Anyone want to talk me out of a Sony laptop? (Bought it)

[GTaudiophile]

I think I have found the laptop I've been looking for.

Specs:

Sony Vaio Y-Series (Product Page)
Intel Core i330UM (1.2Ghz)
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4550 w/ 512MB VRAM
13.3" LED-backlit screen @ 1366x768
4GB DDR3-800
320GB HDD (5400 rpm)
Win7 Pro64 + Office 2010 Professional Plus
Webcam/WiFi/etc
5-6 hours battery life
3.9 lbs.
Price: $760 shipped w/taxes

 

[jaqie]

www.system76.com

much better stuff... no sony crap here.

 

[HeXploiT]

Depends on what you'll be doing with it.
Are you gaming? If so I'd opt for an Asus something like G51VX. Not as high quality but they look great, are just as powerful in apps and the Geforce 260 is a powerhouse for notebooks. Cost around $800.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

If you like small gaming notebooks check out the alienware M11x.

 

[GTaudiophile]

Nope, no gaming.

Just need a machine that can surf the web, run Office, Photoshop, etc.

But don't recommend an Atom-based netbook. Tried that, hated it.

 

[TimeKeeper]

I think the question should be "which color to pick?".

There isn't many 13" i3 ultra portable on the market now, besides TimelineX as3820T.
Folks buying 13" class isn't all about power, but more of style..... so you get to take it everywhere w/out lugging a AC charger, no?


BTW, you can get the same one with 500GB from Tigerdirect for $820 shipped, get 12% BCB, that bring it down to $722.

 

[GTaudiophile]

I think the question should be "which color to pick?".

There isn't many 13" i3 ultra portable on the market now, besides TimelineX as3820T.
Folks buying 13" class isn't all about power, but more of style..... so you get to take it everywhere w/out lugging a AC charger, no?


BTW, you can get the same one with 500GB from Tigerdirect for $820 shipped, get 12% BCB, that bring it down to $722.

Actually, I can't find any of the ATI-GPU-based versions anywhere besides Sony.com...

 

[wbynum]

Why do you want a discrete video card if you are not gaming or doing 3d stuff? I would imagine the Sony with the integrated graphics on the i3 chip would have a longer battery life.

My opinion is save $200 and get the Acer TimelineX AS1830T-3927 11.6" laptop from Tigerdirect with the Bing cash back. Same resolution, same processor but lighter and probably longer battery life.

 

[aylafan]

Have you looked at the Acer Aspire TimelineX 4820TG 14" laptop? It has great performance and has great battery life.

The one out right now has a Core i3 350M, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650, 4GB DDR3, 320GB harddrive, optical drive, etc.

Black brushed aluminium lid, 6-8 hours of battery life, less than 1" thin, weighs 4.65 pounds & it has switchable graphics (HD 5650 + Intel GMA).

It only costs $799.
http://www.microcenter.com/single_pr...uct_id=0339942

 

[GTaudiophile]

Why do you want a discrete video card if you are not gaming or doing 3d stuff? I would imagine the Sony with the integrated graphics on the i3 chip would have a longer battery life.

My opinion is save $200 and get the Acer TimelineX AS1830T-3927 11.6" laptop from Tigerdirect with the Bing cash back. Same resolution, same processor but lighter and probably longer battery life.

That is a pretty nice find! I wonder how the screen compares to the Sony being 2 inches smaller and the same resolution.

aylafan: I have decided that I don't want anything over 14" in terms of screen size nor anything over 4 lbs. I also prefer not to have an optical drive.

 

[aylafan]

aylafan: I have decided that I don't want anything over 14" in terms of screen size nor anything over 4 lbs. I also prefer not to have an optical drive.

It is a 14 inch laptop.. it's exactly 14 inches. The optical drive is just a bonus. Anyways, good luck on finding the right laptop.

 

[CurseTheSky]

For a similar price, I'd take a Sony over an Acer any day. My experiences with Acer laptops have been pretty bad, including horrible screens and mushy keyboards. Perhaps they've done better with their TimelineX series, but I know the keyboard was one of the common complaints for the Timeline (original) series.

Do yourself a favor and take a brief look at the HP Envy 13 and 14. The 13 is far more portable and a bit outdated in terms of internals, but the build quality should be excellent and you should be able to get it heavily discounted (seriously - search around for coupons or call and speak to an HP rep; I'd bet you could get $300-400+ knocked off, bringing it down to $900 or so). The 14 was just released and hasn't shipped yet, so I can't say for sure, but the specs look full of win. Mine will hopefully be shipping on the 7th. Of course, the 14 is larger (14.5") and heavier (5lbs) than you'd probably want, but it's hard to beat everything it includes for the $1100 price mark. The primary selling point of the Envy series is their aluminum / magnesium chassis (similar to the Macbook Pro), though I know from experience that their screens are absolutely gorgeous and their keyboards are very good as well.

 

[GTaudiophile]

I actually chatted with "Gail M" through their website and got the configuration above from $870 to $760 OTD. I went with that.

I also visited a local SonyStyle store yesterday to check out an older version of the Y-series and like the size, weight, and keyboard layout.

Consumer Reports also rates Sony highly in terms of defective/return rate.

 

[GTaudiophile]

I did take one more look at the DELL, Lenovo, Newegg, and HP sites one more time and concluded that the Sony was still the overall preferable package.

 

[sxr7171]

Much better IMHO:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2365276,00.asp

Can be found for $900.

Anyway, I'm not anti-Sony or anything. I never imagined I would own one until the Vaio-X and now it is my daily machine. It's an Atom powered machine but it runs fast enough for me. I used to be 100% Thinkpad, which I can always recommend wholeheartedly but they are more pricey.

 

[GTaudiophile]

Arrived today.

Turned it on, everything works. Like the color. I am getting about 4 hours of battery life at 60% charge. This should equate to about 6.5 hours at 100% charge. I will find out when I charge it.

I am not a fan of gloss screens, but I knew I was getting into that with this one.

Otherwise, it runs cool and quiet.

Next step will be to format it, install Win7 Pro 64 (came with Home 64), full version of Office 2010 and other goodies.

 

[drextremeops007]

^^so to the top.. what laptop did u finally get??? what color.
-- lots of bloatware??

 

[GTaudiophile]

^^so to the top.. what laptop did u finally get??? what color.
-- lots of bloatware??

I got the Sony described in my OP.

Bloatware...not terrible...not great. Will probably still do a clean install.

 

[MJinZ]

I love the Sony Z series. So much money though.

 

[BTA]

It's a Sony....should be the only reason you need not to buy one.

 

[Throckmorton]

I love my Sony CW. All around I think they're the best brand right now.

 

[GTaudiophile]

Well, the clean install is done and everything is how I want it.

Am running Win7 Pro64 with Office 2010 Professional Plus.

I am getting 5-6 hours of battery life (WiFi on, screenat 50% brightness), which is what I was hoping for.

Overall, no regrets about this purchase. It's what I needed and it's a solid, light-weight laptop.

 

[GTaudiophile]

For those who are curious...

Windows Experience Index

Processor: 4.0
Memory (RAM): 5.4
Graphics (Aero): 5.0
Gaming: 6.2
Primary HDD: 5.9

 

[GTaudiophile]

The only "con" coming from my trusty HP ZT3000 is the screen. The one on this Sony is glossy and just not quite as nice as the one I had on the HP. Then again, the screen on that HP had a pretty good reputation for being as good as those found on Apple's PowerBook series.