Differences between the S380 and S480?

Hi, I am an entering freshman into UC Irvine and I have my choices narrowed down to the S series laptop. I was so close to buying an S380 on clearance yesterday, but it got jacked right when I was placing my order!! NOT OK.. Here are the specs that I need:

• Bluetooth Technology
• 60 gb Hardrive

Now, I like the small compactness of the S series laptop, and I'm looking for the best deal I can get on one of these. However, Sony doesn't do a good job explaining the different models. Are there any like charts I can look at for instance? Thanks for all the help!!

 

S360 & S460 won't be on clearance on sonystyle.com because they are pre-customized. Also, they don't have bluetooth, so you don't need to look further.

S380 & S480 are customizable, so some custom-built-but-order-canceled-before-shipping go to the clearance section. Unfortunately, there is no good way to check what's in that particular configuration except what Sony listed. A somewhat acceptable work around is to open up another window and configure another machine with the listed specs, then, cross check the price to see if some options are missing. It is not 100% accurate, though.

 

Hmm.. OK.. But what are the main differences between the S380 and S480??

 

I'm doing some research on them both right now. VERY interested in the S series. So far here is what I've found for differences...

The S-480 gives you the option of a gForce 6200 TC video card or Intel integrated graphics- The S380 hase the gForce card standard and cannot be changed out.

The S480 comes with wireles LAN standard, the S380 does not.

The S480 has 256 MB RAM standard, the S380 comes with 512 standard.

All of these things are interchangeable making the two identical, depending on the configuration, EXCEPT for the GPU. Only the 480 has the option to not add the gForce 6200, and run off the Intel internal graphics.

Basically, the S480 seems to be set up for those who want to trim a bit of money off the total price, or be able to have a bit more control in their customization.

I tried to find any information to see if the was a difference in motherboards (allowing the Intel graphics on the S480), but couldn't find that information. I suppose thats a possibility though. If so, then I'm sure there are many more differences than I listed.

 

Wow, I'm in luck.. I just was searching sony again for clearance, and then one I wanted popped up again!!! YES!! Only problem - no bluetooth. But I have a USB dongle anyways, so its not a HUGE deal. However, this one has a 80 gb hard drive (compared to the 60 I wanted), and 512 mb of ram (compared to the 256 i needed), and it came with a DVD-RW (compared to the Cd-RW i needed).. So I got all these for cheaper than the one I had configured. It was a deal that had to be made. Sacrifice bluetooth for all this, had to

 

:asus:

look into it. see if it doesn't have what you need.

 

:budget:
You have all lot of cool features... but why do you onl want 256 RAM, with the bluetooth, and DVD RW, not to mention im sure it's going to have Windoes XP/XP Proffessional. I'm positive I read some where that they reccommend at least 512 RAM with those OS.

 

I also probably whould have mentioned, I too am seriously looking at the an S Series for college at XU. My specs where as follows:

• LCD Display: 13.3" WXGA TFT Display with XBRITE Technology
• Graphics Card: Graphic Internal
• Wireless LAN: (802.11a\b\g)
• Optical Drive: CD-RW_DVD Drive
• Hard Drive: 80 GB Hard Disk Drive
• Memory: 512 MB DDR-SDRAM (DDR2-400, 256 MBx2)
• Processor: Intel Pentium M Processor 740 (1.73 GHz)
• OS: Windows XP Proffessional

Just might be nice too look at a different configureation, if anyone has any objections please let me know, im haven't purchased it yet.

 

Wow, thats the exact confiugration I just got except for XP Home and Pentium M 1.6 GHz..