Laptop
- Thread starter matt_j
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Hi Matt,
I maybe biased against Sony or just plain wrong, but I think Sony laptops are ripoffs! With Sony (and all branded models), a lot of your money is going towards buying the brand name and not performance and features. Of course some will argue that that happens when buying any well-known brand, and that is true, but just to differing extents. For laptops however, I've experienced Sharp, Dell, Sony, NEC and Toshiba. The NEC and Sharp were good buys in my opinion. Goodluck with your choice!
I maybe biased against Sony or just plain wrong, but I think Sony laptops are ripoffs! With Sony (and all branded models), a lot of your money is going towards buying the brand name and not performance and features. Of course some will argue that that happens when buying any well-known brand, and that is true, but just to differing extents. For laptops however, I've experienced Sharp, Dell, Sony, NEC and Toshiba. The NEC and Sharp were good buys in my opinion. Goodluck with your choice!
matt_j
Enlightened
Yeah I know all about Sony marketing stuff. I just need a small small laptop and this is the only one in its class. I know there is a nice selection of stuff in Japan but it is not available in the US.
Matt
Matt
4sevens
Flashlight Enthusiast
That is the successor to the SRX series. (SRX77, SRX87, SRX99)
I have the SRX87 and have been immensely happy with it.
It is supr light at 2.87 pounds and fast enough for pretty much
anything except games (850mhz).
The build quality is very nice too - light and strong magnesium alloy top and bottom. And it's industrial design is very nice and slick.
I carry it all the time in my backpak and never notice it.
I bought it when they were discontinuing it and got a great price for
it $1200 at best buy. One month later they were gone.
This may be a problem for you. The SRX keyboards are about 90% of
a full size keyboard. I noticed the TR3A has an even smaller keybaord
maybe 85%. I didn't like it. The only things better than the SRX
is: 1280x768 wide screen, built-in camera, built-in cd rom all at 3 pounds. You won't find this combo on any laptop out there.
If you don't need these features and don't mind having an external CDRom, just get a SRX87 or SRX99.
Don't get the SRX77 (800mhz) unless you don't need wireless.
By the way, the external CDrom is so light and thin - I've never seen smaller. Besides, I never bring it anyway - with wireless.
(another side note, I've upgraded my minipci wireless card to G and
it's is really fast)
my two cents
david
I have the SRX87 and have been immensely happy with it.
It is supr light at 2.87 pounds and fast enough for pretty much
anything except games (850mhz).
The build quality is very nice too - light and strong magnesium alloy top and bottom. And it's industrial design is very nice and slick.
I carry it all the time in my backpak and never notice it.
I bought it when they were discontinuing it and got a great price for
it $1200 at best buy. One month later they were gone.
This may be a problem for you. The SRX keyboards are about 90% of
a full size keyboard. I noticed the TR3A has an even smaller keybaord
maybe 85%. I didn't like it. The only things better than the SRX
is: 1280x768 wide screen, built-in camera, built-in cd rom all at 3 pounds. You won't find this combo on any laptop out there.
If you don't need these features and don't mind having an external CDRom, just get a SRX87 or SRX99.
Don't get the SRX77 (800mhz) unless you don't need wireless.
By the way, the external CDrom is so light and thin - I've never seen smaller. Besides, I never bring it anyway - with wireless.
(another side note, I've upgraded my minipci wireless card to G and
it's is really fast)
my two cents
david
matt_j
Enlightened
David,
my entire thing is to work on stuff in the ambulance, carry that laptop everywhere, watch movies and work in weird spots... I don't care about games but important thing for me is for the laptop to be small and have all the parts integrated. I was thinkign about thinkpads but external drives wouldn't fly well.
Matt
my entire thing is to work on stuff in the ambulance, carry that laptop everywhere, watch movies and work in weird spots... I don't care about games but important thing for me is for the laptop to be small and have all the parts integrated. I was thinkign about thinkpads but external drives wouldn't fly well.
Matt
IlluminatingBikr
Flashlight Enthusiast
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2003
- Messages
- 2,320
Price seems way to high for what it is.
