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m5550 or Sony SZ premium

post #1 of 11
2/17/07 at 1:12pm
Thread Starter 
Hello ladies and gentlealiens.

I have a bit a query & wanted to get peoples’ opinion. I currently have a Sentia for last year & half (223 model) fully spec’d. However, I feel like I need to move on as the keyboard really does my head in & I get frustrated with it.

I need the laptop for daily use (MS Office, Photoshop CS2, internet/email etc.) I don’t game on it. More for research, giving presentations and lectures. So, I have trimmed my decision down to between 2 contendors.

Which one does anyone think would be best & user opinions if any?

1)Alienware m5550 – max specs on everything.
2)Sony SZ premium - different name in Ireland compared to the US but again maximum specifications. 2g ram, 2.16 dual core etc.

In Ireland, the Sony comes out dearer than the m5550. I like the keyboard on the Sony & I like the look. Screen is a nice one too (14inch). It has only 2 USB ports but has internal Bluetooth. I like m5550 too and it will hopefully do an excellent job for a few years. As I don’t game I think specs are a little overkill but at least it will future proof for a bit I hope. The battery life on the Sony is good – not too sure on the m5550.

Also, I don’t have any hands-on experience with the m5550 keyboard so that’s a worry. And heat + noise: Sony seems to be cooler and quieter but since I don’t have real world experience with the Alien, I don’t know. I haven’t thought about the newer Sentia as the keyboard looks the same as my current one – which is annoying.

I do love my alien, but keyboard and the fact that it hasn’t ever been as fast as I expected (yeah I know the issue with the 2gig ram and this model), so it means that I would like to change. What do you guys think…Alien or Sony?

Thanks
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post #2 of 11
2/17/07 at 1:37pm
Are you absolutely positive that you want a 13.3 inch screen on the Vaio SZ? That is unbelievably tiny to be facilitating very much daily work. The 5550 is a 15.4 inch, so I don't particularly see a close similarity in the two machines. Weight and size are very different: 3.7lbs for the Vaio at .9" thickness. & 6lbs for the 5550 at 1.36" thickness.

I think you need to decide on a form factor and weight class before anything else. The Vaio SZ is an ultralight. The 5550 is relatively light, but it's not an ultralight computer, and there's a big difference between a 13.3 widescreen and a 15.4 widescreen.
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post #3 of 11
2/17/07 at 1:40pm
As for ultralights, I had a Dell i700m 12.1" widescreen one time for work and travel and it was absolute torture. I'll never use those tiny screens again unless I'm looking for a deified dvd player for long flights.
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post #4 of 11
2/17/07 at 1:50pm
Thread Starter 
Yeah the screen issue was something I had looked at (just noticed I put 14inch instead of 13.3 for Sony - sorry). I work with the 12.1inch on the sentia daily so i'm used to that. Anything bigger, I'll just get used to. The weight isn't that much of a problem for me. I drive so I only have to bring the lappy from to and from the car. It's more a question of how the machine runs (and of course the keyboard).
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post #5 of 11
2/17/07 at 2:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Newbie2
Yeah the screen issue was something I had looked at (just noticed I put 14inch instead of 13.3 for Sony - sorry). I work with the 12.1inch on the sentia daily so i'm used to that. Anything bigger, I'll just get used to. The weight isn't that much of a problem for me. I drive so I only have to bring the lappy from to and from the car. It's more a question of how the machine runs (and of course the keyboard).
In that case, I don't really see an overwhelming reason to go with the 5550. You have more features and options with the Vaio Premium: ability to toggle between onboard and geforce 7400 video to conserve battery, backlight monitor, integrated webcam, longer battery life and you already stated that you liked the keyboard. I can't think of many reasons in your case to choose the 5550 unless you just wanted the Alien head design... You might be able to configure a 5500 with a faster C2Duo processor, but I'm not sure it would make a pronounced difference in this case.
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post #6 of 11
2/17/07 at 2:19pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for that. And at the risk of completely displaying my relative newbieness, is there a perceptibly big difference between the geforce 7400 and the 7600 on the m5550? I'm possibly adding 2 & 2 together and getting 6, but just reading stuff from the net and vista (my preference is for xp at the moment though) and the inevitable changeover to vista eventually - I'm assuming the 7600 video is better able to handle it?
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post #7 of 11
2/17/07 at 7:40pm
7400:
  • 3DMark01: 12700 points
  • 3DMark03: 4360 points
  • 3DMark05: 1900 points
  • 3DMark06: 800 points
7600:
  • 3DMark01: 17000 points
  • 3DMark03: 7800 points
  • 3DMark05: 3400 points
  • 3DMark06: 1900 points
If you aren't playing games, it doesn't matter.
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post #8 of 11
4/19/07 at 1:42pm
i have the sz and it is great...screen size large enough to make it easier to read than 12 and i have been using a 15.4 widescreen nw8240 from HP. i had a practice run with a colleague's 12.1 inch hp and it was just too cramped for me. I hope that helps you and others.

it is much lighter than my 8240.
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post #9 of 11
4/19/07 at 10:09pm
I would go with the 15.4 wide. My last two laptops have been that size and is the perfect compromise to size and power.
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post #10 of 11
4/19/07 at 10:48pm
Despite liking AW a lot, I have to say Sony for you. In your first post, you basically said it yourself.. saying that everything seemed good with the Sony, where you were just in the fog about the AW.
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post #11 of 11
4/22/07 at 4:46am
I'm not sure what the battery life is like on the Sony, but I have the AW Area-51 m5500, which also has the toggle switch between Intel's GMA, and the Nvidia card. I will say that the battery life while using the Intel GMA isn't that much better than when using the Nvidia card. I can get close to 2.5 hours on the Intel GMA, and just around 2 hours with the Nivida card. However, this is with the 6 cell battery, and when I use the 9 cell battery I bought with the laptop, I can get close to 3 hours with the Intel GMA, and 2 hours and 40 minutes with the Nvidia. I will say though that I really love my m5500 and the 15.4" screen is a joy to look at when comapred to the Dell 12.1" m700 that I had to use at my last job. The only problem that I have ever encountered with my AW m5500 is that I can't get it away from my wife. She's hijacked it to her 'coffeehouse-style' office downstairs and I'm relagated to the Dell Dimention 8400 desktop upstairs in my office.
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