Differences between FE21S FE28H FE31Z?

I started looking at the FE28H and when I decided on it, I found everyone out of stock. Lowest price at PC World £899. and £999 at John Lewis. Now no longer available.

I found a private individual selling a still boxed FE21S which has all the same specs as the FE28H. Is there a difference? This one supposedly came out Spring of 2006, and PC World currently prices it at £499.00 but...not available.

The FE31Z seems currently available at over £1000.00 but the only difference I can see is 200 GB instead of the 160 the others have.

Sony seems to be putting out, and pulling back models with incredible speed. I can only ask...WHY? All the models have one drawback, and that is the poor battery life. Really about 2 hours if using WIFI, which I will be. I wonder if it has something to do with the battery problems.

Anyway, the private individual is selling at £599.00. I can't get myself to buy something for more than £100.00 higher than the last retail price, on the other hand, the specs are good, and I can't buy the model at £499. because it's not available. :-(

Can anyone shed any light on the differences, if any between the models, and why the models are becoming unavailable so fast?

M.

 

Sony always tends to stop producing laptops a while before they release new models for some reason. You won't have found the FE21S anywhere for £499 brand new.... this laptop was about the same price as the FE31Z right uptil the point they discontinued it.. i.e. just over a grand. The main difference between the FE31Z and the FE21S is the new Core 2 Duo processor, 2Gb Ram instead of 1Gb and the 200Gb vs 160Gb disk. The FE28H is similar but a lower spec to the FE21S. It has a slightly inferior graphics card and a slower processer. £599 seems like a good deal for the FE21S unless you want to splash out on the FE31Z. One advantage with the FE31Z above the others is the fact that it's Vista Permium Ready (Microsofts new operating system being released next year).

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to help me. The FE21S is priced at £499.00 on PCWorld online. But what good is it, as they are out of stock

I decided to splash out earlier today on the FE31Z for all the reasons you gave. Plus I like the Sony X-Bright screen. I was making myself nuts trying to chose. I wanted to buy on ebay, but most people didn't take credit cards or Paypal. I opted for Dabs.com. They had them in stock, and I figured that I better order before this one gets pulled. Sheesh. The price was pretty much the same everywhere, about £1189. give or take a few pounds. It'll probably go on sale in two weeks :-( I would have bought from John Lewis because they seem to double the warranty. But they aren't presently carrying the FE31Z.

I really regretted not buying the FE28H when I saw it at PC World a few weeks ago. But in hindsight, I think the FE31Z will do me well for a few years. With the specs, I won't outgrow for a while. I'm not a gamer, but I would like to start doing more with video or music. Mostly I'm very impatient and want to easily work on things without getting hung up on large downloads.

Thanks too about the info that it is Vista-ready. I'm not the sort to go right out and get the newest OS (I learned way back with Win 3.0 and 3.1 that software companies like the public to work out the kinks!)

Again thanks for the input.

 

I think it's a good purchase and I've done a lot of research into it! I've also ordered the FE31Z having been waiting since August for Sony to release the new laptops! You may not want Vista as soon as it comes out but the way I see it you've now future proofed your purchase for a few years. With that spec, I can't see you having any performance issues with what you want to do!

The X-Brite screen in my opinion is the best screen on the market on any laptop.

PS. I've had good experiences with dabs.com before.... again a good choice.

 

Sony states that the FE21S is Vista Premium ready as well.