Sony SZ160 or Asus W3j?

I was all set to by the w3v until the sony sz160 came along with the 1.83 duo core, 7400 card, and 7 hour battery life. After seeing the w3j will have the ati 1600 card, I'm thinking I should cancel the sony preorder?

 

Sony SZ for mobility.
Asus W3j for gaming.

Really up to you. If sony isn't exagerrating about the battery life, you would need to add the secondary battery to the W3 and up the weight to almost 6lb to get even close to the same amount of battery run time.

 

Well, actually the battery life increase on the napa platform is going to increase........ Sony's battery life is one that we could never give........ that's maxium and I doubt many people would EVER see that.......the lives we always figure out are pretty good averages...... I don't have great numbers on the battery life increase, but tom's hardware was figuring a decent increase just with the cpu........ but you do have to figure in the increase in graphics card and the difference in hard drive, etc....

 

yea its really up to what your needs are. I'm usually studying at the library so its not too hard to find a power outlet and since i got a fatty toshiba satelite i gotta find a power outlet to study for more than 2 hours.

the w3j should have at least 3+ hours but its gonna be a lot better at gaming than the sony sz

the sz will let you work for hours without a power outlet, probably 5-6 because they are advertising 7 hours and itll be the lighter option of the two.

i was thinking of getting an sz because it had the best gpu of a 14" but now im leaning towards a w3j because of that x1600. Mobile enough to carry to the library without breaking my back and powerful enough to play the latest games when im home with my lcd.

 

... I think the W3 should be pushing 4-4.5+ honestly.... especially if you're not gaming on it...... if the graphics aren't being used, the system isn't going to be using as much power as when it is being used heavily..

 

the whole switching from integrated to dedicated graphics on the sony must be what allows for the battery life

 

That's a huge part of it...... hard drive speed is another.

 

This would be a dilemna of mine as well, but the fact that the Sony is a 13.3" means the keyboard will be smaller, and that's something I really can't deal with.

 

Its widescreen so it will probably have a full size keyboard i believe the 21.1 in asus does also.

 

there is 21.1 in. Asus? good god.

 

LOL.. I'm sure he meant 14.1

 

Actually i meant 12.1

 

If you look at pictures of both the SZ and W3, the keyboard on the SZ looks bigger. The SZ is only 0.5" less wide (12.5" vs 13"), but the keyboard nearly stretches from edge to edge. On the W3, the keyboard ends almost 0.5" before the edge on both sides.

 

guys, what do you think is better sony sz160 with 256 mb geforce go 7400 or asus w3j with ati 256mb x1600?
any ideas ....

thank you very much !

 

The X1600 should be able to beat the GeForce Go 7400 for sure...

 

I'm looking to dock my new laptop while at home and use the 30" Dell LCD flat panel. Both the SZ and the W3J fit in terms of my other requirements, but only the SZ seems to have dual-link DVI support off the dock. Is there any word on a new Portbar for the W3J?

Thanks!

 

Can't have a port bar on the W3 because...

1. it's the same unchanged chassis from the W3v

2. it would need the proprietary port bar port (no room)

 

Sonystyle always have trouble with specs of new models. Right now for the SZ series on some places the maximum battery life is claimed as 6 hours, elsewhere as 7 hours. The amount of video RAM also varies from 128MB in some places and 256MB in other places. So I really would not trust the 7 hours rating. The true spec may end up as just 6 hours, which means that the SZ series when using discrete graphics would have the same battery life as the Asus W3J.

 

AuroraS - thank you !

guys, i never had any notebooks. now i decided to buy one but i can not choose b/w asus w3j and sony sz160.
would anyone who has a good experience plz explain me,in general,which one is better and why you think so? screen asus vs sz, built quality,how bad should be geforce go 7400 256mb compare with
ati x1600 256mb and so on.

a huge thanks in advance !

 

Well its hard to say since this new sony isnt out yet. The W3j will be a nice pc. The sony will get better battery life and while the display on the w3j isnt bad i believe the 13.3 in screens have better viewing angles than 14.1 so thats a big plus in my book.

 

SRD - thanks !

i should wait till both notebooks will be reviewed. its always a problem when you have more than one choice

 

I think they are both great but. i do tink 13.3in panels are just better than the 14.1 in its just a technology limitation at this point. Certain sizes and resolutions just are better with better contrast and viewing angles. Although i will say this you would be had pressed to find a brighter panel than a W3v its one of the brightest screens ive seen probably to bright.

 

my problem is that one of these is going to be my first notebook and i don't have any experiences with them that's why i am asking here.

 

Another thing to think of is. While asus may not have the best technical support they are good but not the best. Sony is very very poor if you do have issues i would much rather deal with asus.

 

One thing I haven't seen anyone mentioning in any of these threads is the build quality.. I've been shopping for a laptop for quite some time And the old sony S series vs Asus W3 is no comparison.

the sony feels like you could break it in two by pushing on the palm rests and the screen casing seems pretty flimsy, I've only seen one W3V and it seemed very solid I can only expect the W3J to have the same given it appears to be the same casing..

Anyone else have this experience with the sonys? Do they hold up to travel/abuse?

 

The new sony sz is supposed to be carbon fiber and magnesium or some other metal forget which one. So it might be stronger than the w3j.

