Laptop, for birthday.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/
http://www.notebookreview.com/

That Sony will be a good laptop, but it is always wise to check for reviews and some forums to see if people have (big) problems with em on a large scale.

EDIT: BTW you can probably not find the exact same model in a review just read one of the same series and watch what the differences are. slower/faster cpu, gpu etc. etc.

For example if a review pc has bad battery with a non dedicated video card you can imagine what it will be like if you'll take a model that does have a dedicated card.

 

http://www.ibuypower.com/ibp/store/configurator.aspx?mid=288
http://www.ibuypower.com/ibp/store/configurator.aspx?mid=302
These owns the Sony. Much faster graphics and CPU.

 

The second link I gave is the same price, and has a better CPU and GPU. I don't see what the problem is.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16834210014

2.00 GHz Intel Dual Core processor
4GB RAM
250 GB Hard Drvie
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 512MB Dedicated video memory
15.4" screen for portability


All under $1,000

As of today, I'm still slapping myself for not getting this.

 

Well if you want quality and productivity then you should just get the Dell M1530. Keep in mind it will cost a bitch though since you can't get it on Newegg.

 

My experience with the vaio line (mainly mid to high end desktop replacements) is less than brilliant (no drivers worth a damn (thankfully omega drivers stepped up), usual botched install of windows (trivial to fix but still more time than it should have been), parts a pain to get when it breaks (custom nonsense which I ended up making myself most of the time), battery (not that I or anyone I know cares whatsoever about it) would be less than an hour, DVD drives spit more coasters than I care to remember, cooling awful and the best dust magnet I have ever seen (heat->lower clock-> useless machine (my single core 2.93GHz machine got to the point that my very stripped down version of XP could not play an mp3 on media player classic with rudimentary postprocessing).

Then again that could be said of just about everything in laptop world.

re: cheap plastic. I have only seen custom designed laptops ("foam/metal casing or better) able to stand up to anything more than a stern look and I have never seen a worthy touchpad other than touchscreen laptops.
To this end USB ports exist for a reason (PS/2 splitters/adaption kits especially) and a £20 laptop case is not hard to get.


My suggestion: drop some money and get one of those ultra low power machines I see around these days (more than suitable for portable internet and office work if you know what you are doing) and then use rest of it to score a decent desktop (if you can use the old monitor and the like until you can be bothered to spring for a new one).

 

This has to be the 10th topic you've made about purchasing a laptop. MAKE UP YOUR MIND