Sony to buy or not against Asus?

I live in the UK and have a desktop but now want to buy a laptop. I have been recommended Asus X54HSX270V but it looks very dull. I can buy this for £349 or for £399 I can buy the Asus X53E5X1186V

The Sony name however is a name that I trust in that I have TV Camera Hi Fi etc and have seen the SONY VPCEH2H1E

 

To decide which is better or what laptop to get in general. Its best to state a few things such as budget, your requirements for specs, what you plan to do with the laptop.

Basically fill out this form to get the best possible help:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/what-notebook-should-i-buy/29271-what-should-i-buy-form-must-read-before-posting.html

Considering you posted in a Sony subforum you might get some biased answers. Best to post or have thread moved to 'what notebook should i buy'

 

When deciding on laptop, you may want to be cautious about both of the assumptions you mentioned, that the ASUS being "dull" means going for a different brand or that Sony (or any other brand) is a name to "trust."

There's a wide range of laptop models and it would be a mistake to expect that all [insert brand name] have a particularly good reputation or can be trusted based on name alone.

Similarly, being dull (however you define that) is not necessarily a negative. An alternative approach would be see which models provide the specifications you are looking for at the quality (for that specific model) that meets your price needs.

 

For less than £400 the simple fact is that no matter what notebook you buy, there are going to be compromises. It comes down to what compromises you can live with.

Forget brand loyalty. Forget what Sony does in its television and camera divisions and even what Sony does in its other computer product lines, because they don't have to make the same compromises there.

I couldn't find reviews for the exact products you mentioned but these models are closely related so you should get an idea of where the corners had to be cut to achieve that low price:

Review Sony Vaio VPC-EH1M1E/W.G4 Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews
Review Asus X53E-SX082V Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

You probably want to think about things like:

1) Will I be watching movies on it with other people on a couch? Will the bad viewing angles make the movie unwatchable if they are watching from the sides?
2) Can I use it on my lap and do I want to use it on my lap? Some notebooks get so hot that you can't really use them comfortably on your lap.
3) Do I want to plug in my phone, digital camera, mouse, printer etc? You'll need lots of USB ports and it sucks when you find out that you don't have enough to do even simple office tasks.

I can't say whats important to you because I don't know what you want to use your computer for or whether or not you are a regular computer user. You might not even care about any of the above. Either way, its worth thinking about practicalities that will affect you before you pony up the dough.

If you just want a notebook that looks pretty then Sony has always traditionally had a good eye for industrial design. Sometimes I think it comes at the cost of function but thats another topic of discussion.

Apple also has a good eye for industrial design but they tend not to make computers that have the sort of compromises you are going to see in Sony E series or Asus X series. That is to be expected because Apple's most affordible notebook computer costs more than twice your budget.

 

Thanks for your response and advice. I have a desktop which I have had for 7 years but where it is situated is not ideal which is why my Son is encouraging me to buy a laptop.
I use a computer for browsing the web for online shopping particularly groceries as it is so convenient. I email friends write some letters etc. Listen to some music and also for photo's particularly of my Grandchildren.
The thing that concerns me most is the keyboard. When I look at keys close together I might find it easier to make typing errors. I can touch type but the difference in a laptop are many. My Son has Apple and I can type just fine on it and so when I am looking at machines I am looking at the keyboard. The Asus i3 £349 has 4GB and 750 but I hate the look of it and the keyboard. The do have another machine which had a better keyboard and looks 100% more attractive but it is 3GB and 350 at £399 but my Son tells me it is not a good by as it has too little memory and is i5.
Yesterday was stormy took a taxi there and back Called my Son from the Store but came home empty handed. My desktop is working well so no urgent decision required for now. Will think a bit more about it!

Sue

 

Considering you are a light user, an i5/3gb ram/350 hdd is perfectly fine. I have a first generation i5 cpu, and I'm a gamer/heavy user (multiple programs open at once with 30-40 firefox tabs) and the i5 has been doing its job. So I would have to respectfully disagree with your son.

 

Hard drives and RAM are generally easy to upgrade because you usually have access to them via the backplate. No experience with electronics is required as long as this is the case and replacing these parts will not void your warranty. Your son could certainly do these upgrades for you.

If you go down this path I recommend that you keep the old memory module and hard drive in anti static bags and keep them in a safe place in case you need to avail of the warranty. Whilst swapping out RAM and the hard drive does not void warranty, Sony will not repair/replace parts that they did not sell to you. The contents of a hard drive (operating system, programs, media etc) can easily be cloned from one drive to another using drive imaging software like Acronis TrueImage. I also recommend it for backups.

RAM is cheap nowadays. Hard drives however are quite expensive due to the Thai floods but prices are coming down again, albeit slowly.

With regards to the difference between i3, i5 and i7 - there isn't much in it unless you are handling very specific workloads. Intel's Core i processors are not like the old Pentiums which were monolithic chips with a vast difference in clock speed. The i3, i5 and i7 are essentially the same but with different embedded technologies like turbo boost, hyperthreading, hardware virtualization and trusted execution.

You appear to be handling very light workloads so you probably won't notice the absence of these technologies. It is an interesting strategy by Intel. Instead of selling an inferior cpu to consumers with features they don't need and will never use, they now sell you essentially the same cpus that their professional and enterprise customers use, but they don't embed features that only enterprise customers are likely to use. Thats about as simple as I can boil the difference down to. The i3s are very fast cpus and they will blow the living daylights out of the previous generation of Intel processors.

If you have tried out the Sony in store and you find the keyboard pleasant enough to type on, and you find the screen pleasant enough to view for long periods then go for it.

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks again for all the information. All the technical gargon is beyond me. I an as you say a light user and don't need all the singing and dancing extra's. It good to know that as a GRANNY I can go on line and keep in touch with family and friends through Facebook and email!! Just about to order my groceries and they will be delivered tomorrow! It is wild and wet here for the past 3 days so glad to be snug and have them bring the groceries to me!!
Thanks again and I will give it some more thought over the next few days!

Sue

 

Susan you might want to post here: you will most likely get a wider range of solutions. If you do be sure to fill out the form in the Sticky
What Notebook Should I Buy?
From my reading ASUS in general have terrible touchpads (built in mouse), If you are going to use a corded or cordless external mouse this will not be an issue.

 

Desktop computers can be quite a bit smaller than they were seven years ago. There are also all-in-ones of multiple brands that can take up even less room. If the reason for the laptop over a modern desktop is space/location, see if a small desktop with a small monitor would work for you in some location.

My thought is that you may be better off with a desktop, if practical, because of the familar keyboard. I don't know of any laptop keyboard that doesn't take getting used to for an experienced full-size keyboard user. You would get used to it, of course, but perhaps you don't need to.

 

Once again thanks for your input It is very much appreciated. My desktop is in a cupboard in a spare room. Well the desk is and I sit on a chair which is in the actual room. It has a bifold door which I can close and hide it all away. I suppose in some ways when I was in Ireland visiting my Son over Christmas he has 2 apple laptops and it was just so easy and convenient to have a look when I was sitting in his lounge. He has also been encouraging me to treat myself.
Will need to put my thinking cap on. I actually have a little table in my living room with a shelf underneath which could actually take a small desktop. The actual table I have held on to due to sentimental reasons as it was given to my Mum about 20+ years ago. An old lady that she had been good to left it to her in her will. It is really of no value but when my Dad died 17 years ago I held on to it.
Many thanks again

Sue