Battle Royale: Toshiba M30 vs Samsung X30 vs Vaio A197XP

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Dear all, I'm trying to decide between these machines and am wondering if
you might have got any of them or have any opinions on them.

E.g. what's the battery life like on the Vaios? Is it really 2.5 hours? Or
you ought to have nothing running with LCD off and nothing on to have 2.5
hours? Or is it an average usage figure? What about the M30, I've seen it at
shops and I must say the screen is well nice, but is it good performance
wise, I occasionally play games but mostly programming work. I've seen the
Samsung and it is light and neat, but doesn't have 802.11g or DVD-RW which
is disappointing with that price tag. The Sony seems a bit of a beast but
let down by its batt life and weight... I wonder how heavy it really is and
if the quality is worth training my wrist.

Thanks, Jules