- Conclusion Get the lowdown
- Features How they compare
- Performance Real world benchmarks
- Differences Technical showdown
- Reviews Word on the street
- Competition Others to consider
- Discussion Answers and opinions
Compare with...
- Sony VAIO S Series
- Apple MacBook Air 4th Gen
- HP Pavilion g6
- ASUS Zenbook UX31E
- SAMSUNG Series 9 900X3A
Rated 80% by by The Verge (Jul, 2011)The laptop now measures .66 inches thick, but more shocking is its weight.
- 15.4"
- Core i7 2.8 GHz Single core
- 4 GB DDR3-1066
- 500 GB HDD
Released January, 2011
Rated 100% by by lch8119 (Dec, 2011)They are easy to use, sleek and lightweight, and have a great hard drive that will last for a very long time.
Conclusion Which is better for you?
Features Key features of the Sony VAIO Z Series compared to the Apple MacBook Pro 8th Gen
GHz2
Rated 60% by by Student (Dec, 2010)I loved the size and weight at first but after some use I was worried that it wouldn't hold up for long.
2.8 GHz
Intel Core i7 640M
Rated 80% by by Brian (Apr, 2012)Upgrade to SSD is also very simple and you have much more control as to the quality and price you prefer that goes to your laptop.
screen size
13.3"
15.4"
VAIO Z Series by lexter (Feb, 2011)Compared to other screens I have seen in this size the Z blows the competition out of the water.
MacBook Pro 8th Gen by willsgrill (Mar, 2012)I did not think a 13.3 inch screen would be big enough for me, but after I realized that the multi-touch pad lets you zoom in and out, its the perfect size.
screen resolution
VAIO Z Series by CSK (Mar, 2011)Operations is quiet, the high-resolution LED-backed screen is superb - but you need to have good eyes, I can imagine others will have a hard time with the super-fine resolution.
MacBook Pro 8th Gen by AJ (Mar, 2012)It's light, it looks great (and great attention to detail), it's super fast, and I love using Lion.
cpu speed
| 0 GHz | 2.8 GHz | 3 GHz |
VAIO Z Series by LaptopMag (Aug, 2008)Our $1,999 unit came fully equipped with Intel’s latest 2.4-GHz Core 2 Duo P8600 processor, 2GB of DDR3 RAM, and a 250GB hard drive.
MacBook Pro 8th Gen by AUCARK (Apr, 2012)Some of the other benefits are: It has some pretty good specs (2.8 GHz, Core i7, 750gb Hard drive), the track pad is amazing with the swipe gestures, comes with plenty of good software (Photobooth, Garage band, iMovie, iPhoto), and a brilliant screen.
processor
VAIO Z Series by Mark-J.-Tierney--coastie-1980It's just to much chip to allow for cooling, so the dual core i7 is mainstream, but if you look close, this one has a much faster i7 than many.
MacBook Pro 8th Gen by John-Williamson (Jan, 2012)The Intel Dual-Core Processor is fast and efficient, and even better than the Pentium Dual-Core 2.20GHz processor on my Windows 7 notebook PC.
memory
| 0 GB | 4 GB | 4 GB |
VAIO Z Series by MuddyAzian (Jan, 2011)This review is for the VPCZ line, and the version I have has the Core i7 M640, and 8 GB RAM.
MacBook Pro 8th Gen by H.-Austin (Dec, 2011)It handles the Microsoft office suite flawlessly, and the added ram allows me to open and view very large pdf files without any lag.
Performance Real world tests of Sony VAIO Z Series vs Apple MacBook Pro 8th Gen
Differences What are the advantages of each
Advantages compared to the Apple MacBook Pro 8th Gen
| More cores | Dual core | vs | Single core |
|---|---|---|---|
| Twice as many cores; run more applications at once | |||
| Lighter | 1,814 g | vs | 2,540 g |
| Around 30% lighter | |||
Advantages compared to the Sony VAIO Z Series
| Marginally newer | Jan, 2011 | vs | Jul, 2007 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Release date over 3 years later | |||
| Much more storage capacity | 500 GB | vs | 80 GB |
| Around 6.5x more storage capacity | |||
| Much bigger screen | 15.4" | vs | 13.3" |
| Around 20% bigger screen | |||
| Significantly faster processor | 2.8 GHz | vs | 2 GHz |
| Around 40% faster processor; run computation-intensive applications, such as photo editing, faster | |||
| Has a memory card reader | SDSC | vs | None |
| Read and write data from a camera or phone memory card | |||
| Significantly more RAM | 4 GB | vs | 1 GB |
| 4x more RAM; run more applications and have more browser tabs open without slowing down the system | |||
| Significantly higher resolution screen | 1680 x 1050 | vs | 1280 x 800 |
| More than 70% higher resolution screen | |||
| Sharper screen | 128 ppi | vs | 113 ppi |
| More than 10% sharper PPI; enjoy photo-realistic, crisp images | |||
Reviews Word on the street
Sony VAIO Z Series | Apple MacBook Pro 8th Gen | ||
![]() | Rated 80% by by KindlePad (Sep, 2011) Rated 100% by by Narada--the-wondering-jew (Apr, 2010) Rated 100% by by Michael-D.-Briggs--Dark_Psion (Jan, 2012) | Rated 100% by by Water-Mark (Jan, 2012) Rated 100% by by JR-Bib (Dec, 2011) Rated 100% by by Peter (Aug, 2012) | |
|---|---|---|---|
Competition What else you should consider
| | 1 | Sony VAIO S Series Largest amount of storage capacity |
| | 3 | HP Pavilion g6 2-way tie: Biggest screen |
| | 4 | ASUS Zenbook UX31E 2-way tie: Longest battery life |
| | 6 | Dell XPS 14z Fast internal storage |
| | 7 | Dell Inspiron 14z 4-way tie: Fast RAM |
| | 8 | ASUS X53 2-way tie: Biggest screen |




