it?
Not lagging far behind in competition in terms of performance and price is the new Viao S Series. If you are one of those colorful personalities passionate about the aesthetics and feel of your machine, the Sony VAIO S VPCSA290X is a buy waiting for you. This baby offers you ample speed and performance augmented with excellent design features–all at a fairly nominal price. This would be an ideal choice for an economic buyer who is ready to compromise on some levels to get the best value for money. But if you’re looking into the segment of laptops at a premium price, you’ll not be the one who is ready to compromise on average speed, average sound and average performance right? Therefore, Sony has to understand that if they have to offer such an average product, just labeling it a Viao and marketing itself at a premium product won’t bring them any good.
A quick glance on the specifications is as follows:
| Apple Macbook Pro (basic model) | Dell 13 Ultrabook | Sony VAIO S VPCSA290X | |
| Processor | 2.3GHz Intel Core i5 | 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i5-2467M processor (1.60 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 2.30 GHz,TPM) | 2.3-GHz Intel Core i5-2410M |
| Memory | 4GB upgradable to 8GB | 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 1333MHz Memory | 4GB upgradable to 8GB |
| Hard Drive | 320 GB SATA | 128GB Solid State Drive | 500GB SATA |
| Display Type | 13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen display with support for millions of colors | Elemental Silver Aluminum and 13.3″ Hi-Def (720p) True Life(1366×768) WLED Display with 1.3MP Webcam | 13.3″ LED backlit display (1600×900) |
| Operating System | OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) | Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64bit (English) | MS Windows 7 Professional (64-bit) |
| Optical Drive | DVD Burner | – | DVD Burner |
| Graphics Processor | Intel HD Graphics 3000 | Intel HD Graphics 3000 | AMD Radeon HD 6630M/Intel HD |
| Video Memory | 384MB | 384MB | 1 GB |
To sum it up, it’s up to you as to which features you’re willing to compromise on and what negatives aren’t frustrating enough for you even after shelling out the extra moolah. If you want it sleek, you have to compromise on a few features. If you want it powerful and fast, you’ll have to buy an icepack to keep you and your machine cool. If you want nothing and know nothing, there’s always a Viao round the corner that’ll be perfect for you!
