Sony VPCEB390X

Does anyone have this laptop and tell me their experience with it?

VPCEB390X | VAIO® EB390X Configure-to-Order | Sony | Sony Style USA


This laptop looks very good. Can you tell me what are must upgrades for this laptop? I want this because it has 1080p.

I know for sure it would be

Intel core i5 minimum?

4gb ram. How come its only $20 extra to upgrade to 4gb ram where its $170 more to upgrade to 6gb ram. Is the 4gb ram here worst than say dells 4gb ram?

ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5650 GPU (1GB VRAM) because that is only way i can get 15.5" Full HD VAIO Premium Display (1920x1080). Its actually free now as oppose to an extra $50 but i buy by october 9

The Hard drive they give is 320GB (5400 rpm) What would you suggest i upgrade this to? I know 7200 rpm is the minimum i should have for poker. I am thinking 500GB (7200RPM) for another 80 dollars would be my best option? I read the thread about SSD but would it be a better idea to not upgrade the hard drive and just buy a separate SSD and then put it into this laptop? Would that be much better? How much GB would i need? I see there are 80gb ones, 160gbs. I can tell you this from my desktop that i bought earlier this year. I have about 1 million hands played. according to HEM since may so thats about 5 months.

I am also confused. If i buy SSD drive, that means i still have my 320gb 5400 rpm right? So if i store songs, files, are those going to go to the SSD 80gb or the 320gb? Is it possible to have the ssd all dedicated to HEM/Poker?

I checked it and price comes to under $1100 with the upgrades i did and i think that is a very good price for this laptop.

 

Also, how is the battery life? Is it worth it to pay $100 for the large capacity battery? If i choose that, that means i only get 1 battery right? Does it stick out like some of those laptops? I will use this laptop mostly at home and when i travel so i will have an outlet. Does anyone know this this is a glossy or matte screen? I'm thinking the coconut white color would be better than the matte black cover?

Also, does anyone know how much this laptop weighs?

Thank you!

 

Anyone with advice on this?

 

Bump anyone??

 

Battery life is not great. The high capacity is a good idea. I can't tell if this unit has manually switchable graphics. Would they really put a dual core Arrandale and a HD 5650 GPU without allowing for switchable graphics? Have no idea if it sticks out ... have never seen a pic of one with the HC battery.

I think it weighs around 5.6 lbs if I reacall correctly. I prefer black to white but that is truly personal preference.

Bronsky

 

Hey bronsky, i see thats it 5.95 lbs for it. Do u know if dell studio 1558 battery life is probably same as the sony vpceb390x? This sony is in the E series right?

 

Hi Drew,

In response to my thread, and yours together:

The Sony I've just purchased is a Sony E series. These all begin VPC. Then the E, to designate E series. Then there is either an A (14 inch) a B (15 inch) or C (17 inch). NB I may have the A and the C the wrong way around, but regardless, E is 15 inch!

What I've just bought is the same as what you are looking at - a custom spec 15.5" EB Sony, with the name "VPCEB390X".

The last of the letters and numbers (390X) seem to designate that is is "customised" and do NOT change when you fiddle with the components on the Sony Style store. What this means is that my VPCEB390X will be different to lots of other VPCEB390X laptops ( more experience Sony customers please chime in if I'm wrong here!)

The spec I have just purchased is with:

i5-460M processor
4GB DDR3 RAM
320GB (7,200 RPM) HDD
HD5470 (512MB) Graphics
15.5" 1920x1080 (full HD) screen

this came to £780 (to the nearest £).

Now to (try) and answer some of your questions.

"4gb ram. How come its only $20 extra to upgrade to 4gb ram where its $170 more to upgrade to 6gb ram. Is the 4gb ram here worst than say dells 4gb ram?" I believe this is because the 6GB configuration uses 1x 2GB stick and 1x 4GB stick, and the 4GB stick is very expensive. The 4GB configuration uses 2x 2GB sticks, and is much cheaper. There would not be a noticeable difference in the quality of the RAM between the Sony and the Dell.

You must have a dedicated graphics card (I had the choice of either a 512MB or 1GB one) to enable the 1080p screen. If it's cheaper, take the 512MB option as you will not need the 1GB card for your poker needs.

In hard drive terminology, the first number (320GB or 500GB) is the storage capacity, while the second (5,400 or 7,200) is the physical speed (in revolutions per minute) of the disk. It is very advisable to upgrade to the 7,200 RPM disk. However the SIZE of the disk is purely up to you. I don't need the extra space, but maybe if you have a lot of music/photos/videos then it would be good for you to have.

A SSD drive is a completely different type of hard-drive. It uses no "moving parts" and is more comparable to the RAM type memory than to a conventional hard-drive. The bonus of a SSD over a conventional spinning hard-drive is that there are no moving parts (durability) and that it can access data much faster. I doubt that you need a SSD for playing poker.

Hope this helps with some of your questions - sorry it took so long to reply to you.

 

hey thanks for that info!

I must get the 1gb graphics card to enable the 1080p screen. Do you know why i can't get the 512mb one instead? I am located in the usa and i assume your are outside since you used the other currency right?

i think i will just get the 320gb (7200 rpm) as oppose to the 500gb (7200 rpm). By the way did you get a different color for the cover? I am looking at the pictures and think coconut white looks good for another $50. Or did you just get the default matte black one?

Also, did you get the bigger battery for $100 more? I spoke to support and if you don't upgrade the battery and buy it later, it cost $199.99! However, if you upgrade it, you only get the big battery and it does lift the laptop a bit. The thing is it says 3.5 hours of battery life for regular battery but i read some reviews and many say its 2 hours. The other large battery is 5 hours battery life according to the sony website but i would estimate its really 3.5 hours?

 

I think the graphics card choice must be country specific. It may be that if you wait a week or so, the 512MB option may appear in the US SonyStyle store just like it is in the UK one (correct that I am in another country. £ = British Pounds).

Personally I probably wouldn't be able to wait without knowing, so if you're like me you will just have to take the 1GB card (it's more powerful so it's not really a negative point!)

The default colour was glossy black but I changed mine to matte black (was free) because I hate glossy plastic. It's personal choice though if you want a shiny one or not

I didn't upgrade the battery. This laptop will be on my desk 95% of the time and I will have it plugged into the mains with the battery disconnected. The other 5% of the time I will just put up with the short battery life or find myself somewhere to sit near a power socket

I think the 2 hour estimate is much more likely than the 3.5 hour estimate.

 

Hey do you know if the laptop supports 2 hard drives? I posted this on another forum for poker and someone wanted to know because i asked whethers its better to get SSD or not and not upgrade the hard drive.

Also, would you say the i5-460 and i5-580 processor is a big difference? I know i3 and i5 there is a difference. Thanks!

 

mih11 are you there?

 

eb only supports 1 hdd. here's your cpu comparison:

Compare Intel® Products,

 

Thanks.

Does anyone know what is the best color to choose for this laptop? The default is gunmetal black. It cost $50 to change the color and they have

Purple violet
Iridescent Blue
Caribbean Green
Coconut White
Lava Black
Hibiscus Pink

Now looking at those color upgrades, i will not get purple, green, blue nor pink. Those colors look so fruity.

Would you guys suggest the coconut white, lava black or just save $50 with the gunmetal black? For some reason, i think the gunmetal black is not really good looking since paying $50 gets you lava black and i feel the look of that might be superior.

I have it tough to choose, white or black laptop for this sony?