Okay, I’m fickle, I admit it. For some time now I have lusted after an Apple Titanium Powerbook G4 notebook computer. It has everything I want in a portable computer in the most pleasing form factor I’ve ever seen. It is unique.
Well, it was unique. It seems that Best Buy is horning in on the upscale notebook computer market. Their entry is the vpr Matrix 200A5, a stunning new notebook computer designed by Porsche. Like the Powerbook it has a 15.2 wide screen LCD and a slot loading combination DVD-CDRW drive. At 6.4 pounds, the Matirx is just slightly heavier than the Powerbook.
Comparing the two is still apples to oranges. The Matrix is Intell based and runs Windows whereas the Apple is PowerPC based and runs Mac OS X. The Mac processor clocks in at 800 MHz where the Matrix sports a 2.0 GHz Pentium 4 mobile processor. If you believe the propaganda the two are roughly equivalent performers.
I must admit that where my decision based purely on the technical specs I would be leaning towards the vpr Matrix 200A5. At $2400 it is $800 cheaper than the base 800 MHz Powerbook G4. However, there is an elegance, a certain panache to the Titanium Powerbook that hasn’t been matched. Yet.