New laptop - Idea's welcome

[The Hoff]

Getting a new laptop from work and can pick whatever I fancy for £1500 or under.

Came up with three possible choices at present in the shape of:

Sony Vaio SZ71WN/C
Lightweight, 2.5ghz, 13", 4-5 hours battery life, 2gb, carbon fibre
http://www.dabs.com/productview.asp...orySelectedId=11105&NavigationKey=11105,50417

Sony Vaio FZ31Z
15", 2.4ghz, BD drive, 4gb, lovely screen, better video card, HDMI
http://www.dabs.com/productview.asp...orySelectedId=11105&NavigationKey=11105,50417


Ruled out a Macbook Pro, IBM X61, XPS - not seen any Tosh/HP which fit the bill either.

Usage:
Won't be playing games on it, but will probably use it to watch the odd movie. Wireless in the garden, music et al. Not sure how much I'm likely to need it on the move, seldom only for the odd train journey I expect.

Because of the the bigger screen, BD drive I'm leaning towards the FZ31Z but the short battery life (120mins without switching to stamina mode) is mildly concerning. Which brings me back to the SZ71 which has a lovely CF chassis, good battery life, but a smaller HDD and inferior RAM/GFX card (although RAM would be upgraded).

 

[David]

i'd get the lightweight one. the toshiba stuff is pretty good...solid state hdd etc

http://uk.computers.toshiba-europe....ervice=UK&PRODUCT_ID=150908&toshibaShop=false

 

[The Hoff]

I was using one of the R500 last week as we bought one for an employee, they're very very portable and light, but the keyboard is awful and the trackpad is too small. Processor is also pretty slow for what I'd be looking for.

Nice for an Ultraportable though if that's what you're after.

 

[oska]

The FZ is a beast and portable bluray player to boot! Not as good looking as the SZ but are you looking at it or using it? Quite a big difference in spec too.

 

[David]

http://www.alienware.com/Product_Pages/notebook_all_default.aspx

pretty good? although not very work looking

 

[The Hoff]

Yeah the RAM is easily fixed Oska, but the package is pretty good on the FZ, just a shame the battery life is so under inspiring. That said I'll just get a spare battery ordered if need be.

I do like the SZ and the fact it's CF, light and has a good CPU but I'm not sure if I'd miss the larger screen size. BD i'm not too fussed about right now, I only have 5 movies on BD and tend to watch DIVX on PC. But for the future once the media gets cheaper it'll be nice to be able to write my own BD's.

David, yeah I looked at the M15X, but to get it to the spec of the Vaio you're looking at £1700, which is still too much. Bit more homework and their battery life is shocking under load IIRC.

Keep them coming though, cheers!

 

[Mike_182]

Don't get the SZ. Known issues with the trackpad just suddenly deciding it's going to be completely back-to-front. Sony have no idea. In fact if I'm honest I'd steer clear altogether.

I'd go for a Dell XPS 1310 if you wanted a slimmer one - their support is getting much better now particularly if you choose a support pack.

 

[The Hoff]

That's on the old model Mikey, these ones are fixed. Sony released some new software for the one olds IIRC, we have 3 such laptops at work. Sony's build quality is leaps ahead of most manufacturers though.

The 1310 isn't a bad shout, but still not fussed on their support. Had 3 years of dealing with Dell and it'll be nice to be calling a different number, though their Gold support is good...if you have an Irish contact centre.

 

[dk]

SZ without a doubt, easily the best portable laptop, great spec for the size, great build quality and a very proven formula.

When it comes to highly portable laptops, nothing can really beat the quality and spec of a sony, you may pay extra but its worth it for something thats going to be used well and reliable over 3 yrs.

I've had 3 vaios now and i can't fault them, my current 17" A series i've had 2 1/2 years i think, in that time its only been off for a few days when i'm on holiday, other than that its on 24/7 and never lets me down, real work horse. Thinking of going for the AR61ZU next with the bluray writer built in and amazing spec for a lappy.

I would also go for the SZ over the FZ, the FZ is consumer whereas the SZ is the one aimed at mobile business users.

Just thought of one more thing, I have NEVER seen a laptop screen that beats the sony, the screens are amazing in xblack form and from other screens i have looked at over the years, nothing has ever come close, especially in the business space.

 

[David]

yeh agreed the xblack screens are awesoem, not much good in direct sunlight though lol

 

[Mike_182]

That's on the old model Mikey, these ones are fixed. Sony released some new software for the one olds IIRC, we have 3 such laptops at work. Sony's build quality is leaps ahead of most manufacturers though.

The 1310 isn't a bad shout, but still not fussed on their support. Had 3 years of dealing with Dell and it'll be nice to be calling a different number, though their Gold support is good...if you have an Irish contact centre.

Not according to one of the reviews of the SZ7s I've seen... And I'm completely up-to-date on my SZ2 - it's going in the bin for a 1530 (as I've no need for it to be ultraportable now).

And my bad - it's the 1330 Dell XPS. Very tidy machine, one of the girls at work just bought one for herself and it's astonishing quality considering the reputation that people will spout about Dell...

 

[Mike_182]

SZ without a doubt, easily the best portable laptop, great spec for the size, great build quality and a very proven formula.

