hi iam getting confused on what to choose please help!!! dell 700m or vaio s360

hi guys i know some of guys here will tell me its uncoparable but i just want to know everyones opinion iam getting confused already my former laptop was a 600m inspiron dell 1.7 centrino 1gb and 80 gb hard drive dvdrw etc... sold it because of some minor scratches and that time i was already eying for a new laptop now iam confused dell 700m 1.8 centrino 512 mb and 80 gb hard drive dvd///cdrw only or sony vaio vgn-s360 1.7 centrino 512 mb and 80gb hard drive which one is better for you and why??? thanks for inputs in advance

 

one of my buddies has the Dell, and i don't mean to be harsh but it felt like a piece of crap when i held it. i'm not sure how well it performs, but i personally don't like it in person. it looks cheap and it's all plastic. "Dell" is equivalent to "k/wal-mart" generic products. The sony is closer to the top of the line brand names, hence, tend to be generally more expensive. it'll be an easy decision for you if you could compare the two side by side in person.

edit---

also, you might want to consider the screen quality. the sony with xbrite is very sharp, clear and bright. the dell's screen looks very "washed out." and in terms of size, the dell's screen is 12.1 compared to sony's 13.3. even though the sony's screen is larger, it weighs about the same or less than the dell (dependent on the configuration of the dell). the dell is fat (thick) and the battery sticks out a lot.

 

Well, it all depends on what you are looking for. I haven't seen the Dell, so I can only refer to the specs.

No question the Dell is a lot cheaper, if you get one of those $750 or 40% off deals. It's then at least $500 less than the S460, even when the S460 is on sale.

The S460 is extremely well built for its light weight. The screen is excellent, and can get very bright.

The Dell has the slower Centriono CPU with a 400MHz FSB vs. 533MHz for the S460. But I've seen posts that it only makes about a 10% difference in performance. The Sony does have a far better graphics chip, but it's still not the best for the latest games. And I don't think Dell offers a 5400RPM hard drive like Sony has. So overall, the Sony is going to be faster.

The Sony does run hot. It's not bad at all on the keyboard side, but can be quite hot (not burning hot) on the bottom. The heat can be reduced by running undervoltage software, but it's still much hotter than I like. I assume the Dell runs cooler.

The Dell batteries are less expensive than Sony's too. I assume when s460z talks about it sticking out, he's referring to the high capacity version? The standard Sony battery does not stick out at all, but the Sony high capacity version does stick out about 1" from the back, and 1/2" from the bottom (which gives an incline and improves ventilation).

 

No cross posting please. I moved the identical thread that was in Dell to the harware forum and am locking this one.