GJW
Flashlight Enthusiast
James S
Flashlight Enthusiast
I don't generally mind paying extra for a sony product, at least a little extra, as I find their design and quality of workmanship to be very good. Unfortunately, with a computer even the most expensive one sony makes is still hobbled by having to run windows /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
And their laptops are usually quite a bit more expensive than the other offerings. That being said, my experience with sony laptops is much better than with even the more expensive models from other companies which always get loose and rickety plastic feeling after a short amount of use. The only PC laptops I like better than the sony's are the IBM thinkpads. Which aren't as pretty, but are very solid, excellent performers and hold up to abuse at least as good if not better. They also hold a good deal of their resale value (well, not a lot, but compared to other portables) Everybody knows that years ago Apple used to contract to IBM to make some of their laptop models right?
Of course, for me I won't be purchasing anything but Powerbooks for the forseeable future. But don't consider that a suggestion if thats not what you want to hear /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif Just consider this a suggestion for the Thinkpads.
And their laptops are usually quite a bit more expensive than the other offerings. That being said, my experience with sony laptops is much better than with even the more expensive models from other companies which always get loose and rickety plastic feeling after a short amount of use. The only PC laptops I like better than the sony's are the IBM thinkpads. Which aren't as pretty, but are very solid, excellent performers and hold up to abuse at least as good if not better. They also hold a good deal of their resale value (well, not a lot, but compared to other portables) Everybody knows that years ago Apple used to contract to IBM to make some of their laptop models right?
Of course, for me I won't be purchasing anything but Powerbooks for the forseeable future. But don't consider that a suggestion if thats not what you want to hear /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif Just consider this a suggestion for the Thinkpads.
I like small laptops myself. I would suggest looking at the Fuji or Tosh as Sony has too many problems. I have worked for computer resellers and repair places and Sony always had a higher number of repairs compared to the other brands sold. They were also more proprietary than other brands which resulted in accessories and repair parts being more expensive.
Just my $.02
Just my $.02
James S
FYI ....Apple's first laptop (not their big portable) was made by Sony. Sony and Apple have(had) a long relationship. Apple's 3.5" floppy drives were made by Sony, as was Apple's color monitors were Sony Trinitrons. People wondered why they were expensive, all they had to do was comapare a Sony color TV against a competing companies.
When I considered (and abandon) the idea of switching from Apple Mac's last year to the PC world, I was looking at the Sony laptops. In many ways they were closely configured and featured like Apple's Powerbooks.
GregR
FYI ....Apple's first laptop (not their big portable) was made by Sony. Sony and Apple have(had) a long relationship. Apple's 3.5" floppy drives were made by Sony, as was Apple's color monitors were Sony Trinitrons. People wondered why they were expensive, all they had to do was comapare a Sony color TV against a competing companies.
When I considered (and abandon) the idea of switching from Apple Mac's last year to the PC world, I was looking at the Sony laptops. In many ways they were closely configured and featured like Apple's Powerbooks.
GregR
Do the tiny Sony's have built in optical drives? I honestly don't know. I do know even the smallest Apple portable has DVD reader built in. The 12" Powerbook will even burn DVDs.
We use mostly Gateway and Compaq laptops at school, as well as a few Dells. The Compaqs are crap, but all in all they've held out quite well when you take into consideration all they're subjected to.
The only portable in this house other than my Powerbook is an OLD Toshiba laptop. Screen isn't the greatest (Color, Pre-TFT LCD so what do you expect?) but overall it's held out pretty darn well.
We use mostly Gateway and Compaq laptops at school, as well as a few Dells. The Compaqs are crap, but all in all they've held out quite well when you take into consideration all they're subjected to.
The only portable in this house other than my Powerbook is an OLD Toshiba laptop. Screen isn't the greatest (Color, Pre-TFT LCD so what do you expect?) but overall it's held out pretty darn well.
Ryan
The Sony Viao that I was considering had a DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive as standard. Matter of fact much of the software the machine had as standard was video editing. That particular machine was configured to be a multimedia editing computer. Of course if I remember correctly only Apples Powerbooks had DVD burners.
GregR
The Sony Viao that I was considering had a DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive as standard. Matter of fact much of the software the machine had as standard was video editing. That particular machine was configured to be a multimedia editing computer. Of course if I remember correctly only Apples Powerbooks had DVD burners.
GregR
tylerdurden
Flashlight Enthusiast
[ QUOTE ]
Saaby said:
We use mostly Gateway and Compaq laptops at school, as well as a few Dells. The Compaqs are crap
[/ QUOTE ]
All consumer-class PC notebooks are made by two companies in Taiwan. The PC "maker" just tells them what color they want the outside to be and where they want the LEDs located.
