abbeh15

I am getting ready to purchase my first laptop and honestly I am not too computer knowledgeable. I have narrowed my two choices down to two different laptops though. Those two laptops are the Toshiba X205-SLI1 and a Sony Vaio model number VGN-AR630E. I would mainly like to know what a lot of these terms mean.

1. The first term comes in the Display type. The Toshiba comes with a WXGA+ widescreen TFT-LCD with TruBrite technology while the Sony comes with WXGA + widescreen with XBRITE-ECO technology. They are both 1440 x 900.

2. The next term I do not understand is Cache Memory. The Toshiba comes with 4MB on die level 2 while the Sony comes with 2MB at die level 2. Now I am on to Type of Memory. The Toshiba has PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM and Sony comes with DDR2 SDRAM.

3. Now onto the hard drive type, Toshiba has Serial ATA and Sony has Serial ATA (5400 rpm)/ The Toshiba hard drive size is 240GB and the Sony is 320GB.

4. Optical Drives for the Toshiba are Double-Layer DVD+-RW/HD DVD-ROM/CD-RW and the Sony has Double Layer DVD+-RW/BLU-Ray Disc/CD-RW.

5. Toshiba has Optical Drive Speeds of 2.4x DVD+R DL; 2x DVD-R DL; 4x4x8 DVD+RW; 4x4x8 DVD-RW; 3x DVD-RAM; 1x HD DVD-ROM; 24x10x24 CD-RW, while Sony has 4x DVD+R DL; 4x DVD-R DL; 8x8x8 DVD+RW; 8x6x8 DVD-RW; 5x DVD-RAM; 2x BD-ROM; CD-R; 24x16x24 CD-RW.

6. What is the difference between the Toshiba NVIDIA SLI Dual GeForce 8600M GT Graphics and the Sonys NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GT?

7. Toshiba has a video memory of 512MB GDDR3 discrete graphics memory; up to 767MB total with 255MB of dynamically allocated shared graphics memory using NVIDIA TurboCache technology and Sony has Up to 256MB as allocated by Windows Vista. What exactly does a video memory do and what is the difference between these two models?

8. Both models have a modem that runs 56 Kbps, except the Sony says something about ITU V.90 /V.92. What does that mean?

9. Toshibas networking is Built-in 10/100/1000 Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 connector) and Sony has a Built-in 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T Fast Ethernet LAN.

10. Wireless networking for the Toshiba involves a Built-in Intel® Wireless Wi-Fi 4965AGN network connection (802.11a/b/g/n); Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR and the Sony with a Built-in Intel® PRO/Wireless 4965AGN wireless LAN (802.11a/b/g/n).

11. Both models have a HDMI video connector, but the Toshiba has a SPDIF output. I'm not sure what this does.

12. What is a PCMCIA Slot? Toshiba has a ExpressCard/34/54 & the Sony has a Type I/Type II with CardBus support.

Sorry for such a long and lengthy post, I just want to know what I'm buying.

This will be a personal laptop used for college, gaming, & work(sales). I'm going to purchasing the lap top on BestBuy.com. The Toshiba runs for $1850.00 and the Sony Vaio goes for $1550.00. Do you think the Toshiba is worth the $300.00 price difference?

Any and all input is greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much,
Scooter