Sony FZ best bang for the buck configuration

My sister is in the market for a new notebook computer and I'm promised to configure things for her. I have a few questions when it comes to configuring a new FZ series latop.

1) CPU: T8300 (2.4Hz) best value?
2) HD: Are there any reasons not to get the 7200RPM harddrive instead of the 5400RPM one?
3) Do most people get the Blueray ROM drive?
4) Extended battery option?

My sister doesn't game. She will mainly use it to surf the web, download music, watch movies (probably won't put in too many blueray discs).

 

Based upon specs, the processor is fine, you can even go down if she is only going to use it for simple uses and save some money. Again, the 5.4k drive will save battery and is defiantly cool for general use. There is one 5.4k drive that functions like a 7.2k drive, but thats an after market upgrade. Unless you plan on buying the latest movies in Bluray, like you have a standalone player, no reason. Extended battery, either an extra or larger, for mobility. You should get 2+ hours easy on the FZ.

 

By the sound of things it will not be the speed of the hard drive that matters it will be its capacity, you mention music, video and I imagine she'll have pcitures too. That can take up a big load of hard drive space but a higher RPM won't really make them work any better.

 

Thanks for the tips guys. My sister actually doesn't use her computer all that often mainly because her computer is so slow it drives her nuts. So while I expect her to use her new computer a lot more, I don't think she'll come close to maxing out the harddrive (she hasn't even maxed out her I think 60gb one).

Since the difference between the T7250 and the T8300 is only $70, I'm thinking that it would be a nice upgrade?

I'm really conflicted with which hard drive to choose. When I bought my laptop (Lenovo) I went with the 5400 RPM one rather than the 7200RPM because there were issues with vibrations and stuff with the 7200RPM. Are there any issues with the FZ? Right now, Sony site has a special so the price difference is negligible. 200gb is more than enough. Is the 7200RPM worth it in terms of performance boost? Any negatives?

 

Definitely go for it if it is cheap enough. It will get a bit better performance, but will cost a little more battery, it will be a minute amount, but still more than the 5.4k.

 

The best deal will be something preconfigured...for what she'd need why not an FZ470 or something like that?

 

In that case save her money and dont go spending more than $500---go out and get a nokia 770 or a Asus EEE PC - that should be all she needs and its in a nice neat little package of 7"

1- <>no answer<>
2-speed = heat = battery consumption
3- <>no answer<>
4-at $250 from sony i think its a bit obscene- you can look for a smaller screen and a pentium m - i had a dell 700m with the 8-cell battery and it lasted a good 3-4 hrs before the battery went kaput.

circuit city has a sony vaio fx340e for $1150 - i picked one up in delaware on monday (sales tax free !!!) core 2 duo 2.0 Ghz / 250 GB HD / 3 Gb RAM / hdmi out / full 1080 / dvd rw

 

The thing is that my sister is willing to pay for a faster computer, since she was so frustrated with her old one because it loaded things so slowly. Some of the preconfigured computers suggested includes a slow harddrive, which I don't think my sister will like.

I had actually asked her whether she wanted a configured one in which I thought was faster or a preconfigured one (cheaper) which included parts which i thought made it a bit slower, and she told me to pay more for a configured one. I am looking for deals of course so if anyone knows of a good deal going please let me know.

 

She most assuredly will NOT notice the difference in drive speed for the types of usage you described. Likewise she can get by with a slower processor as well. None of the things you said she does will tax the machine at all. Save some $$$.

Gary

 

The two specs above are hugely over speced for what your sister needs.

 

I was in this same position a couple of weeks ago, when I was customizing my FZ-4000. Here's what I went with:

1) I decided to go with the T8100 at 2.1 GHz. The 9000s were out of my price range, and since the only functional difference between the T8100 and the T8300 was 300 MHz, I decided to save the $50. In terms of future-proofing, I think the difference will be negligible; unless your sister is encoding video or something, she probably won't notice 300 MHz. I wouldn't get anything less than the T8100, though -- it'll be more power-friendly than the T7250, and it's only a $20 upgrade.

