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Question

laptop purchase/warranty

by Nov 16, 2012 2:05AM PST

I was being impulsive due to needing a laptop as soon as possible, and I bought a laptop last night at Fry's. I bought a sony vaio i7 SVT113118FSX, 6G of Ram, and I had them put a 250 SSD drive in it. It was out of the box and was a display model not a return. I am concerned now since reading a few reviews saying that sometimes the windows system just no longer recognizes windows 7 and just crashes.

My dilemma is that there is a 15 day return policy, and I have no warranty. If I get the frys extended warranty for $250 for 2 years, it does not cover incidental damage but does cover if it just stops working, and wear and tear, or internal battery replacement. But most one year laptop warranties are also not covering incidental damage.

I am wondering if I should return this laptop and get a new one with a warranty, if I should keep the one I have and get the fry's warranty, or if I should just keep the laptop which is running fine and risk it with no warranty.

The laptop was $1099 then I paid another $260 to have the 250SSD installed ( parts and labor), the warranty is 250/2yr, 299/3yr.

I really just want a laptop that is a PC (has to be Windows 7 due to program requirements), super light, preferably solid state, superfast (but I don't game), i keep my files on dropbox, but like to have some extra storage (256G i preferable), and I like 13", and my budget is around 1300 since I paid 1500 for my sony vaio S series ( i7, 640 G, 8 G ram) and my dad agreed to pay for a replacement laptop. ( warranty cost I would pay for myself).

I just don't really understand if I am being ahead of the curve if I get a i7 or if I should get an i5 since i am not doing lots of threading. PLEASE HELP! what is the best option?!

Discussion is locked

3 Posts
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Answer
Your choice but here.
by Former Forum moderator Nov 16, 2012 2:28AM PST

We began to have issues with the i7 based laptops at the office and on a lark (actually something we know about) we set Windows to limit cores to 6 rather than the 8 the i7 has. The machines have straightened up and are now very reliable.

I don't think any warranty work could have done as good a job as this simple setting change.

Since https://www.google.com/search?q=SVT113118FSX only finds this discussion I can't comment more.
Bob

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sorry!
by vpenna624 Nov 16, 2012 2:38AM PST

I added another number in the model by accident sorry, sony vaio svt13118fxs it is a dual core, and I am not sure if I understand what you are suggesting I do. Can you explain more?

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What I noted does not apply to a dual core i7 Ultrabook.
by r. proffitt Former Forum moderator Nov 16, 2012 3:08AM PST

You should be fine. Although I'm unsure I would have dumped that much into a laptop like that with other i5 ultrabooks running less. Example at http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Series-SVT13112FXS-13-3-Inch-Ultrabook/dp/B0080C225Q

That's less than 800 and I own a model that uses a similar 32GB drive. It's really great.

Your selection is almost double the price yet I worry it's not double the machine. For my selection I could use it till it died and with the money saved, buy a new thing in a few years.
Bob

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