Question:
*New* S260 for $1649.99...last minute questions!!?
Hi guys,
I am just wondering if there are ANY better deals out there than Bestbuy's and CompUSA's $1999.99 with a $150 (10/17/2004 TO 10/23/2004) and $100 (09/26/2004 TO 02/28/2005) mail-in rebate. So I have only 12 hours to decide if I should get one or not.
I am thinking of purchasing it but a few things leave me wanting more. It has XP Home instead of Pro, a 9200 video card instead of a 9700, and no bluetooth. Having all those customized features costs $2164.99 at the Sonystyle site so that is a $515USD difference. What would you do?
I use Photoshop CS and Coreldraw a lot. I don't do any 3D work like CAD. Microsoft Office apps that I normally use are Outlook, Word, Excel, and Front Page 2003. Getting into Macromedia Flash MX might be something I will use in the very near future. I will play DVDs and watch AVI's with DivX and Xvid codecs, along with regular MPG's. Gaming? Probably nothing hardcore like Doom 3 since I'm the kind that would throw up from the dizzying effects of 1st person games, but Need for Speed I can take no problem! I'll be using the PC while I'm mobile a lot and because I have a Sony Ericsson P900 phone, I will have it online via bluetooth whenever I need internet. Unless I can hop on someone's WiFi signal. Having Dual Desktop Display will be needed as I have a 19" LCD at home and sharing the desktop for added real estate comes in very handy for me. That's more or less what I'd do with a new notebook. I guess my question is do you think that a 9200 graphics card is good enough or would I benefit from a 9700? Are there any other models with the same or better specs that is worth looking at? I also wonder about the new Centrino 2 spec that is due out next year Q1, if that will make a huge difference. Thanks a bunch!
--Trevor--
Answer:
You are kidding!! an xtra $150 off!?? You are NOT going to find a better deal.
I tried installing PRo on mine but the video and ausio drivers are not available for download yet. I do some corel draw, visio and a little photoshop and the system performs nicely. You can bump it up to a gig of ram and increase performance there. I have no need for bluetooth at the moment but a PCMCIA card can fix that. My business is encoding so I view lots of DVD's and multiple types of codecs, the system doesnt miss a beat. It rips Audio CD's as fast as my fastest desktop and burning is super fast.
Check the S260 thread in this forum for other info and tips.
Answer:
It seems to be the standard deal around these days. Try amazon for no tax and no shipping too. By the way, the final price is $1749, NOT $1649...his math seems to be a little off.
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Answer:
Ooops I did subtract wrong. Give me an F in Grade 3 math..hehehe. I did end up getting it and it's doing everything that I need it for. I think my next notebook will be an HP since they seem to give you a lot more for less money but the build quality of the HP comparable to the S260 was a little bit weak in terms of being able to twist and flex the keyboard easily. So I'll use this notebook for a while and see what happens! :) Thanks a lot for your replies.
--Trevor--
Answer:
Yeah, there are a lot of companies with much cheaper and much better equipped Notebooks. A friend of mine got one from Acer which has the same hardware, weights only a pound more, but has a 15" lcd... for like 1000$ less than i'd pay for a Vaio S2.
But also in the category of "slim and lights" there are enough comparable models. Laptops with better screen, with smaller size, lighter weight, higher quality or with better hardware, from Benq or Asus, HP, Fujitsu, IBM, even Apple:
For the price of a Sony Vaio you could buy a good or better laptop from almost any other brand [:(]
Buying Sony means spending quite an amount for the design and the style, but i think it's worth the money [;)]
Amen [:D]
Answer:
Show me one widescreen notebook thats less than 4.2 lbs can run XP and has a radeon 9700.
|Tab
Answer:
Just wondering... what's all the fascination in having a widescreen laptop? I don't quite get it - just makes your laptop that much wider. I'd rather go with less width personally.
Answer:
I like the aspect ratio better for games and movies, and graphic work.To see the benefits for any text based work you really do need a higher resolution than whats on the S series, but thats the trade off for the size.
|Tab
Answer:
For text-based stuff, you just need to move the toolbars to the side and get used to it. It actually gives you more room vertically that way...[:p]
On the other hand, I picked S really because it is the smallest and lightest laptop that packs enough punch to play demanding game. This is the most important consideration for a person like me who carries the laptop around a lot and doesn't have a desktop at home.[;)]
Answer:
Skyshade what games are you playing on your 260?