Build quality in my opinion of the 4 Sony's I've had *appears* to be good, but then fails on little areas. Read above about my issues with the touchpad which *allegedly* is resolved in the new models, however after 2 weeks calling Sony every day to try and sort it I'd disagree that anyone's support is worse than that.

When it comes to highly portable laptops, nothing can really beat the quality and spec of a sony, you may pay extra but its worth it for something thats going to be used well and reliable over 3 yrs.

Spec-wise I'm sorry but the XPS 1330s have the SZ's trumped bigstyle. Whilst they might not be as pretentious as the SZ series they're a damn site more powerful and much easier to look after. If the hard disk fails in my SZ2 it's about 2 hours work to get it out, however in an XPS it's 2 screws. WWAN and WLAN sockets are standard on it as is 2 slots for RAM. If you take your time to dissect the two the SZ and the Dell are very, very similar in manufacture, just little bits that put the XPS a long way ahead IMO for looking after and upgradeability. Slot loading drive and the touch-buttons for the media are a very pretty and well thought out touch.

Going back to upgradability, I can ebay for bits for a D600 Latitude to improve them - newer Pentium M, replacement screen, new D-Bay drives. Now go google or ebay for bits to upgrade an SZ. How about the touchpad with the Biometric sensor in it? Nope. Can't buy it. Replacement screen? Nope. And then there was the MASSIVE fuss with the Sony SZ series at the launch of Vista. It took them 9 months AFTER the release of Vista to release official drivers for the SZ2. IMO that's dispicable for a laptop that was sold as 'Vista Premium Ready' and was released whilst Vista was at RC2!

I've had 3 vaios now and i can't fault them, my current 17" A series i've had 2 1/2 years i think, in that time its only been off for a few days when i'm on holiday, other than that its on 24/7 and never lets me down, real work horse. Thinking of going for the AR61ZU next with the bluray writer built in and amazing spec for a lappy.

Had 4 VAIOs now (nerrr! :rasp: ) and they've all had a fault that's required their attention. One of the first F-series, had a hard disk fail, then again, then a dead battery, then a faulty keyboard within a year. Then a VAIO TX - battery needed replacing under warranty, except they sent the wrong one 4 times... Also it's got a hard disk failing and it's only coming up on 2 1/2 years old. Got my SZ2 which is noisy, touchpad is faulty (occasionally) and 6 months after I bought it it went away for 2 weeks for Sony to change the screen as the backlight broke. Also had one of those UX things, and the screen was faulty, went back and then half the keyboard wasn't working, went back again and wouldn't turn on at all. In the end I requested a refund because that mess took 2 months to get that far.

Just thought of one more thing, I have NEVER seen a laptop screen that beats the sony, the screens are amazing in xblack form and from other screens i have looked at over the years, nothing has ever come close, especially in the business space.

Take a look at the screens on the new generation of Dells. Also, whilst not reflective, the screens on Dells even as old as the D600 have been miles ahead of the screens on the Sonys. I sound like a Dell salesman, but I've been on the internet solid for the last week looking for a replacement for this SZ...

 

[The Hoff]

I'm pretty familiar with Dell desk and laptop (D4xx, D6xx, C6xx) and we've never had too much go wrong barring the usual HDD failure, screens breaking, batteries dying. The support has usually been fairly good at business level with next day fixes (after speaking to some Indian fool for 20 mins).

Build quality in the Dells are pap tho IMO (no experience of XPS), cheap crappy plastics, and by and large cheap components within. Desktops included we had about 30 GX desktops fail in 6 months with blown capacitors!

Certainly wouldn't exclude the XPS but I must admit I'm leaning towards the Sony. If IBM/Lenovo built an X61S with a marginally better spec, especially in the video department I'd have one.

HP current crop of 67xx series are pap, built 4 last week and they're horrible brick like things! Need to spend 2k on HP to get a nice lappy it seems.

If I had my way I'd get a MBP, but not going to happen. And I can't get on with MB keyboards.

 

[dk]

the HP 67 range is not comparable, thats what i use as an office based with the ocasional out of office user.

THe 6910p is more comparable although its a 14" screen, the HP 12" is the 25 or 27 but they are without optical drives, very popular though.

 

[Mike_182]

Build quality in the Dells are pap tho IMO (no experience of XPS), cheap crappy plastics, and by and large cheap components within. Desktops included we had about 30 GX desktops fail in 6 months with blown capacitors!

Optiplex GX270 - known issue that Dell did something about - if your service tag was within the affected range all you had to do was call them and an engineer would be there next day with replacement parts.

 

[Daz]

From those two, the SZ.

Build quality in the Dells are pap tho IMO

My Latitude D420 is solid.
MUCH better build quality than any Vaio I've ever installed.. (and that includes the SZ etc. which is in the same sort of range as the D420/D430)

 

[David]

even though i think dells are pretty good if i had the choice i'd go with sony as they look nicer

 

[Daz]

even though i think dells are pretty good if i had the choice i'd go with sony as they look nicer

Maybe - form over function tho, as the SZ keyboard feels flimsy compared to the Dell which is very solid.
I was very close to buying an SZ, but I've set up multiple SZ1, SZ2, SZ3 and SZ4 at work and all disappoint me (cost, performance, looks taken into account).. on the other hand, all of the D420/D430 laptops I've setup have really impressed me.. so that's why I ended up with the Dell