Please rate this laptop

Forums › Laptops and mobile computers › Please rate this laptop

barman09

38 posts

Geek

Topic # 60317 24-Apr-2010 08:40

Hi everyone,

I am looking to buy a new laptop. Short term will be used for school work, actual work for my job, andplaying games (mainly WoW). Long term (2-3 years) will be used for university.

I want to know what everyone thinks- good points, bad points and so forth (no need to point out the price I have seen it :D)

http://www.sony.co.nz/product/vpcz116gg

thanks in advance :)

michaelt

423 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 8

Reply # 322317 24-Apr-2010 09:58

The specs of that laptop look very good, considering the size and weight. My only concern would be battery life, as that i5, GT 330M and 6GB RAM are likely to be quite power hungry, and the form factor limits battery capacity.

I also wouldn't plan 2-3 years ahead when buying a laptop. Given it's a Sony Vaio, it's fairly likely to last that long, but you never know, and the battery life is very likely to decline further,

If you're willing to spend that kind of money, then go for it. Personally, I'd go for either a desktop with large LCD or larger laptop at home, and a small netbook or CULV (such as the Dell Inspiron 11z) for use at uni. It'll be cheaper, you'll have more performance and a bigger display at home, and you'll be less worried about breaking the laptop or having it stolen.

Depending on what courses you're planning to take at uni and your notetaking style, might be worth considering a tablet PC as well.

barman09

38 posts

Geek

Reply # 322323 24-Apr-2010 10:22

Hey thanks for the feedback :)

In regards to the battery life, its not as issue. the i5 has an onboard graphics card which you can switch to and if you read the battery specs on the Vaio site (if you believe them) it will get 5 or so hours.

I have considered getting a desktop but I play games all around the house, and my room is too fire from our router for ethernet cable, and the signal is weak for the wireless.

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8d52797c436

264 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

Reply # 322360 24-Apr-2010 13:18

michaelt: The specs of that laptop look very good, considering the size and weight. My only concern would be battery life, as that i5, GT 330M and 6GB RAM are likely to be quite power hungry, and the form factor limits battery capacity.

I also wouldn't plan 2-3 years ahead when buying a laptop. Given it's a Sony Vaio, it's fairly likely to last that long, but you never know, and the battery life is very likely to decline further,

If you're willing to spend that kind of money, then go for it. Personally, I'd go for either a desktop with large LCD or larger laptop at home, and a small netbook or CULV (such as the Dell Inspiron 11z) for use at uni. It'll be cheaper, you'll have more performance and a bigger display at home, and you'll be less worried about breaking the laptop or having it stolen.

+1

In terms of the battery life it says it can do, I would never believe them. Especially if playing games, it's going to drain the battery something chronic.

The only other two issues I would have with it is that the screen is so small that if you really wanted to play games on it you may find you just cant see everything you need to (unless your eyesight is a lot better than mine). The other thing is that the graphics card will only support DX10.1, which may not be a huge issue now, but in the next year or so it could become annoying.

dman

933 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 26

Reply # 323340 27-Apr-2010 02:09

like the other guy said I would go for a desktop PC & a netbook

buy buying both together you get one that is much more powerful (the PC) AND you get one with heaps better battery life (the netbook)

and the price would be over all about the same, or even cheaper

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