Look for a deal on a Sony SZ series laptop...

You didn't need to post 5 times.

That being said, the SZ150 & SZ160 are being phased out. Most places won't be carrying it once they are out of stock. However they will be carrying the SZ2x0 series. Its basically the same as the SZ1x0 series just refreshed. (Some with EDGE card)

I do not think the customizable SZ on Sonystyle have the carbon fiber. From what I saw, only the SZ140 & SZ240 were customizable and both are not premium.

It'll be rare if you find a Premium SZ model for under 2k, the SZ150 and SZ250 series I believe retailed for $2199 and thats the lowest premium series. The rest just go up in price from there.

Thought I saw the SZ150 series at Portable one.


http://laptopsinc.com/Merchant2/merc...egory_Code=SSZ

Go into a Sony store and haggle. Their prices contrary to popular belief are not concrete and I was able to knock off $170 CAD from the MSRP on my SZ220P

Just looked and unfortunately the SZ150 @ Portable One is $2199, looks like MSRP.

I did see one for $2116 at one place but they're now sold out.

I had a SZ150 for sale on ebay for 1800.00 but there were no takers. I'm debating whether to relist it or just keep it. I paid over 2300 for it just a few weeks ago.

$1099 for Sony SZ

http://www.fatwallet.com/t/18/622922/

NEXT

The customizable SZ laptops at Sonystyle do not have the carbon fiber body. Like you, I also did some bargain hunting when I purchased my SZ150 a month ago. I wanted to find the cheapest place without having to pay sales tax. I live in California and all the cheapest stores are located here, but unfortunately they're not the cheapest when sales tax is added. So I had to buy it from somewhere else. I decided to buy mine at Eagle Computer, which is located in Tennessee. They don't charge sales tax or the environmental fee to CA residents, they offer free ground shipping, they have an average reseller rating (BTW mine was new, factory sealed and shipped promptly), and best of all Simple Rebates offers 2% cash back for any purchase at Eagle Computer. Assuming you're in CA but not in TN, the cheapest online store to buy a SZ150 would be Eagle Computer. One downside is that their website and customer service are subpar. Even though their website says the item is in stock, you should call them before ordering to see if it's available. Also you first need to create an account at Simple Rebates and use their link to purchase the item at Eagle Computer so your purchase can be registered with them, then wait a few months to receive the check. $2148.95 - $42.98 (2% cash back) = $2105.97 If you live outside of CA and TX, the cheapest place would be TechOnWeb. They have an excellent reseller rating so you shouldn't expect any problems with them. $2,056.16 + $12.79 (ground shipping) = $2068.95 TechOnWeb also sells the SZ250 with the 100GB hard drive at a cheaper price than the SZ150, which is pretty unusual. http://www.techonweb.com/products/pr...aspx?id=C71763

Since the 150 is discontinued, is there any difference b/w that and the 250? Also is there really a benefit in getting a premium over a non-premium? The cheapest premiun was the 250 from the site posted by the above poster but it only has 512 ram whereas I could customize the 2xx non-premium model and have better configs under 2K. Any ideas if it's worth going premium?

If you want sz160p/c eCost.Com has a few left. I had good experience with them. I think they are $2250 now. I have foundit online refurbished for less.

If you don't care about the EDGE card, go with the sz150p/c or sz160p/c (or sz250p/c or 260p/c).

The screen quality (brightness, viewing angles, amount of leakage) is the main benefit of the premiums. Yes, you can buy a non-premium SZ with a better hard drive, ram or cpu at a cheaper price, but you will be stuck with a heavier laptop with a lower quality screen, which can never be upgraded in the future. If you plan on using the laptop for a long time, I suggest you choose a premium model. But overall it's up to you whether you want to pay the extra hundreds for the added benefits. The only difference between the 150 and 250 is the bigger hard drive and possibly the Cingular EDGE antenna (not sure if the SZ250 has this). Both are premium models. I chose the lowest premium model (SZ150) and upgraded it myself. This was the only way I could fully customize my laptop at the cheapest cost. I bought 2gb 667mhz G.Skill ram at Newegg, hoping that SZs will support 667mhz ram in the future, and a 7200rpm 100gb hard drive on ebay, see here for installation instructions and other fixes. Although this isn't recommended if you want to keep the warranty, I sold the factory-installed hard drive and ram on eBay. The 1.83ghz cpu speed isn't much of a concern for me, but if I ever need to upgrade it I will buy a next-gen Core 2 Duo Merom cpu when it comes out.

I did came to same conclusion as you bogartt, but end up with the sz260p/c. I will unpgrade it with 2GB RAM...and the 1** seriees is being discounted at some of the online outlets now. I didn't care about EDGE or a little bit bigger HD. But like you I did want the better quality screen and a lighter notebook with the carbon casing. Did you install your 7200 HD? Let me know what you think of it...performance and any extra heat or noise, etc...I would be interested in knowing.

Yes, I installed the Hitachi TravelStar 7K100 myself. It's fast, quiet and the vibration is low -- it's great. The hard drive temps range from 37 - 47C. Luckily the palm rest attachment doesn't come in direct contact with the hard drive, so it doesn't get that hot. I didn't get a chance to fully test the factory installed hard drive, as I immediately replaced it with the 7200rpm drive, but I ran the HD Tune benchmark.


Fujitsu MHV2080BH:




Hitachi TravelStar 7K100:

Thanks for the information on your Hitachi HD, bogartt. You have been quite helpful. I appreciate it.

Where did you buy it from? And I assume that it is SATA?

I am interested in upgrading mine, but i cant decide on which one to buy.

I bought it on eBay and it has a SATA interface.