But yes other sony lappys are not built as well as asus totally true.

 

i had sony bx for a couple days. so i can say that there were no problem for build quality, at least for me. returned it, because new Core Duo has been released for the same price.

 

http://www.notebookforums.com/showthread.php?p=1715142#post1715142

thats a link that was posted on the sony board, basically its the first hands-on info i've seen on the sony sz on the net

should possess information that you're looking for about the sony sz

i'm also debating between the w3j and sony sz....if i can get the premium 150 p/c sony sz for sub 2000 i might lean towards the sz

 

What the screen should be better w3j or sz premium and the same about case?

thanks in advance !

 

The screen will be have similar contrast and color. But i do think the w3j will be a tad brighter but the SZ will have much better viewing angles. Its hard to say which case will be better sony normaly has crappy cases. But since this one is magnesium it might be much stronger than the W3j

 

Thanks SRD !

 

Actually, both the W3J and the SZ premium series will be constructed using multi-layer carbon fiber, so their case built should be very similar. (SZ non-premium will be magnesium alloy.)

 

awww **** it, more new releases... now I want to rethink the asus laptop I want.. w3j looks nice but so does the w2j... and both are going to be release about the same time in a month.. what do you guys think? get the notebook now or wait? frankly the only thing I'm interest in is the 256mb video, I'm a big gammer and I play alot of strategy games. but I kinda need a laptop now, cause I'm an Electrical engineer student and when i run my simulation on my Sony FS-650... well.... is like trying to drive to Las Vegas during holiday... felt like I'll never get there.

 

Alright, another EE! *high five*

Not sure what strategy games you play, but if it's anything demanding you will want the X700 now, or the X1600 later.

Consider what screen size you want too...
The V6Va has the lovely 15" IPS screen and an X700 128MB...
If you want something smaller, go for the W3V if you need it now.
It has the X700 64MB graphics card, which may be perfect for what you need.
There's also the Z70Va w/ X700 128MB which you can configure to taste... it will be gone soon.
If you need something soon, don't count on the ETA's for the new NAPA [Core Duo] platform notebooks...

So there's a couple options for you to explore...

 

W3V has X600 64MB not X700

 

As others have said, I'd suggest the w3j for gaming and the sz160 for portability.

I'm planning on going for the w3j as I'm a gamer and the fact that it's just 5.5lbs and should have 3-4hrs of battery is a HUGE improvement over my current 10+lb/1.5hr monster laptop.

 

Yea, i've just canceled my SZ140 order, alot of people who have gotten them are having alot of issues, hopefully the w3j will have a smooth release !

 

Dangsy -- interesting to hear...what are some of the problems you're hearing with the sz140's? Delays in the launch, or product issues?

 

A poster on notebookforums.com got one from CompUSA, a 120, he's had to return 2 already for HD failures, and I think I've read of some WiFi connection prblems. There have also been alot of complaints about the keyboard.

http://www.notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=133739

 

I agree with everyone else's sentiments. I was considering the SZ until I did a little more research on the 7400 and found that the x1600 will be nearly twice the performer. And has anyone else ever heard of Sony inflating figures and/or specs? Hmmm.....I seriously doubt 6-7 hours but we'll see.

 

They don't claim 6 to 7 hours any more, they changed the website to say up to 4.5 hours of battery life. They did this after I ordered the machine.
Too many problems, false advertising, bogus ship dates. I cancelled. The guys who have the online stores that post here have more customer service sense in their fingernails than Sony has in its entire company.

 

Dangsy -- thanks for the link and heads-up.

 

I couldn't agree more. Sony makes more bogus claims and hype than any company I can think of. Of course that is because I pay attention to the video game world and I've got to hear their bs over and over again. The emotion engine anyone?

Also in my experience they don't make a very reliable product. The first playstation I owned lasted 3 years then crapped out. I had to buy another one. Then when I got a PS2 it crapped out within a year. I tricked wal-mart into taking it back. Then that one crapped out in less than a year (same problem). Then wal-mart got smart. Then I fixed it myself since Sony wanted money to fix it. When it wasn't scratching games it was working alright.

Makes me wonder why I still buy their products and then I remember...the only alternative is the Evil Empire and the kiddy machine.

 

Evil Empire = Dell or M$?

Kiddy machine = Mac?

 

Now, there's a quote to remember! Choosing the less evil is often the only way...!

I would assume he's referring to the XBox (Microsoft) and Nintendo.

 

Evil empire= M$

kiddy machine= Nintendo

I was refering to consoles.

 

I am also trying to decide on the W3J or the SZ160. But my problem is that I need a laptop by March 22. I have one on order with Sony but they tell me it won't be ready to ship till March 22 and I have not yet found where I can even order the W3J.

Anyone know where I can get one? I am willing to pay a premium.

 

It currently has an ETA of "late-March." Personally I am hoping to get one by then but more than likely it will be April.

 

@ Kierkegaard:
Thanks for cleaning up the confusion. I used to DL the M$ OS's back in the starving college days, and now I find that even though I can afford it (getting the boss-lady to allow it is another story) I'm tring to stick with open source out of principle.

--KansaKilla

 

I would too if not for gaming...