2000 to burn on laptop

paleoboy

Hi I have been given €2000 to burn on getting a laptop. I am travelling to work in africa so I need it to be very portable

http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/Sony_VAIO_SZ5XWN-C_VGN-SZ5XWN-C.CEK/version-1.asp is the laptop I am looking at at the moment. It is BY FAR the style I want, and I like the specs, but the price is ridiculous as most can see isnt it?

Can anyone please recommend another laptop of simillar style but with maybe more value for money. The price doesnt matter?

Or shouldn I just get the sony, I love it, but hate the thought of really wasting money.

Thanks

Cheers

allen175

Go for a Dell XPS M1330, you can get it for €1650 with all the specs below.

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor T7500 (2.20 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 4 MB L2-cache)
Genuine Windows Vista® Ultimate (32Bit) - English
Base Warranty - 1 Year Hardware Support, Next Business Day
13.3" UltraSharp™ WXGA (1280x800) White-LED Display (300 nits) with TrueLife™
Biometric Fingerprint Reader
4096MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x2048]
250GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive
128MB nVidia® GeForce® 8400M GS
Fixed 8x DVD+/-RW Slim Slot Load Drive, including SW
Primary 9-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (85 WHr)

With the sony you only get a max of 2GB ram and a slower processor.
With the Dell you get 4GB of ram, a faster processor, bigger hard drive, better graphics card, longer battery and loads of other stuff. So go with getting a XPS m1330, you can go to the dell website and customise it yourself to get the best for you.

AlmightyCushion

allen175 wrote: »

Go for a Dell XPS M1330, you can get it for €1650 with all the specs below.

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor T7500 (2.20 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 4 MB L2-cache)
Genuine Windows Vista® Ultimate (32Bit) - English
Base Warranty - 1 Year Hardware Support, Next Business Day
13.3" UltraSharp™ WXGA (1280x800) White-LED Display (300 nits) with TrueLife™
Biometric Fingerprint Reader
4096MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x2048]
250GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive
128MB nVidia® GeForce® 8400M GS
Fixed 8x DVD+/-RW Slim Slot Load Drive, including SW
Primary 9-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (85 WHr)

With the sony you only get a max of 2GB ram and a slower processor.
With the Dell you get 4GB of ram, a faster processor, bigger hard drive, better graphics card, longer battery and loads of other stuff. So go with getting a XPS m1330, you can go to the dell website and customise it yourself to get the best for you.

Also you're getting a better screen with the xps.

How much was it to upgrade the ram to 4GBs? You can get 4GBs of ram on shop4memory.ie for around €100 and install it yourself. I'd say it cost a lot more than that on dell.

allen175

it was €100 to go from 2gb to 4gb, so about the same.

Voodu Child

That Sony looks pretty sweet alright, but the M1330 is a great option as mentioned. The sony might be a little lighter, but not much, the 1330 should be around the 2kg mark afaik.

I'd say you'd get away without speccing the M1330 with 4Gb, 2 is plenty for the average user. Stick 4 in it yourself sometime in the future if you really need it, its always cheaper to buy yourself, and sure prices come down the whole time.

You might get away without the Nvidia card also - you don't say what you're doing, but you'll know yourself if you need 3D performance or not. You should get a nice bit of extra battery life if you get the integrated (x3100) card instead of the 8400M.

e1650 seems pretty pricey for a M1330 too. You'll get one for a lot less, and then it'll start to look pretty good value beside the sony.

paleoboy

Cheers for the replys.
Ya ill take a look into the XPS'S

Just wondering, What about a 15.4 inch FZ sony that Has 300gb hard drive, blue ray disc, I think its 2.2 or 2.4 core 2 duo. with 8400 nvidia. What ya reckon.

Cheers

Jonathan

paleoboy wrote: »

Cheers for the replys.
Ya ill take a look into the XPS'S

Just wondering, What about a 15.4 inch FZ sony that Has 300gb hard drive, blue ray disc, I think its 2.2 or 2.4 core 2 duo. with 8400 nvidia. What ya reckon.

Cheers

What are you doing that you need blue ray on a laptop? Esp a 15.4" one that doesn't even have 1080 resolution....

foobar

jmccrohan wrote: »

What are you doing that you need blue ray on a laptop? Esp a 15.4" one that doesn't even have 1080 resolution....

It might have a HDMI out port like the DELL XPS, so he could connect to a TV etc.

Jonathan

foobar wrote: »

It might have a HDMI out port like the DELL XPS, so he could connect to a TV etc.

I know that... imho blueray on a laptop is crazy... paying a huge premium for the technology to be shrunk to laptop size.

remus808

I think the XPS is ideal for your needs.. Really top notch and ultraportable... 15.4" really isn't that portable to be honest.

Your a lucky man to be getting €2,000 worth of laptop, Envious!

AlmightyCushion

jmccrohan wrote: »

I know that... imho blueray on a laptop is crazy... paying a huge premium for the technology to be shrunk to laptop size.

Especially for something that may become the next betamax.

Jonathan

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Especially for something that may become the next betamax.

VHS ftw

BostonB

paleoboy wrote: »

Hi I have been given €2000 to burn on getting a laptop. I am travelling to work in africa so I need it to be very portable...

I think you'd need to include a backup both of data and perhaps even a 2nd computer as a backup. If you are in Africa. Perhaps a Asus EEE PC?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055173563

Of course it depends what you'll be doing with the laptop?

Voodu Child

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Especially for something that may become the next betamax.

FYI, blu-ray has all but won the war as of Jan 4th.

But i'd definitely agree that there's very little use for it in a laptop right now, least of all one that's going to be travelling to Africa for the foreseeable future.

It'll be a much cheaper option in the next year or two; you'd have to look hard to find a reason to buy one at this moment.

AlmightyCushion

voodoo_child wrote: »

FYI, blu-ray has all but won the war as of Jan 4th.

But i'd definitely agree that there's very little use for it in a laptop right now, least of all one that's going to be travelling to Africa for the foreseeable future.

It'll be a much cheaper option in the next year or two; you'd have to look hard to find a reason to buy one at this moment.

Really? I didn't know that. I would have said the same thing if it had a hd-dvd drive in it. The point I was trying to make is that I wouldn't spend that kind of money for something that may become obsolete in the next year or so. I didn't know blu-ray was doing so well though so I guess it isn't too bad.

I agree that the op wouldn't get much use out of it. Better off spending the money on something else. Upgrade the cpu or something like that or buy a load of accessories.

Jonathan

voodoo_child wrote: »

FYI, blu-ray has all but won the war as of Jan 4th.

Where you hear this / base your opinion on?

Voodu Child

jmccrohan wrote: »

Where you hear this / base your opinion on?

There was a big announcement from Warner there last week. Caused a big stir there at the CES and the HD-DVD crowd cancelled all their CES interviews and conferences.

You could still bet on HD-DVD if you wanted, but the overwhelming opinion is that this decision has effectively 'won' the HD standard war.

500ml

The Blu-ray drive is a recordable drive in that model of FZ you speak of, so it may well be practical for backing up data without having to lug an external HDD around with you. You can get up to 50GB on a dual layer disc. Handy.

Fremen

Some slashdot articles about blu-ray:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/08/1220213
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/05/1337258

To be honest, I think it's a waste of money. When was the last time you watched a movie on your laptop and thought: "Dammit... I wish the picture was clearer"?
Blu-ray drives will only really be useful once there are affordable drives with write capability and cheap blank discs.

Eh, I guess this is getting a bit off-topic.

Edit: just read 500ml's post. Maybe there's something to it, then

randomer

Dell have some great prices on their Ebay Outlet store.

Here is an XPS M1330 (http://cgi.ebay.ie/DELL-PC-Laptop-LCD-XPS-M1330-HK9V43J_W0QQitemZ250204851528QQihZ015QQcategoryZ177QQcmdZViewItem)

It will probably go for about €850.

It has the 2.2ghz processor upgraded screen and 2gb of ram. (You can buy 4gb of ram for an xps for less than €100) and it comes with a 1 year warranty.

paleoboy

Is the dell xps m1330 thought with 4gb ram the best portable laptop money can buy though? And if not...what is?

BanzaiBk

4GB RAM is a laptop is a waste because 32bit Windows Vista only recognises 3.25GB RAM anyway.

paleoboy

ok fine...but I am trying to establish......what is the best portable laptop money can buy!!

Cheers

Jonathan

paleoboy wrote: »

ok fine...but I am trying to establish......what is the best portable laptop money can buy!!

Cheers

Apple are apparently launching a portable one.. Find out tomorrow at MacWorld. *shields myself from mac slating*

BostonB

Macbookair