SR490PBB Pre order & CPU ugrade Q T6670 to P87(8)00

So this is what i configured on Sony Style

VGN-SR490 CTO
Customization Details

* Built-in MOTION EYE® camera and microphone
* CD/DVD Playback/Burning
* No Fresh Start
* 320GB Hard Disk Drive (7200rpm) (Reg. price $60.00)
* Quickbooks Simple Start 2009
* Microsoft® Works
* Norton Internet Security (30 Day Trial)
* Trusted Platform Module and Biometric Fingerprint Sensor
* ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 4570 with 512MB dedicated video RAM - HDMI™ out with ATI graphics.
* No
* Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8700 (2.53GHz) (Reg. price $150.00)
* Standard Capacity Battery
* 13.3" widescreen display with XBRITE-ECO™ LCD technology (1280x800)
* Classic Black
* Microsoft® Windows Vista® Home Premium 64-bit
* 4GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 2GBx2)
$1,309.99


and i was ready to buy this but due to some budget issues im down to 800-$1000,
and i found this link
http://www.cdwg.com/shop/products/default.aspx?EDC=1783360

Vaio SR-490PBB
Core 2 Duo T6670 / 2.2 GHz 800Mhz 2MB L2 Cache
2 GB RAM DDR2 PC2-6400 800Mhz
320 GB HDD 5,400 RPM
DVD±RW (±R DL) / DVD-RAM
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570
WLAN : 802.11 a/b/g/n (draft) Intel 5100
Bluetooth 2.1 EDR
Fingerprint Reader
Vista Business / XP Pro downgrade
13.3" Widescreen TFT 1280 x 800 (WXGA) LED Backlit
1.3 Megapixel Webcam
Night Black
$999.99


and i was planning to upgrade the CPU to P8700 or P8800 which will cost me $200-230 extra
so i found these links
i know the online shop is genuine but i was wondering if someone can confirm if the ebay one is legit or a fake

P8700

Ebay P8800

P8700 Ebay


Question 1: will the CPU be upgradeable? i think yes but i just need someone to confirm it

Question 2: ive rechecked what i wanted and what im getting and all i see CPU difference, anything else im missing? i sometimes look over things oh yes and the 5400RPM HDD, ill upgrade that too i guess

Question 3: can someone find me similar or same config with a lower price, someone posted having a 87- price for the same model, i cant find that anywhere please help me.

thanks for your help, all comments are appreciated
i have like 3 days to order so hopefully i can get a good amount of replies to make my decsion

 

OK, I got my PBB from CDW 10 days ago. Their sell manager is very nice. You can cut the price down to 958 if you got a ABN membership. Google it, it is free and simple to get.

I really don't think you can find any higher spec.but lower price than PBB so far. And CDW is the only seller who has it in stock.

Remember that most 490 have NO 4570 card, so far only JBB and PBB have it at your price range. And JBB is on heavy backorder. You can't get it until next month although it has P8700 U.

The CPU is certainly upgradeable. Just curise what tasks are you going to do? Do you really need CPU upgrade now?

BTW, I actually opened a thread about this days ago.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=410657

 

I am goin to be using it for Dreamweaver, Photoshop, always wanted to to do gaming on my SZ but was never able to so hopefully the 512MB would be suitable enought
i usually game with PSX2, i tried on my SZ with Kingdom Hearts but it was lagging abit(EDIT: i mean ALOT ), and wanna play NFS(series all over again )
but yeah few other light gaming.
umm and watching High Def movies
i havent seen the JBB until now and im interested, becuz i was thinking upgrading the CPU would void my warranty right? and i checked its costing me about $220 or so so that $1220 total, im gonna do the upgrade before i turn on the lappy for the 1st time, but if i get the JBB the cheapest i found was $1180 have you found one any cheaper or anywhere where i can get a discount? it would be better since i wont have to open the lappy for a CPU or RAM upgrade since it has 4GB instead of the 2GB in the PBB(Edit: i have a question, someone told me to always get 2,4 or 6GB becuase then the RAM will be dual channeled, but if you get like 3GB it wont be, and it will slow down your computer a bit, is that true? just re read SR490JBB specs and its 3GB oh well, cant be picky about everything will upgrade later on i guess)
anyone can get the SR490JBB cheaper than $1180 or with a discount of any type would be really REALLY appreciated

Edit: okay so i found this
SR490JBB
$1106 nice, but alas as you said, its out of stock

sorry for the re-editing again and again
I also need international warranty as i live in London,
Reason 1: USA is cheaper to buy lappy's i really dislike USA/China made laptops, cuz i know Sony Europe lappy's come from Japan, but i guess im on a budget and to get my specs, gotta get it from USA
Reason 2: having recently moved few yrs ago, never got used to UK QWERTY keyboard, so i want US qwerty keyboard
has anyone registered their SR for international warranty through the service that Sony provides? i know SR is one of the selected models for Int'l warranty

And i need the Night Black colour, sick of the silver now

 

1. That's true your warrenty will be gone if you change CPU cuz you have to open the whole case to get job done. Ram is OK, no one would notice if you have done that.


