Citing both Apple and Sony’s intentions to become the hub of the digital lifestyle, Popular Science has pitted an $1,800 800MHz flat-panel iMac up against a $3,400 Sony Vaio PCV-MXS10 to see which really comes out on top. The new comparison, penned by Steve Morgenstern, is called Put up your digital dukes.
Over six pages, Morgenstern outlines the advantages and disadvantages of each system. There’s too much content to go into depth here, but the bottom line is that the Sony PC — almost twice as expensive as the iMac — just narrowly edged out the iMac, with an overall score of 42 to 40.
Morgenstern concluded that both systems get the job done, each delivering on the digital hub promise in their own unique ways. He favors the Sony, however, since “it’s a better-rounded system for the digital content that matters” to him.
Overall, however, the iMac edged out the Vaio when it came to ripping CDs to MP3, loading music onto a portable MP3 player, making a DVD, accessing the Internet, and downloading pictures. The Vaio, meanwhile, gets the edge on listening to music, watching movies, editing home movies, dealing with PDAs and touching up and organizing photos.
For the full details, visit Popular Science’s Web site.
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