need feedback for AR770 please

I'm getting close to buying a new laptop and one of the front runners is the AR770 but i see little to no forum talk about this one and wonder if 1) people are just not interested in 17" screens anymore 2) are they not any good? 3) i'm just blind and not seeing 'talks' in regards to them? 4) good/bad plus/minus experiences buying from the Sony retail store?

my questions are to those that have them how do you like them? How's the battery life while using the 9 cell? what DON'T you like about it. I've heard some horror stories about Sony Vaio as well as great things - just as i have about any and all brands you usually hear the bad more that the good. The biggest thing for me at the moment is the price as even with some of the freebies going on now i'm still looking at around $2100. I'm not too concerned with lugging it around as it's basically a desktop replacement but on occasion will being use it away from the outlet.

FYI the other models i'm looking at are Toshiba P300 with the Fusion finish and the Dell XPS m1530 yes it's a 15" but huge deals going on and they offer it with the LED screen which is a big plus as well as the fact my first and still current laptop is an Inspiron 6000 and has never given me a single problem.

so thanks to all ahead of time who can reply with some input.

 

I have Ar720, which i guess is very similar. I like it. Screen is brilliant. I don't find it heavy, i adore design. However have to say battery life is poor - will work some 1,5.

 

Hi I have the AR51E and have had no problems at all a great machine, must admit I do not carry it around much as a desk top replacement, battery life around 2hours but love the machine and screen is great.

 

I have a AR51J and the only thing is you can get laptops with the same specs for cheaper or with better specs for the same price:\

The screen is great as others have pointed out but i have an old toshiba with an LED screen and that's less like staring at a lightbulb than with my sony

 

I don't have one, but looked at it extensively when I was buying 2 months ago. The screen is brilliant, but I would take an LED any day! One thing that ended up being a big consideration for me was typing comfort - there is a lot of real estate between the front edge and the keyboard. Obviously this is not an issue for all, but it was for me.

It is the nicest 17" on the market, IMO, and I did not like that "shinny" finish on the Toshiba's or HP's. I personally ended up going with an FZ and a nice Samsung 19" LCD. Now I have screen real estate and portability when I need it.

 

I have never seen the 770 in person, but the 790 looks amazing. Best laptop screen I've seen (havent seen LED).

You are right that no one really talks about it. I have been "about to pull the trigger" for months, but always hesitate cuz I can't find much info on it on this forum or anywhere else. I have a huge 28 inch monitor as well, so I really dont NEED the 17 inch real estate. But portability for me is a nonfactor as I usually just bring my existing laptop of 4 years from outlet to outlet.

I think I will order one before the existing deals dissappear though. I dont think you can go wrong with it if you dont mind spending a little extra dough

 

I have been using one for 2 months. I have used Thinkpads for business but I wanted a desktop replacement that would do photo editing and could be used for A/V connected to an HDTV. Great screen, bright and accurate. The battery life is OK but not important to me, it is mainly a UPS. Bluetooth and wireless work great.

Highly recommend.
AR 770 CTO
# Standard Battery (BPS9A/B)
# WLAN (802.11a/b/g/n) with integrated Bluetooth® technology
# No TV Tuner
# LCD 17"WUXGA (XBRITE-HiColor™) with integrated video camera
# Blu-ray Disc™ Read Only Drive
# 320 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [5400 rpm]
# 3 GB DDR-SDRAM (DDR2-667, 2GBx1 + 1GBx1) [Regular price $150]
# Microsoft® Windows Vista® Home Premium with Service Pack 1
# Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T8300 (2.4GHZ)

 

yea the deals are getting close to running out so i'm close to pulling the trigger ! But no one has commented on whether to got CTO online or try in-store and try to get a better deal. My hope is they can through something extra in to counteract my Mass. tax as the store in in Burlington, Ma.

So anyone try in-store? Anyone?..... Bueller?...... Bueller?