Dell Insiron 1525 vs. Sony VAIO FW

by Big Tex 6 Replies latest social entertainment

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  Big Tex

  I'm in the market for a new laptop. I've narrowed my choices down to Dell Inspiron 1525 or Sony VAIO FW390. But I'm not sure which is the better way to go.

  The Dell has XP (that's a BIG selling point to me), 15.4 display, Intel T4200 2.0Ghz, 3GB Ram, 320 GB and I've priced it at $950

  The Sony has 16.4 display, Intel P8600 2.0Ghz, 3GB Ram, 320 GB and better graphics (but it has Vista) and I've priced it at $1150.

  So the Sony is $200 more. I've heard good things about the VAIO but is it really $200 better?

  Anyone had either laptop? Any pros or cons that I'm not aware of?

  Thanks for the feedback.

  Chris
• 

  garybuss

  I remember reading an interview of Bill Gates on an airplane where he was asked what his favorite computer was and he said: "Whichever one I'm using". So the interviewer asked him which one he was traveling with and he said it was a Sony Vaio.
  
  I had a Dell laptop and they replaced two motherboards in 3 years and a month after the warranty ran out the third motherboard died. So, that's in the dump. I wouldn't buy a Dell no way no how. Sam's had a deal on the Vaio's here but they don't have them right now.
  
  
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  MissingLink

  I have 3 dell laptops that get heavy usage every day. Very solid, never a problem. I'm writing this on an Inspiron 9400.

  The Sony is over-priced and usually has non-standard hardware which can be a real hassle trying to find drivers for if you ever have to install an OS.
• 

  DaCheech

  I bought a dell refurb 3 years ago, and it's still running today .

  I use it all day, and probably never turn it off.

  it's a latitude model xxoo
• 

  Elsewhere

  Here's one more thing to ruin your day:

  Windows 7 will be out later this year. Do you want to wait for it to be released or buy your computer now and upgrade later?
• 

  mkr32208

  It's just such a mixed bag! I've got a Dell the first one broke inside two months and they replaced it for free the replacement (that I'm typing on now) has worked fine going on two years now. My wife bought a dell absolutely no problems ever. My buddy bought a dell and it broke within a few months... Who knows it could come down to what kind of day the person on the assembly line is having that day or if the chip is in the row 1/10000 of an inch out of line...

  Why the hell would you want XP? Vista is awesome it's been unfairly maligned it's a great OS.
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  Big Tex

  Thanks for your replies.

  See I've heard bad things about Dell laptops before, this is why I wanted to hear from others. And Sony does seem to be awfully proud of their laptops but I am just not sure it's worth THAT much more than Dell.

  Yeah Else, I've heard that about the new Windows. I've got Vista on my desktop and I hate it. It's annoying and uses a tremendous amount of hard drive space, I guess, for indexing or god only knows what. I've got a long list of complaints against it. XP was much better.

  Chris