Laptop: Sony vs Dell

[oldskooladdict]

I'm looking to purchase a laptop, maximum £500 for my dad, I looked straight to Dell as we have Dell all over the place at work, however, nothing jumped out as a good deal for the spec, so I considered ebuyer etc, on looking I came across the Sony Vaio VGNNW20EF.

Traditionally I've not been an advocate of Viao - expensive and usually lower specced for the money compared to other brands, however, this Vaio and the Dell Inspiron 15 look fairly similar in spec with the Viao being slightly more expensive, but only slightly.

So, does anyone own a Dell Inspiron 15 Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core Processor T4300 (2.1GHz, 800MHz, 1MB cache), Intel Integrated GMA 4500MHD, 4096MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x2048] etc

OR does anyone own this sony: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/177156

Slightly concerned that the ebuyer link mentions the sony haas having HDMI out, the Sony site doesn't some sites do some don't - odd.

The laptop will be used for very light browsing duties and I imagine it would be teathered to the TV downstairs for iplayer duties and the like, so HDMI is a key feature over others really.

So, comment on my ideas and let me know what you think!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

This website lists current Dell deals and has direct links to them:

http://www.dmxdimension.com/

For around £500 you can get the following deals:

http://www.dmxdimension.com/dell-uk/...codes-coupons/

http://www.dmxdimension.com/dell-uk/...rison-coupons/

I would probably get the Intel Core2 duo T6600 based notebook with the HD4330 graphics card. The T4000 series processors has half the L2 cache of the T6000 series which means they tend to be slower. The Mobility Radeon HD4570 is faster than the Mobility Radeon HD4330 for gaming purposes but for media use there should be no difference AFAIK as they both have UV2.

[oldskooladdict]

Thanks for the link mate, I hadn't seen that one before. Looking at it makes me wonder if I should consider the Studio line of Laptops from Dell - supposed to sit between the XPS and the Inspiron, according to brief research late last night the Inspiron doesn't look that brilliant - cheapy plastic was the overall conclusion from many.

Do you think I should steer away from the Sony then? - I'm very tempted because as I say power is not a huge point, heck it gets about 10 seconds rest between the clicks of of a double click when my parents will be using it lol

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The Sony notebooks at least from my experience tend to use many propriety components which is really a pain IMHO.

Also the Dell notebooks for around £500 seem to have a better hardware specification too.

[oldskooladdict]

Oh, I didn't know that, I guess that is a bit of a pain to replace things which develop fault or require upgrading.

[[GSV]Trig]

I've found you tend to pay more for a Sony because its a Sony..

If you get Dell tuff at work then have a word with the IT chaps, they might be able to get stuff a bit cheaper..

[oldskooladdict]

lol, I am the person who orders the Dell stuff. Unfortunately Quidco is about as good a bargain as we can get - we already order the Vostro stuff, which it seems is virtually impossible to get cheaper than advertised on the site.

As I say, I've not been a fan of the Viao range in the past for the very reason you pay for Sony, but looking at the spec of the one I listed and an Inspiron they don't look that far apart.

That said, the proprietary components from Sony grates a bit so I think I;ll stick with Dell, but perhaps go for a Studio 15.

[Singh400]

Has to be Dell, you can't beat them when it comes to laptops and low powered PCs deals. As much as it pains me to say this, Dell are rocking lately.

[MrM]

Dell will undoubtedly be better value for money as you pay for the Sony brand.

In terms of failure rates between Sony and Dells, from anecdotal experience in IT Support they're about equivalent. So I'd also recommend the Dell.

[Jay]

I have had both makes in the last 2 years and the Dell is much better

[oldskooladdict]

I'd forgotten I'd made this post - needless to say, as I'd basically said above - Dell came out the clear winner. I went for a Studio 15 (in green ), which arrived on Monday and has been configured ready for 2nd Jan for my dad's birthday.

Feels like a really nice machine with the limited play I've had on it. The little touches all over it are what make the difference and really complete it

[Lunar Wolf]

Always liked Dell's software packaged that come bundled with their PC's, never really liked their design though.

[abs_rio]

I would go for the dell one. I've had a dell laptop for 2 years and no problems whatsoever. Customer service is excellent as well.

[Lunar Wolf]

One thing Dell dosn't include is a selfdestruct timer set to activate a day or two after the warrantee ends, added value there from sony...

[renald]

I would like to prefer Dell only

[blueball]

I would like to prefer Dell only

Holy thread resurrection Batman!