Toshiba U400/U405 vs Sony SR

It seems as though Im choosing between the Toshiba U400/U405 or Sony VAIO SR. The SR can be had for around $900ish but with 70 GB less storage space, but the addition of finger print reader and TPM. I dont know if I will use TPM but a finger print reader sounds good for security. The Toshiba I believe uses facial recognition instead and comes with software for it but people say it works only 50% of the time.

The 130E/B and 130E/S models seem to have the lowest prices for a P8400 model depending on what color I want it in.

How is the battery life for the Sony SR with intel 4500 graphics?

 

I have a sr290 and love it, but for the finger reader, I don't use it, was told that if i were to cut my finger I am out of luck, good luck with your choice.

 

lol. the fingerprint software allows you to register up to all 10 fingers if you want. lets hope you dont get both hands cut off - might be hard logging in with a toe.

 

I have not used the Toshiba but I have a new SR250 w/Intel gfx. The battery life is a major problem, it's supposed to get 6 hours but the estimate and drain bugs are extremely disappointing and frustrating. You can read more in the dedicated threads here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=282258
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=295886

Aside from that, there are pros and cons. The system is really fast and the ergonomics are great. It's light, the keyboard and trackpad are great. On the downside, the speaker is dreadful and the screen colors are out of whack and I have yet to be able to properly calibrate them.

Overall I think it is a great but flawed laptop so far, enough so that I am considering returning it.

Good luck with whichever you choose!

 

Is the battery life situation a bug in the firmware or OS or just that they overclaimed what the true battery life is?

Some bugs like this will never be resolved, others will be. Has anyone heard an official responce from Sony regarding this?

Went to Circuit City and the Toshiba was not at the laptop displays. Website said it was sold out at the store before I went however. I was hoping they had one on display but it looked like they sold it or removed it. They had the older Sony VAIO's for really high prices for the SR series with weak CPUs. The P is a 25 watt CPU while the T series which they had is a 35 watt CPU.

The VAIO performance on the one they had was really amazing however, even faster than my Dell Inspiron 530 desktop with Intel E4400 dual core 2.0ghz.

My desktop seems to have alot of slowdowns and issues with Vista Premium even with 3GB of ram. It came with a Raid mirror enabled via bios when I bought it with 2 HD's.

 

Toshiba all the way

 

That links to S300 which is way too heavy. The lighter models dont have fingerprint readers for some reason for the 13.3" ones.

I am leaning VAIO SR P8400 with ATI, Bluetooth and 320 Gig for $999 right now. It is $1299. Assuming the $200 promo works its 1099, then $100 for a sonystyle credit card so a total of $999 plus tax if any. Shipping is free I believe. Seems to be the best price I can get it for. Im not sure if any other promos will work on it, probably not.

Toshiba doesn't seen to have any models comparable.

 

Don't buy Sony atm .. battery drain problem is major in all models.

even with this bug they should cut 40% off of its price cuz if you didn't use the notebook for 24 hours you may surprised that 18-50% of battery life is gone.


sorry for my weak english but I'm trying to explain cuz I was willing to buy Sony but phew after the battery problems no way sorry Sony.

Made in JAPAN for sure

 

From the Sony website there was a Power Management update on 12/16/2008. Have you tried this to see if it fixed the issue?

It looks like drivers are constantly updated with Sony. Battery drain issue is most likely just a driver issue, either due to the Operating System itself or due to Sony drivers and can be fixed. I would be surprised to find that it wont be fixed soon or hasnt already been resolved with the right modifications from either Sony or Microsoft.

 

Can you post a link to this? I am looking around for drivers and the best page I can find is http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-list.pl?mdl=VGNSR290J where they only list Blu-ray and Bluetooth drivers... Thanks.

 

honestly, I donot like the design of Toshiba U400/U405, it feels like a toy or game player machine for high school students, not professional.

sony's design is unique and stylish in pc field, even its notebook produced 2 or 3 years ago, you still would not feel out of fashion when seeing them today. sony has the one of the best screent that feels much better than toshiba's. on the other hand, currently, sony's several models have the same problem as we know so far - battery drian which is not found in Toshiba.

so all depend on your Preferences, you prefer an eye candy or a tangible notebook for working.

