Vaio FS x/ Geforce Go 6200 Benchmarks

Well guys, I gave in and bought it yesterday. Heres my config

Pentium M 1.73Ghz
512 MB Ram
60 Gig Hard drive
802.11 a/b/g
DVD/CD-RW
2 day shipping

Total Cost USD$1,763.82

Expected ship date is Wednesday the 9th so I should have it in my hands by Friday. First thing I'm gonna do is run Halflife 2 benchmarks. I'm hoping for playable rate at DX9 level at 800X600 (maybe 1024x786)... Will update as my ordeal as the days pass by.Let me know if there is another game your think I should check out. I'm more in RTS & RPGs with CounterStrike being an exception. So it serves my other needs. Plus I got 300 dollars off the price quoted above, thank you Sony Visa Card from Bank one.

Laters

 

Awesome, let us know how it turns out.

Other games to try: Doom3, EverQuest II

I'm very close to getting the FS myself... the more I think about it, I'm not going to need a hardcore gaming laptop in the next year or so, as I have a loaded desktop from Alienware coming, and I'll most likely buy a laptop in 2006 when the dual-core CPUs are out. In the meantime, something thin would be better.

 

whatsup Guys, I too am close to giving in and buying a customized fs 500, likely with these specs:

PM 760
512kb ram ( I am going to upgrade to 2 Gigs myself)
30gb HD ( Will upgrade to 72K 60Gb Hitachi myself)
Go 6200
wifi a/b/g
DVD burner

Similar to you guys I am not a hardcore gamer, but would like to be able to play Half Life 2, Far Cry etc occasionally.
I am a web designer and graphic artist so it woud be nice to see how the Go 6200 performs for photshop, 3D modeling etc. - Do you do any of this stuff Ahsan- any feedback would be much appreciated.

I'm sick of waiting and the X-Brite screen is amazing....

HKG852

 

Well I placed the order on Tuesday the 1st and today its still processing but the expected ship date is still wednesday so hoping to receive it by Friday the 11th. My expectation is that Doom3 will prolly not perform well under the Geforce go 6200 because of its higher dependancy of the graphics card rather then the processor. unfortunately I dont have Everquest 2 to benchmark but I will have Final Fantasy 11 online which is equally graphically impressive (DX9 title) so I would guess what goes for one will go for the other.

I dont do any graphical stuff so I have no clue in that area (I'm Health care Administration). I have a very old copy of photo shop which I've never openend and wouldnt know how to compare even if I did but I'll see what I can do Hakford. Does MIR count? j/k.

Intel's IDF conference yesterday accounced the death of the Pentium 4, anandtech.com has done a great job of the new Centrino core coming out next year which is focused on gaming and smaller then the current one. So Check it out, great stuff down the line.

 

I'll be very interested to see the benchmarks, as I said What Laptop in the UK gave them as circa 8000 + in 3D 2001- this will probably be enough for those of us who are into less demanding things like Stronghold ! Even the newly released Children of the Nile, which recommends a 32MB card, plays perfectly well on my two year old Vaio which has 64MB integrated graphics .

As I said I look forward to seeing the benchmarks, and I'm sur eperformance will be better than many have predicted..

 

Had another look at What Laptop magazine and realised I slightly undercounted their 2001 3D benchmark for the Turbo FS:it's actually about 8,700. Interestingly, they give about 9,300 for the same card in the latest Vaio S variant...

Their overall verdict on the FS is highly complimentary...

 

That Extra 600 points are prolly due to the higher bandwidth 533MHz DDr2 memory and the 5400 RPM hard drive that the new S has that the Sony Vaio Lacks.

So far my ordeal with Sonysytle.com has been less then pleasant. My Order online still said "in process" this morning (hasnt moved to any other stage like production or quality check or anything) so concerned I called to find out it is currently in production today and the website does not update..... Say again?!?!?!? website does not update?!?!?!?! WTF do you need it for then?!?!?!

Anyhow amused at the website but relived that everything is still on trach for wednesday's shipping so it can be in my hands this friday... I hung up.

Ofcourse last Friday I had called them again... this time I happenend to see the free upgrade option for the harddrive, ironically my config has a 60gig hard drive which I placed an order on Tuesday night. Well this would mean I'd save 50 dollars right?!?!?! WRONG!!! "We do not honor update pricing match for Custom build Vaio's though you are welcome to cancel the order and reorder the same config again at the $50 cheaper price"?????? Now which nut job though this up?!?!?!?

