http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7651169&type=product&productCategoryId=cat15200&id=1134702110773

is it worth the money or is there something else comparable for less money?
is there something else better for the same amount of money?

Thanks...

2/16/2006 6:18:59 PM

eh, best thing would be to wait till may/june and get one of the t60's through the bookstore. they'll have a 1500 dollar t60 that will DESTROY that vaio, as well as z60's, r60's, and a t43 or two.

2/16/2006 6:26:12 PM

who makes a t60? why will it blow this Vaio out of the water? and will it have the Duo processor type setup?

2/16/2006 6:27:30 PM

http://www-131.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=4611686018425151950&storeId=10000001&langId=-1&categoryId=2049168&dualCurrId=1000073&catalogId=-840

That's roughly the model that'll be in the bookstore (ROUGHLY remember) after may and will be between 1500-1700 depending on the discount. If the discount follows the discount in the past, it'll be about 1549 or so.

There'll be notebooks above and below those specifications though.

But yeah, anything that doesn't use shared video ram or an "intel extreme graphics" chipset will blow that vaio away in terms of graphics performance. Also, the processor's a little weak in the vaio. The vaio will get better battery life most likely, but the t60's and t series laptops aren't slouches at all.

The t60 also has a faster harddrive, dual core processor, active harddisk protection, and built in CDMA wireless broadband adapter (you'd have to pay for the service IF you wanted it, but there'd be no extra equipment to buy).

[Edited on February 16, 2006 at 6:37 PM. Reason : ]

2/16/2006 6:34:51 PM

for comparison sake, go to dell and configure a laptop as close as u can to that and watch how much cheaper it'll be.

2/16/2006 6:37:04 PM

^ Yeah, if you want one soon that's probably the best bet, but the university deals through IBM are pretty much the best for the quality when they're first released. IBM employee deals outdo them, but usually don't update for the newer models till a good 4 months after the university gets their deal.

2/16/2006 6:39:53 PM

just as a side note, not sure what ur uses will be but:

http://www.slickdeals.net/#p7081

[Edited on February 16, 2006 at 6:47 PM. Reason : .]

2/16/2006 6:47:36 PM

^ comparable if not superior performance to the vaio, for half the price. Feel free to add upgrades till it costs as much as the vaio and you'll have a nice ultraportable.

2/16/2006 6:49:10 PM

the ceo of our company has a vaio similar in design to the one in the first link.

its a total piece of shit.

either go with a dell or IBM. Others are a waste of time.

2/16/2006 6:55:42 PM

^ i like my acer and they seem to be generally 10-20% cheaper than some other brands. supposedly had build quality issues, but mine works wonders and only weighs 3.3 lbs or so.

2/16/2006 7:22:55 PM

yeah... i like the Windows XP media center though and I am not sure how much better the Duo processor system is than just one...

2/16/2006 8:33:44 PM

It's not as much the processor you should worry about, as it is the video chipset/card as long as it's not a celeron or something.

2/16/2006 9:00:30 PM