Is Sony SZ6 the best v Dell?

Hi,

In terms of decent 13 inch high-end laptops, the most popular 2 seem to be Sony SZ6 and Dell M1330. I'm looking to buy one of these 2 laptops soon.

The Dell initially had reported build quality issues, delayed delivery time and CPU whine. However, from the posts I've read these have been sorted out now. Furthermore, the Dell comes with additional features such as HDMI output, remote control, additional hard drive space/speed.

However, one thing Sony has that Dell doesn't is Stamina/Speed mode.

So is the Dell M1330 better than the Sony SZ6? Dell seem to have got their act together and (reportedly) sorted out the issues they had during initial release of the M1330.

 

In my opinion, the SZ is better in terms of:
- looks/style
- slightly lighter weight
- probably better screen (Sony generally has excellent screens)
- haven't heard about as many build issues

while the M1330 is better in terms of:
- HDMI port
- price
- configurability
- keyboard
- Dell gives you the OS & drivers discs
- probably better service/support

 

I went through 2 M1330's, and had problems with both (1st was the screen & build quality issues, 2nd was build quality and a bulge in the keyboard!).

So I sent them both back, got a full refund, and went and got an SZ61WN/C that is 100% perfect!! However, the SZ was £600 more than the M1330! (M1330 was £934 delivered, SZ61WN/C was £1550 delivered)

As they say...you get what you pay for!

 

The Dell M1330 has Nvidia 8400M video card with 128MB dedicated video RAM while SZ6 only has 64MB. If you are doing some gaming, go with Dell.

 

true, but the Sony will also share the system RAM and use up to 831MB for graphics if the standard 64MB is not enough.

And I have played both Crysis and Unreal Tournament 3 on my SZ, and they both run just fine....I honestly dont think that the extra 64MB will give that much of a difference in performance, esp seeing as the extra memory needed can be taken from the system RAM. All it really means is that the Dell will always have an extra 64MB of system RAM free over the Sony...and 64MB of system RAM these days pretty much make no difference! TBH I actually think you need more than 64MB of system RAM just to run Word!!

 

let me also add that the sony SZ gets better battery life.

 

Not to make things more complicated, but I have a Sony SZ 660 which I'm returning (or plan to), and will buy the Dell m1330. There is really only one reason why, I cant get used to the keyboard on the Sony! See my other post about my complaints with the keyboard. To sum it up, it feels cheap and its noisy. The main problem that I cant get over is that I feel like I'm fat-fingering every other word. I'll hit 2 keys instead of one, my thought is that the keys are just very easy to press down and that they are slightly larger or maybe not as rounded off on the edges, so I catch them more often. I'm decent at typing, and this is the only keyboard I've had problems with. FYI, there are many who have no problems.

I will agree with everyone else about the pro/cons of Dell vs Sony.

I get great battery life, lcd is great, no or low fan noise, i have a docking station, great size/weight, build quality is good, if not perfect.

I am very worried about getting a Dell, simply because of the quality issues I've heard about. But as you said, it seems things are getting better. I think the Dell offers nearly everything the Sony does, but at the time I bought this, the Sony was cheaper by $500. Made the choice easy. With the Dell deal going on now, I'm willing to give it a try.

One question, anyone know how much more battery life the Sony gets over the Dell? I'm really shocked at how long my batt runs, I dont have stats, but it seems like I can surf at night without the need for the AC.

Good Luck!

 

Crysis and UT3? I'm asking because I played BF2 yesterday. Sure it run at max but even at lowest I almost instantly got a 80 degrees C warning from nhc. Did you experience high heat levels?

At this point op sorry dont mean to hijack your thread or anything but I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience with putting in a 8gb memory card and using it as storage/readyboost? Does it work or boost performance in any way?

 

No, not really! I got UT3 running at medium/high settings, and I have Crysis running at low/medium settings, and my temp never rises above 50C(ish) according to speedfan! And they both run very smooth, Crysis could do with being a little smoother, but that could be acheived by lowering the settings...and for a 8400M GS it does the job quite well as it is!

 

Hmm nhc is reporting 56degrees when typing this right now.. Think I'll test with speedfan..

EDIT: Hmm nhc is reporting +15 (speedfan 40 nhc 55) Wont have anything to worry about then

 

I trust speedfan more than NHC, mainly because it reported the same figures as MobileMeter when checking the CPU temp on my old HP running XP Pro SP2.

So if them 2 are reporting the same and NHC is reporting different, then its def NHC being dodgy! Note that MobileMeter DOES NOT work with Vista!

Download link to MobileMeter.... http://www.geocities.co.jp/SiliconValley-Oakland/8259/release/0310/mm0310.zip

 

I'm just gona go with the speedfan temps and go "wtf happened" when a flame pushes though the Esc and f1-f3 buttons. But you being able to run UT3 lightens my day alot