Let me get this straight, Sony wants you to cancel an order and replace the same order, in the sense pull something in production of their production line, and put it back in the end of the que again or either sell it refurbished? Ok ever wonder why Dell is able to keep prices, production time low and satisfaction high? Take a hint Sony that made no sense.

So I figure its a way to force us into buying at higher prices? Since who the heck wants to wait an extra week after the 2 week wait, right then the tech support help person (bless their hearts) says that if I'm not satisfied I can return the special CTO order within 30 days for no restock/reshelf fee and sony will handle the shipping.... I'm thinking "you idiots".... so guess whats gonna happen next. I'm thinking wait 2 weeks order a cheaper same build and say goodbye to this one? swap time.

 

I got my new FS on Friday. Here is what I ordered from Sonystyle:

FS500
2 Ghz
80 Gig HD
Wireless A/B/G
Nvidia GForce upgrade
512 MB
Dual Layer DVD

I love it. I called Sony to order and they gave me about $90 off the web price. My status also didn't change. It was pending and then in one day it went through all the steps to shipped status. Haven't really run any benchmarks on it. I bought another 512 from Best buy and upgraded the memory. I also created the restore DVDs and formatted the HD and loaded Windows XP Pro on it.

 

Hey Ironxcross,

I'm gonna be nosy, how much did you end up paying total? and when you upgraded the ram did you remove the 512 and install DDR2?? or just added a single stick 512 to an exsisting 512?

 

? I haven't bought the Sony yet. I have a Dell M70 with 1 gig of DDR2 Dual Channel RAM that I got for about $2700.

 

Hey sorry, got the name wrong, I meant purdieboiler87.

P.S My laptop shiped ahead of schedule yesterday and estimated say of arrival now is tommorrow!!!!! *YAY*

 

Nice Ashan, be sure to test the hell out of it for us. I'm really interested in it, but the components just suck compared to this M70. Considering the price, the only thing the FS has going for it is the screen brightness (not even resolution), looks, size/weight... Yeah my M70 was about $700 more than what I would pay for the FS, but the components are FAR superior, and although the screen isn't as bright, it's 1920x1200. I don't know what to do. I'm probably ordering the FS just to try it out. I don't know anybody who has one.

 

I ended up paying $2072 for mine plus $50 for shipping and then tax. I bought another 512 from Best Buy. They had a rebate so the extra 512 will end up costing me about $70.

Vaio FS500
2GHz, 80 Gig, 1 Gig RAM

 

Its Here!!!!
It showed up a day earlier then I had hoped for! I've bought a fresh copy of Halflife 2 so I will be testing to see how the frame rates look. I've never done this sort of things before so any pointers will be appreciated, I think there is some kinda time demo or something built into HL2 or something which I often see scores for... anyone? help!

Either way come back tommorrow and see how my experience with playing halflife 2 on the FS-500 with a Geforce 6 Go 6200 went. BTW yes the laptop built is soild unlike flimsy Dells, and yes it an eye turner, not too heavy either, can be easily lugged around and the power adapter is a very decent small size (big neglected point of many DTR laptops when it comes to size to lug around and weight).

Ugh still at work so will write more impressions after 5.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by ironxcross

 

Try running 3dMark05. You can get a free demo at www.futuremark.com

 

Yass, you say the FS is plastic. I thought it was all magnesium except on the bottom?

I agree it's not fair to compare the two. I'm just trying to figure out which would suit me better for the next year or year and a half, until dual-core chips come out, and hopefully someone has a laptop with everything I want (good audio built in, good graphics, relatively lightweight). I'm going to be doing mostly photoshop work on it.

 

Hey guys,
I had purchased a M45-S331. i used it for about 1 month and a half. I had 3 exchanges on that laptop. First time I bought it, the internet kept on disconnecting every 5 minutes. My next laptop, the Trubrite screen after 5 days got darker, wasn't as shiny as when i bought it (weird), then the last one I got worked ok but with so many exchanges what could I expect next? I sold it because that wasn't what i expected from a Toshiba laptop. The Harman Kardon speakers sounded terrible, the laptop was all plasticky. Everytime I would shut the lid, I was scared of braking it (cheap Materials). Well I bought a Sony VGN-FS570. Perfect laptop, beautiful screen(other Trubrite, High definition etc do not compare to Xbrite), BMW-like materials(extremely hard case). I had to go back to Sony laptops. If you travel a lot and want a laptop that is extremely well built you either go with Sony or IBM, you pay more but you have more chances of keeping your laptop longer. I will never buy a Toshiba again, they use extremely cheap materials like HP and Compaq. In my Sony laptop I recently installed Need for Speed Underground 2 and it works just perfect, and that's a game that supposedly uses a lot of video memory. Let me know if this helped anyone in doubt between the sony and the toshiba.
PS: For the people who hate Sony laptop is because they are broke, want buy a cheap laptop and expect the world of it. ALMOST everything that costs more lasts longer (True Fact), and the FS570 is definately NOT PLASTIC.