2) I thought very seriously about the 7200 RPM drives, but I ultimately decided to go with the 160 GB 5400 rpm on the basis of the heat and noise argument mentioned above. Battery life on the FZ is barely 2 hours as it is, and I don't need something else chipping away at it. I also seriously considered the hybrid drive, but that seems to be just a gimmick at the moment. This is something you can replace, though, so you really can't go wrong here.

3) I went with the Blu-Ray ROM drive. OK, laugh at me for saving $50 on the processor and spending $200 on the Blu-Ray, but consider this: there probably won't be any Blu-Ray players on the market for under $200 for another year yet, so if playing blu-ray movies is appealing, this is the cheapest player of them all, at the moment.

Now that I have the computer, I have to say that the blu-ray ROM isn't all it's cracked up to be. It looks great, don't get me wrong, but you're stuck using InterVideo WinDVD to play all your blu-ray discs -- Windows Media doesn't support the format yet. And WinDVD puts restrictions on you like you can't believe: it won't even let you play BDs on the laptop screen and an external TV at the same time (cloned). "Pick a screen, we're at war," apparently. Plus I own exactly one blu-ray movie, and at $30 a pop, it'll definitely take some time before I accumulate a library. I certainly don't regret springing for the BD-ROM, but it hasn't been a particularly gratifying purchase yet.

4) I did not go with the extended battery, and I don't regret it. I'm never away from power for more than 2 hours, and when I travel, I carry the "brick" anyway, so an extended battery is just extra weight for me. However, if your sister likes to work long hours in the woods (or some such thing), then the extended battery might be worth it to her. It's totally a matter of preference.

One thing you didn't mention: I went for the XBRITE screen option, and I love it. Love. It. Hands down, this is the best laptop screen I have ever seen. It's bright, it's got great contrast, and the blacks are fantastic. In fact, it's so bright that I can set it down to 0% when I'm on battery and still read it in ideal circumstances (plus brightness is easy to change on the fly). It's glossy, but I haven't had any problems with glare at all; I've seen screens you could shave in, and this is not one of them. Some colors (like red) are a little "hot", and that can be disorienting at first, but on balance, this screen has totally changed my computing experience for the better. I can't recommend it enough -- if your sister likes watching movies on her computer, then XBRITE is a must-have.

I didn't add anything else to the base FZ-4000 besides what I've mentioned, and it came in at $1409 plus tax. Take out the blu-ray and it would have been a very respectable $1200. I considered buying a preconfigured system when I was shopping, but I couldn't find one with a T8100 processor or better in my price range. The cheaper systems had slower processors and worse screens, and the decent systems were ridiculously expensive or, as you said, had slow hard drives or other features I don't need. Of course Sony's lineup will change in time, but if you want a specific setup right now, then CTO is definitely the most cost-effective option.

(Plus a CTO Sony will come with Vista SP1 preinstalled, as mine did, while a preconfigured might not -- saving you a small headache out of the box.)

I'm very happy with my new FZ-4000. Good luck with your purchase!

 

If you decide to go with 7200 RPM, configure FZ with the cheapest HD you could find and buy 7200 separately. Sony asking price for 7200 is a robbery. Save your money by buying 7200 separately. Besides, you can sell the slower HD at eBay and hence save even more money.

 

I guess it depends on where you are buying, in Canada I got FZ470 with simlar specs to what cogitatus configured for $1499 + the extended warranty, to CTO anything similar would be $2000 minimum.

#1 recommendation...the HiBritescreen...money very well spent.

