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    Gateway 7422GX vs Sony Vaio FS660

    Discussion in 'Gateway and eMachines' started by mbrenengen, Sep 1, 2005.

  1. mbrenengen

    mbrenengen Notebook Enthusiast

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    I have had a Gateway 7422GX since April. I have been so pleased with it, despite the fact that it is now back for repairs for the third time. The reason for my posting is that while the Gateway is being repaired, I got a Sony Vaio FS660 as a loaner:

    http://www.notebookreview.com/price/default.asp?productFamilyID=531&display=priceDetail

    It was the only open-box notebook they had with 1GB of RAM. It is an older model, I believe, and they are closing them out, but they still cost $1,600. Compare this to my Gateway I bought for $1250 five months ago.

    Here are my seat-of-the-pants impressions of the Vaio as compared to the Gateway. I use my computer for photo editing with PaintShop Pro, also as a video editing station with Pinnacle Studio DV.

    Compared with the Gateway, the Vaio seems to be as fast. I bought the Gateway with the AMD64 chip because it was supposed to be faster with rendering – now that I think of it, however, I have not tried rendering with the Vaio. The display on the Vaio is way better – the Gateway has that shiny screen that creates a lot of glare and shows every little fingerprint. The Vaio is also a little thinner in the front – not much in the back, and it doesn’t feel any lighter at all. The plug is elbow shaped, which I think is a lot better than the straight plug in the Gateway that is bound to break at some point.

    Overall, even without the huge price difference, I would take the Gateway over the Vaio in a heartbeat. One of the biggest annoyances is that the Vaio DVD drive is incredibly noisy and will vibrate the entire table it is one. It is really distracting when you are trying to show someone their video (I do that professionally). The Vaio, despite its Pentium M chip does not seem to run any longer on batteries than the Gateway. I get about 3.5 hours of photo editing with both.

    I never realized how helpful it is to have that scrollbar on the Gateway mouse pad until I got the Vaio without one. I also seriously miss the built-in card readers in the Gateway – I use all formats all the time, with the Vaio, I am limited to Sony’s memory sticks. The Gateway has one more USB plug, which is nice, but I rarely use more than three at a time. Oh, and the sound on the Vaio is pretty weak compared with the Gateway, which can get really loud when you need it to. I have to have the Vaio cranked to the max (and yes, I have all the volume controls up). The last thing that I really hate about the Vaio, and this is probably because I have not taken the time to remove all the offending programs, is all the programs that load and open each time you start the computer. There is a constant barrage of messages popping up about firewalls, virus protection and spyware, etc. Too much!

    In conclusion, yes, of I do have my Gateway back for the third time (1-video card; 2-broken hinges; 3-video card – new problem). I purchased an extended warranty, so all I have to do is drop it off with the Geek Squad, grab a new computer and go. I fully expect something else to go wrong in the next year and a half, then, in accordance with the extended warranty, I get a new, comparable computer – which I will sell unopened and upgrade to the newest and fastest Ecomputer/Gateway. I am surprised by the lack of features and performance and the very high cost of the Sony Vaio – I am not sure what you are getting for your extra $500.

    Matt
     
    mbrenengen, Sep 1, 2005
    #1
  2. ShArK9

    ShArK9 Newbie

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    I agree with Matt that the Gateway 7422GX is worth the money. I bought mine in January 2005, and I have thoroughly enjoyed it thus far. I am able to do just about anything on this laptop, in terms of games. I play all of the major FPS games, and have had no problems. If you play games, you can never go wrong with nearly any computer that is running an AMD Athlon 64 processor. Obviously, though, with a Radeon 9550, the resolution settings are low to medium at best, but the 1GB of RAM helps to make up some of the difference. The only game I have had problems with is Knights of the Old Republic: The Sith Lords, however, the problem was more of a game bug with Radeons than anything else. Even Farcry runs fine on this machine, although on low graphic settings.

    I also use the media card slots frequently, along with the 3 USB ports and firewire port, which is great if you have an ipod / video camera. The DVD D-L drive is great and is extremely quiet, and very fast.

    The screen is super-bright and "glossy", if you ever do any PowerPoint or other related presentations, you will not be dissatisfied. There is truth to what Matt has said about the screen, it can be a pain in the ass to clean, LOL.

    All in all, I have to say this is probably the best overall laptop I've ever had, and I've had probably 10-15 laptops over the past 8 years or so. When I bought this, it cost $1400 at Best Buy. About 1-2 years ago I had a P4 HP 17" laptop that cost $1900, and it wasn't as fluid as this Gateway.

    ShArK9
     
    ShArK9, Sep 11, 2005
    #2