SONY VAIO FS570

 

The only Sony laptop that I'm aware of that is magnesium alloy body is the X500 series -- I had a 2nd generation x505 for quite some time, until it died on me after normal wear (which unfortunately, in Sony's case, eqates to about 2yrs). FS is plastic, like most laptops out there -- it's just shinier, that's all. [ ]

You really don't need a powerful 3D card for photoshop work. If that is the primarily function of your laptop, I'd say the m70 is VERY overkill... hehe It's also build like a tank, and not very light as a result. If you really like the style of the FS and wants to pay for it -- hey to you its worth it. But just in terms of hardware wise, Sony really likes to cut corners while maintaining an unreasonable high price. If you want a good looking and capable laptop for photoshop work -- get an Apple Powerbook. It's the most elegantly designed, stylish notebook currently available imo, performance is decent too.

On the Windows side, you can't really go wrong with the Acer 8104 -- *if* you can actually manage to get one -- as far as I know they are sold out EVERYWHERE in North America. Asus is selling a kick-ass notebook too that is both stylish and powerful. Choices abound. [ ]

cheers,

yass

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by ironxcross

 

Yeah, the M70 is overkill for photoshop, but I also want to play games occasionally. I might even do a little 3D work on it. But none of this is truly necessary since I have a powerful desktop. I don't need to travel with the laptop all that much. The screen on the FS would be really nice for image editing. If I had the FS I would most likely take it to class a lot and use it for more basic stuff. And the FS would save me some cash.

The only reason I pulled the trigger on the M70 was due to the 25% off coupon I had which was going to expire. I don't even feel the need to have a laptop right now since I've gotten used to my desktop again...so I can always wait to see what else comes out. The FS is just a very nice looking and nicely-sized machine. I would definitely take it everywhere. Perhaps I should wait to see if they release the Japanese version in the US. At least that has WSXGA+

 

Actually Yassarian the FS is MAGNESIUM ALLOY, The base and the LCD bezel are plastic (all the black parts) but all the white parts are magnesium alloy (main chassis and LCD lid i.e 70% of the chassis) - I've seen a couple FS'at BestBuy

I have read this on various Sony Sites around the world including this one:
http://products.sony.co.uk/Vaio_FS_Series.asp

Unfortunetly Sony are not willing to offer WSXGA resolution in America or the option for Nvidia Go 6600, so for me I'll probably keep waiting

HKG852

 

I just wanna let you know that Magnesium coating easily cracks. Dont be so sure that it is good protection for your laptop...[V]

 

Ahsan, where are these gaming benchmarks that you promised? You're tantalising us... In the imortal words of Delia Smith : 'come on...let's be having you!

Best wishes

 

The Verdict is in. (reminder on the specs)

Sony Vaio FS Series
Pentium M 1.73 Ghz 533FSB 2MB
512 MB DDR-333
60 gig hard drive 4K rpm
802.11 a/b/g intel pro
Nvidia Geforce Go 6200 TurboCache 128 (32 onboard, 96 shared)
Intel 915pm chipset
DVD/CD-RW
15.4 inch Wide Screen Xbrite
Realtek High Definition Audio

Ok Last night, openend up a brand new copy of Half life 2 at 9:00pm Eastern USA and started the install process. The CD drive and the hard drive chugged away at the 5 Cds till 9:35pm, 35 minutes later I entered the CD key and registered with Steam which then went online looking for updates before launching. 10:15pm (45 minutes later) I had all the patches for CounterStrike Source, Halflife 2 and Steam updated without any effort (it would have been faster but I was sitting in a cafe with a lot of laptop bandhogging and yes the FS draws a LOT of attention).

