help: different names in europe and the US for the FE-series

i am living in europe, but planning to buy a new laptop in the US when im there in a about a week. my current laptop is a vaio and although i know they are comparably expensive for no better quality, - im just overwhelmed by whats on the market, and have a lacking the experience with other brands.

so to make things easier i think ill go with vaio again. im circling in to the laptop that here in europe is called VGN-FE21S. in the US Sony seems to use different names for the FE-models..


Question: Does anyone know what this model is called in the US? or where i can find that out?


feel free to leave any other tips or suggestions....

 

Google is your friend.
www.sonystyle.com
(Sony's U.S. direct, although I don't recommend you buy from here)

Compare specs. Although, from what I've seen on Sony-Europe's website, EU usually has worse specs that cost more money. Do a proper monetary conversion to match your budget, and buy the highest avaiable model.

 

Specs on the VGN-FE21S
CPU Section
Microprocessor Full Name
Inte® Core™ Duo Processor T2400, Supports Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology
Operating System
Operating System
Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
Display
Diagonal Size (in)
15.4
Display Type
X-Black LCD with double lamp technology
Resolution Format
1280 x 800
Memory
Memory Size (MB)
1024.0
Drives
Hard Drive Capacity (GB)
160
Optical Drive Type
Super Multi Double Layer DVD±RW drive
Graphics
Graphic Card Full Name
NVIDIA® GeForce® Go 7600 with 128MB dedicated VRAM
Connectivity
Wireless LAN Type
802.11a/b/g

As loath as I am to suggest it, doing a custom build of an FE690 on Sonystyle should be your best bet to recieve the same or better machine above. There are only two options for a pre-built FE600 series notebook with XP Media Center Edition, and both have the T2300 processor instead of the T2400 as above. Ask anymore questions, we'll be glad to help.

 

->yup i started comparing the specs, but i thought there might be a direct chart or something for the different names, so i asked. thanks for the tip, nixon..

since you encouraged me to ask more...

i am a programmer, so i spend a lot of time at my computer,
i also do computerart and interactive installations from time to time,
i dont play any games, but would like to be able to work with 3d-programs and with big graphics,
i travel a lot..so it shouldnt be too fragile and fit into backpacks.
it should be quiet - (i think thats important with laptops in general) & my current vaio gets quite loud after a while.

do you think the VGN-FE21S/ FE690 woud be a good choice?

 

sorry i guess that question above should go into the other forum.. (i will just listen to what you guys tell the young lawstudent)
yet, you mentioned the "XP Media Center Edition",.. what is that all about? it sounds like a extra software pack? ...then i dont think i need it, really.
any opinions?

 

Media center is just a different flavor of XP that allows for greater ease in playing around with media files (movies, music, and such)

I think the FE690 would be a great choice, but my worry is with all of the travel, the weight of the machine might be a bit much. It's amazing the difference between a 4lb notebook and a 6lb one.

 

thank you nixon- that is actually a good point thinking of my back + shoulders
i made another thread in the "what should i buy" forum, to consider a few lighter weight alternitives...if there are.

-anna