Sony s15 over the chronos? Also what's the paint like? lol

Hey all,

Sorry for such a subjective question but i am really bad at decision making and i just cannot decide between the s15 and the chronos 700z here in the uk.

This will be my first laptop after many years of using desktops, but with going to uni in a couple of weeks and my computer due an update i have decided to spend that money on something more portable instead.

I am going to be doing a games programming degree so i am not sure how much real estate i will need for coding but imagine having 1080p will be better than the 900 on the samsung. However the samsung has a nicer matte finish and is a more powerful computer.

Looks are important to me i am slightly ashamed to admit and i do lean towards the samsung in the design department, but to be honest, both look great so its apples and oranges really.

Speaking of orange, orangegate is a non-issue for me as i am colourblind anyway lol.

I just really want help deciding which laptop will last longer, is more portable/battery life wise. If the LE with bios mod is better than the 640 in the samsung, and if the keyboard on the sony is a lot worse than the sammy?

Only other worry is...whats the finish on the sony like? I understand its painted silver/black (i think i would go silver but opinions welcome) and after seeing my friends 'silver' keyboard for his desktop that has buttons with dark marks all over them where the keys have rubbed i am a little worried that this would happen on this laptop?

I know this is a lot of general questions/voicing my thoughts but if anyone could give me some opinions and input on the looks/power/value compared to the samsung i would very much appreciate it. I have read a big thread on nbr already where someone directly compared the two, but people on that are seesawing back and forth too lol.

Thankyou.

 

the sony actually has a matte finish over a glossy display... the affect is something between glossy and matte. frankly I think it strikes a nice balance but thats very much personal preference.

I dont know how overclockable the samsung chronos 640m is. the sony 640 LE can handle almost a 100% increase from base clocks which is huge (almost a 650m level).

as for the finish I went down to the sony store before i purchased mine so i could get an idea for how the screen/finishes where. the black has a rough almost fine sandpaper affect to it. the silver is a smooth metalic gray finish. I went with the black since I liked the slight roughness (made me feel like i could hold it with one hand and not worry about it slipping out).

I also went to best buy to check out the samsung. honestly the samsung and sony besides the basic designs are almost identical... only noticeable difference to me was the screens. sony screen was 1080p with simply amazing viewing angles and flexible. samsung screen was 900p, had narrow viewing angles and was solid/stiff.

also you can configure the S15 and samsung with the same specs except the GPU. at base clocks the Samsung's 640m should be about 10% faster then the Sony's 640m LE.

 

Cheers, well i am leaning towards the samsung, its hard to pick here as i just cannot find the 700z decent model in a shop. Local supermarket has the version without dedicated and backlit keyboard that i just tried out today and seems the whole base is made of plastic wheras i was under the impression it was alu bar the wrist rest?

Also when typing you literally cannot use the right side of the space bar...which myself and i guess any other competent touch typist relies on :| But i am not sure if that issue is limited to the budget version of the model.

I am going into the sony store tomorrow to try out the vaio and see how i feel about that one. Just worried about the paint wearing off of the keys and looking horrendous.

I would certainly bios mod the sony on day of purchase. Would also look to install my own ssd and ram upgrades as the prices on sony are mental.

I have a question re that btw. If you have 4 gig in the sony, and add 8gig stick yourself for the 12...how does that affect dual channel? As one stick has twice the capacity of the other? does it prevent it and actually reduce power?

 

I would definitely go with the Sony over the Samsung. There are several areas where the sony single handily beats the samsung. Also the device is just too sexy

 

I think quite a few people have put 8gb sticks in their sony's and there are no reports of slowdowns. As for paint coming off the keyboard you could always get a keyboard cover, they had a few and the sonystore i went too and they where not bad.

yes the underside of the samsung is plastic. Also if you cant use the right side of a spacebar um... thats kinda a big deal? maybe its just a glitch with the display model, they can get pretty abused.

 

Haven't seen any comparisons/benchmarks, but the first 4gb of the 8gb should be accessed in dual channel mode.
The remaining 4gb would be accessed in single channel mode, which is of course still much better than writing stuff to the hard drive.

 

I've owned a sony 13.3 and currently have a chronos. Big minus on the sony is the speakers are awful. Like you're listening to a cell phone. Big minus on Samsung is heat.

 

Actually bit the bullet and ordered the chronos yesterday before reading this. What heat issue and what model did you get mate? Aside from heat are you happy? Is it still portable?

 

Chronos also has a really awful display when compared to S15's IPS panel. Next to the gorgeous display of my good old Z12 everything on the chronos just looked like different shades of grey.

The spacebar issue is present on all models. I had one at home which had the problem.

I ordered a handful of notebooks and sent them all back before I settled with the S15. The Chronos was the last one before the sony, and after I sent the Chronos back I spent one more month of research before ordering the S15. I loved everything about the Chronos but the display and the spacebar. Oh and one more little thing which got me upset: On the Chronos, you have a Fn-lock button which is really really freakin' nice, BUT if you lock Fn you have to hold down Fn to use the normal function of the 'delete' button. I can't say anything but /facepalm.

 

The left side gets pretty hot while gaming. Otherwise it's fairly mild. It's very portable (14 inch version)

 

Just some small input to add - I was considering the two and ultimately went for the s15 (found a discount that got me the extended battery for free) and I'm happy with it BUT having dropped my s15 a couple times from chair-height, I can see that it is a little more susceptible to blemishes than the metal Samsung (which I saw in a store just a couple days after the damage).

Opinions on resolution differ, but I've found 900p to be just fine for coding (I have dual monitor setups at school and work and tend to have my code on my lower resolution screen)

 

dudeee stop droping your laptop


made me cringe when i read that lol