Sz120/140?

Hi all, I've been following these forums for a while, but have yet to post. I work at a major retailer and have the ability to get laptops at wholesale. There's an SZ120 1.86 Duo with a gig of RAM, 100GB hdd, and DVD super multi for $1720. I think that this is a great deal and I should go for it, since it meets all my needs for a college portable desktop replacement. I was just wondering one thing: what's with the model numbers? Sony says the 120 and 160 are both discontinued. Is there a difference between the 3 models (120, 140, 160) that would make the others more desirable (I can probably get any of them if I pry...)? If I wait (I can't wait longer than mid-july), do you think I would be able to get a better or cheaper laptop? I can't think of any reason to wait beyond this, since Duo's replacement won't be out in time, so if the answer is that nothing will be coming out before August then I'll go with this. Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Brian

 

$1720 sounds like a pretty good deal to me, as I paid a little over $1900 for my SZ120P/B. I don't know a whole lot about the differences between models, but from what I understand the 120 is the commercial (sold in stores) version of the 140, which is just a configurable 120 that can ony be purchased from Sony direct. Not sure that all made sense. In other words the 120 and 140 are essentially the same. And the 160 is (was) the premium version which uses carbon fiber rather than aluminum/plastic, but the internals are essentially the same. I have no idea when new models will be released, but you can read all kinds of speculation here in the Sony forum. I don't really see much reason to wait as I find the performance of my 120 to be excellent. My 2 cents.

 

first i want to say that if you can wait then you should. prices usually do get lower. i have an sz too. it's working very well except when i use anything with java the screen becomes black and it stops responding to anything and i have to shut it off from the power button. i called sony and they said they cannot help as this is a third party software problem.
as mach zero said, there's premium (sz150 and 160) and standard (sz110, 120, 140)
the only difference between 110 and 120 is that 110 has XP home and 120 has XP pro. if you don't care you migh twant to get the sz110 and save.

 

Wow, totti, that stinks. No clue what is causing it? I have not run into anything like that yet (running Azeurus, etc), but my Java software ran an update today. I'll have to check it out and see if mine does anything similar when I run it.

 

thanks you so much. I can't play chess on yahoo now
once I click to go to the screen where you get to choose the rooms I get this black screen. I'm wondering if it's only mine or if other people have this problem.

 

Hey, totti, think I found the solution to your problem right under our noses!
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=48065
It seems to only affect the SZ when it's in Speed mode. I use mine in Stamina mode 90% of the time since I'm mostly running on battery, so that must be why I haven't noticed it.

 

problem solved!!
mach zero you're the best!!!

 

Heck, don't thank me. Thank fangoes, he came up with the solution. I just happened to see the thread. I hope you gave him a rep point for that.

EDIT: Reading over the post again it appears that credit should actually go to ritesh.