Vaio VGN-S270 vs Powerbook G4 vs Inspiron 700m

[T2k]

I'm looking for a laptop for my wife...

Since she's around 5'2"-3" and ~120 pounds I need a very lightweight one.

Lightweight - yet powerful because sometimes I'll use it for remote work or when traveling plus I'd rather pay some extra now and use longer (ie. 3 years instead of 2).
Preferred weight range is 4-5 lbs.

It'd be good if it would sport a wide screen and I really dislike Intel's integrated POS-category video chipsets. Mobility 9600, 9700 preferred but we can live with 5700Go or 5600Go or even Mobility 9000/5200Go if that's a bang for the bucks.

I definitely want integrated wireless, b/g minimum, but BT would be also important to have built-in - a/b/g/BT would be flawless. 8) Gigabit would be nice but only in case of a Powerbook: Logic (runs only on MAc) has a "clustering" function which runs only on Gigabit. On PCs I don't really care.

Firewire, USB is mandatory, as well as either video out or at least external monitor - both would be perfect.

DVD/CD-RW is enough, I don't need DVD writer at all. (I have 4 pcs home...)

I like minimalistic design, so no extra buttons like "start iExploder!" or "My Favourites!" and other crap - but I'd prefer some normal sized keyboard. Scrolling function would very helpful on the touchpad.

It'd cool stay under $2000 but I think it's almost impossible - though I have no problem with open box or recertified stuff (they were always new stuff in my past experiences).

My best bet is Sony's Vaio VGN-S270: with 13.3" WXGA hyppppersuppabrite LCD, 2GHz Dothan, Mobility 9700, 512MB memory, 60GB HDD, b/g+BT etc would cost $2,464.99 - frikkin overpriced Sony stuffs... grrrr...
If I go down to 1.8GHz, it's only $2164.99 - dunno...

Looks SWEEEET: http://www.sonystyle.com/intershopr...NotebookComputers/img_seriesimage_sseries.jpg

Second best is Apple Powerbook G4: since it'd be very useful to have Gb for Logic, 15" modell needed - that goes around same price like Sony if I upgrade the memory etc. Problem is it's HUUUGE and heavy PLUS expensive - though I could use for Logic.

Third bet is the new Dell, the 700m - which could be PERFECT if wouldn't spport that goddamn Intel crap as a video chipset... (( Only about $1600-1700 with every necessary thing, 12" wide LCD, ~4 lbs - but the videooooooooo...

SO I'm dead locked. Simpl can't decide.
On the other hand it's very likely we'll heading towards Killington from Christmas, snowboarding through the New Year's Eve - so it wouldn't be horrible if I wouldn't buy the most expensive toy I can...

Help me, please. If anybody knows some other, similar laptops, please, let me know! 8)

 

[cristic]

Also look here abd here

they really care about the customer, check out their forum (especially for the first one)

 

[T2k]

Thank you. Prices seem way cheaper.
I'll take a closer look - I'm don't really care about brands as long as there's a good support...

In the meantime I found out you can get BTO Asus ones - like M6000BNe which is aboutfive and a half pounds and wide and 9700 and way less than $2k...

 

[London Geezer]

I'm looking for a laptop for my wife... Since she's around 5'2"-3" and ~120 pounds I need a very lightweight one.

Is your wife's name Kylie Minogue?

 

[T2k]

Not really - she's Hungarian.

BTW she most likely 'gained' few/several pounds, due to our current headache, her medium-serious thyroid problem.

 

[London Geezer]

Not really - she's Hungarian.

BTW she most likely 'gained' few/several pounds, due to our current headache, her medium-serious thyroid problem.

Sorry to hear that. She'll be fine don't worry, she'll be back spinning around in her golden hotpants in no time!!

 

[[maven]]

If you're on a tight budget (which you do not seem to be judging from your other candidates), do not overlook the 12" iBook. I just got me one of these and they're a very good deal for the money and very nearly as powerful as a PowerBook.
I got mine with b/g wireless, bluetooth, 768mb Ram and a 60gb HDD for ~1300€.

 

[T2k]

Not really - she's Hungarian.

BTW she most likely 'gained' few/several pounds, due to our current headache, her medium-serious thyroid problem.

Sorry to hear that. She'll be fine don't worry, she'll be back spinning around in her golden hotpants in no time!!

 

[T2k]

]If you're on a tight budget (which you do not seem to be judging from your other candidates), do not overlook the 12" iBook. I just got me one of these and they're a very good deal for the money and very nearly as powerful as a PowerBook.
I got mine with b/g wireless, bluetooth, 768mb Ram and a 60gb HDD for ~1300€.

That's a nice deal. My only problem is if I buy Powerbook, I want gigabit eth to be able to use Logic's clustering function - and AFAIK 12" modells have 100Mbit only.

 

[T2k]

Sony won: you can get back AT LEAST $400 if you trade-in any old notebook.

Yes, AT LEAST - if your old notebook worth more, they'll pay more but if you trde-in something very old - a P100 Compaq like me -, you get $400 minimum anyway. 8)

Restriction: you have to buy Vaio "Professional" class Notebooks - which is technically the same like the normals, except costs $30 less with XP Pro (no Home choice here, though).

Details are here: http://sony.com/gopro

Vaio Professional store here: http://smb.us.sony.biz/is-bin/INTER...NotebookComputers&RequestChannel=Business

Besides this cusomizable way, there are lot of stock SKUs - I found a good link to them:

S270 SKUs

or

S170 SKUs

S170 is the "older", Summer series, S270 is from this Fall. S260 is technically the precofigured S270.


