Buying a new Laptop, Opinions?

[Vampyr]

A Sony with the same specs will probably be more expensive - that was the reason I bought my original HP laptop...for the price it had the best specs of any brand.

But I guess you get what you pay for. There seem to be far more horror stories of HP computers than any other brand.

Here is an article on some research done just a few months ago:

http://www.ditii.com/2009/11/18/asus...-and-hp-worst/

I've actually heard really great things about Asus machines from people I know who own them, maybe you could check them out.

(note that Sony is higher than Apple )

[ZebraRampage]

I was looking at the Sony Vaio F-Seires, and it seems to be comparable. I just don't know what the wireless card is, and if there's bluetooth, when I customize. That link you sent me does make one think twice about getting an HP Laptop. I've been putting this purchase off for months now, comparing everything. I guess I haven't looked at some companies, but I always thought that HP was somewhat reliable. Do you think that the bigger companies tend to get more malfunctions because more people who don't know what they're doing with computers get them from the bigger companies? I really want to make this decision in the next few days because I'm tired of waiting.

[Vampyr]

I guess that's possible, but I'm a Computer Science major and I had terrible issues. My girlfriends best friend is also very tech savvy, and I know she has sworn off of HP's as well, plus the people at Prof's work that he mentioned.

I think with Sony you end up paying a little more for style, similar to how you pay more to own a mac because of how it looks.

If that's not something you care about, I would probably take a serious look at Asus laptops. If I didn't have a sony I would probably get one of those.

[ZebraRampage]

Vampyr, I've been looking into Sony, and I like the F-Series a lot. Also, if I upgrade to Windows 7 Professional, it has that Fresh Start Option, where it doesn't put any of those trial programs on.

I am struggling with two things. The first one is the video card.

16.4" VAIO Display (1600x900) with NVIDIA® GeForce® 310M GPU (512MB VRAM) [subtract $150.00]

or

# 16.4" VAIO Premium Display (1920x1080) with NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 330M GPU (1GB VRAM)

The second one costs an extra $150.00, but it has 1 GB of VRAM, which would be ideal.


Also, there's no option for choosing the wireless card. I see nothing about that at all. And I can't find anywhere on the site that tells me the specs of the computer, so I can see which types of ports it has. If I could see all sides of the laptop, that wouldn't be a problem.


I've also been looking at Dell's Studio XPS laptops, but they don't have the keypads, which really sucks.


Just for the record, I've pretty much decided not to get the HP, even though it's the best deal with everything I want. I don't mind spending a little extra money on a Sony, Dell, or some other company, to get a more reliable laptop.

[Vampyr]

I don't know if this page will load but here are specs:

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/...specifications

I just clicked on the computer I was interested in and there was a "specifications" tab on the page.

One cool thing about those F series is that they have quad core processors in them.

[ZebraRampage]

Originally Posted by Vampyr

I don't know if this page will load but here are specs:

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/...specifications

I just clicked on the computer I was interested in and there was a "specifications" tab on the page.

One cool thing about those F series is that they have quad core processors in them.

Thanks. The reason I couldn't view the specs is because I was customizing, and not just clicking on one of the pre-made computers.

All right, well I am probably going to go with the F-series then. It has the keypad too, which is nice. I will also go with the 1 GB of VRAM, because I think it'll make it much better.


The wireless options are the same no matter what the price is, it seems.

* Bluetooth® Technology : Integrated Stereo A2DP (2.1 + EDR)15
* Ethernet Protocol : 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T
* Ethernet Speed : Fast Ethernet (RJ-45)
* Wi-Fi : 802.11 b/g/n

Thanks for the help. I'm not buying it yet, because I have to wait for some checks to go from pending to actually being available in my checking account, but I'll be buying it soon.

[ZebraRampage]

Here, I'll put what I'm getting with this computer.

Intel® Core™ i7-720QM processor (1.60GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 2.80GHz
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
320GB Hard Disk Drive (5400rpm)
4GB (2GBx2) DDR3-SDRAM-1333
CD/DVD burner
16.4" VAIO Premium Display (1920x1080) with NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 330M GPU (1GB VRAM)
Standard Capacity Battery, Estimated Battery Life : Up to 4 hours Standard
No Keyboard Backlight (Is it worth it? I don't really plan on using this in the dark.)
2 Year Express Ship Service Plan with ADH for Notebooks

* Bluetooth® Technology : Integrated Stereo A2DP (2.1 + EDR)15
* Ethernet Protocol : 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T
* Ethernet Speed : Fast Ethernet (RJ-45)
* Wi-Fi : 802.11 b/g/n (Does this mean that it has b, g, and n capabilities?)

*Sound System : Intel® High Definition Audio w/ Dolby® Home Theather® v3

* DC-In : 1
* Ethernet Connection(s) : 1
* HDMI™ Output : 1
* Headphone Jack : 1
* Internal Microphone : 1
* Microphone Input : 1
* S/PDIF Output(s) : 1
* USB Port(s) : 2 (2.0 compliant)
* VGA Output(s) : 1
* i.LINK® Connection : 1 (4pin) i.LINK® connector (IEEE 1394)

* 10-Key Numeric Pad : Yes
* Backlit Keyboard : Yes
* Camera : Built-in MOTION EYE® camera and microphone with face-tracking technology
* Keyboard : QWERTY, 103 keys with 2.0mm stroke and 19.05mm pitch

*Multimedia Card Reader : One Memory Stick PRO™ (STD / Duo) media slot with MagicGate® functionality One ExpressCard® /34 media slot One Secure Digital (SD memory card) media slot

* Resolution : 1920 x 1080
* Screen Size : 16.4"4
* Technology : Full HD


This should all come out to around $1399.98, so $1400. All of the stuff with asterisks was from the specifications section. I couldn't choose any of these from the customize section.