 

vro8j,

I'm not trying to start a fight, but I'm looking at the FZ470 on SonyStyle.com now, and the only functional difference I can tell between it and what I CTOed is that the FZ470 has a 300 GB 4200 rpm hard drive, and I only have the 160 GB. But the FZ470 is listed at US$1699 (though I think there may be an available $100-off coupon), while mine was only $1409! In fact, adding the 300 GB HD to my configuration only raises the price to $1519, at the moment -- still cheaper than the discount price for the FZ470. Am I missing something here -- or did you just get a good deal that's no longer being offered?

In my opinion, the only reason to buy a preconfigured Sony would be to take advantage of a special or a sale. Sony almost never discounts the CTO computers, but they regularly offer some pretty decent discounts on the standard models. Plus the preconfigured systems are sold in retail stores that can have their own special offers. If you can find an FZ470 for under US $1500 (and you're happy with a 4200 rpm HD), you should buy it. If it costs any more than that, you'll be better off with the custom order -- you'll get exactly what you want without paying for anything you don't need.

 

No worries, I definitely wasn't thinking you were ready to fight.

There was another Canadian site offering the fz470 for $1499 so Sony was matching it, I just checked that offer is gone so I'm sure Sony's is too. I just checked CTO prices on sonystyle.ca they have come down a lot, even a few weeks ago the computer you ordered would have been over $2k here, now $1518.

Based on that pricing I agree with you and if I was starting from scratch would probably CTO.

I could still take this one back and CTO, if only because for $100 I could get the extended battery but it's not worth waiting for.

 

Thanks guys for your responses. I'm ready to purchase since I want to take advantage of the free ground shipping that sony.com offers.

So you guys think that the T8100 is a better value than T8300. And also get the 160GB SATA 5400RPM harddrive (is there any reason why the 120Gb one is the same price?)

One last question. Is any of the Sony warranties worth getting?

 

Perhaps because they have 160GB overstock and piling up in their inventory?
I was mistaken in informing you that Sony overcharge with 7200 RPM. You only need to add US$60 or $70 which is reasonable. But of course, if you already have 7200RPM hard drive, it would make sense to buy the cheapest and swap it when your notebook arrives.

I never purchase extended warranty because most likely you don't need it. But If you do need it, your laptop is either too old or you already spend too much money on the extended warranty that would cost more than what it would cost had you repaired it yourself.

 

So are there any problems I should know about in regards to the 7200 RPM harddrive? Heat? Noice? reliability? $70 over the 160gb 5400 RPM isn't too much for the performance boost I think.

My sister actually wants the faster CPU and the 3 year accidental warranty. If something does go wrong, it would probably be expensive to fix the computer wouldn't it?

 

For the usage patterns you described for your sister, she is not going to notice ANY improvement in performance with either the 7200 RPM drive or the faster processor. The differences are so negligible for the kinds of things you said she would be doing.

Gary

 

One other thing. Any predictions on what April promotions will be? This is the last day for free ground shipping.

 

Sony offers free ground shipping every week. Also sony doesn't offer so many promotions like others.

 

Ah so there's no real rush to purchase since there isn't any specials running to configure an FZ or anything.

 

Also, will my sister notice a bigger performance boost going with more than 2gb memory rather than spending the $50 on a faster processor?

 

Like all manufacturers, Sony's price for RAM is highway robbery. My advice is to buy the computer with the minimum 2 GB, and then if you feel like upgrading, you can buy an upgrade kit from www.newegg.com. Right now, you can get 4 GB of RAM (2x2GB) for as little as $50.

You can't upgrade the processor after purchase, though, so you should get the best one you can afford. If you have the extra $50 to spend, go for the T8300 -- but bear in mind that it won't be noticeably faster than the T8100 for everyday tasks.

 

If you DO order it with 2gb with the idea that you will want to expand it. You should make sure you get one 2gb stick, not two 1 gb sticks. But again with the usage scenarios you have laid out for your sister, 2 gb should be fine and the T8300 is a waste of money.

Gary

 

Sadly, SonyStyle.com doesn't give you that option, but you should be able to sell your two old 1GB sticks on eBay for a decent price, which will help offset the cost of the two new 2GB sticks.