Opinions on AR series

Anyone here have opinions on the AR series?

I have a problem with the AR series...

1.) It should use 1080P, not 1080i.

2.) They should upgrade it to Santa rosa rather than core 2 duo

3.) Use more powerful video cards instead of go 7600 gt's.

anyone here want to add anything? lol

 

Santa Rosa is the platform, it still uses Core 2 (though a slightly upgraded version.

I was always disappointed that it didn't use a 7900 series card. At some point I'm sure it'll be upgraded to Santa Rosa and probably an 8600 series card.

 

It would take a while though. :twitcy:

 

Here in Japan they are taking pre-orders starting July for the new AR series. It's also up on Sony's site. Dunno about where you're at though.

It is a Santa Rosa, and uses 8600 series cards.

 

Sony's all business and multimedia. A better card would sacrifice battery life, but then again, where would anyone take that beast?

 

They list two new AR models on the U.S. store as well now. They're listed as backordered, and aren't configurable yet.

The cheaper model has a Geforce 8400, the more expensive one has Blu Ray and a Geforce 8600GT, so probably fairly competitive specs.

It doesn't look the hard drives in the AR are easily accessible though?

 

i just got one about a month ago and i saw TODAY on sony's website that the AR500 series is out now (don't know if it's actually available but they are taking orders for it). argh!! i hate when that happens! the AR520 is only $50 more than the AR320 and has much better specs, obviously.

with that aside. i'm pretty happy with this computer. this is my first laptop so i guess i don't really have much to compare it with. i still don't understand how the video card specs are done. i bought it with the assumption that it was 335MB dedicated video memory but i saw somewhere on my computer, i think in the help/support section, that it's a 64MB card or something like that.

 

Do you know if the hard drive is easy to get at? And how's the audio quality (any background hiss through headphones)?

I've probably narrowed my choice down to the new AR, or a Dell of some sort, or Macbook Pro, so I want to check all this stuff

 

The Sony AR's have the best 17" screens in any laptop. The MBP cant carry the AR's lunch let alone even compare to the Asus G2. You gotta compare them to see the difference. Its like night and day.
Also im pretty sure the AR's are 1080p capable. Where did you read that the screen was interlaced?

 

i'm listening to something right now through a pair of headphones and i don't hear any hissing whatsoever. the sound quality is very good.

sorry, i don't know about accessing the HD. at this point i don't want to mess with it because i'm a new laptop user and don't know how to play around with laptop parts like i do a desktop.

 

Thanks! Good to know it sounds good! I would have been very surprised if Sony didn't nail that, but you never know. I've always been impressed with their Engineers.

 

i think the ARs have the best screen of all 17" lappy (haven't seen Alienware one yet)
and if you are on XP, the AR will be 1080p. but if you are on Vista, you will good to go only 1080i.
I would be happier if the graphic card is 7950GTX
and there one more thing that i don't like about AR series
I believe it doesn't have the MXM slot
anyway i don't think any laptop graphic card
except Go7600, Go 7600GT, 8600M GT, 8700M GT will support HDCP
that why i think sony doesn't put higher card in the AR series
because it is a multimedia laptop not a gaming.

But i maybe wrong because Go 7950GTX in M1710 can play blu-ray protected as well^^