Spec Questions - Sony Vaio SZ1M

JohnK

In a previous thread about laptop battery life (http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054918403) CuLT mentioned the Sony Vaio line which have about 5 hours per charge. This has me very interested and I've about 90% decided that the Sony Vaio SZ1M (http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/Sony_Vaio_SZ1M_Magnesium_Laptop_VGN-SZ1M-B/version-1.asp) is what I want. I just have a small few questions though and I'm hoping someone here can help

I'd be hoping to be able to play some games on this and i've been looking over the spec of some games and for the most part, they seem to be ok. I've put the specs below so if someone who actually knows something about laptops (ie. not me!) could have a quick look and make sure I havent missed anything. The things that I'm just not sure about are the DirectX version of the video card and things like "T&L capable video card". I have no idea what that means.


Thanks

CIV 4
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Min Spec
Windows 2000/XP
1.2GHz P4 or above
256MB RAM (Win 2000) 512MB RAM (XP)
1.7GB Hard Disk Space
64MB Video Card


Recommended Spec
Windows 2000/XP
1.8GHz P4 or above
512MB RAM
1.7GB Hard Disk Space
128MB Video Card





AOE 3
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PC with 1.4 Ghz equivalent or higher processor that supports SSE
256 MB of system RAM
2.0 GB available hard disk space
32x speed or faster CD-ROM drive
64 MB video card with HT&L
Sound card with speakers or headphones
DirectX 9.0c or above




Half Life 2
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Min Spec
1.2 GHz Processor
256MB RAM
DirectX 7 capable graphics card


Recommended Spec
2.4 GHz Processor
512MB RAM
DirectX 9 capable graphics card





The Sims 2
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If you have a T&L capable video card with at least 32 MB of video RAM (such as nvidia GeForce 2 or better or ATI Radeon 7000 or better) then you need at least:
800 MHz P3 processor
256 MB RAM if Windows XP
128 MB RAM if Windows ME, Windows 98 or Windows 2000
At least 3.5 GB of hard drive space
If you have a non-T&L capable video card (such as TNT2 or Intel Integrated for example) then you need at least:
2.0 GHz processor
256 MB RAM if Windows XP
128 MB RAM if Windows ME, Windows 98, or Windows 2000
At least 3.5 GB of hard drive space
Recommended video cards: (the more video memory the better)
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
Nvidia Geforce 4




Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
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Min Spec
800 MHz Intel Pentium III or 800 MHz AMD Athlon or 1.2GHz Intel Celeron or 1.2 GHz AMD Duron processor
128 MB of RAM
8 speed CD / DVD drive
915 MB of free hard disk space
(+ 635 MB if video card does NOT support DirectX Texture Compression)
32 MB video card with DirectX 9.0 compatible drivers ("GeForce" or better)
Sound Card with DirectX 9.0 compatible drivers Keyboard & Mouse

Recommended Spec
Intel Pentium IV or AMD Athlon XP processor 256(+) MB of RAM
16 speed CD / DVD drive
1.55 GB of free hard disk space
(+ 635 MB if video card does NOT support DirectX Texture Compression)
64(+) MB video card with DirectX 9.0 compatible drivers ("GeForce 3" / "Radeon 8500" or better with DirectX Texture Compression support)
DirectX 9.0 compatible sound card with surround sound
Gamepad (USB or Joystick Port)
Keyboard & Mouse
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City uses Microsoft DirectX 9.0.








Grand Theft Auto 3
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Min Spec
Pentium III 450 CPU
64MB RAM
16MB Direct3D Video Card
Fully DirectX compatible Sound Card
8X CD-Rom
500MB free hard disk space
Win 98/ME/2000/XP/NT
Direct X 8.1

Recommended Spec
700 mhz CPU
128MB RAM
32MB Direct3D Video Card
Fully DirectX compatible Sound Card
8X CD-Rom
500MB free hard disk space
Win 98/ME/2000/XP/NT
Direct X 8.1

Karoma

The battery life is approx. 4.5hrs max.
http://www.vaio-link.com/specifications/specifications.asp?l=en&category=0&serie=VGN-SZ&m=2158
There is no way you'd get anywhere near that with full brightness, all components enabled and playing a game.
DirectX 9.0c comes with Windows. I doubt the video card is capable of T&L. The card is shared memory - i.e. It can be up to 128MB of video memory - if it uses some of the main memory. RAM = 512 MB... You may want to upgrade that (yourself! It's cheaper to order and install - the instructions on vaio-link.com as well)


T&L is an abbreviation for Transform and Lighting, which is one of the primary stages of 3d rendering. T&L is also one of the most computing-intensive, so off-loading this function to a video card is a huge improvement for games that require high numbers of polygons on-screen.

IMHO: Do not get a laptop for gaming. If you must, get a Dell/AlienWare or something designed specifically for the job and be prepared to pay for it.

JohnK

Thanks Karoma, I should have guessed it was too good to be true . I hadn't realised the card was only 64mb. I thought it was 128mb by itself but could use shared memory up to 256mb. I'd agree that laptops wouldn't be the best for gaming but I may soon be in a situation where the laptop would be all I'll have for a few months so it would be nice if it was capable of even a bit of gaming. I'll look around a bit more but even €1,500 is really stretching it at the moment.

The Real B-man

i have this http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/Sony_Vaio_FE11H_Core_Duo_Laptop_VGN-FE11H/version.asp pretty much the same specs it plays hl2 fine bf2 on low settings the one thing i hate about it is there are no new drivers for the nvidia geforce go graphics cards except the 7800 so hopefully they will release some soon for added fps

overall brilliant laptops

JohnK

That looks good B-man, I'll take a closer look at it tonight. How heavy is it?

happy_acid_face

Sony laptops are good but one thing that can be annoying is the X black screens. Although they are wonderful to look at, you will have to carry a cloth around with you. They are so glossy, any little smudge or bit of dust tends to be VERY annoying and can be very distracting.

What in particular do want the laptop for? A bit of gaming taken into account, is there anything else you'd want it for? If you post up your needs im sure alot of people here would do there best to find a couple of laptops in your budget that would suit you best!

JohnK

To be honest, what I'm looking for is a multipurpose machine. For an extended period of time this could be my only machine so I want to be able to do everything. I'll want gaming, general office stuff, software development, DVD watching and video & photo editing. Oh, and it needs to be as light as possible so I can carry it around and have a huge battery life. To top it all off I'll need it to be within a budget of around €1,500. Not asking for much am I :rolleyes:

I had though the Vaio SZ1M would accomplish pretty much all of that but if the graphics card is only 64mb then is not really much use for gaming. The Vaio FE11H that The Real B-Man linked to looks like it might do what I'm looking for but from what I can tell its about 30% heaver than the SZ1M and has about 1 hour less in the battery life. Realistically, the battery probably wont effect me too much but the weight concerns me. Unfortunately, I don't have anything that I can compare the weights with so I'm having difficulty in figuring out how much the difference would affect me. If you (or anyone) have any ideas I'd love to hear them

The Real B-man

Its 2.8kg with the Battery tbh its not that heavy i mean i surf the net with it on my lap doesnt even feel like its there & the X Black screen is out of this world my desktop tft in nowhere near it so blurry when compared to the X black on the vaio as happy_acid_face said the X black attracts dust because its a shiny reflective surface but when you turn on the laptop you cant see it nothing to be worried about tbh.

JohnK

I think I'll try and have a look at one (FE11H) this weekend. Pick it up and whatnot. Thanks everyone