I personally like sony though, becasue I prefer the eye candy...hah

 

When I spoke with Sony several times about the battery problems. They denied there was any such problem and blamed the battery itself. I am sure they will send me a replacement battery if I call back, and I may well do that, but considering what I have read here I do not expect it to solve the problem.

So I am also considering returning the system for refund and picking out something else. The thing is, the SR is really fantastic in so many ways and I am not sure which laptop would be better, even with it's flaws!

The performance on my SR is quite good, it's very fast and solid. There are a lot of other advantages over the Toshiba when it comes to design and ergonomics, at least in my opinion. I tested that Toshiba in the store and while I found that the system seemed fast I personally did not like the feel of the keyboard or trackpad. I also thought the screen seemed a dim and orangey. I guess neither system is perfect.

Have you considered any other options?

 

I was really keen on getting a Sony Z11wn/b but the battery issue has put me off. Now lookign at the Toshiba Portege R600-101. Comments anyone?

Cheers

Barney

 

For info only, just been notified by our supplier that the Toshiba R600-101 (the model I was interested in) has been discontinued. Wonder what it will be replaced with?

Barney

 

You do know that the battery drain problem is solved by removing the battery when you're not using it?

I also read that someone said the Sony Z600 has no battery drain. Don't know if its true though.

I never consider Toshiba a serious option because of the medioce screens they use. Sony generally uses the best screens (contrast, black levels and brightness).

Ironically those are often made by... Toshiba.

 

Yeah I know you can remove the battery - but really not a satisfactory solution when paying £1300 for a laptop!

Cheers

Barney

 

Is battery drain a hardware thing or a software thing?

 

Nobody seems to know for sure. Wonder when Sony will realise its costing them sales and reputation!

Barney

 

I agree it's a shame.

Keep in mind though that every laptop has it's shortcomings. But most shortcomings can not be solved by simply removing a battery.

I'd rather have a battery drain than a mediocre screen (Toshiba, Lenovo X200, Dell E4300) or a missing touchpad (X200) or a battery that sticks out (E4300).

 

Well I have now seen the Toshiba R600 in store and the screen is very poor. will definately not be getting one. However in store they also had the Toshiba U405 with the trubrite screen and it was superb. I will look at the U400-142 which is the business verison and has a 2.53ghz processor and if it has the same screen I think I will get that one. The battery drain issue is a major failure for me and I really don't like the idea of taking out the battery every few days. Just need to confirm that the Toshiba U400-142 has no battery drain problem as well.

Cheers

Barney

 

Well I have taken the plunge and purchased the U400-142. First off I can confirm there is no battery drain issue at all. Switched off on 100% full charge and turned on next day - 24 hours later (with power supply attached) and still 100% full charge - Excellent.

Screen is really clear and sharp, saw it next to the Sony SR in a shop and really couldn't tell the two apart. I haven't got the WEI scores to hand but it was something like 5.5 for proccessor and memory and 3.6 for graphics (to be expected). Keyboard is comfortable - a little spungy but not too much. I can confirm that whilst the touchpad does get warm it is not at all uncomfortable. (Pretty much like the Toshiba A200 my friend has). No real hotspots to that I can find.

Whilst there is no battery drain whilst switched off it does only have medium battery life. I reckon it is about 3 hours on the balanced setting. On power save and just web browsing / emails you can probably stretch it to 3.5 hours but that would be about it I suspect. A real pity that Toshiba tried to save money and used the T9400 CPU that runs at 35watts. The P 9500 (same proccessor speed and level cache) draws 25watts and would only have cost about $40 dollars more and would have probably added an hour or even two to battery life - shame really.

Having said that the Processor seems to run everything thrown at it quite happily (hence its high WEI score)

I will post a some more detail when I can with the confirmed WEI scores but so far so good.

Cheers

Barney

 

I doubt that the p9500 would have added an extra hour.

 

Don't know too much about processors power consumption and battery life myself, so how much do you think it would have added?

Cheers

Barney

 

Toshiba U400 US Verision has thousands in stock. Sony VAIO SR290PDB has none in stock and is backordered for months now and each and everytime it misses the ETA.

Wish vendors were dealing better on the U400's at the moment and I wish they had better specs and support.