Yesterday Apple announced the MacBook Air, and while it looks really cool, I wasn’t sure if it was all that big of a deal. Yes, the ultra thin form factor is pretty amazing, but other than that, is it really worth it? How does it really stack up against other sub-compact notebooks?

So I fired up Google and starting doing searches for subcompact notebooks. I looked at the specs for the Toshiba Portege and the Averatec 1579 and the MacBook Air seemed to hold the edge consistently. Then I remembered that Steve Jobs had compared the MacBook Air to subcompacts in general, but he had also mentioned one in particular — the Sony VAIO TZ-Series. This search led me to a great article on DealMac that directly compared the two subcompacts.

My conclusion after doing all this research? The MacBook Air has a WAAAAAY better processor, a bigger screen, twice as much RAM, and a much more pleasing form factor… and all for $300 LESS! I do wish that it had the 160 GB drive from the new iPod Classic instead of the 80 GB iPod drive, but if you’re in the market for a subcompact, this is the machine for you.

Check out the comparison grid below and then click on over to read the complete article.

From Apple MacBook Air vs. Sony VAIO TZ-Series - dealmac.com