I bought a new laptop..

Michael

Michael

Active Member
I picked up a new laptop the other day.. wifey kind of forced me into it, she really wanted my old (not so old) Toshiba laptop for school.

I bought a Sony VAIO VPCF115FM for about $1325, before tax. Here are the specs;

  • Intel® Core™ i7-720QM processor (6MB L3 cache and 2.8GHz processor speed with Turbo Boost)
  • 6GB DDR3 memory (PC3-10700 - expandable to 8GB)
  • Blu-ray Disc-enabled DVD±RW/CD-RW drive
  • 16.4" 1080P Display (1920x1080 Widescreen)
  • 500GB Serial ATA (5400 rpm)
  • NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M graphics (1GB dedicated video memory and up to 3831MB total available video memory) HDMI output
  • Intel® High Definition Audio with Dolby Home Theater
  • Action buttons
  • Built-in MOTION EYE webcam (with microphone and face tracking technology)
  • Multiformat media reader
  • i.LINK (IEEE 1394)
  • 2 high-speed USB 2.0 ports
  • Wireless LAN (802.11b/g/n)
  • Bluetooth (Built-in stereo A2DP Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) interface)
  • Built-in 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T Gigabit Fast Ethernet LAN
  • Weighs 6.9 lbs. and measures just 1.6" thin
  • Backlit keyboard
  • Battery life of up to 3 hours
  • Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64-bit

I like it a lot so far. I'm sure I could have built an i7 desktop for less, that would have been more powerful, but I don't have the room for it after converting our bonus room into a home theater.

I ran a couple of quick tests, here are the screenshots:

mak.png


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The scores look low to me. How can I improve them?
 
Drenlin said:
Looks like a good system, but I don't see any screenshot...?
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You're unable to see the screenshots? They show for me.. :confused:

Nevakonaza said:
Nice laptop...exept the hard drive it has!!!

5400 rpm :eek: a bit slow.
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I feel the same way, but I can't upgrade it for awhile.. the laptop drained my bank of extra money for awhile lol

daisymtc said:
Nothing you can do. It is down to your GPU.
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Isn't the 330M a capable GPU?

For the price, is there another laptop with similar specs that has a better GPU? I couldn't find one, but maybe I missed some..
 
Human eyes can't see a difference on such a small screen. I've had both - just makes everything look smaller, not smoother. Not to mention if you play games it just makes it much harder on your gpu.

If you don't play games though I wouldn't bother switching.
 
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Flaring Afro said:
Human eyes can't see a difference on such a small screen. I've had both - just makes everything look smaller, not smoother. Not to mention if you play games it just makes it much harder on your gpu.

If you don't play games though I wouldn't bother switching.
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I only play online flash-based games, and occasionally Sims-style games. My younger brother has all of those newer Sims games on his $350 Compaq laptop with integrated graphics, so I think I'd be ok there.

The only thing I don't love about this laptop is the GPU. I knew that at the store, but I figured with 1GB of dedicated RAM and a 575Mhz core speed, how bad could it be? I know there are faster, but how capable is this GPU? What desktop card would you compare this to?

I want a capable laptop, and now that I've read about the 330M a little bit more, I feel like this laptop might not be worth the price I paid. Am I crazy for thinking this?
 
I don't know how often you used Blu-ray. I personally can't justified paying extra $300 for better screen and blu-ray over the $1000 Asus.
 
Flaring Afro said:
Human eyes can't see a difference on such a small screen. I've had both - just makes everything look smaller, not smoother. Not to mention if you play games it just makes it much harder on your gpu.

If you don't play games though I wouldn't bother switching.
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daisymtc said:
I don't know how often you used Blu-ray. I personally can't justified paying extra $300 for better screen and blu-ray over the $1000 Asus.
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I own a lot of blurays.. The comparable Asus linked to earlier is only $4 cheaper than my Sony, not $300.

The ASUS N61JQ-X1 ($999) has a lower res. screen, no bluray, 2GB less of RAM, slower RAM and a 320GB HDD (instead of 500GB, that mine has). It also lacks the backlit keyboard that I love so much.

I know I can upgrade the RAM, that's no problem.. but if you add the cost of a 500GB HDD and the RAM together, it comes close to the $200 mark, and the laptop still lacks the higher resolution screen, bluray and the backlit keyboard.

If not for those downfalls, I would consider it..

The ASUS N71JQ-A1 is interesting, I'm still considering it even though it lacks the keyboard I like..
 
I just got done playing the first two levels of L4D2 with all video options on high and AA on "16xQ CSAA" and it was nice and smooth, no noticeable lag.
That's probably the most advanced game I'll play on this laptop, so hopefully the others work fine as well :D

I'm going to grab a couple of more games and see where it takes me.. maybe I won't need a different laptop (with a different GPU) if it plays the games I like.

edit: I just tried with all settings maxed and it was still smooth @ about 21-25fps. when loads of zombies were attacking with no noticeable lag. I was getting nearly twice the fps before I maxed out shaders (very high).. shaders is the only thing that wasn't maxed earlier when I played the first 2 levels.
 
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Flaring Afro said:
Human eyes can't see a difference on such a small screen. I've had both - just makes everything look smaller, not smoother. Not to mention if you play games it just makes it much harder on your gpu.

If you don't play games though I wouldn't bother switching.
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Bull...Shit

My 16" 1920x1080 is SO much better than my old 15.4" 1440x900. You get a whole new dimension of multi-tasking, plus you get the full res of blu ray, which, yes, when you're sitting that close to the screen, you CAN see the difference.
 
speedyink said:
Bull...Shit

My 16" 1920x1080 is SO much better than my old 15.4" 1440x900. You get a whole new dimension of multi-tasking, plus you get the full res of blu ray, which, yes, when you're sitting that close to the screen, you CAN see the difference.
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I'll second that..
 
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Can anyone think of a better laptop for the price? I've got 8 days left before my return policy is up...
 
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