What's the better Vaio? - Your opinion appreciated

SR

Core 2 Duo T6600 2.2GHz
4GB DDR2 RAM
320GB HDD
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4750 (512MB VRAM)

or...

CW

Intel Core i3
4GB DDR3 RAM
500GB HDD
NVIDIA GeForce 310M GPU (256MB VRAM)


I can get both for around the same price

Keep in mind this is for a college student - No CPU intensive programs and brings his laptop to and from school each week.

 

If you plan to keep it for a while, then I will wait a couple more weeks for the new-S-series (replacement for the SR), which comes with DDR3 RAM and the newer processors and go with it.

If not, then I would make the decision based on whether you value lightness/slickness (SR) vs slightly higher equipment specs and heavier/larger (CW).

 

I am able to wait it out, but I can get an SR with the specs I listed out for $900 flat. How much is the S series expected to be with equivalent specs?

 

Based on your description, I would go with something lighter and with more battery life. Mayby the new Y? Or even better, I'd look at the ASUS UL30vt-A1: http://www.amazon.com/UL30A-X2-13-3-Inch-Light-Silver-Laptop/dp/B002L6GE5Q

Similar to the Y but with switchable graphics and 33% faster due to built in overclocking and a bigger battery. Also includes 2 year global warranty (1 year for accidental damage.) This would get you nearly the performance and graphics of the SR but with 3X the battery life (10-12 hrs using integrated graphics mode.) But the Sony is probably better built but without the warranty.

Or is having an optical drive built in a required feature? (USB external drives are cheap.)

 

I did check out the Y and I am not a fan of the SU7300 1.3GHz processor which had a benchmark score of 999. The laptop I am using now has a score of 787 and it is SLOW, so the Y would only be a slight improvement. The SR's T6600 has a score of 1565, a solid amount higher than the Y's.

 

Which benchmark are you using? The overclocked SU7300 will probably score more like 1350 (and it uses DDR3 ram running at full 1066mghz instead of the slower DDR2 in the SR.)

Per Laptop.com the SR w/ t6400/ATI3470 had these benchmarks:
PCMARKVantage 3174,
3DMark06: 2450
battery 4:26

The UL80vt (same internals as the 30vt but a bigger 14" screen):
PCMARKVantage 3600
3DMark06: 3463
battery 9:17 (should be even longer in the UL30)

http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptop/asus-ul80vt-a1.aspx?mode=benchmarks

 

I used this website http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php

So what you're saying is the Vaio Y series will have nearly identical scores as the ASUS since both laptops have the SU7300 processor, 4GB DDR3, etc. etc.? The SR's PCMark Vantage was only 3,100 so if this is the case, then the Y should outperform the SR? Also, how high does the CPU clock speed raise up when overclocking? Can you have the CPU continuously overclock?

Forgive me but this is the first time I'm buying an above average laptop for the first time so I want to make sure I make the right decision.

 

I'm not sure if you can overclock the Y easily. In theory, yes, but in practice I don't know.

Basically, the CULV processors (su7300) run with 800mghz RAM. But with 1066mghz DDR3 ram it you can overclock the CPU by 33% to run at 1066MGHZ (800X1.33=1066.) The CULV processors are so low energy that you can do this without generating too much heat or dramatically hurting battery life. You can leave on the overclocking on full time. It turns it into a 1.76 mghz processor using fast RAM, as opposed to the SR w/ t6600, which is a 2.2 mghz wunning with slower (800mghz) DDR2 RAM. (Also, the t6600 runs too hot to siilarly overclock, even if you put in faster RAM.)

ASUS takes advantage of this by offering models with the overclocking built in (and user controlled.) So you can get max battery by turning overclocking off (gets you about 40 min more battery life) or max performance with the overclocking on. I don't know why only ASUS builds this in, and only some of their models. The UL30a has the same processor, but without overclocking or switchable graphics.

Does this make sense? If not read the ul80vt review I linked to above.

 

It makes sense but I'm just worried that even when the CPU is overclocked to 1.7GHz, it will still be slow. The processor I have now is 1.7GHz but it is pretty old (AMD Athlon 64 X2) so maybe the C2Duo run more efficiently. I just don't want to buy the Y and have it not run much faster than the one I have now. I will only be using it for Word processing, Google Earth, things of that matter. It should be able to handle all of that smoothly right?

That review also states that the ASUS has near the same performance as a Macbook, would it be accurate to say that the Y will be too?

Thanks a lot for your help tktk.

 

No, the Y will run 33% slower than the overclocked ASUS. Read reviews for the UL30a (non-overclocked model) or the Acer t3810. Those use a non-overclocked CULV chip, and their performance suffers:

http://blog.laptopmag.com/the-asus-ul30-a-true-all-day-ultraportable

But even without overclocking, a CULV will do most basic things well- but it might be outdated sooner.

Also, notebook review has a good review of the ul80vt that describes well what a stock and overclocked CULV can and cannot do.

As an aside, if you do get integrated graphics, the integrated mhd4500 is somewhat slow. The newer "intel HD" integrated graphics that come with the newer i3/i5 chips is about twice as good as the 4500. But the CULV machines only use the MHD4500 (except the ASUS models with switchable graphics.) The Intel HD tests out to be about as good as the old 9300gs dedicated graphics found in the Sony Z (original model, not the new update.)

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5346&p=2

 

I read the review and based off what you're telling me, I think I'm going to go for the SR (or wait to see the price of the S). I'm skeptic on the performance of the Y if overclocking is not an easy task and not being able to switch graphic options. The SR in the PCMark score was scored using a T6400 processor (2.0GHz), I plan on getting it with a T6600 which is a decent upgrade.

 

The SR is agood machine. Just make sure you are O.K. with the battery life, which is in the 4 hr range.