Envy or VAIO E ??

I'm looking at either the Envy 14 or the VAIO E 15.5" - but can't make my mind up as they are both roughly the same size and spec and should be similar in price ......

Envy 14 - Pro's
- Sexy Metal Casing
- Backlit Keyboard
- Better Webcam
- Bigger Battery

VAIO E - Pro's
- Bigger Screen
- Full HD Resolution
- Keyboard with Number Pad
- Blu Ray

Which one would be be better for gaming ??

Which would hold it's value best when I try to sell it in about 18 months ??

 

the envy will be better for gaming, check the notebookcheck review in the vaio E series, as for the reselling value? guess what

 

I think you may be mistaken. The Vaio E doesn't come with Full HD resolution. It's a 15.5" screen with a 1366x768 resolution and that's the only option it has. The HD5470 in the Vaio E is not even in the same league as the HD5650 that the Envy 14 will come with. The Vaio E is Sony's value line, it's not supposed to be compared to or even compete with the Envy series...

 

It is personal preference, and I've been thinking of both laptops. The lower screen resolution on the 5650 equipped Sony Vaio E would probably help with gaming performance. But I'm used to 1920x1080 so the bigger the resolution on the Envy 14 the better in my opinion because I do a lot of text work. Also, the Envy 14 has a "Radiance" screen, 350 nit brightness and 82% color gamut. I'm also worried about battery life, does the E have switchable graphics? How large of a battery? These are things that are important to consider. The build quality of the Envy should be superior. Furthermore the E has a number pad, for some that is essential but for others (like myself) that is a major turnoff. And finally it is important to look at dimensions...

Physical statistics:
Envy 14: 14.01" (W) x 9.33" (D) x 1.09-1.11" (H) at 5.25 lbs
Vaio E: 14.56" (W) x 9.77" (D) x 1.22" (H) at 5.90 lbs

The envy is smaller and lighter, but not by too much. Overall the performance should be similar, but the smaller aspects are what should influence your decision. Provided I can raise enough funds, I'm going to get an Envy 14. It is my personal opinion that long battery life and portability are more important that a few hundred dollars. $.02

 

Model VPCEB17FX/B comes with 1920 x 1080 resolution, an I3-330M and an HD 5450 GPU for ~ $950.

Model VPCEBILFX/BL comes with 1366 x 768 resolution, an I5-520M and an HD5650 GPU for $849.

What Sony needs is a 1920 x 1080 model with the I5 and 5650 GPU.

Bronsky

 

LOL at those config options. It's backwards thinking!

 

They are not in same class
Sony E series is under low-end catalog, you can get cheapest E series for around $600
So if you buy an E series around $1000, I probably say this is not a smart choice

 

Dudes, here in the UK you can configure a VAIO E 15.5" with i5 + 1920x1080 + 5650 !!

https://www.sonystyle.co.uk/SonyStyle/VAIO-Laptop-PCs/E-Series-14-15-17/

I think I'm falling for the Envy though - sexier, lighter and has the cool slice battery ...... I just wish HP had squeezed a slightly bigger screen with Full HD in there !!

(And why the hell doesn't anybody manufacture thin BluRay drives yet ??)

 

I would like to know the answer to the last question as well... would love a blu-ray drive on the envy 14 to hook up to a HD tv.

 

Just by reading this thread the envy 14 seems to be leaps and bounds better.

 

Getting full HD for under 17" is retarded. You are going to strain your eyes if you are looking at word. UI becomes miniature and unusable until you blow them up as well.

And besides what are you going to be doing with full HD resolution anyways? It's not like 15 (or even 17" honestly) is large enough to show full detail for blurays and not even the best mobile GPUs are capable of running modern games in max at full HD res.

 

All true - but you can always change the resolution when you need to and adjust settings if required ...... Full HD should be the standard

 

I was also worried that might be the case as well before I bought a 15" Envy with 1080p screen. I do a lot of work in video and image editing applications and I can confirm that you can absolutely tell the difference. I would not want to go back to a sub-1080p screen after working with the Envy 15. You can definitely see the detail during blu-ray playback. For viewing web pages you can pinch to zoom in or out and when working in photoshop, media composer, after effects, blu-ray authoring applications, etc, it's extremely helpful to be able to see the detail on the 1080p image even when the machine is not connected to a 1080p monitor. Also, with USB 3.0 i'm able to take advantage of the higher 8x speed on my USB 3.0 blu ray burner.

Regarding the graphics card, I'm able to run games on the Envy like Bioshock 2, DAO, ME2, Crysis Warhead, Fallout 3, in 1080p resolution at max detail settings and I get between 25-45 FPS which is just fine, and I get much higher FPS for DAO. No lag visible, even when alt+tabbing back and forth to other applications and open windows. I sometimes run these connected to a 1080p projector and the result is a pretty immersive experience.