Student Laptop (1080p, IPS, 15.0-15.6")

[martyn_12]

1. What is your budget?
$800.00-$1,300.00 (preferably $800.00-$1,000.00)

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
15.0-15.6" (IPS or equivalent)

3. What screen resolution do you want?
1080p

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Somewhat portable. I will be biking to school with it during the summer.

5. How much battery life do you need?
6-7 hours of average (non-gaming) use.

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?
Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas at medium quality. I will barely play games so it's not of great importance to me.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Compiling software, web development, and web browsing.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
At least 500GB, but preferably 750GB+.

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
See below.

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
3 years at the minimum.

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
I don't need an optical drive of any kind.

12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.
Any.

13. What country do you live in?
Canada

I have done a little research and found two potential laptops:
Dell XPS 15 (@ $1,300)
15.5" Sony VAIO S (@ $1,000)

Any recommendations and/or opinions are welcomed.

Thanks.

 

[jsrudd]

Both of those are very good.

 

[rubbateckie]

Those two are good. And so is the new Vizio Notebook!
Do note that the Sony is lighter than the other two so it makes it more portable.

The XPS probably has the best screen (although all three are close for the screen) and best sound of these three. The Sony does probably have worse sound than the other two. It is not supposed to be awful, but isn't anything special like one might expect in notebooks of these prices.

The XPS is of course much more expensive and you are getting more for your money with the others. Make sure you note which graphics card you are getting with the XPS. There is a noticeable difference between the 630M and 640M.

Right now the Vaio has an overclock for the GPU available that gives it an edge over the other two in terms of performance. http/forum.notebookreview.com/sony/677079-sony-vaio-s-bios-mod-gt640m-le.html


Note: I am planning to get the Sony so my opinions of it may be a little tainted with me thinking its awesome enough to buy !

 

[martyn_12]

Those two are good. And so is the new Vizio Notebook!
Do note that the Sony is lighter than the other two so it makes it more portable.

The XPS probably has the best screen (although all three are close for the screen) and best sound of these three. The Sony does probably have worse sound than the other two. It is not supposed to be awful, but isn't anything special like one might expect in notebooks of these prices.

The XPS is of course much more expensive and you are getting more for your money with the others. Make sure you note which graphics card you are getting with the XPS. There is a noticeable difference between the 630M and 640M.

Right now the Vaio has an overclock for the GPU available that gives it an edge over the other two in terms of performance. http/forum.notebookreview.com/sony/677079-sony-vaio-s-bios-mod-gt640m-le.html


Note: I am planning to get the Sony so my opinions of it may be a little tainted with me thinking its awesome enough to buy !

Thanks for the reply.

I've read some reviews and people are saying the VAIO S has a cheap screen (the colors are way off and the screen bends). But I'll probably end up getting it because it's a lot cheaper. :|

I'm going to wait for the August back to school sales to start and see if it goes down to the $800-900 range.


If anyone has any alternatives, please share.

 

[rubbateckie]

Thanks for the reply.

I've read some reviews and people are saying the VAIO S has a cheap screen (the colors are way off and the screen bends). But I'll probably end up getting it because it's a lot cheaper. :|

I'm going to wait for the August back to school sales to start and see if it goes down to the $800-900 range.


If anyone has any alternatives, please share.

Would you mind sharing the reviews? I have been looking for about a week and cannot find many reviews, especially for the 2012 version!

 

[rubbateckie]

Do note that the 13.3" display is all TN panels 🙁. So be careful when looking at reviews and ensure you are looking at 15.5" if thats the one you are considering!

 

[martyn_12]

Well there's one review on the sony store website. http/store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921666441691#reviews

I'll try to find the other ones tomorrow when I get the chance.

 

[rubbateckie]

There are a couple reviews by this Nightrush guy for the laptop: http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIPQ_GgcYfE&feature=results_main
He shows some of the flimsiness of the screen (maybe its in the second review, click his name to see all his videos). He does seem to like the laptop though!