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General discussion

Need helpful advice for first time notebook buyer

Jul 31, 2004 2:54PM PDT

hey everyone, i'm about to purchase my first notebook for school and i have a few questions. i'm half way through college and i switched majors to web design. i need a new pc and a notebook is definately the way to go. i'm just so confused with all the different choices of processors. i feel more comfortable going with a pentium 4 because ill need the power to run programs such as flash, photoshop, java, etc. but ive been reading about the pentium m w/ centrino technology and everyone seems to say thats the way to go if you're going to be moving around with the notebook. i'll mostly be going from house to school and back again, maybe taking it to other locations here or there. my school has wireless lan, but are pentium 4's really that bad for mobility?

i'm looking at the sony k27.. pentium 4, 80 gb hd 512 mb memory, and i like the sony name... first off, does anyone know about that notebook? it looks good to me, im not too concerned about weight and size because i know i need to sacrifice some things for the added power, but i need to make sure i can connect to wireless at school and what not. thanks for any advice

Discussion is locked

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Sony has no name.
Jul 31, 2004 9:37PM PDT

1. Just a month ago they shuttered the production of the Clie product line in N.A. Not only that, but they packed up their developer access to programming information to these units.

This is like the kid that gets mad and packs up all the toys (including yours) and goes home.

2. Sony has dropped the ball too many times for our office. We had a block of 20 Sony laptops which all bluescreened in the first week. 1 year later, all had been to Sony's repair centers and we couldn't eek a full day of running Microsoft Office on them due to heat issues.

3. Sony seems to have a cavilier attitude that you will run the OS they supply. If you get a Windows XP Home, then they don't supply drivers if you want to run XP Pro. Be sure you can get the drivers for your machine.

4. Since you can't get drivers, that was bad enough, but imagine if you needed the restore CDs. Again, Sony failed here.

This is not a nice company to deal with.

Bob

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Re: Sony has no name.
Aug 1, 2004 4:12AM PDT

Sony has some products (especially ultralights) in the higher price range that other companies don't have a competing product for. Otherwise, Toshiba beats Sony across the board for the more conventional notebooks ($2,000 or less).

If you compare specifications, the Toshiba will beat in on specs (just as it beats Apple on specs if you are comparing by price). Apples offer some people a compelling reason to pay more (they are high quality) but the Sony does not unless you want all their extra video software and use a memory stick camera.

Note that Sony had Xbrite screens on their own for awhile but now Toshiba has Trubrite, HP/Compaq has Briteview, and Fujitsu has Crystal Series. These are all similar and in fact the same Asian LCD manufacturer is probably making most of them.

You can get the same built in wi-fi with the Pentium 4M and Pentium M. If you are only going to move the notebook around from your desk at school to your table at home and will be leaving it plugged in then get the Pentium 4M if you want.

But the entire idea of wi-fi now (most colleges now are adding it) is that you can take it to the library, the lawn, the cafeteria, the lounge (in front of ESPN and your buddies or the ladies), etc.

That is where the lighter weight, longer battery life, less heat (if using on lap or bed, etc occasionally) make the Pentium M the current chip of choice for people who will use it any period of time unplugged.

The Compaq X1000 I have is the same as the HPZT3000 --read about both of these at x1000forums.com -- with rebates and discounts you can get a well set up model (64mb video dedicated memory, 1.6 Dothan Pentium M, 15.4" LCD widescreen, CD-RW/DVD ROM, built in 54G wifi, etc for between $1,000 and $1500 with discounts depending on what you choose. it will run 3.50- 4 hours using wi-fi 100% of the time or longer if not using wi-fi.

Note: a Pentium M runs at about 1.5 times faster than its mhz speed in comparison to a Pentium 4M so if you get a 1.6 or 1.7 Dothan Pentium M (new higher 2mb L2 system cache) you will be running similar to a 3 ghz Pentium 4M.

I also highly recommend the Toshiba M35S456 which has the Trubrite screen very similar to Sony Xbrite. It weighs 6.2 pounds with the 15.4" widescreen and it is very similar in specs to the X1000 above. Retail is $1999 for that one but it is fully loaded with a DVD burner.

Toshiba has somewhat of a better reliability overall then HP/Compaq (I have Toshiba TV's, DVD players, etc and have never had a failure) but there is one issue:

If the notebook is a complete lemon (example motherboard failure from a recent poster) then Toshiba will not apparently give you a new replacement notebook. HP will give out a new notebook (which is even an improved model) in these extreme cases.

Both have a 1 year limited warranty but you can add to that if you wish for more $. You can upgrade to 2 years for free if you buy it on a qualifying gold/platinum credit card-- or you can buy HP/Compaq custom through the costco site (or a prebuilt model in the store)and get a 6 month return policy (defective or not) as added peace of mine protection (full manufacturer warranty still applies).

Again, if you are not buying one of the $2500 sony ultralights or you are not using their video editing software Toshiba has them beat now in the mainstream area --sony cannot even trumpet Xbrite exclusivity anymore....