Sony Dual Core M Laptop - Any Good?

[nvening]

I am about to buy a new laptop for my sister. I have a buget of £1400 but this includes extended 3 year cover including theft and accidental dammage (sony offer a very good deal)

I think what i have settled on is the sony VGNFE11H @ www.sonystyle.com

Is this good (i have always regarded sony as lovely laptops, and this comes from experience and i have looked at their new models in shops and that seem much better than the competition) as i have seen other companys (such as ASUS) starting to release Dual Core M laptops as well. Authough i have yet to see these for sale or pre order.

Thanks

[davidstone28]

Haven't heard of that particular model, but the current Vaios are lovely laptops if you don't mind paying the premium pricing.

[nvening]

OK i have more money to spend now, the trouble is i want dual core but the model up from that has a better CPU (1.66 dual vs 1.86 dual) but has a slow 4200rpm hdd instead of 5400, authough its larger (i would not need the extra)

Mabe i should loook elsewhere because i have head low HDD speed is BAD.

Little help?

IMB dont seem to do a 15.4 dual core one do they? they release dual core laptops, and have 15.4 (widscreen) models but i cant seem to find a model with both on the site? ill have another look.

[davidstone28]

I doubt that your sister will care what sort of core it has. Tell her to buy a cheapo laptop thats fits in her bag and use the money saved to go on holiday.

[Jonny M]

I wouldn't want to rely on Sony's support - they make very nice laptops with an acceptable build quality, but if you want a 3 year warranty with damage insurance you should look elsewhere.

[nvening]

Well my experience with sony warrenty has been very good, sent a laptop away twice, once while under warrenty once while not (accidental dammaged before you say anything) and no problems at all, the only other warrenty as good as sonys is dell, but they dont offer as nice laptops.

The thing is that the laptop will be bought with a grant and the pikey company that you can automatically get it from were going to give us a £500 laptop for rediculous ammounts of money.

Therefore i have a quite large buget.

If i get her the dual core m does that mean that she will use the extra core is say she has two programs open or does it only work with multithreaded applications?

Are there any other good laptop makes i can look at that offer a warrenty like sony and dell, or is there a company i can buy warrentys from?

http://www.compucover.co.uk/index.asp

The quote for the sony i firt posted was £165 from that company, interestingly enough it has the exact same restrictions as the sony one

[Funkstar]

If you get a loptop in John Lewis you get a free 2 year and can buy uo to 5 i think, and they are always very helpful. But then you will pay more for it being retail.

Dual cores work in the same way as dual processors. So in simple terms, one app uses one core and another app can use the second (or an intensive app can use ine and windows and anything elss intensive can use the other) but windows will schedule things slightly differently, so it isn't as clean cut as that be cause of all the stuff going on in the background

[nvening]

John lewsi dont have a great range, and nothing to suite my needs and buget.

I have read the PC Pro review of the more expensive sony and it says that it has a 5400 rpm disk instead of 4200, there must be a typo on someones account so i have emailed sony to clarify

[nvening]

Sony are saying that the HDD speed is 4200 (i phoned them too) but this disagrees with the PCPRO review sample and various other websites around the net.

If it is 4200 what will the performance hit be?

[nvening]

wow, i have just found this new dual core asus notebook!

Pricewise its perfect but authough the spec is better than the sony what about the build quality and battery? Also, its made out of plastic, hmmmmmmmmmm



anyone?