Sony Vaio SB or CA

I'm purchasing this laptop through sony.ca and cannot decide which one to choose. One is called the

Sony VPCSB11FXB (SB) Sony VAIO 13.3" Intel Core i5-2410M Laptop (VPCSB11FXB) - Black : 13" Laptops and Smaller - Future Shop

$1150.00

and the other

Sony Vaio VPCCA190 (CA) http://store.sony.ca/webapp/wcs/sto...25899393&mode=edit&LBomId=8198552921666304161

$1040.00 (The only thing changed was an upgrade to 500GB RAM)

I would greatly appreciate your help and suggestions on which to buy as I am a first time buyer and know little about computers. This laptop will be for school.

Thankyou.

 

if you are getting the SB you linked as opposed to the CA, get the CA, it has a MUCH more capable GPU 6630m = current games at med settings while the SB... ew graphics. both have chicklet style backlit keyboards. The CA has a1600x900 screen whereas the SB has a 720p... get the CA...

 

Do you need the better graphics card, do you do any graphics intense work?

The SB is lighter and has a smaller form factor. If you intend to commute with this you may welcome the smaller size/weight.
The SB is made from better materials.
The CA weighs 5.41lbs and the SB weighs 3.8lbs.

 

The difference in performance between these two are just too high for me to recommend the SB... lower res screen, much better GPU... and the choice of NEON GREEN! (I had a friend who went with the neon orange... now that's a bold move! He's just doing so to pick up chicks i bet )

 

To be fair....


The Sony S line can be configed with an i7 dual core (there is only one normal TDP variant so far for Sandy Bridge), the HD6630m, and a 1600x900 display

But you'll be running north of 1300usd for that.

 

I know... but we're talking about the two laptops the OP linked... if the OP had infinite cash, of course i'd recommend the SA over the CA as the SA would look much nicer... but for any price <= $1000 it's pure specs, aesthetics don't come into play when there's such a difference in performance...

 

I will probably end up buying the white or black as I don't really want to attract unwanted attention with the green screen...

I'm a little skeptical about the CA though, I'm having a hard time finding reviews and most are only lukewarm at best. When I called the rep told me the SB has better build quality but when i tested it out I wasn't the biggest fan of it.

I still can't decide, I wish I could find more reviews for the CA.

 

If you haven't already i would suggest that you read the CA owners' thread.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...5529-sony-vaio-ca-official-owners-thread.html

Some reviews- btw some of these reviews are for the model with the 6470 card, you though still may find those reviews helpful. That model last time i checked hybrid graphics is not supported. One advantage the SB also has for me anyway is that it has a dedicated graphics switch. If you read the owners' thread you will see that some people have been having an issue with the dedicated card being detected properly.


Sony VAIO C Series Laptop review - Trusted Reviews

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Sony VAIO CA1 review | Laptops | Reviews | PC Pro

Review Sony Vaio VPC-CA1S1E Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

 

I did indeed read through the entire ca owners thread and was slightly confused as some people were having problems while others were not.

Im not too familiar with laptops though so if someone could clarify exactly what this problem was with the graphics? From my understanding some games were not being read and something the card wasn't changing?

This laptop though seems to be the best deal I could find (well in canada at least) and suited my needs - somewhat portable (6 pounds, large capacity battery included for longer battery life, 14 inch), dedicated graphics and a pretty powerful laptop to say the least.

 

No issue with the GPU. It's a hard switch, so it will not confuse games or applications, as there is only ONE GPU at any time actively rendering to the screen (unlike Optimus, or the newer variants of AMD Switchable GPU, where there are two outputting to the screen at once - one to the real display, one to a virtual display in the IGP).

 

There are issues with the CA/CB series which don't have a physical switch (and a more optimus-like solution, which i hate)

Okay, so junior, all the new Sandy Bridge CPUs nowadays come with a integrated GPU chip on the processor die. In the past, that was not true, meaning an integrated GPU would have to be placed on the motherboard. However, in the past if you bought a laptop with a dedicated chip, most companies would simply not give you the integrated GPU (besides some of sony's and asus' laptops)

However, now since the integrated GPU is on the processor, if you have a discrete GPU, you still get the iGPU and so, more companies are starting to utilize it (if not all) in order to save battery life when the discrete gpu is not needed.

for the CA there is no physical switch to tell the laptop what to use, but instead, there's software that'll detect the need and choose the right card, and it's not the most refined software out there, but for most things it works. My friend has the laptop, doesn't seem to have a problem with it, but i guess if you use enough applications there's bound to be a problem (exactly why i despise optimus...). A hardware switch would be most useful here.

 

thank you!!

I've used Optimus for a while, in my m11xr2, from it's rougher beginnings to it's current state. There definately are some issues, but almost all are palliateable. I'm guessing AMD's is still in the same early state, only without the massive QA program that is TWIMTBP (which has a massive configureation testing lab - part of the TWIMTBP program benefits). Also nVidia has the benefits of custom driver profiles per program...