Finally picked one.

PerfectCreature

Awhile ago I posted a thread on picking a laptop under $1000.
I have waited and shopped around for quite some time, and I picked one.
I chose a Sony Vaio. VPCSA3AFX/BI
13.3 inches, a little smaller then what I am used too, but not by much.
Total paid, with a 4GB RAM upgrade to bring it to 8GB total, was $760.
i5 2.40ghz, 8GB ram, 1GB vid card, 500GB hdd, and a 1600x900 display, backlit keyboard which was one of my largest wants.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834127584

It should be a fairly fast machine for the price and when SSDs become cheaper it should make it even faster.

Anyone out there use a Sony Vaio? Opinions?

Glowrdr

Sony minus $200 = HP. Just sayin'

Congrats though, they make everything so different that it's really tough to compare anything apples to apples anymore. It's like trying to go car shopping from the dealers.

wayne3burk

i still like dell...

just sayin'

PerfectCreature

Canceled order and bought an SSD for the old laptop.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139601

Should run smoother and a bit faster now.

Glowrdr

That was fast. lol I'm curious as to how much faster it will run, and whether you see an increase in battery life.

PerfectCreature

I am not sure how much faster it will run, I am hoping enough to warrant the $179 I spent.
I am going to wait for the new Ivy Bridge iCore Intels to be released before I get a new laptop, depending on how fast Win8 is to be released, I might wait for that as well.
I am not sure how it will effect battery life. I will update though once I get it up and running.
Hopefully I will not get a DOA.

PerfectCreature

Yeah, I read good and bad reviews. I just really like my HP. So I decided I would buy an SSD and give it a breath of life. If it doesnt help it, it can still take 4GB more RAM.
Only thing I wish it had was a better resolution screen, but no big.

BeefJerky

The SSD should make a noticeable difference in terms of how responsive your system is. It sure did for me when I upgraded my prior Core2Duo laptop with one. Honestly, you probably won't notice much of a difference in battery life unless your hard drive gets hammered a lot in your daily usage. From your description, it doesn't sound like it will, so I wouldn't expect any real difference in that regard.

PerfectCreature

I normally keep it plugged into an outlet if possible. Most time the longest I would go without a charge is an hour or two. On max settings it gets around 3 hours of battery life due to its size.
It has shipped and expected date is for the 20th. I will update with how responsive it is compared to the other one.

PerfectCreature

Just got it today. Have to clean up the drive a bit so it can do the swap.
Here are some photos of the drive.
Kingston HyperX 120GB SSD

PerfectCreature

Installed the drive, software CD came with cloning software (Acronis) and the drive was copied in under 30 minutes using USB 2.0 and SATA 2 controllers.
The drive is SATA 3, so it will not reach full capacity but performance was increased none-the-less.
Boot up shows the windows color dots, does not load the flag and goes to the password screen. Once password is entered, I am to the main screen with all items loaded.
Shut down now shows the "Shutting down" text long enough to read it and its off.
Really fast performance. I click a program and its up. Very impressed.
I ran it a few times and it seems to be functioning properly. I will put it through some stress later tonight to see if I was lucky enough to not get any bugs.

Glowrdr

Definately a pretty drive!

I'm hoping the prices drop a bit, and larger sizes become the norm. I'd love to go all SSD, but it's just not feasible at the moment. I know you really only need SSD on your OS drive, but I want it all. Mwahahahaaaaa

PerfectCreature

Well, for the laptop that was getting old, and any laptop in general they are great.
The performance increase is great.
Sometimes you can catch good deals. I bought this one for $239 with a rebate for $60 for a total price of $179 which is not that bad considering it came with an enclosure.