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    Buying VAIO P

    Discussion in 'VAIO / Sony' started by bonbooni, Aug 26, 2009.

  1. bonbooni

    bonbooni Notebook Consultant

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    Dear all,

    I am aiming at buying VAIO P. I am thinking of the 2GHz as the 1.33 in the UK retail shops is pretty slow. I am thinking of Dynamism/conics?

    Is there a performance difference with Win 7 or XP? or do you recommend

    Any ideas regarding the speed, place to buy, cons, build quality.. I noticed that the mouse button was kind of loose .. is this only on the unit I tried in the shop or is this a common issue..?

    I am staying in the UK, but leaving the EU soon so I do not know if can claim the VAT from the Fedex or not..? Any ideas??
     
  2. heavenly_wild

    heavenly_wild Notebook Deity

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    What I would like to know is weather you can view YouTube in HD running Windows 7? I know it isn't possible on Vista.
     
  3. philg2000

    philg2000 Notebook Guru

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  4. Jurisprudence

    Jurisprudence Notebook Evangelist

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    Honestly unless you desperately need it now or you have an eye on an incredibly good deal I would wait. I am looking to get one as well. The specs of the models in Ireland and the UK are identical so I understand why you are looking to Japan etc to get your hands on one. I am doing the same.

    The facts we know are that a "Mark 2" version is on its way out late October to coincide with the Windows 7 release. If that was all that was going to happen I wold be a bit disappointed but having watched Sony turn into a virtually different company this year with regards to preparing to sort out its product lines, image and listening to its customers (its amazing what financial devastation can do) I would expect other changes. Specifically I would hope for a larger, maybe just wider screen. That webcam on the current model has to be in the dumbest position anyone could ever have thought of and clearly prevents a larger panel being used. Just look at the screens bezel construction. Even the webcams 'Motion eye' label is clearly used to bridge the huge plastic void between the camera itself and lcd panel. It stinks of larger size potential already thought up by the engineers pre the 1st gen launch.

    As for the rest of the specs for the price of a UK or Eire 1.33ghz model with 64gb SSD you could get a Japanese 2.0ghz with 256gb SSD at the moment, with chocolate keyboard (mmmmm, chocolate :D). The SSD's in use by Sony are last gen Samsungs and are resolutely hammered by other manufacturers latest drives. All SSD's are not built the same. I would hope for higher performance models in the Mark 2 series.

    As for Dynamism the are way way overpriced for the actual product sold. Their service may be good but in this economy 50% markup = rip-off.

    Have a chat to Bruce in Conics.net. I spoke with him via email (he also does Skype) and ask him whatever comes to mind. Many swear by him. I never bought from him (was inquiring regards the TT) but he was very clear and upfront in our brief correspondence.

    There is also Pricejapan.com but thats a real 'heres your machine, bye bye' outfit. Good prices and options but for the very confident buyer knowing they don't need after care outside of Sony themselves.

    The difference between Vista and 7/XP is night and day, no question. A bit of tweaking on 7's Aero settings (but still leaving it on) will have it flying along. Vista was born a dog and will die a dog. Even on my HP 2133 (Via 1.2ghz, roughly like a Celeron 800mhz) it runs nicely. Vista spends most of its time spinning its little ball on the same system almost asking to be thrown out the window. A 2ghz Z550 Atom should murder both 7 and my 2133 in day to day applications. Even HD content can apparently be run, although I haven't done it personally.

    Happy hunting, but honestly lie in wait just 2 more months. Theres a herd of new machines on the way and Sony can't afford to screw this up.

    P.S: On a system like the Vaio P running video always use Gom Player. I makes even VLC look pathetic and overweight. On m 2133 I can run 3 SD movies at once with little slowdown.
     
  5. jack sparrow

    jack sparrow Notebook Evangelist

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    Another one here waiting for the Vaio P "mark 2".

    A lot of speculation around but the major question is if the upcoming P2 will have the Pinetrail platform:

    http://forum.pocketables.net/showthread.php?t=3919

    Others say that is going to be released at CES of 2010, but Intel never said that the Pine Trail is postponed from the original plan of Q4 of 2009. There are some pics of prototypes showing the P with a larger bezel, fingers crossed. :)