Now or Later? - Vaio FW $900 (p8700;4650)

I've been considering getting a laptop for a while now and I've looked into various companies. First, I thought an acer aspire would be a good deal then I thought an alienware m15x but then I came upon this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834117938.

It has what I'm looking for a centrino 2 class processor. The ati mobility 4650 which can smack the nvidia products around and go toe-to-toe with the mobility 3870 of the m15x. Better chipset with faster ram and room to upgrade. A decent resolution screen. Stylish looks. 7200 rpm hd.

I decided to go on over to the sony vaio website to see If I could get a better deal and I could get nearly the same config 512mb vram for $900, $50 less. The extra vram would be useless anyhow. Comes in a sexier color than the silver as well.

Now what I would like to know is if I should spring on this while sony is having its academic discounts or if I should wait till later in august or september or wait till black friday in november. I've read that the academic discount season provides the lowest price on laptops of the year and I worry that notebooks geared for christmas shoppers wont be what I need.

Tell me if I can do better guys cause this is the best deal yet for me. And yes I'm a student who likes to game recreationally and I take liberties with grammar sometimes.

Here's the chatlog I had with a sony rep if you care to read:

 

My guess is that the next refresh will come out in September and that, like the past refreshes, it will be a tweaking of a few of the specs: a slight change of plastic material for the keyboard, a different color or two for the case top, a different line of Intel processors, etc.

The rule of thumb probably should be: Purchase your computer when you need it and will use it -- not before. There will always be sales. When a new refresh comes out, pricing is always part of the deal. In fact, with the FW4 we discovered that the price went down with respect to the quality offered -- and was not more than the price of the FW3!

Hope this helps. Good luck.

 

Well I originally preferred to purchase one at the start of school and the performance I get from this machine would sate me for the year. The pm45 chipset should allow me to upgrade the ram, processor, and graphics card later on.

So for this time period is $900 good for what I'd be getting? I seem to see alot of laptops with similar specs still in the $1200+ range.

 

Yes!

cheers ...

 

If you need/want it now (which looks like you do because of school), then might as well buy it because that is a pretty good price. If you can wait, then wait. There are bound to be price drops in the future, but it could be a while until it does.

If I were you, I would just buy it.

 

You don't have to pay tax if you buy it on newegg unless you live in california or a few other states. I live in Texas and when I configure the same specs except for the 512mb gfx card on sonystyle it actually comes out to be $966.68 after tax. But you get a free engraving at sonystyle.. so basically you're paying 16.68 more for less gfx card ram and an engraving..

I assume you were referring to the chocolate color? I saw the chocolate one at best buy and imho it looks a lot worse in person.

 

If you engrave it, you cannot return it. Careful....

And remember: Just because Newegg doesn't collect the tax for your state doesn't mean that your state might not consider you as obligated to pay the sales tax for Internet purchases on your state income tax return.

I still think you don't buy something until you need it.

Look at the history of the FW: FW1 came out last June, then FW2 in the fall, then FW3 in the Spring and now June again, FW4.

My guess: There will be one last push of sales on the FW4 to clear out stock before a refresh or redesign (probably a refresh) in the fall right after school starts.

And remember, too: Sony Style has no restocking fee if you change your mind within 30 days of purchase; Newegg takes 15% back before refunding your money on a return.

 

Tough choices. I just got back from best buy and I agree the color on the choclate brown was ehhh. I think I will buy from sonystyle to give me the safety of a no questions asked return.

Although, the extra vRAM on the newegg model might be worth risking the return policy difference for. Something that troubles me is how I can't find any information from the sony people or by checking out the laptop at bestbuy whether the 4650's memory is DDR2 ,DDR3 ,or preferebly GDDR3 does someone know the answer to that question?

On color though does any one have some revealing pics of a FW4 in silver? I like the optical illusion it has when at a distance that makes it appear thinner than it really is; though I was concerned that the relective nature of the silver would be distracting when I am watching a film.