switch from sz to new mb?

my current laptop is a sony sz (no led screen) with c2d 2.0, 2gb ram, 120gb 5400rpm hdd, and the swtichable go7400/gma950 (i think its the 950) graphics card. i have dual boot with ubuntu and xp pro. and after 2 years its still running great. no problems, runs as good as the first day i got it.

would it be worth it to switch? would there be any performance boost by switching to osx? i'm not sure if its worth it or not. if its gonna be about the same speed i dont know if its worth it. and i still think my sz is lighter anyway

 

Yeah, I believe your SZ is still lighter, isn't it under 4 lbs? If so, its lighter than the new MacBooks.

The new MacBooks will have a performance boost, in processing power as well as graphics, but not a ton. Personally, I think unless you really want it, its not worth the huge investment of a new notebook just yet. Wait another year (I personally consider switching computers a once-every-3 or 4-years thing) or so, the MacBook will be updated again then and Mac OS X Snow Leopard will also be out!

 

yea im not sure if itll be worth the slight 'upgrade' that it might be. mine isnt the the premium sz. its the regular magnesium version. but its right at 4-4.1 lbs.

 

If you're comparing OSX to XP or Vista, OSX is definitely faster. I think one of the main reasons is because you don't have to run any anti-software programs, hence taking up less system resources. I have OSX and XP on my macbook, and OSX boots 2-3x faster than XP.

 

Well, it'll be up to you, of course you can always sell your SZ to get some money back. The new MacBooks are great, they will be an improvement in power (and design, but that's subjective) from your SZ, but I think you'd survive with your SZ for another year, and things just keep improving.

 

Depends what you mean by faster, the whole thing (Mac OS X) feels a lot faster than Windows, but Office 2008 is a lot slower than Office 2007

 

The new MB will be faster, there's no question.

Is it worth to switch, that's a very difficult question to answer.. What do you use your laptop for? What software do you use usually? Do you game?

I have a MBP but I still game and still need a Windows laptop for work and other essentials.

For general usage I think it doesn't matter, but if you are very annoyed by Windows annoyances then OSX could improve your computing experience.

I choose to use both platforms since there are strengths in both platforms.

It's easy to hate Vista because of it's public image and it is difficult to configure, but once it is configured properly it is a very powerful OS. I do my heavy work on Vista because the GUI is very responsive with powerful hardware. I like Explorer more than Finder(OS X).

I use OSX when I work on heavy File I/O processing like video editting and graphics. I think Windows OS is still very poor at handling large files.

 

i use my laptop for ms office, photoshop and the general web surfing, email, watching movies/shows. only games i play are c&c games.
i also dual boot ubuntu which i mostly use now unless i need to boot into windows (xp pro only)

im still not sure. maybe ill get one one day as a 2nd computer though. maybe a mba as a cool toy.

 

Switch just for OS X alone. The new MB is an upgrade over your older SZ in every area.

 

maybe. but is it a significant upgrade?

is it worth switching from linux?

 

Heck yes!

If you run 1080p films, the new Centrino 2 will be very much appreciated. My old MacBook (Core 2 2GHz) struggled with some high bit-rate 1080p video like "Serenity" (XP with Windows Media Classic).

 

do you think that was because there was no discrete graphics? or was it due to the c2d?

i know the new mb doesnt have a disecrete card, but the integrated it uses is a million times better.

 

It is a combination of the two. The GMA 950 is useless for HD-decoding, and the X3100 is not great either, so the CPU had to do all of the work. The new Centrino 2 chips are fast enough by themselves to handle HD, but the added power of the 9400M will help that much more.

 

I would hesitate before buying a new notebook, especially one of the new macbooks, for two reasons;

(1) your current computer is doing what you need; there isn't a clear reason to puchase a new notebook. The longer that you wait to purchase a new notebook the better 'bang for your buck' will likely be;
(2) you're talking about getting a 1st gen Apple product. Apple 1st gens have a history of needing...tweaking...before being 100% ready to go. Hold out for the second gen, and you'll likely avoid little problems that haven't become widely evident yet.

 

i appreciate the advice. thanks.