Monday, September 24, 2012

Lagataw's New Writer

My new HP Folio 13
When my MSI U160 died last week I had one question in mind.

Vaio T or MacBook Air?

My budget for a speedy ultrabook was P50K. Vaio T and MacBook Air were within the budget.
The Sony Vaio T13
I love Sony products so Vaio was on top of my list. The only initial problem I had with Vaio T was the stupid design! Its two USB ports are both on the left side of the 'dashboard'. That means you'll be forced to buy a blue tooth mouse or depend on the touchpad if you don't want to deal with cords snaking around your laptop. Well, not unless you're left-handed. And your printer should also be conveniently placed on the left. So I was in Cyberzone tinkering with the touchpad of Vaio. Impressively, among ultrabooks in the market today, Vaio's touchpad comes the closest to the versatility of Mac's. But as I was trying its three-finger and four-finger features, it lost its clickability. I could still hover but I couldn't click. Booo!

The Apple MacBook Air
It then left me with just the 11 inch MacBook Air (64GB). I spent about an hour testing the MacBook Air at iStore. And its smooth multi-functional touchpad made other touchpads feel like sandpaper!  My problem with Mac was that I use MS Word extensively at the office and in blogging. I tried using MS Word for Mac but some features in Windows MS Word were either missing or difficult to find. But I knew I would get used to it eventually so software change was not a major problem for me. The price of the MacBook Air, however, turned me off! I don’t have a credit card. I use cash whenever I buy something. Mac don’t offer a lower price for a cash purchase of any of their products, which was very disappointing!

So I went to Silicon Valley to have more options. Next on my list were HP Folio 13 and the rest of the ultrabooks in the market.  What I hate about other ultrabooks is their eagerness to emulate the teardrop shape of MacBook Air. They look flimsy and unoriginal. I wouldn’t want to hear a friend saying “Cool laptop you got there huh! It looks terrifically like a Mac!” . I would have ‘a laptop that looks like a Mac’ for the rest of its operational time. On the other hand, HP and Sony made no attempt, whatsoever, to look like a Mac. Although the keyboard of HP does try to look like the keyboard of the MacBook Pro! What made me decide to get an HP Folio 13 instead?

Lagataw's new home

Check out this scorecard!


HP Folio 13
MacBook Air
Sony Vaio T13115FGS
Price          
          (4 points)
P47,000 (card)
P42,000 (cash)

Score: 4
P48, 000 (card)
P48, 000 (cash)

Score: 2.5
P49, 000 (card)
P45, 000 (cash)

Score: 3
Specs         

(3 points)
13.3”

Core i5 (1.6 GHz)

Home Premium

4GB (memory)

128GB SSD (Storage)


Score: 3
11”

Core i5 (1.7GHz)

OS X

4GB

64GB SSD (Storage)


Score: 2.5
13.3”

Core i5 (1.7GHz)

Home Premium

4GB

32GB SSD + 500GB HDD (Storage)

Score: 2
Ergonomics
(that I care about)

(2 points)
Blue tooth

2 USB ports (3.0 and 2.0) left and right

Touchpad (average versatility but very hard to press right & left buttons)

0.71 inches at its thickest

3.31 lbs

Up to 6.5 hours runtime (battery)

Backlit keyboard

Brushed metal finish

Macho look with no attempt to look like MacBook Air

Score: 1.5
Blue tooth

2 USB ports (3.0 both) left and right

Touchpad (the best)



0.68 inches at its thickest


2.96 lbs

Up to 5 hours runtime (battery)

Backlit keyboard

Brushed Metal finish

Original teardrop design



Score: 2
No Blue tooth

2 USB ports (3.0 and 2.0) left only

Touchpad (multi-touch but easily breaks)


0.71 inches at its thickest

3.45 lbs

Up to 5.5 hours runtime (battery)

Not backlit keyboard

Neat industrial exterior

Macho look with no attempt to look like MacBook Air

Score: 1
Brand
(2 points)
HP

Score: 1
Apple

Score: 2
Sony

Score: 2
Freebies
(1 point)
External 500GB storage
Customized laptop sleeve

Score: 1
None


Score: 0
None


Score: 0
Recommendation

(1 point)
No positive or negative feedback from people I know

Score: 0.5
Highly recommended by people who have used it


Score: 1
Got a lot of negative feedback from people I know.

Score: 0
Total Score
11
10
8

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