Which laptop would you take?

Hey Guys

I have a couple of US laptops here in Japan. I'm going to sell one and probably keep the other. I just can't decide which one I want to keep...

HP dv7-4073nr

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Intel® Core™ i7-720QM
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]ATI Mobility Radeonâ„¢ HD 5650
640 GB HDD, 4 GB RAM

Sony Vaio F132FX/B

Intel® Core™ i7-740QM
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 310M GPU
500 GB HDD, 4 GB RAM
USB 3.0

The HP has a stud video card and I do a lot of video editing, but the Sony has the 740 chip and USB 3.0 for faster file transfers. Is there really that much difference in the 720 and 740 chips? I'm assuming the ATI video card will trump any performance the 740 chip could give, but that's just a guess. I like the USB 3.0 since I backup everything on external and I often have to move large files around. Plus the Sony has an international warranty so I can get it serviced here in Japan...

Any tips?


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If you're constantly backing things up 3.0 could be a good thing to have at the sacrifice of the video card. Not to mention you NEED the international warranty.

 

I'd go for the VAIO except it will be the usual Sony sack of shit which will look like it has been thoroughly abused 5 mins later. I'd look for the same or similar spec but a different manufacturer, even something uninspired like an Acer.

 

Some of the higher range Acer stuff is ok. Cheap £3-400 laptops they have are crap

 

I have 2 computers in front of me and I have to choose one...

 

Get rid of the VAIO.

It's bound to give you trouble earlier on, because they are a shittier build.

This is what I'd do, anyway.

 

I would have said go with the second on specs, but then I read the Vaio part. The Vaio line is among the worst physical laptop builds I have ever seen. USB 3.0 might sound inviting, but could you survive using eSATA instead?

 

Yeah I remember hearing about the build quality of the Sonys a few years ago. But at that point they were a bit new to the market and were just behind everyone else. I guess the same is still holding true after this much time...

 

My sisters Vaio lasted only a year.....
Beware.

 

Stay far away from vaio's if you do anything of value, they are among the group of most unreliable machines built

 

Do you actually have a USB 3.0 compliant external drive? Is it really saving you that much time? Is it not time that you could walk away from the computer and do something else in, or simply check e-mail or whatever?

Having repaired many laptops, I would agree that Vaios are not only pretty poor, but there are millions of models so finding the parts for them is that much harder. HP, on the other hand, do some damn fine laptops.

Go for the feature that's going to actually be of use to you, rather than gimmicky. Incidentally, what are the panels like? That's certainly something to consider if you're doing video work.

I'd go for the HP.

 

Recommended that HP line of laptops to several people already, really good quality and good price.

The difference between the 720 and 740 is hardly anything, and USB 3.0 isn't that useful unless you are working with uncompressed video over 480Mbps bandwidth (note: Blu-Ray video is 48Mbps).

 

I would keep the Vaio for the USB3 and the better chipset. The graphics card is a short term benefit that will outdate quickly. The USB alone will be something you make good use of for years to come.

 

Assuming the laptop itself lasts that long. Here's a third solution: sell both laptops and get a third one that is a perfect fit.

 

Mairsil makes a fine point here.

Sell both and get a super cool laptop of doom and mass destruction.

Whichever option that is convenient still involves not keeping the Vaio. I've seen so many Vaio troubles during the last decade that it's hardwired in my mind that Vaio computers suck industrial amounts of ass.

 

Mairsil makes a fine point here.

Sell both and get a super cool laptop of doom and mass destruction.

Whichever option that is convenient still involves not keeping the Vaio. I've seen so many Vaio troubles during the last decade that it's hardwired in my mind that Vaio computers suck industrial amounts of ass.

 

Are you telling him to downgrade to DOS so he can play Doom and Mass Destruction?

 

Well I bought 7 of them to resell and these are my last 2....the 2 best....so I'm keeping one of them.

Good point about eSATA...I suppose I don't need USB 3.0 yet. Looks like I'll be keeping the HP.

But.....I've had this PC (Dell desktop) for about 4 years now. The amount of software I have on it is just insane. In the past it was exciting to get a new PC but now I'm actually NOT looking forward to the setup. I really don't want to find out how much of it can't be transferred over....and the stuff than can transfer I don't want to think about the number of emails I'll have to write to get new product keys....

 

This would be way better than the VAIO, at least.

:thumbsup:

 

Sell both and buy a MacBook Pro and install Windows 7 on bootcamp. Enjoy the FW800 and other features.