2. Before getting my PBB, I was actually backordering the JBB from Portable 1 where they offer me 50 dollars discount for JBB which I remember is origianlly 1135 or something. But, tell you the truth, you won't get it until mid Sep. Even P1 has it in stock by then, I am affraid you can't get one also cuz there are over hundreds of orders on the waiting list for this model before you.

3. Theoratically, you are right the due channal runs faster. But....em, I don't think I can ever notice how faster it could be. BTW, I got another 2G ram for 20 bucks. Ram is cheap, so I personally never check the ram when buying a computer.

4. Interesting! For the international warranty, I just went to Sony IRSP website. Ok, here's what I found. At the final step of the registeration, it asks you where you purchased your SONY SR(the system will automatically scan your BIOS and got your serial number), there is no option for NORTH AMERICA! I don't care actually because I am not going to travel anywhere outside states, so I chose HongKong. After I hit the submit buttom, the website redirected me to the sonystyle USA, and then I finished last steps of my registeration. I don't know if this really works.

 

Thank you so much for checking these things out for me i really really appreciate it, well i dont mind as long as i can get it ordered , if it can arrive by oct that that would be great, so i dont have a problem, i dont have a time limit

hmm thats interesting about the international warranty, 1 month back i send an email to sony support or something and they told me that 1yr includes int'l warranty, but i guess he meant applying, but no NA option? that will be trouble, i guess ill have to talk to them again and set things straight, i read in another post that 3rd party companies offer int'l warranty in your own country, so i guess ill have to get that then

when i get it im going to have to clone the HDD so i can upgrade to 320 or 500 72000PRM thanks again

 

This is a good deal
http://www.jr.com/sony/pe/SON_VGNSR430JB/

 

thanks Rachel SR490JBB vs SR430J/B
250 5400RPM 320 7200RPM
$1105 $1249

the thing is the laptops i have had ask of yet they were given to me as 2nd hand from family when their warrantty has been way past, and since this is my 1st offical laptop that im buying, i dont want to void the warranty in any way, so i guess ill save up a bit more to get the SR430j/b is there any way to get further discounts?, im still on a really tight budget, and i need the lowest price possible, and since im not the type of person who can buy a laptop every 1-2 years i want this to last a bit for atleast 3yrs or so, and changing the HDD will void the warranty too, well the thing is if i ever need to get it fixed, i can just change the parts back, im praying that it turns out to be okay, and not a bad egg as others have had,becuz im going to have this send via family so ill be the 1st to open it here and its gonna be a pain sending it back, its like $70-100 for int'l shipping


on last question, if i upgrade to 4965 AGN or 5300 wifi card, ill have to add a 3rd antenna which i have no problem doing and someone set a mini guide on how to and where its located in the SR thread, i just hope it wont void the warranty

 

You could look into bing. Some people claim to have got cashback through bing.
It is worth a look into anyway.
http://www.bing.com/shopping/pages/stores.aspx?FORM=PRFS07

Upgrading your HD is pretty straight forward actually and would not void the warranty of your laptop. You have pretty easy access to the HD and do not need to dismantle your entire laptop to get to it.

 

No problem. I suggest you to get SR430 since the price has been cut down.
For the 7200PRM HDD. If you wanna change it, make sure burnning your recovery disks first.

 

yeah, around 150 for an upgraded HDD with a higher RPM, cuz i check at my local store here and its around £80 for a 500GB segate 7200RPM, but oh well ill go with the SR430J/B, ill keep you updated on what i finalized, give it 1-2 days

any comments on upgrading the wifi card?

 

I don't know much about wifi card. I feel the origianl one is fast and stable enough for me.

 

yeah, i heard alot of bad things about the 5100 card, and it only uses 2 antenna's vs teh 3 antennas the 4965 and the 5300 card uses, so better and stronger connection/signal.

I cant thank Rachel enough for the Bing option, if i sign up i checked up how much i can get off of J&R for the SR430J/b and they said 5-7% thats $62-87 thats really really good so my price can go down from $1,249 to $1,187(5%) to $1,162(7%) wowza