Where to buy my Vaio?

Hi,

Now that I have decided to get a Sony Vaio FS series beauty , can I know from which online store to buy it? I am keeping these options:

Newegg
J & R
Tiger Direct
PC Connection

(Sonystyle.com has been discounted as they wud take months to build and ship and i want the thing in max 15 days ..also all the above dont charge tax for GA while sonystyle does !! )

Basically, I wud like to know what is the reliability factor with these stores and whts your experience in terms of Product Quality and shipping speed.

pls do give your opinion on PCConnection and J&R as they have sme really groovy Vaio FS models at quite the right price... i know newegg rocks for shipping but they dont have too many 15.4"... ...

 

U r sure that u wan the FS(Sonoma processors)? It ll be outdated quite soon. Why dun u opt for the FE series(Duo core)? Built quality is better than Acer, but u ll still get those cheap plastic feelings.

 

J&R is a very reputable company, I've purchased several things from them over a few years with no problems. I also find they are sometimes negotiable on price. If you call them and tell them you can get it for less expensive somewhere else they often will off a lower price without even asking for proof of finding the lower price elsewhere.
Newegg is a very popular well known internet retailer, I believe they have one of the highest ratings on resellerratings.com. I have never purchased anything from TigerDirect myself but PCMagazine recenly had a survey on internet retailers and TigerDirect was rated #1. As far as PCConnection, I once purchased an item from them with no problem.
Go to resellerratings.com and check the ratings of the stores you listed. Hope this helps.

 

Portableone.com is a steller reseller and has their own sub-forum on this site. If customer service is something you consider valuable, Portable One is highly recommended. They are Sony authorized resellers.

http://www.laptopsinc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=SONY

 

Never heard of this retailer...and when i write portableone.com, it takes me to laptopsinc.com...

Are they reliable and product-quality conscious ?

 

Very much so. I have dealt with them in the past, and they have an excellent track record of standing behind what they sell. If nothing else, you will probably have a much better luck dealing with them if you have issues with your notebook rather than dealing with Sony support directly.

 

I just purchased my Sony FS850 at CompUSA. It was $1100 after rebates. I am EXTREMELY pleased with this unit. The 15.4 XBrite screen is just gorgeous! My son, who has a Vaio ZV1 was envious, since his screen at it's brightest...is about what mine looks like at it's LOWEST.

All computers will be "outdated" in a few years after you buy them---the bottom line to making THAT decision is--What do you use it for? If you are trying to keep up with the latest media offerings, operating systems and games...then you would be better served by getting a "dual core". If you just need it for routine surfing the net, email, and applications...the FS series will do handsomely.

This is my second VAIO--my FX370 just died 3 weeks ago, and despite all the "rotten" talk about Sony products and service---I certainly don't buy into that, and immediately fell in love with this FX850. I've had Dell's in the past, and its the same thing. Sometimes you get a "lemon", and sometimes you get a poor customer service experience...but most of the time it is quite positive and favorable.

My wife and I went shopping at Sam's Club (WalMart) on Friday, and I was shocked to see they had the SAME model for $995. WOW! IT's a popular unit, and it just plain "looks" awesome....once you see that wide screen.

I am extremely pleased with it, and plan to throw another 512k ram memory chip in it to boost the memory to 1GB soon....

I also found "Notebook Hardware Control" NHC and am controlling the Sonoma processor with that.....really cool piece of software.....now the Processor is running at slightly lower voltages and cooler..........ah, yes....longer life.....

Bottom line on my opinion.....get the best deal for your FS.......but don't let anyone talk you out of getting an FS series VAIO!!!!!


Sincerely,
Stan

Parker, CO

 

Thanks spweber for a good little review of your machine and great to know its doing pretty well!

The thing with CompUSA is that currently they have FS850 at 1200 bucks and on top of that they would charge tax for shipping to GA. Total comes around 1300 $.. thats a bit steep considering it isn't a DUO.

Secondly, I am a bit concerned about the 4200 rpm limitation of the hard disk... do you feel it slows down your programs at times? I would be running some demanding software like Eclipse, IntelliJ and Photoshop at times...so will the disk rpm be a bottleneck?

I also tried seeing FE550 (at newegg), FE690 (at PCConnection) and FE670G (at BHPhotovideo.com). Any idea which one of these is perfect combo of "great store + great laptop" . Newegg would have rocked but somehow people at many posts have smacked FE550 so much, that m a lil reluctant going for it.

Keep giving your so much helpful opinions guys...they do make a difference!