Sony Viao Laptop

fatboyonadiet

Looking for a Sony laptop, after a Pentium 4, 512mb, 60gb, 3ghz and wirelss I've seen one at Currys with that spec but it's out of stock at the moment, checked Dabs but no joy there either, can't seem to dind many Sony laptops with a P4 all seem to be Celeron.

Can anyone help?

fatboyonadiet

Bump - Anyone? Bump

molar

http://www.red-cloud.co.uk

They don't accept credit cards which made me a bit wary of them but I found a few customer reviews through google and google groups.

They do however accept credit cards by Paypal but they charge you the 3.4% surcharge. I asked them if they would price match Ebuyer on a Vaio laptop including delivery and Paypal surchage and they agreed. My laptop should arrive on Monday. :j

Remember that the Pentium M processors have better performance than Pentium 4M's and Pentium 4's. For example the Pentium M 760 2Ghz is roughly equivalent to a Pentium 4 570 at 3.8Ghz. If you want 3Ghz then you might be looking for a laptop like a Vaio FS115B with the Pentium M 1.6Ghz processor. Can anyone else confirm this?

charlie12

Yeah I'd recommend a Pentium M (Centrino) rather than a Pentium 4. Runs cooler (hence quieter), uses less power, and has much better battery life. They are also more powerful than P4's, if you compare them by clock speed. I don't know the exact values but I think molar's got it about right.

The FS115B as molar mentioned looks like a good bet.

Also:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=45167

Let me know how you get on as I'm after one too

mcnutsuk

fatboyonadiet wrote:

Looking for a Sony laptop, after a Pentium 4, 512mb, 60gb, 3ghz and wirelss I've seen one at Currys with that spec but it's out of stock at the moment, checked Dabs but no joy there either, can't seem to dind many Sony laptops with a P4 all seem to be Celeron.

Can anyone help?

As I have a Sony (about 2 years old now) I would advise against getting a VAIO. While they look nice, the customer service at Sony is rubbish. Think twice then if you still want one, get a very good extended warranty . In other news Tiny.com seemed to have a really good deal on a laptop - supposedly "half off". The ad was on the back of the Travel section of Today's (Saturday's) Guardian.

charlie12

Mate I agree with you about the Sony customer service, but I also must say that Tiny are equally as bad (if not worse!). And Tiny's products are very low quality. Avoid!

As for Sony's customer service, I'm personally willing to take the risk and go with them as I'm in love with their laptops . I'd only need to contact them for a serious fault, as I can fix/replace most things myself.

Tharweb

Have a trawl through this Pricerunner link.

I agree with the Pentium M recommendation though, I have one, not Sony, but it is light and has a battery life of up to 5 hours.

fatboyonadiet

So a Pentium M would be better than a Pentium 4? And a 2Ghz is equivalent to a 3Ghz in P4?

charlie12

The Pentium M is "better", as in lower power consumption, cooler operation and therefore better battery life. Performance wise it's not quite as good as the Pentium 4 series, but it is still very respectable.

If I was to have a laptop solely for home use, and not mind the power consumption and heat produced (i.e. louder noise from cooling fans), then I might consider the P4. But personally I'd just get a desktop system which much more expansion and upgrade potential.

The Pentium M is the best chip for (portable) laptops at the moment, bar none.

Here's some scores:
http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_content.asp?id=dothandesktop&page=9

Don't rely too much on these scores though as they don't show real-world use.

Tharweb

fatboyonadiet wrote:

So a Pentium M would be better than a Pentium 4? And a 2Ghz is equivalent to a 3Ghz in P4?

Depends on what you want it for really. Some laptops have DVD drives but the battery life is so short, you couldn't watch a film on them for example.
My 1.5Ghz Pentium M compared to 2.8Ghz P4's in benchmark tests.