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    VAIO 117/197VP

    Discussion in 'VAIO / Sony' started by marscay, Sep 29, 2004.

  1. marscay

    marscay Newbie

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    I was all set on purchasing the Acer 2023 or 2026 from the research i had done as it seemed very good value v price and pretty much included everything i wanted (Centrino-dothan + 9700). Then i took a stroll down Tottenham Crt Rd (London) just to check out screens/weight etc etc before i actually handed out my cash for one. I was of the opinion that the Vaio's were extremely overpriced for what the specs were - although i had known that they did have nice screens.

    Then i lay my eyes on the 17" WUXGA vaio screen and my jaw literally dropped to the ground. I immediately went over to the Acer section and i couldn't believe my eyes - you would think it was a £700 notebook compared to the sony screen even though it was only £100 cheaper.

    I have now gone from the acer aspire 2023 (£1100) to the aspire 2026 (£1400) and now the vaio 117/197vp (~£1500). But even if i laid out £1100 for the 2023 i would feel cheated compared to the vaio.

    So i think i will go back tomorrow and pick up the sony notebook, i really feel i would regret buying anything else over this thing.

    Does anyone have any negative feedback on this model??? i know it's a decent weight (3.9kg) but i picked it up and it felt alright to me.

     
  2. krlock

    krlock Notebook Enthusiast

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    i have one from mikro anvika on tottenham court road...

    you are not wrong... the screen is top notch... you certainly wont regret having this screen.

    i have had the lappy for a few months now... in my mind they should have included a little more RAM and a 128bm graphics card for the price... but im definitely happy...

    although i have to admit my screen did actually fail and sony needed to replace it!!!



    yep... thats me.
     
  3. krlock

    krlock Notebook Enthusiast

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    i have one from mikro anvika on tottenham court road...

    you are not wrong... the screen is top notch... you certainly wont regret having this screen.

    i have had the lappy for a few months now... in my mind they should have included a little more RAM and a 128bm graphics card for the price... but im definitely happy...

    although i have to admit my screen did actually fail and sony needed to replace it!!!



    yep... thats me.
     
  4. marscay

    marscay Newbie

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    you have brought up the same issues i was (am?) having between the sony v the acer aspire 2026.

    2026 gives you a faster 2.0ghz dothan and 128mb 9700 but still 512mb memory. I really feel that 64 >128 on the 9700 isn't of much benefit and peoples benchmarks tend to prove this point, especially seeing how u cannot really go past 1024x768 + major AA sampling with this card anyway so the extra 64 is really not needed.

    I am sure the sony is still the better value of both notebooks purely for the screen quality, i might upgrade to 1gb memory down the road if i feel i need it.


    sorry to hear about your screen [ :(] nothing kicks you in the nuts like hardware failure. at least you have the warranty.
     
  5. marscay

    marscay Newbie

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    Received the A197VP yesterday and so far i am extremely impressed with it. I was lucky enough to score a free Sony leather carry case and A-series docking station as well which retailed for over £300 combined. And sony throw in a free printer to boot - its a sweet deal overall and softens the premium you pay for that super 17" WUXGA X-Black screen.

    Watched Sexy Beast in hdtv on it last night and the quality was superb, only skipped a couple of frames the whole movie which wasn't bad considering the 1080i image.


    Might end up buying 2x512 dimms from crucial, instead of paying 2x price @ sony [ :D]