Saaby said:
We use mostly Gateway and Compaq laptops at school, as well as a few Dells. The Compaqs are crap
[/ QUOTE ]
All consumer-class PC notebooks are made by two companies in Taiwan. The PC "maker" just tells them what color they want the outside to be and where they want the LEDs located.
James S
Flashlight Enthusiast
Double_A: I knew that they did some monitors that used sony insides in the past, but I didn't know sony actually contracted with them. My first powerbook was a 2400c which I'm pretty sure I remember was built by IBM. It was basically the same frame as their own sub-notebook with Apple's plastics and boards inside.
That powerbook is 6+ years old now and still in use by my sister to check her email and do a little websurfing. i've not purchased a new desktop since then but use laptops exclusively. The Apple models have stood up physically very well. I've owned 4 in those 6 years since I made the switch. My most recent powerbook was DOA out of the box. Which was very strange I thought, don't they even power them up before shipping? Or was it a shipping problem, but anyway they sent me a new one immediately and it was only another 24 hours before I had a working machine. The only other hardware problem I've had with them was when I dropped one that was on and open. Dropping them onto the carpet from the couch level is no big deal when they are closed, I've had that happen a few times, but when they are open it can break the hinges of the screen which is what happened to mine. You see my baby daughter had climbed up on the couch next to me while I was working and then proceeded to go backwards off the edge. I didn't have time to close the laptop and set it aside before jumping up to catch her. I'm actually rather proud of my instincts that I was willing to sacrifice the computer to save the child /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif That machine still works fine, and I use it as a house server for home automation, file sharing and internet sharing and the like, but the screen has a limited number of open/close cycles left to it before it finishes breaking off...
But you can't really blame the hardware for that. I would call hitting the ground on edge while open beyond the specs of almost any of them...
That powerbook is 6+ years old now and still in use by my sister to check her email and do a little websurfing. i've not purchased a new desktop since then but use laptops exclusively. The Apple models have stood up physically very well. I've owned 4 in those 6 years since I made the switch. My most recent powerbook was DOA out of the box. Which was very strange I thought, don't they even power them up before shipping? Or was it a shipping problem, but anyway they sent me a new one immediately and it was only another 24 hours before I had a working machine. The only other hardware problem I've had with them was when I dropped one that was on and open. Dropping them onto the carpet from the couch level is no big deal when they are closed, I've had that happen a few times, but when they are open it can break the hinges of the screen which is what happened to mine. You see my baby daughter had climbed up on the couch next to me while I was working and then proceeded to go backwards off the edge. I didn't have time to close the laptop and set it aside before jumping up to catch her. I'm actually rather proud of my instincts that I was willing to sacrifice the computer to save the child /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif That machine still works fine, and I use it as a house server for home automation, file sharing and internet sharing and the like, but the screen has a limited number of open/close cycles left to it before it finishes breaking off...
But you can't really blame the hardware for that. I would call hitting the ground on edge while open beyond the specs of almost any of them...
Atrick-Pay
Newly Enlightened
I had a Sony C1XS which is this models fore-runner
and loved it! but it's a very special laptop for a
special kind of person, It's not for everyone.
and the Fujitsu P5000D is a better laptop by all reviews.
and loved it! but it's a very special laptop for a
special kind of person, It's not for everyone.
and the Fujitsu P5000D is a better laptop by all reviews.
James S
Flashlight Enthusiast
Ryan, I hear good things about the new hinges. I don't have any experience dropping them yet though /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
glenthemole
Newly Enlightened
The ultraportable fujitsus are supposed to be pretty good and not to expensive either, theres a forum about them here http://www.leog.net/ where you can ask questions.
Stefan
Enlightened
[ QUOTE ]
polak187 said:
my entire thing is to work on stuff in the ambulance, carry that laptop everywhere, watch movies and work in weird spots... I don't care about games but important thing for me is for the laptop to be small and have all the parts integrated.
[/ QUOTE ]
Other than not being able to watch movies, would you possibly be interested in maybe a PDA?
polak187 said:
my entire thing is to work on stuff in the ambulance, carry that laptop everywhere, watch movies and work in weird spots... I don't care about games but important thing for me is for the laptop to be small and have all the parts integrated.
[/ QUOTE ]
Other than not being able to watch movies, would you possibly be interested in maybe a PDA?
matt_j
Enlightened
I had a PDA from IPAQ which was a top of the line machine but I also do some web work and photography so posibility of doing basic photo editing and simple graphics is also important to me.
Matt
Matt
