Have you jumped ship from 13" to the next size up?

I'm thinking of going from my Z to an FW 4xx for the increased screen size and graphics power. Whether anyone went from an SZ or Z to an FZ or FW, please remark especially whether you found the tradeoff on less portability for more screen size acceptable. Any other comments are welcome too. Thanks!

 

I am actually thinking of going the other way, from my 15.4 inch FZ to a 13 inch model of some sort (probably the SR). The extra screen will probably be nice for you, but I want more portability.

 

I jumped from 13.3" SZ to 16.4" FW. The trade off is definitely worth it. I have a lot more room to work on. 1280x800 to 1600x900. Besides I now have a portable Blu-ray player. The gaming performance is much better even though my FW only has Radeon 3470. My SZ with GeForce Go 7400 can only play Unreal 1 at 1280x800 at 30 fps with FSAA enabled. My FW with Radeon HD 3470 can play Unreal 1 at 1600x900 at 60 fps with FSAA enabled. It is still slow when playing current games though.

 

It really depends on your needs and what you want out of the laptop. The Z is a pretty powerful PC to say the least, but if you don't care about portability as much then it is much more beneficial to get a better laptop. If not, you can always be glad you didn't waste all your money centrally on 'thinness' (Macbook Air.)

 

Hum.. I have the Z, but I dock it to the docking station whenever I'm at home, working for an extended period of time. My docking station is connected to a 24 in monitor and a nice keyboard and office mouse.

You may want to try something like that? So you still keep the portability while not sacrificing much. I carry my Z to school almost everyday, I would hate to carry around any laptop weighing more than 4 pounds...

 

Thanks for the tips and thoughts

jsf_enthusiast: I never seem to notice when I carry the Z in my bookbag. Yours is a good reminder to appreciate what I do have; "the grass is always greener on the other side"

hendra: glad to have your viewpoint from a switcher's perspective!

markhedder, Jparity: you both seem to say consider carefully what the potential owner's focus is on (portability vs. screen size). Jparity offered a suggestion for more screen real estate at home.

In the Official VAIO FW Series Owners Thread, I see folks that previously carried heavier laptops than the FW didn't seem to mind the FW. At least one person travels with it every day. None seemed to regret their purchase. See that thread, pages 20, 21, 43...

I walk my Z around in a backpack Mon-Fri, and use it for 1.5 hours on the train commute, and at home. The FW would be used the same way. It would be roughly twice the weight. But I see myself enjoying that much larger screen.

If I do switch in the next month or so, I'll be happy to post my observations!