Questions about the Vaio AR-Series!

Hi all! I´m new to this forum and i live in Sweden!
I´m thinking of buying the Sony Vaio AR21M, the cheaper version of the Sony Vaio AR21S! This is the europe versions name, don´t know what they are called in US?
The main differenses is:
M: 1,8ghz
S: 2.0Ghz
M: 1GB memory
S: 2GB Memory
M: 1400x900 screen
S: 1920x1200 screen
M: DVD/CD recorder
S: Blu-Ray player/recorder
M: 7600 128mb
S: 7600 256mb

As i said I live in Sweden, and I have searched for some reviews of theese laptops, but can´t seem to find any! Then i found this place and saw that there are people here with theese laptops! Perfect!
I´m hoping to hear from people with the AR21M! How is it? Any problems?

Also:
There is only 1GB memory in the M. If I buy the AR21M I´m gonna get 1GB more of memory. Don´t wanna buy from Sony as they are whey overpriced, so which memory do u recommend me buying? Which brand will work ok and not cause any damage?

Hope to get some good answers!
/Anders

 

It seems like S is AR190G and M is AR150G. I'm sure you'll find reviews if you look for US names.

RAM: Make sure that you buy the laptop with 1x1GB stick of RAM instead of 2x512. The brand doesn't matter that much. Kingston, Corsair, Crucial, and many others will work. Look for a deal, and if you have any doubts about the brand, post in Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades. Good luck!

Malia

 

Thanx 4 reply! The AR21M comes with 1x1GB stick, so that is great!
I´m gonna se if i can find some reviews on the US names.
/Anders

 

Technically, the AR 21M/S have the US equivalent model numbers of AR 250G and AR 290G. The AR190/150G are equivalent to the old AR11M and AR11S models. Anyway, pedantacism aside, I own the AR21S, and I can say that it is a really nice media center laptop. However, you may also like to consider the 17" MacBook Pro that have similar specs and is slightly smaller. The one thing about my AR21S is it's hard to find a laptop bag big enough to fit the monster into and I think the AR21M has the same dimensions.

 

Yep, looks like the both share the same (exterior) chassi.
I saw some user picts of "the monster" and it seemes like it really shows of fingerprints and dust realy good?
I agree that the MacBook Pro is an option, but it´s so expensive here in Sweden!
17-Inch laptops do come out big, and I´m looking into 15,4-Inch aswell.
The thing i like about the AR-series is that they come with an HDMI-out!
I have an Pioneer 43-Inch Plasma, and will connect the laptop to watch movies.

 

get S if you can

 

Only M is avaliable, we can´t get the S model here in Sweden yet!

 

Well, the AR series is bigger than most 17" laptops. It's very skinny, but as a result, it's long/wide, so it's impossible to carry. I hate all gadgets that say they're small because they're skinny while they're all long & wide like the RAZR ahem... Anyway just saying, not all DTRs are impossible to carry around. I'd suggest Fujitsu, but European models (Fujitsu-Siemens) suck, so I don't know.
Maybe you know someone who'll be traveling to US in the near future who can make the purchase for you?

Malia

 

I have looked at FJS...
Why does Fujitsu-Siemens european models suck?

 

Not as good build quality, screen, etc. When people have problems, it's usually with Fujitsu Siemens, not Fujitsu. The two have completely different models, so it's like FJS is a completely separate company.

Malia

 

Must the settings in the AR with BluRay be adjusted before you play a DVD disc in it? Because I tried playing and the picture looked fuzzy, compared to a HP laptop next to it which had only DVD-drive.

Maybe the AR doesn't have the function of upscaling DVD to the HD resolution screen? Will it look better on the lower resolution WXGA+ (1440x900) version?

Thank you for any help!