Sony Vaio Upgrade

Hi All,

I am about to buy a new Laptop and I saw that one can customize the configuration on Sony's page. My question is:

1. The notebook in question is VPCS12V5E which originally comes with Intel i3 Processor. I am able to upgrade to i7 but my concern is if the laptop would get too warm with this CPU in comparison to i3 leading to fan noise?


Below is the customized config:

Processor: Intel® CoreTM i7-620M, 2.66GHz
Hard drive: 500 GB Serial ATA (7200 rpm)
Memory: 8 GB 1066MHz DDR3-SDRAM
Optical Drive: DVD disc drive
Display: 33.8 cm LCD, 1366x768 + webcam
Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® 310M 512MB


/Marsamb

 

u might want to consider a sony VAIO E series.. its 14 inch but performs much better than this laptop and is 900 ish.. it can also take a i7-620m which both laptops should have no problem cooling.. Just one thing to take note.. if u get this the VAIO E series , u'd get a much better Graphics card...

 

ummm...according to sony.co.uk , none of the E Series can take i7. The maximum is i5 520M 2,40 Ghz and they can just be upgraded to 6 MB Ram

 

well the i5 is actually quite good already.. the i7 is an overkill u know... what are u going to use it for? Otherwise the Sony might not what u want. As for RAM , its much cheaper if u upgrade it urself and 6GB is plenty already.

 

I am looking for a laptop that I could have for the next 3 years at least. I have of course some prerequisites i.g.: Screen 13'', Nvidia, low noise... Having that in mind, I prefer upgrading from i3 to i7 since it would still be in my budget. But, as mentioned before, my main concern is noise. Going from i3 to i7, in theory the FAN would spin faster in order to cool down the CPU and consequently causing noise. Is that correct? I had a Packard Bell before which was really noisy so I had to sell it and I do not want that again. Thanks for your replies...

 

well the fan will run a little faster because the i7 will have slightly higher TDP but however as far as i know , Sony VAIO are very quiet however much the fan spins up... My cousin has an SZ with 35W TDP T9300 which runs sliently... if u really want NVDIA get one, get a laptop with GT330M... G310M is quite crappy..

 

3 years is doable with any decent laptop, depending on your use.

CPU power today is generally plenty for almost anything, and has been for a while (unless you use Vista). Unless you know why you need an I7, skip it for the I5.


That being said, if you really want a 3 year laptop that kicks butt, you are going about this wrong. Buying something with even an I3 option tells me you are looking at lower end models. Lower end systems don't fare as well over time. If you want a killer 13in, you should be looking at the Sony Z series, which is likely out of reach.

Scale back your I7 world domination plans and buy the best I5 system you can. Buy a real nice laptop with the slowest or nearly slowest I5 (the difference between low and high end isn't that great among a product line compared to price differences), cram it full of ram and put in a fast hard drive, either SSD or Seagate Momentus XT, failing those a Hitachi 500gig or WD Scorpion Black. This should give you a nice system that will last.


It is not true that an I3 will be quieter than an I7. The I7 will not work as hard to finish a task, meaning it runs less hard for less time. It also is a higher end processor and therefore more likely to have a better cooling system on it. Then there is the fact that the I3 has a built in video system in the processor, the I7 does not. Mostly though, it just depends on who makes the cooling system and how they made it.