So nervously I double clicked the Halflife 2 Icon with 3 people looking over my shoulder aswell by now anxious to see what happens. NOTHING!!!!! the loading screen came on, I started to wonder, then one guy said dont worry, halflife 2 has a built in configurater which is choosing the best setting for your card and then out of no where, there he was the guy with the valve eye. Menu loaded up, first thing I did was click on the options menu to see what the FS had been designated. Everything was automatically designated to high, with resolution set at 1024X720 with exception Textures detail set at medium along with polygon count set to medium, the reflect set to reflect world. Almost max settings. (I think the S series would prolly reach those marks)

Anyhow before I could move a muscle instinctly I tried to reduce the volume with the "Fn" key and BOOOM, the system halted,.... DO NOT USE THE FN KEY IN HALFLIFE screamed the waiter on my shoulder. Hesitantly I froze and then the geeky looking art kid on my left said try counter strike, it has a built in stress engine. So we went there next.

CS launched smoothly, with volume set to the desired level I clicked on the stress test option and saw the FS run through the "Demo" video we have seen so many times on websites. The Demo ran smoothly only fluctuating a bit when all the fanciness was on screen at the same time (the invicible flaming guy+water etc etc etc). The test ran fine and I was presented with a dialog box

Your average frame rate is 43.97 click here if you want to post your results on the value website .......

Well I spent the next hour playing De_Dust on counter strike, it ran smooth and looked awesome, I even switched to widescreen mode. So The verdict is that if you are looking for a laptop to play demanding game like HL2 with medium resolution, FS WILL fill your needs!!!!

I'm gonna try and get some more numbers tonight as I'm still at work and last night I was just having too much fun with it.

Just to answer some common question, the hinges and the frame construction of the Vaio is solid, the screen position easily and steadily. there is no flexing on the back of the screen and no keyboard issues though I dont understand some of the positioning yet. the paint stays on well aswell as YES I dropped it off the table lastnight and it did survive a 2 foot bounce of a chair onto another 1 foot on the floor (scratch free and no issue with hinges)

Stay tuned for more. BTW yes the FS does not come with stupid accessory sony stickers , mine had the centrino kite, Windows XP and a "graphics by Nvidia (new design they have been sporting) and thats all.

ugh ok now I've really got to go to back to work, will write tonight and tell you more.

 

Wow you seem to really like it! You've really boosted my hopes of this laptop serving my immediate/near future needs. I'm going to order it tomorrow so I can test it out.

 

Ahsan, thanks: very useful, well written review and also great humour, I particularly liked the way you found yourself surrounded by such a committed, knowledgeable audience...enjoy your new machine..

 

Gr, I have to wait until Monday to order it since their business/education division is only open during weekdays. I'm going to try to get a student discount since someone on notebookforums.com said they give 4-8% off.

Anyone have experience with the neoprene sleeve they have listed as an option? I'm going to try it.

 

hmmmm well dont know about the student discount, the student site seems to think you want/need win XP professional and wants to charge more? doesnt make sense to me.... whats the neosporin strip?

Btw I looked at the flip side of the FS at the memmory modules, I dont think DDR-2 is gonna be an option unfortunately.
Considering in about 6 months it will be mainstream. too bad

 

According to http://www6.tomshardware.com/mobile/20050119/sonoma_alviso-04.html
DDR2 doesn't give a huge performance boost when using dedicated graphics cards and only a 533 MHz FSB.

 

Hi Ahsan,
Thanks for the information on the Go 6200. I've been thinking of getting this laptop, but have doubts on the graphics performance. Would you be able to to run the 3D Mark 05 to see the score for it?

Thanks,
John

 

Alot of people are stressing the fact that FS lacks DDR2 memory.

It's not the "next big thing" in memory technology.

DDR2 provides a small step up in performance from DDR.

 

Ok I think 3d Mark would be a more solid decision maker for many people so I'm downloading as we speak, Ofcourse its 300MB and will take an hour or 2. Will post these solid numbers as soon as I get it up and running.

 

According to Tom's Hardware DDR-2 gives a significant performance when using an integrated graphics core. This IS THE CASE with the Nvidia GO 6200 correct? As it is an integrated graphcis core and uses 96MB of the system memory, correct?

Thus it would make sense for Sony to use DDR-2 memory, correct?

Aside from the performance boost, DDR-2 uses LESS power, conserving battery AND does not heat up as much! This according to the same Tom's article.

 

I'd love to know if DDR2 would work in this system. The support guys at Sony say no, but they're just reading from a script. The chipset supports it.

