Vaio S270, Acer or Dell 700m/D600/X300?

[rpommerening]

Hi Folks!

I live in Brazil and need to replace my Toshiba Satellite 4025CDT. Looking for a fast portable&light&thin reliable notebook. (Internal DVD+/-RW would be best but I really liked the look of the Dell X300) NO IBM!
Well, here is my list and I would appreciate any help, since I can't buy them myself. I usually like to see and feel the laptop before I buy it, but..(A friend of mine is coming to Brazil and will bring it to me.)...I have to choose the model via internet and order.

What matters?
- (very) good display (min 12" - max 14")
- reliable/fast performance (want to exchange the HD and put in the 7200rpm Hard Disk from Hitachi - Travelstar 7K60)
- Good looking, light weight&thin and strongly build
- DVD+/-RW drive
- Wireless with Bluetooth
- every day use/ MSOffice/ internet and some Computer based training programs from Boeing . NO GAMES but I do like strong graphic performance

Suggestions on other models are wellcome!

a) Sony Vaio VGN-S270 PM centrino 1.7GHz, 512MB, 13.3in. WXGA with XBRITE, HD 60GB, ATI RADEON 9700, Video 64MB, internal DVD+/- RW (for me the best Display size!)

b) Dell Inspiron 700m PM centrino 1.6 or 2.0 GHz, 512MB, 12.1 WXGA, internal DVD+/-RW, 60GB HD, graphic processor Intel Extreme. (little bulky!)

c) Acer Travelmate 3200 PM centrino 1.5 GHz, 512MB, 14.1 XGA, ATI RADEON 9700, Video 64MB, Wireless+Bluetooth (almost too large for carry around, but good reviews)

d) Dell latitude X300 PM centrino 1.4GHz, 12in XGA, 512MB with external DVD+/- RW, 60GB HD (I only included this model because it is very slim/light)

e) Dell Latitude D600 PM centrino 1.8GHz with same config. as above models (did not like the plastic look of the case and the almost too large display)

Thanks for any reply.

 

[Cosmos]

Ask Folken. ^_^

 

[folken]

First, why no IBM? A Thinkpad X or T series would fulfill all your needs 100% and more.
Second, don't buy a vaio they are garbage.
Dell laptops are not very sturdy, you pick it up by one corner and it bends like crazy. Same goes for the acer notebooks I have seen. I had the screen of an Inspiron break because I picked it up from only one corner. Toshiba is a little better but all they offor in the way of tiny laptops is the portege R100. It is probably the smallest laptop out there but it isn't very powerful.
R100 - 1.1ghz PM, 512MB PC2100, 12.1" XGA, 40GB hd, 802.11b/g
I guess if IBM is out of the question your best bet will be a dell latitude. The X300 will probably be the way to go.

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

 

[folken]

lol

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

 

[rpommerening]

Folken, thank you very much for your reply. Maybe you are right and I should consider the IBM T42 or X40.

Regarding your comments, is the Dell 700m not a better choice compared with the X300? I mean, the 700m is more powerfull, even compared to the X40, right? ....and why is Sony garbage? there are some good reviews about the S270.

What I really want to find is a reliable, light, fast portable with the performance of the T42, the size of the X300/X40 with internal DVD+/-RW and good looking like the powerbook g4. Is that impossible?

 

[folken]

The Dell 700m would be more powerful but I just dismissed it due to the bulkyness. If that isn't to much of an issue and you feel it would suit your needs go for it, it will likely be much cheaper than an IBM solution.
Giving a DVD burner to the X40 would require adding a X3 Media Slice dock to it. Unfortunatly that will add almost a half inch to the notebook and make the overall weight about 5 pounds. It does add another battery which extends life to over 10hours as well as aditional ports including ps2, lan, usb, serial, parallel, and vga. It also adds more speakers. If you can stand a 14" screen I highly recommend going for the 1.7ghz T42. I have the 1.8ghz T42 w/ a 15" screen and it is such a thin and light laptop I really don't think of it as being large at all. You can put a dvd burner, a/b/g wireless, blutooth, up to 2gb of ram, upto an 80gb hd, and more into a case that is only about 1" thick. The IBM airbag antishock system and hardware encryption chips are standard on all laptops. There is a sensor in the laptop that monitors motion, if you bump the laptop to hard or it gets dropped it will instantaneously move the hard disk r/w head off the disk to prevent damage/dataloss. I'll do a little research to see if there is a 12.1" laptop out there that would fit your needs.

Every sony both large and small I have delt with has been very poorly constructed and has a strong tendancy towards breaking. They are also loaded down with tons of usless software and run increadibly slow. I too was tempted by the smallness a long time ago but when people I knew got one they had nothing but probs with it and when I worked on them they just plain sucked.

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

 

[rpommerening]

Folken, thank you again for your advise. I really appreciate it.
As you might know, it is very dificult to choose among so many different notebooks, specially because I practically have to choose one via internet. Therefore I am glad for any help I can get, because I can't go back to the store and return it, if I don't like it. So, it has to be a reliable laptop, that will last the next 3-5 years.

Do you know if I can run an interactive computer based training program from Boeing on Apples G4 Powerbook? (I use them on my windows based PC notebook). I like the G4 a lot...but, since I need them for work and study I have to be sure.

Roberto

 

[folken]

I don't know about that sort of software at all but I wouldn't trust it on a Mac. I've used several G4 powerbooks and they have all died in the first month They arn't very fast anyway and take forever to boot. OSX is a big improvement over the older MacOSs but it still has its problems
If you need a laptop for that kind of work IBM is definatly what you want. It is an industrial laptop, these things are pretty rugged. I came across a few old pII 233 thinkpads in a old storage shed that was full of mildew and stuff. All of them still turned on and even booted up, lol.

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>