Looking for advice.

mossie

I am looking at buying a new laptop, and have it narrowed down to three possibles.

Acer: http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/Acer_Aspire_8930G-864G64Bn_Gemstone_Blue_Laptop_LX.AT10X.003/version.asp

Fujutsu-Siemens: http://www.nice-pc.co.uk/acatalog/info_CCE_GBR_110150_005.html

Sony: https://www.sonystyle.ie/SonyStyle/VAIO-Laptop-PCs/FW-Series-16-4/VGNFW31ZJ.CEK

Looking at a pretty powerful model, movies, gaming a little video editing. Portable but not necessarily very much so, more within the house and to work rather than on flights etc.. The Sony is at the upper end of my budget. Just looking for opinions, any welcome. Thanks.

Mossie

pawrick

as a matter of interest i too am looking at that sony - so anyone who can help advise please do.

also I saw it priced at €1,313.18 inc vat on Dabs - are they ok to deal with/anywhere better value in uk/ireland? will keep looking myself.

thanks

edit - looks like dabs aren't great

Voodu Child

mossie wrote: »

I am looking at buying a new laptop, and have it narrowed down to three possibles.

Acer: http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/Acer_Aspire_8930G-864G64Bn_Gemstone_Blue_Laptop_LX.AT10X.003/version.asp

Fujutsu-Siemens: http://www.nice-pc.co.uk/acatalog/info_CCE_GBR_110150_005.html

Sony: https://www.sonystyle.ie/SonyStyle/VAIO-Laptop-PCs/FW-Series-16-4/VGNFW31ZJ.CEK

Looking at a pretty powerful model, movies, gaming a little video editing. Portable but not necessarily very much so, more within the house and to work rather than on flights etc.. The Sony is at the upper end of my budget. Just looking for opinions, any welcome. Thanks.

Mossie

The Acer has a bigger screen, is quite a bit less portable, has a lower end CPU, but a higher-end GPU (better for gaming).

The Sony has quite a high-end CPU, that will add a lot to the cost, will certainly help when doing video-editing but not an awful lot.

Consider also the MSI GT725. That will run absolute rings around any of them when it comes to gaming (has a proper high-end card, the HD4850), and with an overclockable Quadcore (simple o/c button), it will similarly trash the crap out of them when it comes to video encoding/editing.

Im sure it has some negatives, so you would be well advised to research it (build quality etc), but on paper it offers a lot of bang for the buck. Same kind of money as the Sony.

mossie

Voodu Child wrote: »

The Acer has a bigger screen, is quite a bit less portable, has a lower end CPU, but a higher-end GPU (better for gaming).

The Sony has quite a high-end CPU, that will add a lot to the cost, will certainly help when doing video-editing but not an awful lot.

Consider also the MSI GT725. That will run absolute rings around any of them when it comes to gaming (has a proper high-end card, the HD4850), and with an overclockable Quadcore (simple o/c button), it will similarly trash the crap out of them when it comes to video encoding/editing.

Im sure it has some negatives, so you would be well advised to research it (build quality etc), but on paper it offers a lot of bang for the buck. Same kind of money as the Sony.

Those are pretty much the points I've been tossing around over the last few days, trying to weigh up the options. I hadnt actually seen the MSI until now, looks good and is more future-proof for my needs. Thanks for the pointer, I'll look into it.

MoodyMedic

I got the Dell Studio XPS 16 - Beautiful machine. It has DDR3 RAM which is a little faster, an amazing 16" LCD Full HD screen. Battery life is a bit rubbish with everything on full (much much better on energy saving mode)

The graphics card on this Dell is reasonable, but not the best - ATI Radeon 3870, shame the 4000 series is not included.

Whatever machine you get, try to get an SSD - the performance gain is unreal. I have a Samsung 128 GB and it is incredible. When not doing intensive stuff the entire machine is silent - 0 dB! It takes a little getting used to. Windows start and shutdown speeds are about x3-4 times faster.

That MSI has incredible specs, make sure you have a plug though!

Voodu Child

MoodyMedic wrote: »

The graphics card on this Dell is reasonable, but not the best - ATI Radeon 3670, shame the 4000 series is not included.

The SXPS is getting the ATI 4670 very shortly, it has been spotted as a supported GPU in the most recent bios update (A07).

MoodyMedic

Voodu Child wrote: »

The SXPS is getting the ATI 4670 very shortly, it has been spotted as a supported GPU in the most recent bios update (A07).

Ya I noticed that, I could not wait for new stuff. They will also probably have free migration agreement for when Windows 7 comes out.