Does anyone know if the DDR and DDR2 200 Pin SODIMMS have the same pin configuration? If they do, then why wouldn't they work?

 

miston, the FS with the 6200 card is not integrated graphics. Integrated graphics refers to the intel graphics accelerator chip that is built in with the chipset. The 6200 card is dedicated graphics, so DDR2 memory isn't as important if you have the 6200 card.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by ironxcross

 

Ashan have you got those results... i have decided on buying the FS tomorrow and would like to know them beforehand.

 

GregP888: DDR-2 WILL NOT work in the FS-550. If a system does not ship with DDR-2 memory than it is NOT upgradeable to DDR-2 memory. It does have the same number of pins, but there is a slot on one of them that makes the other not EVEN fit. Read the article here:

http://www6.tomshardware.com/mobile/20050119/sonoma_alviso-04.html



Ironcross, OwcA: So the 6200 IS NOT integrated, but since it uses 96MB of the system memory, would DDR-2 NOT give a noticable performance boost?

Also, I would still want DDR-2 for the heat and more importantly the fact that it uses less power, equalling longer battery life.

 

Miston,

Thanks for the info, nice read there!

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>So the 6200 IS NOT integrated, but since it uses 96MB of the system memory, would DDR-2 NOT give a noticable performance boost?

Also, I would still want DDR-2 for the heat and more importantly the fact that it uses less power, equalling longer battery life.<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>
Agree.

 

I caved in and finally got mine as well! I waited patiently on Sonoma, and though I really wanted DDR-2 and Sata drive it will be awhile until I see those in a thin and light notebook with at least a 14 inch HIGH QUALITY screen.

I don't think ANY screen beats the quality of the Sony, at least in the thin and light category, and since I really only plan on using this for surfing, email, and playing around with photos from my Sony P200 (plus perhaps some light gaming), this should be fine:

15.4"90 WXGA TFT with NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 6200 128MB TurboCache™
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 740 (1.73GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB)
DVD+-RW with Dual Layer Drive
60 GB Hard Disk Drive Free upgrade to 60GB. Offer ends 3/31/05
512 MB (512MBx1) DDR-SDRAM (DDR333)
Wireless A/B/G
XP Pro
NO AOL
NO Crappy SONY Software

I went with 1 stick of the 512 so I could upgrade easier AND b/c I think 1 stick uses a tad less power, correct? Also I'm sure at some point I'll add a 7200 RPM drive.

One of the cool things I look forward to is using my 1 Gig Memory Stick Pro card as temporary storage, instead of burning a CD or DVD, just pop in the Memory Stick, and since it utilized USB 2.0 it'll cook!

I ordered it through Sony Business, and the guy ended up giving me free Overnight shipping, plus I got a small discount for small business

With 7% MS sales tax & $0.00 shipping: $1,779.24

 

Hmm yeah you guys are probably entirely right about the DDR2 memory and the 6200. I completely forgot it uses mostly system memory.

At any rate, I ordered the FS today after getting an issue with my credit card company resolved. Their computers had a glitch. Heh, that's never a good thing.

Pentium M 760 (2.0 GHz)
Geforce 6200 go
512 MB RAM (1 DIMM), going to add 512 MB
30 GB drive, going to put a hitachi or toshiba in it, still deciding
802.11 a/b/g
DVD Dual-layer burner

With 8% off for student discount it came out to 1820.67 before tax and shipping.

I wasn't lucky enough to get free shipping.

 

does it matter much exactly what the second stick of 512 memory is, as long as its DDR-333?

I mean, should I get a certain brand? Or is there another specification, such as latency, that I need to worry about?

 

I've been reading what ya'll have been writing about the Sony FS Series and it is extremely interesting, but I'm still stuck between two laptops and would like to hear some of your opinions.

I'll mainly use the computer to develop training programs in Power Point (with graphics and video), some light photo editing, and heavy video editing (Sony Vegas 5). And from time to time, I like to play a little Delta Force.

On one hand I like the Sony FS. Most of my equipment is Sony along with the editing software. I also love the look, but I have concerns about the video card and the docking station. If I go with Sony, I'll probably get the FS 500 with:

Intel® Pentium® M Processor 750 (1.86GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB)
NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 6200 128MB TurboCache
1 GB (512MBx2) DDR-SDRAM (DDR333)
15.4"90 WXGA TFT
DVD-ROM Drive
80 GB Hard Disk Drive (4200 rpm)
Windows XP Home
Internal 802.11a/b/g WLAN
Sony VAIO® Port Replicator for FS Series
$1,938.98

I decided to drop the DVD burner to save money to get the higher memory. Plus, I just bought an external HP 16X Lightscribe drive, so I really didn't need it anyway.

