Okay...So I'm returning my VAIO SR and Re-ordering..What should I do this time around?

My specs are in my sig. I got it with the standard battery.

Here's what i'm thinking...

Get rid of the ATI card (I dont even game...i sweare i've played for about 10 hours total and im still on summer vacation! when college starts, i'm pretty much not even going to use the ati card).

and then with the 100$ saved i was thinking of either getting the extended battery and either

250 GB or 320 GB.

for the two harddrives which one is better? brand difference? speed/heat? harddrive. I'm opting for the extended battery still though...


What do you think??

 

If you wan't more battery life, aren't you kind of shooting yourself in the foot with the 7200 RPM HD since it will drain more battery than a typical 5400? May want to consider the 320 GB 5400 RPM as it will perform the same as the 200 GB 7200 RPM anyway.

Extended battery's are nice in general, but I don't like how they stick down on Sonys. I would be worried about cracking the battery case or something.

PS: How easy was it to upgrade to the OCZ memory? It's a pretty small chassis...

 

Yea.. well the thing is I would be saving some battery from using integrated graphics.

 

7200RPM doesn't make a significant difference in battery life anyways, from what I've heard. 1.5-4% max, somewhere I've read. Just google it.

EDIT:
Some examples:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=122964
http://www.genmay.com/showthread.php?t=795432
http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/showthread.php?t=14540&page=2

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Now playing: Muse - 2003 - Absolution - 03 Time Is Running Out
via FoxyTunes

 

I guess the question would be if the 7200 200 gb is better than the 320 GB 5400 RPM... i remember reading they are about the same speed because of the high density of data in the 320 GB...

any for sure answer?

 

Lencias:

Really? I didn't realize it would be such a small difference.

Duke:

The performance is within miliseconds, almost identical. Another thing to consider with getting the 320 GB is that it is $50 cheaper than the 200 GB 7200 RPM with the current sale. So that would put you half way towards paying for the extended battery.

By the way, how was gaming on the SR with ATI? I don't do any shooters or anything, but I've gotten hooked on Age of Empires 3. And would hopefully like to play 4 whenever it comes out.

 

I loved the gaming! played countrer strike with it and morrowind. great FPS on high details ect...

However... I cannot justify my few hours of unnessary gaming for 100 bucks more plus reduced battery life.

 

See my (slowly) edited post. XP


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Now playing: Muse - 2006 - Black Holes and Revelations - 02 Starlight
via FoxyTunes

 

ok i dont think im getting the 7200 RPM now... its too expensive for the performance i dont really need. i'd rather get larger drive.. and i'm still going to get the extended battery because I don't know... I just think it would be good to have? lol. anybody know exactly how much height it adds to the laptop?

now...

250 GB vs 320 GB.

which one? brand difference? speed/heat?

 

Lencias:

I guess you are right about the battery life. But if nothing else, atleast with the 5400 RPM you get the same performance BUT an additional 120 GB's, while saving money.

Duke:

Definitely the 320. Thats the sweet spot for performance on a 5400 RPM. I'm pretty sure the 250 will be quite a bit slower.

 

Ok thanks buddy, i'll def. get that then.

Anyhow, have you heard about the INtel GPU? is there anything wrong with em?

Hmm.. ok now I know I'll get the 320 GB... but 100 bucks for the battery....hmm... i would have no issue with it but what you said about it cracking concerns me... because there would be more pressure in the center of the notebook where its in mid air...

wow...this is tougher than i thought and this is time 2 around!

I would have to reduce my 3 year warranty to 2 if i want to afford both of them... hmmm

help!

 

that's interesting... the first i've heard of it.

are you going through sonystyle?

 

yes i am. sonystyle

 

screw it. I think i'll just bite the bullet and get this:

3 year extended warranty with ADH (this way it lasts thruout my entire college)

320 GB harddrive

Extended battery


I never use batteries when plugged into the outlet at home...so When I'm out and about, I'll use the extended battery without worries of charge..turning stuff down, doing this and that bla bla...I think it would be worth it. Plus I'd prob. get nearly 6 hours or more of battery life. insane! (i got 3.5 on powersave with the ATI card...so with the intel and extended batt... 6 for sure)

extended life is useful esp. when power goes out at school or apartment... happened once when my friend was reg. for class and power was out and her laptop was dying so she had to rush.

Anywho... I'd still save 100 dollars after all these upgrades compared to my original order.

OR...

I could just buy standard now and get the extended LATER if I NEED it???

urgh. decisions..

 

If you want to keep the same laptop for 4 years of college you may want to reconsider getting the ATI. Not necesarily for gaming, although it will be nice for that too, but there's no way to predict the system requirements 3 to 4 years from now just to run regular applications - just look what happened with Vista, you ****ed near need a dedicated card just to run Aero.

For now I think the X4500 is actually pretty good, you just may want to consider what "might" happen down the road, since you can't upgrade your GPU. You definitely can't do any gaming on the Intel, but it's fine for internet/MS office/music/movies/general use.

