Laptop buying help! Two choices Sony TX3XP or Samsung Q35?

[LeperousDust]

Ok, i've got these two choices, for the same price, which is better, what do i bug and why?

SAMSUNG Q35
or
Sony Vaio TX3XP

Sony is technically worth more, but apart from battery life, samsung seems better, except it has speaker connection on the front. What do i get? Help need to make a decision VERY soon!

Not a particular fan of laptops and i don't keep upto date on all the specs, so i'm not to sure whats what, hopefully someone can help me!

Cheers guys :)

[Mark]

You got specs links for both? (saves me finding them ;))

[LeperousDust]

Sammy Q35
http://www.trustedreviews.com/notebooks/review/2006/06/13/Samsung-Q35-Ultra-Portable-Notebook/p4

VIAO TX3XP
http://www.trustedreviews.com/notebooks/review/2006/07/25/Sony-VAIO-VGN-TX3XP-Ultra-Portable-Notebook/p6

Tada

[Dr. Z]

Vaios have been built like crap for ages now - I personally would avoid Sony products at all costs now.

We sell the lower end Vaios in work and the build quality of them really is shocking. An old housemate bought the absolute top of the range model, whatever that is (bluray drive etc etc) and despite it looking quite good and having a colossal screen, there was absolutely nothing going for it at all. You could pick at the case and have bits start to come away - which is unacceptable for a laptop costing over £2000!

Plus sitting on the phone to their tech support / customer service lines (based in Ireland) gets beyond a joke.

[LeperousDust]

My friend in uni has a VIAO i wouldn't say that myself at all, but i know you pay extra for the name, the point is, i'm getting this on cheap, as in about £400 cheaper i think. But the samsung seems better (to me)?

[Mark]

Specs wise, Samsung. No contest (well, not unless 600g extra weight or battery life are important to you).

Just for starters the CPU is 1.3x faster (clock speed), and if you count both cores, 2.7x. Real-world this drops somewhat, but still worth it.

[LeperousDust]

New thats the same price as the second hand laptop im getting with the VIAO name, i did think that but wondered if i was missing something! Its got everything hasn't it? PC card slot, bluetooth 2 wireless g dvd burner etc.. etc.. Nice screen, what is it missing that the VIAO has? Apart from it being a bit heavier, which for the price/performance i'm willing to sacrifice!!

[Stan_Lite]

Looking at the spec for both, the Samsung wins hands down. It has a much better CPU, more memory, the same size HDD, a better optical drive and a bigger screen - no contest.

Frankly, I'm shocked that Sony can get away with charging that sort of money for a machine with that spec. Also, I'm with DRZ, the Vaios I've seen recently do not have the build quality necessary to justify charging more for them.

FFS, you could buy an M1710 with a 17" screen, an infinitely better CPU, a 120Gb HDD and a 256Mb dedicated graphics card for less than the price of the Vaio.

Stan :)

[LeperousDust]

This is a n00bish question im also not upto speed on this dual core business, when it advertises clock speed is that per core or do they add together the two core speeds?

[Mark]

Sony's argument is that it's a business laptop for the travelling professional. If you're jetsetting around the world, you soon get tired of big, heavy laptops, and it seems that some businesses don't mind paying a premium for small and lightweight.

Clock speed applies to each core, so roughly equivalent to two 1.66GHz single core CPUs.

[LeperousDust]

Ok guys, samsung it is, basically what i'm after is a nice little portable laptop thats around £800ish. Samsung fits this great, now next thing is there anything better!? :p

[LeperousDust]

So basically this:
http://forums.ove*************.uk/showthread.php?t=17697986
in the MM is not really worth £800 compared to a new sammy Q35 from currys or pc world for £749? or £769 in person in the shop!?

[Mark]

http://www.europc.co.uk/pages/ProductPage.aspx?PID=81706

To toss another option into the mix. Heavier, but bigger screen, etc.

[Mark]

So basically this:
http://forums.ove*************.uk/showthread.php?t=17697986
in the MM is not really worth £800 compared to a new sammy Q35 from currys or pc world for £749? or £769 in person in the shop!?
If you want thin and light and/or travel a lot, yes. I suspect you probably don't, so no. :)

[Stan_Lite]

So basically this:
http://forums.ove*************.uk/showthread.php?t=17697986
in the MM is not really worth £800 compared to a new sammy Q35 from currys or pc world for £749? or £769 in person in the shop!?

Absolutely not. You'd be paying more for an inferior machine and secondhand to boot.

In your position, I'd definitely go for the Sammy.

Stan :)

[LeperousDust]

I'm not fussed about the screen, long story short, i've given up with lugging PC back and forth to uni, and i'm jealous i can't use my computer on the train back and fourth :p.

Plan is, to go laptop full time, and plug a monitor, keyboard and mouse into the laptop and use it like a PC in my room. But for on the move and in the library, i can just unplug and go. So i'm after small and light for my moving, but fairly powerful as a desktop replacement, nothing heavy though. I've given up gaming for now it just doesn't fit in...

Can anyone think of anything better than the sammy?

Actually thats a point, i can get a docking station for the VIAO do samsung do anything similar?

Theres far too much to this! ;D

[LeperousDust]

Looking at the Dell Latitude D420, but it seems a little more expensive than the sammy again, but i can get a dock with dvi ports (for my monitor) and some more USB ports, which would make using the laptop how i want easier...

EuroPC are selling it for about £800 with pretty low specs but it doesn't mention anything about docking stations which are apparently meant to be included...? Any ideas? For £800 with a dock i'd take it!

[Mark]

Don't know enough about the D420 to comment on that. :(