It seems if I buy the latest S270 w/ 13'3" Xbrite WXGA 1.8GHz P-M (fastest doesn't worth it: 2.0GHz is $300 extra, despite the usual $150 steps between CPUs), Mobility 9700, 60GB HDD, WiFi b/g + Bluetooth etc than I would end up with the best solution (4.2 lbs!!!) for roughly $1700! 8) Frankly, that's dirt cheap for this Vaio.
I did some search for my SKU and apparently I can get it for less than $2100 - minus the trade up... only thing I need to know is this w/ BT or no BT? BT is cool for phones if we travel (Nokia 6620 here) and also good if she wants a mouse.

 

[Pete]

That's pretty sweet, actually. My only Qs would be (1) is the 64MB 9700 64-bit or 128-bit, and (2) can you apply the trade-in if you buy via Best Buy or CUSA (to get their no-interest financing offers)?

The new 14" widescreen HPs would be mighty tempting if it included something more than an Intel IGP. Its interior is fairly ugly, too, and I find the screen has a rather limited sweet spot.

 

[T2k]

That's pretty sweet, actually. My only Qs would be (1) is the 64MB 9700 64-bit or 128-bit,

AFAIK there's only one Mobility 9700 modell out here "memory-wise", the 128-bit one.

That's why it's much faster in non-shader intensive games too.

and (2) can you apply the trade-in if you buy via Best Buy or CUSA (to get their no-interest financing offers)?

They don't care where you buy - send in your old laptop along with your receipt and your email approval confirmation and that's it.

Financing: thta's another question, dunno, call'em.

I can imagine it doesn't matter for Sony - but do you actually get any receipt for full price when you buy a new Vaio w/ financing?

The new 14" widescreen HPs would be mighty tempting if it included something more than an Intel IGP. Its interior is fairly ugly, too, and I find the screen has a rather limited sweet spot.

Intel IGP: no, thanks.

 

[nelg]

I have good things about this company.
www.eurocom.com

17-inch WXGA (1440-by-900) or 17-inch WSXGA+ (1680-by-1050) with Super Glossy Surface
* up to 3.2 GHz Intel Pentium 4 Processor (Northwood w/512KB or Prescott w/1MB cache
* 128MB DDR Video with ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 high performance graphics engine
* standard 1 Gigabit LAN
* up to 2GB DDR400 memory via two 200-pin sockets
* up to 100GB 2.5-inch ATA133 7,200rpm hard drive
* choice of optical drive: 8x DVD-ROM; 24x COMBO; 2x DVD-R/-RW Burner or 4x/8x Dual DVD+-R/+-RW Burner
* built-in 6-in-1 Card Reader
* built-in WebCam for video conferencing
* optional Bluetooth module and 802.11b WLAN
* one S-Video port for Video input and one Line-in port for Audio input with optional internal TV Tuner module
* Virtual 6-channel audio output and four built-in speakers

$ 1699 US

 

[T2k]

Yeah - how heavy is this?

 

[Pete]

Yeah, even 15.4" laptops are a tad bulky, thin or not. 14.1" seems a nice compromise size, but the HP DV1000 screen just looks bad to me. The Sony 13.3" looks fantastic.

Really, the only choice for thin 'n light appears to be the Pentium M. Comparing the Gateway A64 and P-M laptops is pretty funny (tho so is the Intel IGP w/ the P-M as compared to the 9600 w/ the A64). It's fantastic that Sony can offer a MR9700 in the S270, considering its size. The only thing it's lacking is a six-pin firewire port for the ubiquitous iPod, and maybe more integrated card readers. Oh, and swap that VGA out for DVI.

Speaking of heavy, how does the extended battery look/feel on the S270--just longer in the back? Does it offer reduced charge cycles compared to the regular battery, and how much uptime does it add to the regular battery's (AFAIK) ~4 hrs.?

 

[Sage]

i could get you a PowerBook G4 for CHEAP. I can't remember the specs and they are on my PDA and it's battery is almost dead... but ill get it to you soon. it's my bosses/ it's very nice and comes with a lot of installed software. it's used but in EXCELLENT shape.

 

[Tim Murray]

HP just came out with a 14" widescreen laptop with Centrino... weighs 5 pounds (I'll see it tonight, friend just bought one). look at gotapex.com regularly, and you can find HP deals galore. I got a $2200 laptop for under $1600. 1920x1200 is nice.

the 14" one uses Intel, though, but the 15.4" (which I have) uses a Radeon 9200.

 

[T2k]

i could get you a PowerBook G4 for CHEAP. I can't remember the specs and they are on my PDA and it's battery is almost dead... but ill get it to you soon. it's my bosses/ it's very nice and comes with a lot of installed software. it's used but in EXCELLENT shape.

? Check eBay - 15" goes at $2000 minimum and that's used, not to mention the fact that even a 1,5GHz G4 is way slower than a 1.8 or 2.0GHz P-M and it'd heavier as well, I guess.

Don't get me wrong, I'm fine with PBs but economically it's a way overpriced solution here, I think.

 

[nelg]

Yeah - how heavy is this?

3.85 Kg w/o battery.

 

[T2k]

HP just came out with a 14" widescreen laptop with Centrino... weighs 5 pounds (I'll see it tonight, friend just bought one). look at gotapex.com regularly, and you can find HP deals galore. I got a $2200 laptop for under $1600. 1920x1200 is nice.

the 14" one uses Intel, though, but the 15.4" (which I have) uses a Radeon 9200.

That's my problem: the Radeon-one is around 6-7 lbs...