Battlefield 2 is a little jerky with the 3670 all on full, but normal laptops will never play games like their desktop peers.

AnotherYou

I ordered the sony on friday there.

Just to let you know they're €1520 over here and no longer in stock on the sony style site.

Well worth the money in my opinion. And much more reliable as a brand

mossie

MoodyMedic wrote: »

I got the Dell Studio XPS 16 - Beautiful machine. It has DDR3 RAM which is a little faster, an amazing 16" LCD Full HD screen. Battery life is a bit rubbish with everything on full (much much better on energy saving mode)

The graphics card on this Dell is reasonable, but not the best - ATI Radeon 3870, shame the 4000 series is not included.

Whatever machine you get, try to get an SSD - the performance gain is unreal. I have a Samsung 128 GB and it is incredible. When not doing intensive stuff the entire machine is silent - 0 dB! It takes a little getting used to. Windows start and shutdown speeds are about x3-4 times faster.

That MSI has incredible specs, make sure you have a plug though!

Thanks. To get the same specs on the Dell would cost me over €1700 and thta's still the less powerful graphics card. To be honest I'm struggling to justify spending €1400 let alone another €300. I had been leaning toward the Acer or Fujitsu Siemens until I saw a Sony in PC World (was reduced to €1399 as was last one but was pretty scratched) and had not even thought of Sony. Now MSI is in the mix and I'm more confused than ever.

MSI does look good though...

pawrick

hate this - the more info you have the more you realise you don't know what to get.

will go for the sony or the dell I think but might hold off for a bit - (might stick with the sony since I'm used to them and never had a prob. to date) think i'll try to get a look at one in the flesh as I think for me that's what it's coming down to now.

thanks everyone for the advice - + good luck mossie with your buy

mossie

pawrick wrote: »

hate this - the more info you have the more you realise you don't know what to get.

will go for the sony or the dell I think but might hold off for a bit - (might stick with the sony since I'm used to them and never had a prob. to date) think i'll try to get a look at one in the flesh as I think for me that's what it's coming down to now.

thanks everyone for the advice - + good luck mossie with your buy

Same to you. Don't know yet what I'm doing - information overload:D

Voodu Child

mossie wrote: »

MSI does look good though...

If youre on a tight budget, the GT725 is available in a cheaper version that has a dual core instead of quadcore. But it is a high-end dual core (p9500) so still pretty good, and it also supports overclocking (2.5Ghz->2.9Ghz) for a bit of extra oomph when needed. Tje rest of the specs are still high, incl the HD4850. You'd be hitting 10,000 3Dmark06 handily enough.

mossie

Voodu Child wrote: »

If youre on a tight budget, the GT725 is available in a cheaper version that has a dual core instead of quadcore. But it is a high-end dual core (p9500) so still pretty good, and it also supports overclocking (2.5Ghz->2.9Ghz) for a bit of extra oomph when needed. Tje rest of the specs are still high, incl the HD4850. You'd be hitting 10,000 3Dmark06 handily enough.

Thanks. I will try to track this down. Not at Laptops direct and any site I've found only ships to UK addresses.

Voodu Child

mossie wrote: »

Thanks. I will try to track this down. Not at Laptops direct and any site I've found only ships to UK addresses.

LaptopsDirect do have it (link), as should amazon.co.uk, elara.ie, play.com etc. Not sure if they all deliver to Ireland, or who is cheapest, but worth shopping around. LaptopsDirect have a fairly bad reputation on this site tbh.

mossie

Voodu Child wrote: »

LaptopsDirect do have it (link), as should amazon.co.uk, elara.ie, play.com etc. Not sure if they all deliver to Ireland, or who is cheapest, but worth shopping around. LaptopsDirect have a fairly bad reputation on this site tbh.

Thanks. Didn't see it there. Amazon has it but very dear, so too play.com. Elara has it for €100 more than laptopsdirect. Will have to think abou it. Thanks again.

EDIT: Ordered the MSI GT725-087UK from elara. Little dearer than laptopsdirect but elara get better press on here. Thanks to everyone who replied, very much appreciated.

mossie

mossie wrote: »

Thanks. Didn't see it there. Amazon has it but very dear, so too play.com. Elara has it for €100 more than laptopsdirect. Will have to think abou it. Thanks again.

EDIT: Ordered the MSI GT725-087UK from elara. Little dearer than laptopsdirect but elara get better press on here. Thanks to everyone who replied, very much appreciated.

Actually ended up with the quad core and so far it's great. Not much software included but that's sort of a plus no need to uninstall the crap.