You did say you are still $100 under your original order...

 

but the whole purpose is to reduce heat and battery usage and fan usage/noise...also to sway me from being tempted to play games.. I got so distracted last year because of playing counterstrike and hitman on my FZ with the 8400 GT.

Or what if I get the ATI card and then the extended battery and just get a cheaper harddrive?

i dont know... now that you mention that im confused...

do you really think apps would be that demanding in 3 years? i'd likely by a new laptop when i graduate. i just need this laptop to get me thru soph, junior and senior year.


I need to order tonight so i get this JUST in time before i go bye bye to school.

 

I propped my laptop up a bit to immitate the extended battery. i like it! i wonder exactly how much height the extended adds though..


yea imma screw the warranty for 3 years and just get the 2 yr cuz i get 1 year extra for using american express. so if anything happens in senior year... american express has my back

 

duke, do you have a specific price range you NEED to meet? why can't you get the good hard drive, extended battery and ATI?

oh, and i would doubt that apps are going to need dedicated graphics in just three years time... that would be insane. but you never know.

 

Honestly bro, I think if you are in college its time to grow up a little. Saying you won't be able to keep yourself from playing video games if you have an ATI card is like saying you'll stay up too late in your dorm if your mother doesn't call you and remind you to go to bed.

In regards to heat and stuff, I don't have the SR yet but from everything I've read even with the ATI its still a cool laptop and with the ATI card I've been seeing about ~3.5 hours of battery life according the the reviews I was reading. So if you had the extended battery I would say you could easily get ~5 to ~5.5.

The 3XXX ATI GPUs are a nice leap forward all around, power effecient, cool and not to shabby performence they also just shrunk the die down the 55NM if I remember correctly, I was told Intel still runs something rediculous like 90NM or something I can't validate that, just mentioning what I was told. And I'm by no means an ATI fanboy or anything... I've actually been using Nvidia for a long time, but I just think that ATI is pulling ahead of them at this moment.

And I have no way of predicting system requirements 3 years from now, and I'm not saying you wouldn't be fine with the Intel - it might still be perfect for you. I'm just saying consider all possibilities.

The extended battery shouldn't add much weight, probably even less than half a pound.

 

I'm sure if 2 or so years ago people were saying Vista like requirements would soon become "normal" or "mainstream", you would be saying the same thing.

 

bla bla edit edit

 

On a sidenote... I just thought..

What apps would even require a dedicated card in the next 3 years? Sure not vista..

I don't plan on changing to another OS in just 3 years... im sure the 4700mhd can handel it just fine now, so why not in 3 years?

I seriously dont even game much, i think its pointless to get the ATI unless you're thinking about "the future". my future is : word processing, web browsing, making music (CPU intensive)

so.. i dont see where a dedicated card is needed.

i think i'll stick to intel integrated...while the ATI SOUNDS nice... i'd rather have the benefits of longer life (nearly 7 hours with ext. batt. could be useful if i do field work for internships,ect) , less heat and cheaper laptop price and i barely game now, and i dont think i'd have any interest nor time in the future. i havent played much games in the past 4 years.

any last inputs before i make my purchase?

anything is helpful!!

 

R u sure that the 200 7200 is slower than the 320 5400? I mean I dont really know too much about this stuff but I would think that less data at a higher rate of speed would be more efficient that more data stored at a slower speed.
I understand it means you have more room, but if you use an external would that compensate? Or is it really the same?
Thanks for help

 

how can you return your laptop ??? i bought mine from newegg !! can I returned it to sony ??

 

normal/mainstream is one thing... actual requirement is another.

any decision yet?

 

No .. you cant return it anywhere.. thats the newegg return policy... you got it cheap.. but you cant return it..

 

Exactly. 4700HMD is fine.

Hard drives: the 320GB that I've seen Sony using most is the Toshiba, it's a pretty slow performer. If I were you I would order the cheapest drive, and then replace it with either a Hitachi 7K320 or WD3200BEKT. You can go for the 320GB or 160GB version. They are equally fast.




Direct link to chart at Tom's Hardware: http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/...,2040,1917,2039,1891,2025,2041,1905,1872,2027

 

ah ****! i already ordered it

thanks anyway phil.. dang..

anyway, would the 320 GB perform at least faster or = to my 160 GB 5400 stock one i used to have?? it was only a 100 dollar upgrade too..thats why i even bothered. had it been 150 i wouldnt have gotten it.

 

It will probably perform similar to your older drive.

Who knows maybe you'll get a different 320GB.

 

ok cool. no problem. the extra space was needed anyhow! i was already down to 50 GB on my 160 gb drive and had no music or video yet added! yikes

 

That's because Vista takes up your harddrive space. Check my sig on how to turn it off.

 

i want it to! i want the recovery partition. i dont trust dvd discs. heh. well now with the 320 I could not be bothered by it. yay.

 

It's not only the recovery partition but many other features of Vista take up disk space.