Need Help w/ Buying New Vaio Laptop

So I've decided much to my surprise that I want to get the Sony Vaio laptop. The model I'm getting is the Sony Vaio VGN-AR770 CTO Series Notebook.

I'm currently deciding on some certain features in terms of customization and I wanted to get other peoples opinions as to what I need or should have in it.

Now of course I want it to be able to read and play Bluray movies. Sony offers a Bluray Disc Read Only Drive and a Bluray Disc Read & Write Drive. I just want to know if I opt to get the READ ONLY drive will I be able to burn regular DVD's if by some chance I feel the need to burn some something onto a physical format? I really don't see a situation where I'll need to burn that much information onto a disc so to me the Bluray Read Only drive sounds best. I just want to be sure that I'll still be able to burn old school DVDs.

My 2nd concern/issue is Hard Drive. I know that Vista requires a lot of space and I want to make sure that Vista will run as smooth as possible on my new laptop and that the Internet is pretty fast and reliable. I"ll also be downloading music on this laptop. I just wanted to know which one you think is the best and why. These are the options I've narrowed it down to.

1) 240 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [5400 rpm]
2) 320 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [5400 rpm]
3) 400 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [5400 rpm]
4) 400 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [7200 rpm]

Also are there real tangible differences between 5400 rpm vs 7200 rpm? Like will the 400GB Hard Drive be better and will it lead to a better Bluray experience if its running at the higher rpm?

The last topic I need guidance on is the Memory. Again I want to know what you guys think would be okay to good for Bluray movie watching, internet surfing, and general student activities/assignments (such as writing, powerpoints, spreadsheets, etc). The options are below. I'm leaning towards being safe and getting the 3G just to be safe.

2 GB DDR-SDRAM (DDR2-667, 1 GBx2
3 GB DDR-SDRAM (DDR2-667, 2GBx1 + 1GBx1)
4 GB DDR -SDRAM (DDR2-667, 2 GBx2)

Sorry about the long a$$ post but obviously this is a huge investment and I don't want to make a wrong or stupid decision I'll regret later. I'd appreciate any information/help anyone can give me. Thanks.

 

I am looking at the same thing. The Blu-Ray ROM will burn DVD's. The hard drives are all dual - so divide the numbers above in half as you have two drives (click on "More Info" in each section of CTO). Vista will easily run on one of the 120gb drives - it only needs 30-40gbs. But yes, the 2 x 200 @ 7200 will be faster than the others. However, I am not sure how your hard drive sizes make a difference in watching Blu Ray movies as they are on a Blu Ray disk, not on your HD's. As for the ram, stick with 2GB, $150 for just one more gig is a rip off. You can get memory elsewhere for less, however you have to weigh out if you can install it yourself to save the money.

 

Thanks man for your input. I really appreciate it. Hopefully others will weigh in.

 

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