build quality of VPCCW27FX?

Hi, I'm looking to buy a laptop for programming, gaming, and everyday tasks. Right now I'm debating between the VPCCW27FX and a 15" MBP. The price difference is huge (almost $1000 more for roughly the same machine) but there are two things that are making me consider getting the Apple.

1. The ability to do iPhone/iPad programming. Hard to put a price on this. I'm not positive I will have the time to do this but it is nice to have the option.
2. Build quality - everyone raves about how well Apples are made and my general experience observing friends makes me think they are decently made as well.

Can anyone comment on how well put together their VPCCW27FX is? Have any components needed replacing/how timely was the repair work? Any more general nagging complaints about the machine (wobbly screens, bad keys, loud drives, etc)?

Also, if people have more general thoughts on comparing the 15" MBP vs the VPCCW27FX that would be great. It's pretty amazing the price difference between the two but if the MBP is must better made and will be supported more quickly then that's something I'll have to take into serious consideration.

Thanks!

Ethan

 

Oh and I just noticed the battery drain issue reported on Vaio laptops - that's a big concern to me. Is there really no way to avoid losing a significant % of your laptop's battery when shutting it down or hibernating it?

 

As far as the battery life goes, it's somewhat conflicting. A lot of people simply believe that it's simply the machine incorrectly reporting the battery life left. Some people believe it's an actual drain caused by some background process running that can't be disabled. From what I've seen from other posters, it seems to be more of the former than the latter. But obviously the Apple will give you way better battery life.

Build quality on my CW27 is fine. The palm rest is plastic and can get kind of smudgy, but that's really the only complaint I have with it. I really like the trackpad though, probably one of the best I've used, comes with multi touch functionality that rivals what you see on a macbook.

I'd recommend going into a Best Buy or something and compare the two yourself (even though they might not have the specific model on display), but your decision is going to come down to this since the two are pretty much identical spec wise - Is OSX, better build quality, better battery life, inferior graphics card (unless you want to upgrade to an i7 to get the 512MB GT330m), arguably a better screen, one less USB port, and lack of a HDMI port and Blu Ray worth paying about $1000 more than the VAIO?

Also it may be possible to set up hackintosh on the VAIO, though I personally haven't tried doing so.