Sony desktop replacement stolen. Buy new one now or wait?

My Sony VGN-AW390 was stolen from Turtle Cove Suites in Kauai. (I miss that machine.) I see that Sony no longer makes it. The FW series doesn't offer a blu-ray player. The Z series does but there seem to be screen issues. I have an SR-390 but really that was meant as a backup. In addition, I have 2 PC's at work, so I don't have a really compelling reason to buy now.

If you were in my shoes would you wait or would you buy a Z now? Also, do prices come down after the holidays? I'd order CTO from Sony. Do they offer better prices as new models are probably rolled out in January or February?

Thanks for your advice.

 

They still sell AW laptops...

 

Not CTO though. I should've been clearer.

 

There was i7 talk on here... its not too likely Sony will offer them - but maybe they will, and if they do computers like the AW are prime models - so I suggest wait before you buy anything new - wait as long as you can - the most major refreshed will most likely happen in summer...

 

Summer, huh? I think you're probably right about waiting though. It would be most prudent but I think what's compelling me is that the grieving process might end if I bought a replacement. But then again the grieving might start anew in the summer if something really cool came out and I missed out on it because I bought in December.

Thanks for your help.

 

Well, if you want to buy now - don't focus on Sony, I like their products, but sometimes there are better ones around.

But I really suggest you should wait

 

What better products did you have in mind? I'm open. Thanks.

 

Have a look at the Dell Business Range - they are offering a new workstation - quite expensive, but it comes with an i7, dual SSDs if you want, you can put 16GB of RAM in it.

Check HP; Lenovo.

Once January is here and new models have been announced, rethink, then fill out the FAQ on NBR - apart from the i7, the i5 will hit the market soon, it should be more powerful than current Dual Cores.

 

Thanks. Yeah, I want a laptop to replace the 18.4 inch Sony. I'll chak your suggestions out.

 

I understand that the i7 processors in lappies (from Dell, at least) suffer from heat issues. I've seen them with 1.4GHz / CPU here (not sure where you live), but such CPUs with over-heating issues tells me that the i7 needs to sort out some teething problems. Best you wait if you choose i7 (or i5 for that matter).

As DetlevCM says, don't focus on Sony. They do make nice lappies, though not always the best. I'm not too sure if there are other companies out there that make lappies with 18' screens though...

There seems to be 5th gen AW series being sold now. You can get one of those if you are keen. I'm pretty sure that is the last of the AW (and the SR and Z for that matter); 5 generations for the same model is a record for Sony...

If you decide to wait, you MAY just see something completely new by June next year...

 

Thanks man. The AW, SR and Z have been around for 5 generations? Wow! Didn't know that. Was looking at HP a little bit. Just can't warm up to the look. I'm rethinking the 18.4 inch screen. It was a beast to carry around. Probably will go smaller.

 

No record here - the SZ had 7 iterations I have an SZ71VN/X - apparently there was a 72 too... not sure where though... (in the European market)

 

Umm . . my FW has a blu-ray player. It's available with a burner as well.

 

HP makes an 18.4" laptop that can be configured with a Core 2 Duo or i7, depending on your preference. and a Blu-ray reader/DVD writer.

I believe Sager also makes an 18.4", though that one might have more power than you want (dual GPU's in SLI, for example).

Lastly, the Toshiba Qosimo line is (or features) an 18.4" option with BD reader/DVD writer.

 

Yes, the FW *used to* offer a blu-ray burner/player in the past. But as of the past several weeks, that option seems to have just evaporated. Currently, they offer every trick in the book, including SSD-drives, 3.06GHz processor, 1920x1080 screen etc., but no blu-ray player/burner.

Bottomline, I was looking for the FW series too but have zero intention to buy such a higher-end laptop without a blu-ray burner.

 

strange to see that Sony would preclude its computers from BD options.

you'd think that if anyone was including them by DEFAULT.. it would have been Sony.

 

lol. Yes, one would think it'd be easy as could be to get a blu-ray burner from the company that cornered the market on blu-ray but....no! In going through the HP customization process (just for practice) I couldn't help but notice that, for example, HP offers Norton 15 month subscription for $49, Sony for $69. Sony offers fresh start only if one upgrades to Win 7 Pro (a $50 upgrade) so in effect, Sony is charging $50 for a bloat free laptop. I like Sony stuff but I'm really turned off not only by the fact that they monetize everything but do so at greater margins than their competition.

Now that I've vented, can someone explain why an i7 of lower GHZ is more desirable than a more powerful dual core?

 

Sony is charging you more for a bloatware free laptop. They've been pretty public about the fact that bloatware helps to subsidize the cost of the laptop.

 

I guess you can call a CPU the 'brain' of a computer. It is like a team project that involves (for the sake of it) research, making, illustration, typing. The team consists of 12 year-olds.
Of course, in a logical sense 4x people working on the project will mean that they could to each part of it at once, thus finishing the project faster than a single person who is, say 17 years old.

There is a specific 'difference ratio' of sorts to which a quadcore CPU clock will be better than a dual (or single) core CPU with a higher clock. Any larger (the difference between a quadcore and dual/single core), the quadcore will be slower. It is like above example, but instead of the 17 year old, it is a 24 year (who knows more and is more organized than the 12 year olds).

In regards to an i7 with a lower clock speed per CPU to, say a P4 without HT... I think it will depend on the amount of difference, but I would personally choose a Core2Duo with 2.2GHz (or higher) over a 1.4GHz i7.

I have a QuadCore Q9300 (2.5GHz / CPU), and compared to my older 3.2GHz P4 (no HT), the Q9300 blows down the P4 silly.

Don't quote me on this; it is from my experience with a Q9300 Quad, a P8600 DualCore, and a P4 3.2GHz (don't remember the chipset model...)

 

You know sony gives good quality, especially the screens are good. I'm definitly considering of getting one just to save my eyes a bit. This acer screen is killing me.
Too bad their products are usualy old, most of their laptops still use 800 mhz ram, core2duo's and so on. Eventhough their looks are timeless. The looks of the aw or sr series are still the best compared to the other brands if you'd ask me.

I'd also definitly wait til next year to see what sony will bring out. As soon as they come with a corei7 and some decent ram and decent hard drive, they got themselves a customer! Unless asus fixes the heating problems in their G series, because those are some powerfull gaming monsters

 

Thanks 5ushi.