The other computer I'm looking at is the Acer TravelMate 8100 series (http://us.acer.com/acerpanam/page4.do?dau22.oid=7985&UserCtxParam=0&GroupCtxParam=0&dctx1=25&ctx1=US&crc=1091894342). If I go this route, I'll probably go with the TM8103:

Intel® Pentium® M Processor 750 (1.86GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 533MHz FSB)
512MB (512/0) DDR2 533 SDRAM (upgrade to 1G after buying it)
100GB hard drive (Seagate Momentus 5400rpm PATA HD #ST9100823A)
Super-Multi (DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD-RAM) drive
15.4" WSXGA+ (1680 x 1050) TFT display
ATI® MOBILITY™ RADEON® X700 graphics, 128MB DDR
Windows XP Professional
Internal 802.11a/b/g WLAN, Bluetooth
$1,899 (TM8103 @ NewEgg.com)
$2,249 (TM8104 @ NewEgg.com)

I like the TM8104, but I'm not sure if I want to (or should I say can) spend the extra $350 to upgrade. The 8104 adds:

Intel® Pentium® M Processor 760 (2.0GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 533MHz FSB)
1GB (512/512) DDR2 533 SDRAM

And when you look at the docking stations, the Acer's $290 EzDock blows Sony's $200 port replicator out of the water. The EzDock has 21 interface ports and two card slots.

OK, with all that said, lets hear it. What do you ya'll recommend? Thanks in advance for everyone's help.

 

I chose the Sony FS550 because it is:
1) it is more than enough computing power for my PRIMARY use: email, surfing, photo editing, and MS Office
2) it is thin and somewhat light
3) IT HAD BY FAR THE NICEST SCREEN!!

I didn't want a desktop replacement, and I really don't play games that often, though it sounds like it can definately "hang", but mainly I wanted something thin and light to sit back on the couch with and surf, and to travel with.

Added bonuses were the Memory Stick slot to accompany my new Sony DSC-P200.

But the SCREEN is what sold me!!

The Acer and the Sony are virtually the same size and weight:
Sony: 14.33” x 1”-1.41” x 10.41” AND 6.28 lbs.
Acer: 14.3" x 1.2" - 1.4" x 10.5" AND 6.3 lbs.

One note, the Sony's optical drive is NOT removeable, and not upgradeable. So if you think you ever will want an internal DVD drive, now's the time to get it.

I haven't seen the Acer's screen, but I can pretty much guarantee the Sony blows it away, even though the Acer does have a higher resolution, the TruBrite high-gloss is SO nice!! The Acer screen is not high-gloss, correct?

I guess the main questions to ask is this:
1) Is the Sony Vaio enough computing power for my video editing? Everything else should be PLENTY of computing power, speed, especially with 1 gig of ram.
2) Is the small gain in computing power of the Acer worth giving up the nice Sony screen?
3) Is the Sony not so much ****ing cooler?

I don't know if I really helped! lol

 

ironcross,

how did you obtain/apply the student discount? is it a coupon code that you apply? i'd like to get that 8% off if at all possible.

chek

 

Thanks Miston for the feedback. You hit one thing on the head. The screen of the Sony is hard to beat. That's one of the main reasons I'm having a hard time walking away from the Sony. As for the Acer's screen, you are correct. The 8100 does not have the "high gloss" (what Acer calls CrystalBrite) screen. Acer does offer it on other units, but of course my luck, they don't offer it on the one that I'm looking at.

Has anyone out there seen the TM8100 screen?

The Acer does offer a 5-in-1 card reader for optional MultiMediaCard, secure digital card, memory stick, memory stick PRO or xD-picture card, so I would be able to view my images on my memory sticks.

Oh yea, I also agree with your last statement. The FS is ****ing cooler!! Thanks again.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by chekyoself

 

Hi,

I have noticed on the sony style website that a 512mb memory upgrade costs $399??????

This is really putting me off, bearing in mind im in Thailand and theres not a massive range of online stores as the US has, what options do I have to upgrade the memory to 1gb without paying this rediculous amount for a 512 stick.

thanks for any help

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by MadFrankie