Vaio F or XPS 16

Hi, looking for a computer for multimedia, light gaming, web surfing, and possibly engineering programs. I've shortlisted the dell xps 16 and the sony vaio f, but i'm torn between the two. The xps 16 could also come with the i7 processor but i wasn't sure i would need it. Any help or comments would be greatly appreciated.

XPS 16:
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T9600 (6MB cache/2.8GHz/1066Mhz FSB) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
MEMORY 6GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1067MHz (2 Dimms) edit
HARD DRIVE 500GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive edit
VIDEO CARD ATI Mobility RADEON™ HD 4670 – 1GB edit
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE Slot Load Blu-ray Disc (BD) Combo (Reads BD and Writes to DVD/CD) edit
WIRELESS CARDS Intel 5300 Ultimate-N Half Mini Card (3x3) with MyWiFi edit
BATTERY 84 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery edit
SOUND OPTIONS High Definition Audio 2.0 edit
BLUETOOTH Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module (2.1+EDR)
WARRANTY AND SERVICE 2 Year Basic Service Plan
OFFICE SOFTWARE Microsoft® Office Home and Student 2007 - Word, Excel + PowerPoint
HD DISPLAY Edge-to-Edge FHD Widescreen 15.6 inch WLED LCD (1920x1080) W/2.0 MP


Vaio F:
Intel® Core™ i7-840QM processor (1.86GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 3.20GHz
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Black
500GB Hard Disk Drive (7200rpm)
6GB (4GBx1 + 2GBx1) DDR3-SDRAM-1333
Blu-ray Disc player
16.4" VAIO Full HD Premium Display (1920x1080)
NVIDIA® GeForce® 330M GPU (1GB VRAM)
No Fresh Start
Adobe Bundle
Microsoft® Office 2010 Home & Student
Norton Internet Security™ 2010 (3 year subscription)
Engraving
Large capacity battery
LED Backlit Keyboard
2 Year Express Ship Service Plan for Notebooks

Not quite sure which of those graphics cards are better, but the vaio is about 100$ cheaper... now which one?

 

The ATI 4670 is a slightly better GPU than the Nvidia GT 330M.

Personally, just based on specs alone (which isn't always the best way to make a decision), I would probably go with the Dell with a core i processor rather than the Core 2 duo. I like the smaller screen and the better GPU on the Dell.

I have seen a Vaio F in person (I actually ordered one for my brother in law). It is a nice looking system with good build quality. I haven't seen an XPS 16, but my sister's XPS 13 is nice. However, XPSs have had heat issues. You may do some forum searches on that. The Vaio's GT 330m is also probably underclocked by Sony, but you can fix that pretty easily with some overclocking utilities. Either system will probabably do fine with the uses you mentioned (though I guess it depends on what level of engineering programs you're talking about).

 

how about the i7 proccesor in the dell with an ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5730 - 1GB.. how would that compare?

 

What kind of i7 in the Dell?

The 5730 is a nice card. Your machine would be able to handle games pretty well. You could definitely do more than "light gaming." Even a GT 330m allows you to do more than light gaming, and the 5730 is a signficant step up.

The 5730 makes the Dell much more attractive than the Sony, at least for me.

 

the dell would have a i7-720QM Quad Core Processor 1.6GHz (2.8GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB Cache), so not quite as good as the sony's... do you prefer the dell just because of personal preference? I mean if the graphics cards were equal, does it essentially just come down to what brand i prefer and the appearance of the laptop?

 

For light gaming the GT330M is more than enough. For that reason I would go for the better CPU for other tasks in this case the i7-840QM.

 

alright thanks for the advice, much appreciated

 

I started out thinking I would likely get a Dell. After numerous lame attempts to deal with their staff, finding time afte time how you could buy the same exact thing for hundreds cheaper using one link of theirs over another, etc., etc. I quit trying. Opted for a Vaio F.

The XPS finish is perhaps a wee bit nicer than my Vaio (esp. with leather for free) but it isn't even close to being worth the price difference.

i7 rocks. Not only is the chip faster, but the slightly faster memory, the turbo... it is really nice. There is a whole lot more to it than just the chip speed. I was debating i5 or i7 and am really happy I got i7. The new 740s are coming out and are even nicer, for just a few bucks more. ( I believe I read they are actually cheaper wholesale than the 720s.)

If you look at Dell, make sure you understand exactly what panel you get. My understanding is that the RGB LED backlight panels don't play well with i7s, so to get the "best" display you can't get the best cpu. (Of course, I would have been happy to get any LED backlight on Vaio. ) And they figured this out (of course) after people complained.

I have bought stuff from them in the past and was very happy, but I am now a skeptic. (Was going to buy an IPS monitor from them, but it would take a month to get it, and I could get the same panel from Newegg in three days... ugh...)

Find someplace to go look at them. I believe I saw both Sonys and XPS at Best Buy. Seeing them in person changed everything for me. After seeing them in person, my choice was between the G73 and Vaio. (XPS screen was too small for me.)

 

No I don't have personal preference. In fact, I pretty much hate both companies when it comes to customer service and techincal support. I have been satisfied hardware-wise with both though.

And I would politely disagree with blue13x in terms of going for the "better" CPU in the F. The 840QM isn't better in my humble opinion than the 720QM. The 720QM is already overkill for anything I'd use a computer for, and it sounds like it would be for your uses as well. Your GPU and HDD will be bottlenecks in either of these configurations long before the 720QM processor would. You might say, "But I want the processor with the highest clock settings! That's the 840QM!" But it's going to draw more power and significantly reduce your battery life. The Dell will likely get better battery life due to its smaller screen and lower clocked processor (though neither will get great battery life). And like I said, with the applications you will be using, you will very likely never notice the difference between the speed of the 720QM and the 840QM, whereas you WILL notice the difference in battery life between the two systems.

When you're looking at the high end of the spectrum of CPUs, which you certainly are in these two models, I would definitely opt for the better GPU, as it's going to be one of your slower components in both systems (so better to get the better of the lowest performing hardware rather than max out what is already the highest performing hardware). See what I'm saying?

 

While I agree that the more power will sip more battery, it doen't seem from his description that battery life is very important. Chances are when someone chooses a 16 or 17" laptop they want performance over battery life. You won't be doing a lot of moving around with one of these. 16 and 17 are basically desktop replacement and will spend most of their time at the desk, plugged in.

And IMHO you can never have too much CPU power, the more the better.
If he really wants remove the HDD bottleneck, he should look at the VAIO Z

 

On that point, we agree.

 

eheheh, it's good to agree on something :laugh: