Dell XPS M1530 Vs Sony Vaio

justbringit89

Ok guys im having trouble deciding which laptop to get. The Sony one(not sure what model) is the one on special offer in PC World at €899 or €699(depends on if i want better spec such as ram/hard drive) but the dell XPS M1530 looks great aswell, if i go with the dell one i would be going for the €949 option.

I will be using the laptop for internet, movies , music & light gaming mainly, so any advice? Cheers

TerrorFirmer

If you're gaming, it has to be either the 899 Sony or the M1530.

For the extra 50 in it, the 8600GT in the M1530 is considerably better then the 8400GT in the Sony, and I think it looks far nicer to boot, though for games like Team Fortress 2 the 8400GT is a good card; depends on what you're playing. The 8400GT is roughly about as powerful as last generation Go7600GT - not to be confused with the more common 8400GS, it's much better.

The 699 Sony would only be good for games from 2004 backwards.

wingnut

The other thing to consider is warranty. Sony warranties can be expensive so you might be writing off the laptop after a year or two.

justbringit89

wingnut wrote: »

The other thing to consider is warranty. Sony warranties can be expensive so you might be writing off the laptop after a year or two.

what you mean by that? dont understand that. The Sony one im looking at is 899 is currys and has 250GB Hard Drive , 3GB Ram & Duo Processer T8100 so pretty good machine. TBH when i think of it i be doing feck all gaming on it.

Is the Battery Life Good for Sonys? Would They generally be as good machine as dell as in how many years they Last? Cheers

TerrorFirmer

Generally well built machines, battery is probably a standard 6 cell in both.

The 899 one is pretty decent for gaming unless you plan playing Crysis - COD4, Bioshock, etc all run pretty well on it, but the 699 one is not - though it is pretty good for everything else.

I don't understand the bit about writing it off after a year or two either.

justbringit89

well i know a lad in PC World Who can get 10% off the 899 so could get the sony one for 810 which is fairly good. Would people recommand getting the insurance pc world offers (3 or 5 Years)?

TerrorFirmer

I bought that Vaio myself actually, lovely machine so I said I'd give it a whirl. Very impressed with the 8400GT - a world apart from the 8400GS and chases the 8600GT when overclocked . 550/700 in my case, will take much more - I've seen it up to 650/730, which actually brings it past the DDR2 8600M-GT. The fact it's DDR3 helps. Even at my smaller overclock, it's equal to the 8600GS - pretty good going.

Screenshots of COD4 in action, 1280x800 high textures, all other options off - they don't detract much from the game anyway, but do incur heavy FPS hit.

As you can see from the score I actually did OK considering I was using the trackpad

Framerate can be seen in bottom right, was good, didn't dip below 30-ish fps - I deliberately took pictures of the game in ACTION, not inside, staring at walls, looking upwards, etc as a lot of people do to glorify their own card for whatever reason.

Verdict: Gaming card in disguise

justbringit89

Hey I found out the model is The Sony Vaio VGN-NR21Z. Is That The Model You Have "TerrorFirmer"??

TerrorFirmer

Yes, same one - I wouldn't be posting about it if it was just some random laptop I bought!

justbringit89

just making sure , just wanna ask ya some questions?

What Warrarty comes with it?
Is there many colours available for It?
Is the battery Life Good?

Cheers:D

TerrorFirmer

Standard 12 month, PC World have their own extended policies, I never bother with them however.

Colors - of the laptop screen or the panel?? Laptop only comes in the one color....no idea about the colors of the display, one to google....

Battery life - Vista tells me 3hr 30m remaining on power saver + Wifi on - my typical college scenario. Normally accurate give or take 20-25, so all in all looking good so far.

justbringit89

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Normally accurate give or take 20-25, so all in all looking good so far.

what you mean, 20-25 Off The Estimate??

I will prob get it 2morrow but does sony laptops have a reputation for being durable??

TerrorFirmer

Yeah, 20-25 minutes off the estimate.

Sony are generally a solid laptop, I wouldn't worry too much about that.

If you're not gaming, I'd get the 699 one - looks the exact same, slightly less ram and integrated graphics - but nothing a day to day user would notice.

justbringit89

oh cool, is the 899 good enough graphics to play most games? also the 899 has a great processer so thats the reason im kinda steering towards the 899 one. TBH i say id never use it for games but id like the option.:D

justbringit89

Actually I have now decided i will prob go for the XPS, I have had dell all my life and am happy to stick with them. Thanks for the help anyways!!

whiskeyman

justbringit89 wrote: »

Actually I have now decided i will prob go for the XPS, I have had dell all my life and am happy to stick with them. Thanks for the help anyways!!

Got the 1530 myself a while back - amazing machine.
DOn't forget to check the bargain alerts page for dell discount codes.
You could save well over 15% sometimes with codes, and the employer discount codes.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=346

laptop thread http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055162139&page=48

justbringit89

whiskeyman wrote: »

Got the 1530 myself a while back - amazing machine.
DOn't forget to check the bargain alerts page for dell discount codes.
You could save well over 15% sometimes with codes, and the employer discount codes.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=346

laptop thread http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055162139&page=48

i Know but there are none on now, Do you Think I should Wait till the next code, How often is there discount codes for the XPS?

What Spec Laptop Did you Get Yourself?

How Is the delivery with dell these days? 2weeks?

whiskeyman

justbringit89 wrote: »

i Know but there are none on now, Do you Think I should Wait till the next code, How often is there discount codes for the XPS?

What Spec Laptop Did you Get Yourself?

How Is the delivery with dell these days? 2weeks?

If you can afford to wait, wait. I had a budget of around 1k, so saved a fair bit. Not sure how often, but try and judge by scanning that thread.

I got a high spec 1530:
XPS M1530 CORE 2 DUO T9300 2.50GHz,800,6M
Memory Dual Channel 4.0GB (2x2048) 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Hard Drive 320GB SATA (5400rpm)
Graphics Card 256MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 8600M GT
Some extra tweaks here and there

I was working out around just over 1,300 before discounts, but I got it for around 1,100.

I ordered it on a Friday... it was dispatched on the Monday, and I got it Wednesday / Thursday (can't remember which!)

justbringit89

Jes Thats Great Service !! Ya well i got an Inspiron 8600 About 4 Years ago, Still Going But awful slow and battery is totally gone. But have great faith In Dell Products:D

Prob will go for

XPS M1530 CORE 2 DUO T7800 2.00GHz,
Memory Dual Channel 3GB
Hard Drive 250BG
Should be Plently For Me.

Just have to Decide If I want to wait For a Coupon and also which colour Blue or Black:D:D

Cheers Whiskeyman

Voodu Child

justbringit89 wrote: »

i Know but there are none on now, Do you Think I should Wait till the next code, How often is there discount codes for the XPS?

What Spec Laptop Did you Get Yourself?

How Is the delivery with dell these days? 2weeks?

Roughly every fortnight there is a 10% code (off XPS and Inspiron costing €899 or more). Someone always posts them in the bargain alerts forum, so keep an eye on that and you'll spot one sooner or later. And do a boards search for the EPP scheme, that's a further discount.

Delivery on an M1530 shouldn't be more than a week, I don't believe theres any shortages on those at the moment. It'll mention delays on the page if there is any.

Its a nice machine, if you go for it I don't think you'll have any regrets.

justbringit89

voodoo_child wrote: »

Roughly every fortnight there is a 10% code (off XPS and Inspiron costing €899 or more). Someone always posts them in the bargain alerts forum, so keep an eye on that and you'll spot one sooner or later. And do a boards search for the EPP scheme, that's a further discount.

Delivery on an M1530 shouldn't be more than a week, I don't believe theres any shortages on those at the moment. It'll mention delays on the page if there is any.

Its a nice machine, if you go for it I don't think you'll have any regrets.

Thanks Voodoo Child, But What Exactly is The EPP Scheme??

whiskeyman

justbringit89 wrote: »

Thanks Voodoo Child, But What Exactly is The EPP Scheme??

It's the employee purchase programme. Many large companies let their employees avail of discounted dell products.
They do it by entering in the company torward the end of ordering.
My company is in it, so I could avail of it (got a further 6% off on top of the coupon discount!).
Some people on that thread have put in known companies (even though they don't work for them) on the scheme and it's worked... seems as if there's no checking in place?

The site does say

dells epp t&Cs wrote:

Question: Can my family members benefit from this discount?
Answer: The program is available to employees of participating companies and their immediate families (siblings, parents, partners, children).

So it's not as if they can really check anyway!

www.dell.ie/epp for more info

justbringit89

Thats Class , does Anyone have a list of Companys Which Do This?

whiskeyman

justbringit89 wrote: »

Thats Class , does Anyone have a list of Companys Which Do This?

Do a search for that EPP thread and it'll list companies on it.
To be honest, you could probably guess (big institutions with big Dell contracts).

Seems to be one of those things only people in the know about. Sure is a nice discount!

justbringit89

will it discount the 6% straight away ? Well we have already got 3 systems with dell, so do you think they will suspect something if suddenly i put in a company name?

whiskeyman

justbringit89 wrote: »

will it discount the 6% straight away ? Well we have already got 3 systems with dell, so do you think they will suspect something if suddenly i put in a company name?

The discount should appear at the end of the order / totalling screen - just be sure you've gone through ordering on www.dell.ie/epp
Took me a while to get it!

Shouldn't be a prob that you've ordered before (personal user?).
It seems to be very lax.

bestinwest90

Ya im Prob will get this machine aswell, Looks Amazing!!! Do Anybody Know If Dell Still Accepts Cheques Or any other Payment than Credit Card!!

justbringit89

http://cgi.ebay.ie/Dell-XPS-M1530-2-4GHZ-3GB-320HD-3YR-WARRANTY-Laptop_W0QQitemZ350068147983QQihZ022QQcategoryZ177QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Is this Legit?? Seems Very Cheap For Brill Spec With Good Feedback??

Also It Is With A 3 Year Warrenty:O:O:O

Voodu Child

Its a return that some guy has just bought to resell. Its one extra middle-man that you don't need to involve.

You'd be much better off buying one off Dell themselves - the Dell Outlet. Theres a link to the outlet on Dells webpage. They have an ebay page also.