Three for the road - australianIT.com.au
Roland Tellzen, Vincent Blake
APRIL 10, 2007
IT’S a sign of the maturity of the laptop market that the mobile machines come in numerous classes, sizes and specifications, and at a wide range of prices. To acknowledge this, TechCheck selected an eclectic array of laptop machines to test — a high end ultra-compact from Sony, a non-Windows machine from perennial individualist Apple and an extreme low-end machine from Compaq. This approach doesn’t make it easy to lend itself to compare specs and speeds head to head, but it does help us get an idea of how different sectors of the market are approaching the issue of portability.
1. Apple 13in MacBook IT’S a daunting task for someone who is more experienced with the Windows world to review an Apple machine. It’s tempting to concentrate more on the idiosyncrasies of the Mac OS than the machine. I’ve had enough experience on Macs that things such as the single-button mouse and left-side window exit button don’t faze me, and I’ve had enough Windows Vista experience to see how derivative many of its features are from the Mac OS. The MacBook is a good example of how seductive the platform can be: sleek, stylish and full of true character. I looked at the cheaper all-white model, rather than the premium-priced black unit, and personally I prefer the lighter coloured model anyway, if only because it is more distinctive. It may not be as thin or compact as the G-series VAIO, and was a bit heavier than expected, but it is highly portable. I loved the keyboard. It was not just a nice size, but comfortably placed to make typing a pleasure. The widescreen certainly provides the aspect ratio to present what the Mac does best — graphics and media — but is maybe a bit on the small side to show off such features to best advantage. I was surprised at how fast it was, although that was probably my bias, since it packs an Intel Core2Duo, as opposed to the VAIO’s Solo processor. If I was to get picky, I would say that the standard 60GB hard drive is probably a bit thin on storage for a machine that is likely to be used more than the average as a media device for music, images and video, and some media card ports would have been nice as well. Such issues don’t outbalance the fact that there’s a lot to love about this machine. I might become a Mac afficionado yet. - Roland Tellzen
Apple 13-inch MacBook Price: $1749 Features: Intel Core2Duo chip, 512MB RAM, 60GB hard drive, Mac OS X Tiger Score: 8/10
2. Sony VAIO VGNG118GNB LOOKS can be deceptive, and that applies to the notebook computer market more than most. Take, for instance, Sony’s new G118 VAIO, the first of what it is touting as its new G series notebooks. At a glance it seems a dainty little thing. It’s an ultra-compact machine, and an attractive one at that (like all the VAIO range). It may not be as tiny as other contenders in its class, such as the Flybook, but it’s still a compact package at just 277mm by 23.5 by 25.5mm by 215mm. It’s quite light compared with its bigger brethren — 1.15kg including its battery, and almost feels flimsy when opened up. Yet, Sony says, far from being a fragile lightweight, this could actually give some ruggedised notebooks a run for their money. What at first appears to be a light plastic frame, for example, is actually a three-surface carbon structure able to withstand a fall from almost a metre, Sony says. I’ll have to take Sony’s word on that, though, as I couldn’t bring myself to do the drop test, which these pages did last year when looking at ruggedised machines. Under the covers it’s also quite impressive. The keyboard, for example, makes the most of the small space available to provide a functionally adequate input area, as compared with some other ultra-compacts whose keyboards are tiny to the point of fiddly. It also packs in a full Supermulti rewritable DVD drive, which is quite astounding in such a thin machine and something that, for example, the Portege mentioned earlier here didn’t achieve despite its bigger package. It doesn’t have everything it’s own way, however. It may be expecting too much for such a small computer to be turbo-charged, but under the hood it is still only powered by an Intel Core Solo processor rather than the increasingly common CoreDuo offerings on the market. Its 4:3 aspect ratio screen isn’t going to satisfy those who want a good media player machine, but that’s beside the point. It is definitely a workhorse machine, designed and built for business travel, and it fits that role admirably.
- Roland Tellzen
Sony VAIO VGNG118GNB Price: $3699 Features: Intel Core Solo, 1GB DDR2 SDRAM, 100GB hard drive, Windows Vista Business Edition. Rating: 8/10
3. Compaq Presario C502TU ACCESS to the family PC was becoming an issue at our house. There was always a queue, prioritised by the deadlines of a student body of three. It was a job for Officeworks, with two key selection criteria. It had to run Windows Vista and have wireless. We chose a Compaq Presario for $869 with a $100 manufacturer cash-back. It was nice and shiny and everybody oohed and ahhed. We had an overflow computer. It is slow to boot and load programs. The sticker says 512MB of RAM, but the system information panel says it is 504MB. It surfs the web without problems, but I fear loading Office 2007 may strain its limited memory. Its other intended use is as a DVD player in the parental retreat, but for some reason it wouldn’t play sound. I fiddled with the system and found sound output set for a non-existent SPDIF. I changed that to the system speakers and it worked fine for MP3 files and CDs, but would not produce any sound when Windows Media Player was used to view a DVD. I set aside a morning to call Hewlett-Packard’s service desk, but the connection to an Indian call centre was dodgy — the last word in each sentence dropped out. We persevered, and the technician asked me to uninstall a few drivers and reinstall them. The process went swimmingly, but it didn’t fix the problem. A suggested reinstall of the operating system took most of Saturday morning as Windows had to be re-registered, as did the Norton antivirus that came with it. And guess what? Windows Media Player still didn’t produce a sound when playing a DVD. Thankfully, HP included DVD Play as an alternative, but it comes up as the second choice when inserting a DVD, rather than the default. That player produces good sound for a notebook, and it is now the default. As for the Vista stipulation, we tried a Belkin Easy Transfer Cable for Windows Vista — a product designed for the task, but it would only update Windows XP systems, not ones running Windows 2000. so we did a backup on the Windows 2000 box using an Iomega REV 70GB and tried to reverse it into the new PC, but its driver didn’t work in Vista — and Iomega is no Robinson Crusoe there. It was a case of third time lucky, when the data from the 2000 box was dragged to a USB flash memory drive. While browsing Vista, I encountered a feature I was previously unaware of. In system properties there is a Windows Experience Index. It gives the Presario C502TU a rating of two. Microsoft’s website says the Windows Experience Index ranges from 1.0 to 5.9. A higher score generally means a computer will perform better and faster than a computer with a lower base score. It looks like an excellent feature to check out when shopping for a new notebook.
- Vincent Blake
Compaq Presario C502TU Price: $869 from Officeworks with $100 cash-back. Features: Intel Celeron M 430, 504MB RAM, 80GB hard drive, S-Video out, Windows Vista Home Basic. Rating: 5.5/10
Conclusion WHILE the Compaq machine was by far the cheapest in our round-up, the comparison this week is very much a case of getting what you pay for. The Sony and the Apple machines came out evenly matched in our ratings. Apple’s sheer classiness and individuality certainly won us over to the Mac cause, while the Vaio is close to being a perfect combination of portability and useability. Only its lack of grunt stopped it topping the list.