Is this a good buy?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834117275

i'm looking for mobility and performance.

Whatcha guys think?

TIA

 

*oops...my Mistake*

 

huh!?!?!?!?

 

I would say thats an amazing value for your money. That SZ used to be like 1999 dollars, now its discounted. It is good for portablitiy. But if you want power, you might consider the Sony FE 790. It is cheap and powerful and also light. The screen size is 15.4" though.

 

The ASUS W7J is better in build quality. Dell's M1210 is worth looking at for a 12" size. At 14", the ASUS W3J is the best choice. The A8Js is also a 14" with a nice 7700go card, but the build quality is not as good as the W3J.

I would strongly choose the W3J if I were you. It's more expensive than the SZ, but the aluminum build, fancy style, and X1600 gfx card (better than the 7600go on the FE or the 7400 on SZ) justifies the cost. Look at the pics and you'll be amazed at the masterpiece.

Sirius, your sig is REALLY SIMILAR to mine. BUDDHIST PRIDE!

 

OK...somehow I managed to screw up and post a reply in the wrong thread. This is the one I meant to post on.

Sorry...I'm going to sleep now.

 

thanks Maomanmaman - And yes... our signatures is very similar!

The reason I'm looking at the SZ that I have linked is because of the budget price. It's only a little over $1K. The Asus you're talking about is about $700 dollars more.

I have to go to work now but I'll post back with a more in depth response.

p.s.

that asus looks GORGEOUS!

 

I would recommend the SZ if you are on a budget. If you can get a SONY for that price, definitely go for it. At that price sometimes you cant even get a decent Dell (Which is known to be CHEAP) The ASUS is too expensive. You get a balance of power, price and STYLE with the SONY SZ!

 

I almost bought the Asus W7J but went with the SZ.

The SZ is lighter and the Asus has soldered memory that's not removable on one bank.
For the price the Sony is a better deal in my opinion.

 

np, sirius.

btotech has a W3J at about $1440 (with a T2500 processor for the price). You can negotiate with the owner for a better price like some of the ppl here on this forum. that'll help.

btw, Dells are still extremely cheap, especially w/ coupons. The reason why the sony sz above is cheaper is becuz of the lower-end cpu. For $1000, you can get a HIGH END E1505 or E1405.

anyways, the SZ at $1000 is a decent deal. just a little disappointed at the amount of posts complaining problems with the SZ, especially this one: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=96495
(voltage leak through palm rests into body, sony duct-tapes palm rests and sends it back, tells customer to wear gloves as a solution)

something u might wanna make sure doesn't happen to u.

 

ya that sz looks like a good deal.

but asus came out with this really nice laptop something like r1 tablet pc / laptop

i really want to get a tablet pc cause i have so many econ course and i can't draw graphs my laptop errrr...

maomanmaman

the leak thingy is fix with the power supply. just call vaio support and they will send you a brand new 3 pong power supply thingy.

 

once again great post with great information Maomanmaman!

So the voltage problem only occurs when you have the laptop plugged into the adapter? And the solution is a three prong adapter?

Thanks for clarifying this.

 

The voltage problem can easily be fixed just like ch28kid says. There is no argument not to get the SZ for this price. The Dells are crappy in design and quality. Not to mention that everyone has a Dell...so no one gives a crap... The E1505 and E1405 are also heavier and flawed....

The SZ is a nice portable machine 13.3" screen size...also the SZ has EXCELLENT build quality. It is made out of a magnesium alloy (MUCH STRONGER than CHEAP Dell Water bottle plastic)

The dell plastic gets scratched very easily...I wonder why Dell doesnt make any Inspiron in something other than plastic.....oh yea...they are cheap and stupid!

 

I wonder how immature this user can get. calling other companies "cheap and stupid" across the entire forums. Notice how every post he makes is designed to bash DELL. Vaio, did Michael Dell kill your mom, or why are you bashing his company?

Do not forget that the "voltage problem" is the only problem. There's other problems like overheating, keyboard flex (which dells do not have), space bars on earlier models, etc.

Also, the rivaling unit against the SZ is not the E1505 or the E1405, it's the M1210. The M1210 is strongly built and made of magnesium alloy too.

And how do you know dells are made of cheap water bottle plastic? The plastic is quite strong, and the material on the palm rests and lcd bezel is STRONGER than the cheap plastic on the palmrest / lcd bezel of the FE IMHO. Yes, that's right, I had them side by side for comparison.
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2800

"The hand rest area and most of the area around the keyboard is made from some material that feels like the plastic that Coke bottles are made from. I don't know what Sony was thinking when they decided to use this material. It is by far the worst feeling material of any notebook I have laid hands on so far."

FYI, E1705 is made of magnesium on the lid, and the XPS series are all tough, and even the latitudes/ precisions. Really, do you know all, or do you know all about nothing? that is the question.

 

Here's the catch: The SZ for $1000 only has CD-RW/DVD combo drive. No DVD-Burner. No Bluetooth either.

It also has the older lower end Core Duo (not Core 2 Duo) processor. The memory is probably banked at 256 MB x 2 which reduces the cost.

If you don't mind these then it's a terrific deal, especially if it has the biometric fingerprint reader.

I have a friend who has the SZ but have a higher configuration (C2D, bluetooth, etc.) and I can speak about the build quality.

In my opinion, the build quality is OK. Even though I like the brushed aluminum on the palmrest, I didn't like the keyboard at all. The keyboard is mushy, makes a clonky noise, and key travel was shallow. Also, there are small crevices in many parts of the notebook for dust to accumulate (pay attention to the gap on the keyboard area). I also notice that the battery rattles even though it was locked in.