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Is Vaio PCG-FR102 good ?

post #1 of 11
7/25/03 at 10:05am
Thread Starter 
Hi, I am currently very tempted to purchase the PCG-FR102 notebook and would like to know if this is a wise choice. I will be using the notebook for presentation, office application, movies and some moderate gaming. Can someone please tell me the pros and cons of this laptop regarding to performance, value, display, etc. Also, I would like to know what components on this laptop can be modified or upgraded since I will be using it for a long time (at least until the prescott gets into a notebook). Any advice would be much appreciated.

PCG-FR102 quick specs:

Athlon XP-M 2000+
30 GB HDD
256 DDR
Nvidia 420go 32DDR
14.1" TFT
DVD/CD-RW


Cheers
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post #2 of 11
7/25/03 at 11:11am
From a gaming standpoint, the graphics card won't handle most of today's games well. The 14" screen also will be a burden for gaming.

Otherwise, the specs aren't bad for anything else that you want to do. Except the movies, 14" screens aren't good for movies, besides conserving battery life.

-Joe
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post #3 of 11
7/25/03 at 11:44am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the reply. What is the difference between a 14.1" and a 15.1" apart from the size ? I thought that both screen run at the 1028 x 768 ratio with 16M colour. Would 1 inch make such a difference on the movie quality ?
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post #4 of 11
7/25/03 at 11:54am
Not so much on quality, I just don't perfer gaming or movie watching on 14" screens. Even if you're lap, I find them to be a little too small to watch, and multiple people gets worse. Not that big a deal, and the battery life you gain is good, but.

Just my opinion. : ) All comes down to what you want.

-Joe
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post #5 of 11
7/25/03 at 12:07pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks. I think I will be okay with the screen since I have been using a 12.1" screen for 3 years. As for the gaming, if it can handle Warcraft 3, Age of Mythology, Half-life, then I am a happy man.
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post #6 of 11
7/25/03 at 12:52pm

Re: Is Vaio PCG-FR102 good ?

How much is it gonan cost?


Quote:
Originally posted by Giga pump
Hi, I am currently very tempted to purchase the PCG-FR102 notebook and would like to know if this is a wise choice. I will be using the notebook for presentation, office application, movies and some moderate gaming. Can someone please tell me the pros and cons of this laptop regarding to performance, value, display, etc. Also, I would like to know what components on this laptop can be modified or upgraded since I will be using it for a long time (at least until the prescott gets into a notebook). Any advice would be much appreciated.

PCG-FR102 quick specs:

Athlon XP-M 2000+
30 GB HDD
256 DDR
Nvidia 420go 32DDR
14.1" TFT
DVD/CD-RW


Cheers
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 11
7/25/03 at 1:19pm
Thread Starter 
It is under $1000.
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post #8 of 11
7/25/03 at 1:29pm
Its not a bad machine for < 1000 however I can tell you this - Nothing on that machine would be upgradeable except for the memory - everything else is hardwired. It will probably last a year or so before something about it will piss you off and you will want to upgrade (most likely the video performance - everyone says they dont play games but they generally do) I would look at the X1000 by compaq - they are having a -100 and 10% off sale ATM and so a 1.3 GHZ centrino and a WXSGA screen as well as a 40GB drive rather than a 30GB will only cost like 1250 bucks ATM. yes its a bigger initial outlay but the machine is a much more complete package and the graphics card is superior and upgradeable. Also the 1.3 Ghz cpu is faster than the CPU in the Vaio and wil give you a nice battery life.


Quote:
Originally posted by Giga pump
It is under $1000.
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post #9 of 11
7/25/03 at 1:38pm
Thread Starter 
Sounds great. Is the Athlon XP-M really that bad ?? A 1.3 Ghz Pentium-M beats the XP-M 2000+ ??
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post #10 of 11
7/25/03 at 1:40pm
Its not that the athlon is so bad - its just the the centrino is an amazing little processor that benchmarks at much higher than it is listed. a 1.6 centrino = 2.4 P4 approx

Quote:
Originally posted by Giga pump
Sounds great. Is the Athlon XP-M really that bad ?? A 1.3 Ghz Pentium-M beats the XP-M 2000+ ??
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post #11 of 11
7/25/03 at 1:52pm
Thread Starter 
Yeah I heard. Well, at the moment I only need a moderate computer that can get the job done. Many new hardwares are getting released in the next few months and I figured I might as well wait for another year before making any decision. I really like the centrino but I would prefer the dothan version instead. Thus, I have decided to purchase a moderate notebook to get by the year (or more). The Athlon XP-M is cheap and I think they are better than the Celerons. Also reviews from tomshardware suggest that the Nvidia 420go, Athlon XP-M, KT266A chipset to be a strong combination. I am only prepared to spend $1000 since I want to save up for next year .
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