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Michel_80 · Apr 22, 2004, 07:38 PM

Since I had to have a PC laptop for work (VPC is too slow on my icebook), I was looking to buy one. Not content with the current ugly PC laptops I looked at some end of line products and found a nifty little laptop called the Vaio VX series.
Very good looking, long battery life and made in Japan etc and for about 700 british pounds.
Now, I believe Sony wanted their laptops to run OSX but Apple did not let them. Pitty that, if only Sony's and Thinkpads run Panther, that would be great.

discotronic · Apr 22, 2004, 07:49 PM

Originally posted by Michel_80:
Since I had to have a PC laptop for work (VPC is too slow on my icebook), I was looking to buy one. Not content with the current ugly PC laptops I looked at some end of line products and found a nifty little laptop called the Vaio VX series.
Very good looking, long battery life and made in Japan etc and for about 700 british pounds.
Now, I believe Sony wanted their laptops to run OSX but Apple did not let them. Pitty that, if only Sony's and Thinkpads run Panther, that would be great.

Good for PC's bad for Apple.

wtmcgee · Apr 22, 2004, 08:16 PM

sony does make some very nice laptops. but, so does this company called apple

Michel_80 · Apr 22, 2004, 08:23 PM

Yeah, I believe Apples laptops are the best looking overall. Sony only makes a handfull of nice looking laptops, and those are mostly sold in Japan.

eatinwokout · Apr 22, 2004, 08:44 PM

Check out www.dynamism.com for some of the latest laptops. I see lots of nice looking pc options. But wait... thats all they are.. nice looking.

rag on a muffin · Apr 22, 2004, 08:52 PM

most of sony's good performing laptops are hideous.

Michel_80 · Apr 22, 2004, 09:10 PM

True, good thing I got a bad performing one then

sbc · Apr 22, 2004, 10:14 PM

The TR3SP3 (Japan) is a really nice portable notebook. I think the only downfall is the integrated graphics. The price is on the high side and the support may be questionable. It would be an interesting pairing for Sony and Mac to establish a relationship; although, I know for all reasons possible it will never happen.

nate_02 · Apr 22, 2004, 10:57 PM

Just about every sony laptop I've seen in a store has a bad keyboard. The keys have all popped off and are laying on top of the unit. I'm sure that customers playing around with it probably aren't treating it right, but most of the other laptop's keys are intact.

hldan · Apr 23, 2004, 01:46 AM

Originally posted by sbc:
The TR3SP3 (Japan) is a really nice portable notebook. I think the only downfall is the integrated graphics. The price is on the high side and the support may be questionable. It would be an interesting pairing for Sony and Mac to establish a relationship; although, I know for all reasons possible it will never happen.

What is the deal with the Intergrated Graphics? Can someone explain what is the difference between Intergrated Graphics and a soldiered graphics chip on the motherboard? Isn't this the same thing?

Mack · 06:03 PM

I own both a 12" PB and a Sony V505 (basically Sony's US version of the 12" PB) and the Sony doesn't even approach the Apple in terms of design, construction or features. I could give maybe a hundred examples, but here's a few:

1. The Sony keyboard is horrible. No touch. A tiny, misplaced Shift key on the right which means that I constantly Return by mistake. No contest.

2. The Sony touchpad is almost as bad. The cursor constantly hangs or jumps. Again, no contest.

3. My PB has twice the video memory of the Sony. The current PBs have four times the memory of Sony's best (which is absurd when you think about it).

4. The powerbutton on the Sony is a flimsy slide mechanism on the front edge of the case that constantly hangs on things. When I remove the Sony from its case after a long trip, more often than not, the battery is dead because the notebook powered up by accident.

5. Sony - cheap plastic case. Apple - nice aluminum case.

6. Sony - cheap, plastic "please break me" CD tray. Apple - slot-loading CD.

7. The integrated WiFi card on the Sony usually requires at least some reconfiguration before it will pick up a new network - and it sometimes won't at all. On the other hand, I've never yet encountered a network, Mac or PC, that my PB can't handle automatically. (In fairness to Sony, this must be a Windows issue.)

Overall, the only thing - and I mean the ONLY thing - the Sony has to recommend it is that it runs Windows faster than VPC runs Windows on the Mac.

Mack · Apr 23, 2004, 06:08 PM

Originally posted by hldan:
What is the deal with the Intergrated Graphics? Can someone explain what is the difference between Intergrated Graphics and a soldiered graphics chip on the motherboard? Isn't this the same thing?

Integrated graphics are built into the motherboard. The disadvantages are this setup rules out virtually all of the latest graphics cards and integrated graphics cards usually share a portion of the system RAM (the graphics card has no dedicated RAM of its own but "borrows" system RAM). Not a high-end configuration and a definite comparative weakness of many of the PC notebooks, especially in the 12" category.

Link · Apr 23, 2004, 06:10 PM

some sony laptops are nice.. most are well.. just.. average.

Michel_80 · Apr 23, 2004, 06:39 PM

Yeah, agree with the last post. The only nice laptops I have seen are the VX and the X505. Don't like the Z1 too much.

Incidently this is a photo of the VX.