Part 3 ------------- From: Sidney Ho <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 19:28:17 +0100 To: PowerList <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: For me: subnotebook or nothing on 5/24/00 Dan Frakes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Sidney Ho <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> To get the weight/bulk down Sony has used much thinner metal cases >> than Apple's bulkier and cheaper injection molded plastic cases. > > The external casing on a VIAO is plastic, just like on a PowerBook. It > just has a "metalic" finish. No, Dan, it's made of magnesium alloy with a special anodized finish. You obviously haven't really played with a new one. Magnesium is exponentially more expensive and difficult to work with than plastic. Equipment, tooling, materials--all far more sophisticated than cheap resins and injection molding. The thin VAIOs are also much stiffer than Pismo and my flexi-flyer of a 3500 Kanga. Kanga bends just when I pick it up. Pismo squeaks and flexes too--no wonder the screen hits the keyboard. The VAIO screen is half as thick and (more than) twice as stiff as a PB screen. Outstanding colors, too. Blows away my blue-tinted 2400 (I see a multitude of blue-cast complaints on Pismo too, and yes, I've tried endlessly tweaking my custom Color-Sync profiles to limited avail). > >> Sony is a master at miniaturization. > > I don't know. You're a "master at miniaturization" if you can make > something tiny and rugged. Sony just makes things tiny ;-) Let's use the above examples ;-). Powerbook plastic is, say, 1.5 mm thick per layer x 2 for the screen + 2 for the case = 6mm + 1.5 mm for total variance in cheap injection molded plastic (non)fit at the total number of seams (case + screen + closure = 3 interfaces at 0.5 mm each). That brings us to 1/3" before we even get started packing anything into the space! Thin magnesium (say 0.5 mm thickness) will bend/dent on impact, thin plastic will crack/break. The seams on the VAIO are practically zero tolerance, beautifully consistent, and tapping on the computer is quiet while most Powerbooks squeak like crazy from plastic flex. Tiny and rugged is highly subjective because tiny is usually not rugged. Magnesium alloy is real quality, high strength and fanatical weight saving--the stuff of precision castings/forgings for aerospace and formula race cars. Anyway the difference between finely articulated and finished magnesium alloy and plastic is like a Swiss watch to a plastic (S)watch. Take a really close look at the new VAIOs. For pure manufacturing sophistication, use of materials, finishes and tolerances (also inside), it really leaves Powerbooks in the dust (I'm not talking CPUs, circuitry, but physical engineering and diverse industrial production techniques). The difference here is as big as the MacPortable was to PC laptops wa-a-y back then. That's why, for PCs, the VAIO is relatively expensive. > >> The feel may seem flimsy but most people don't drop or otherwise >> abuse their computers. > > Most people don't purposely drop or abuse their computers. But I've seen > VIAOs crack/break because of the most minor accident. The first VAIO generation, if I recall, were lavender plastic. The new generation of ultra-thins leave everything else in the dust. Don't confuse the two. Sony never could break into computer sales meaningfully until they (nearly) perfected the VAIO. You really have to see the Sony VAIO PCGC1XS and the little built-in digicam, all at virtually zero tolerance--an outstanding example of precision computer manufacturing and admirable ergonomics. I submit it is both a masterpiece of miniaturization (the keyboard is too, for its size and pitch--much better than the PB2400c) and as reasonably rugged as it can be for its size, thickness and weight (2 lb). > Don't get me wrong -- I'd buy an Apple sub-notebook. I just don't want it > to be made by Sony. Sony's a great company. But if UMAX or Power Computing had driven clone Powerbook development in out-competing Apple I'd have been second in line to buy their latest and greatest (after I saw the first one running :-). My point? I don't care about the brand, only about superior products. We have a lot less to complain about 3-4 years later. Apple drops fewer and smaller balls now but I really wish they would plug this niche, not at 4.5 lb (like some have written), but under 3 lb. I'll still settle for a monocolor Apple and squeaky, flexing plastics. My desire for a subnotebook (still, for now) stops at the OS system and my venerable 2400. BUT, the next subnotebook really has to be seriously differentiated from the Powerbook and iBook lines. --- Sidney Ho [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------- Duo/2400 List, The friendliest place on the Net! A listserv for users and fans of Mac subportables. 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