Really liking the C Series...

I've been searching for a laptop for around a month now (not too seriously, just browsing on Sonystyle and some other websites like HP) and I came across the Sony C series. It sounded like everything I wanted, small-ish screen, upgradeable specs, Sony, good looks.

So, my question is when is it going to be released and is it a good laptop (I made a topic on the What Notebook Should I Buy forum: http://forum.notebookreview.com/wha...ptop-soon-suggestions-needed.html#post7193443) ?

I've been looking at the EA as well as the S but I heard that the EA wasn't that great and I felt that the S was too small for gaming and stuff. Of course, my budget is around 1200-1300 (flexible) so I'm not talking about the base laptop, but with upgrades. Anyways, any comments/suggestions/warnings on the upcoming CA or even the other laptops I've been looking at?

 

well if you're a dedicated gamer, I wouldn't really look at Sony...they're not known for gaming, their multimedia notebooks feel like cheap plastic, it's only their business notebooks that have great quality but they can't really handle too many games. The C series might be better but I still don't think the Radeon 6470 is suitable for proper gaming. As for the release date, rumors are for sometime in the summer, maybe June. If you're just a casual gamer and like the looks, then it might be for you, but we can't say for sure until its released

 

I assume you're looking at the 14" category? Good gaming laptops for that would be HP Envy 14 or the Acer TimelineX 4820TG (If you can find one with a i5 and not the ghetto i3's...) In any case, the new CA series specs look good once configured... with option for 1080p and some decent graphics capabilities (although do note that having a 1080p display will make it harder for your card than if you were gaming at say 1366x768 res, so i'd advise maybe kicking it down to 1600x900 at least)

 

I've heard so many bad things about HPs and Dells though, so I'm a little reluctant to get a Envy 14. I really hope this CA comes out soon and has some good upgrade options

 

Oh, and I forgot to ask. What, in your opinion, would be a better laptop? The EA, SA, or the CA (speculation obviously)?

 

SA is the more "high-end" than the CA/EA models which seem more geared towards the average consumer (since Sony has to cover all their bases) and the CA seems to be the successor of the EA, so the CA is better than the EA.

I try not to judge laptops based off the manufacturer's reputation (as many laptops by Dell/HP are just rebranded OEMs by Clevo, etc.) unless they involve warranty support (many horror stories about Sony support on this forum so...). I'd advise instead to maybe visit the Envy 14's Owner's Thread and see what problems they suffer from, etc.

 

Thanks, you've been really helpful.