How good is this laptop?

[ainkut]

While I don't have anywhere near enough money to afford it, I am curious to see how well this laptop "sits" compared to its price. Now, disclaimer, I do not endorse the "VAIO" name as I have had bad results with them before..but hey, that was when they were brand new and were bricks.

Sony VAIO E Series 15.5" Laptop 4GB Memory 500GB Hard Drive SVE15125CXW - Best Buy

630 USD, from what I see the graphics built into it is good actually(some people said it can run Skyrim?), the memory is 4 gigs and that's a good deal for me. Processor is 2.5 ghz 3rd gen i5, but doesn't say if dual or quad core. I don't think the 3rd gen are single cores at all, so probably dual core. That's still good...

mind you I am using a laptop running windows 7 and only has 1 gig of ram, 256 megs of that taken by the onboard card(xpress m200, junker), 1.6 ghz single core, and an 80 gig hard drive. Wanna know something? It runs Morrowind, and is an overglorified, overheated notepad beyond that. And that does just well by me..

So, for that price and those specs, is that laptop considered "good"?

oh edit, on top of that the games i wouldn't mind being able to play on the go:
Entropia Universe
Skyrim, Morrowind
Master of Orion 2(this computer runs that old game VERY well)
and anything else like Minecraft, and simple Java programs I throw together.

I don't have money, but I'm wanting to learn what to look for in a laptop.

[AxiomFlux]

Sony laptop's have issues. trust me. I have repaired so many of them...
I say go with
1) toshiba
2) HP
3) DELL
4) ASUS
anything else I consider worthless.

choose a AMD processor.
at least 6 gb of memory, I say go for 8+ ( my laptop has 12gb)
storage should be upgraded to SSD.

I took some time to find one that is "worth it"
https://www******buy.com/site/HP+-+ENV...&skuId=6819205

good laptop with just enough

[ainkut]

Sony laptop's have issues. trust me. I have repaired so many of them...
I say go with
1) toshiba
2) HP
3) DELL
4) ASUS
anything else I consider worthless.

choose a AMD processor.
at least 6 gb of memory, I say go for 8+ ( my laptop has 12gb)
storage should be upgraded to SSD.

I took some time to find one that is "worth it"
HP ENVY 15.6" Laptop 6GB Memory 750GB Hard Drive m6-1105dx - Best Buy

good laptop with just enough

Toshiba is the best thing in our family, and yeah ASUS isn't bad from experience.

AMD processor is what, better than Intel or just better at gaming?
6 gigs, because it doesn't cost much more than 4 gigs?
separate or included? An SSD isn't "needed" and I don't see using one. Least I've never owned one. And when they were first brought to my attention is like 400 bucks for an external one, 250 gigs. And that laptop has a normal, non-SSD drive per its description

Thanks though. I will keep looking..but at this rate I will need to "do something" if I want one.

[AxiomFlux]

Toshiba is the best thing in our family, and yeah ASUS isn't bad from experience.

AMD processor is what, better than Intel or just better at gaming?
6 gigs, because it doesn't cost much more than 4 gigs?
separate or included? An SSD isn't "needed" and I don't see using one. Least I've never owned one. And when they were first brought to my attention is like 400 bucks for an external one, 250 gigs. And that laptop has a normal, non-SSD drive per its description

Thanks though. I will keep looking..but at this rate I will need to "do something" if I want one.

toshiba are amazing. I have owned 3 now, first one back in 2001 (still works lmao, not as fast of course... but still)
6gb let's you do more, have more websites open, get more stuff done. all the "pros" use 8gb+ (up to 16gb???... they must be running servers)
SSD are not needed. I use a regular hard drive and everything is fine. but I do know from experience that boot times are improved quite a bit.

find something you like, and don't care about it.
it's kind of like me when I was choosing a dslr.
$2000 vs $1200... I when with the nikon d7000 because of costs.
works magical and won't ever regret getting it.

[ainkut]

Yeah I've heard of some boot times going to about 4-6 seconds compared to 30-60 seconds on a normal one. And I can fully 100% agree, more RAM is better.

And I think this laptop is from around the days where Vista first came out. So maybe '06. Yeah if I could find the needed money I would get the one you recommended. It'll do what I need, and what I want, and doesn't cost no 3,000 like Alienware does..bah.

[AxiomFlux]

Yeah I've heard of some boot times going to about 4-6 seconds compared to 30-60 seconds on a normal one. And I can fully 100% agree, more RAM is better.

And I think this laptop is from around the days where Vista first came out. So maybe '06. Yeah if I could find the needed money I would get the one you recommended. It'll do what I need, and what I want, and doesn't cost no 3,000 like Alienware does..bah.

if you want a gaming laptop (completely for gaming...) then alienware is the brand.
just regular use with a little extra performance is anything anyone really needs.
(my sister uses that hp laptop and the finger scanner is so cool... lol)


good luck and I am glad I could help.

[ainkut]

if you want a gaming laptop (completely for gaming...) then alienware is the brand.
just regular use with a little extra performance is anything anyone really needs.
(my sister uses that hp laptop and the finger scanner is so cool... lol)


good luck and I am glad I could help.

If alienware costs 1,000 and up and barely does better than other, normal laptops that cost a fraction of the price, Alienware is JUST a name.

[segerydrth]

if you want a gaming laptop (completely for gaming...) then alienware is the brand.
just regular use with a little extra performance is anything anyone really needs.
(my sister uses that hp laptop and the finger scanner is so cool... lol)


good luck and I am glad I could help.

U got to be shitting me alienwar wtf its just a name go asus g series

[AxiomFlux]

If alienware costs 1,000 and up and barely does better than other, normal laptops that cost a fraction of the price, Alienware is JUST a name.

Alienware compared to Asus is a better build gaming computer. other than that I would never get one. I have no reason to be carrying something like that around.
---------- Post added at 10:44 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:40 AM ----------

U got to be shitting me alienwar wtf its just a name go asus g series

Asus? LMAO. that g series is shit. I had a friend buy one and its crap. the webcam is worthless, the mouse pad broke 3 months, and asus has so much stupid software installed on them that I would never get one. The keyboard is terrible. ALSO my $600 toshiba laptop was doing better on downloads and simple graphics.
I will give the display a thumbs up... its freaking amazing, but for everything else its not worth the money.
No gaming computer is worth the money in the first place because the brand name comes before the actually gear inside.

[merule]

I prefer Dell, they last longer and take a lot of abuse

[[MPGH]Dave84311]

I'd wait a few weeks so prices drop. Prices will be sorta high since people are going back to school and may get a new laptop for the semester. I don't think the price is that great for what you are getting.

[ainkut]

I'd wait a few weeks so prices drop. Prices will be sorta high since people are going back to school and may get a new laptop for the semester. I don't think the price is that great for what you are getting.

realistically i won't have anywhere NEAR that amount of money for some time, but, good advice.

and does the name really matter that much? well, good news I guess.

[[MPGH]Dave84311]

realistically i won't have anywhere NEAR that amount of money for some time, but, good advice.

and does the name really matter that much? well, good news I guess.

Make doesn't matter as much as reviews do. Companies dump crap products out all the time.

That being said, I only buy Asus Gaming Laptops for what I need to do. Sure they are bigger and bulkier, but they have the power of pcs in a portable laptop at an affordable price.

[numanumajosh]

Make doesn't matter as much as reviews do. Companies dump crap products out all the time.

That being said, I only buy Asus Gaming Laptops for what I need to do. Sure they are bigger and bulkier, but they have the power of pcs in a portable laptop at an affordable price.

Very true. A friend of mine runs an Asus, beats my $700 desktop setup anyday, lol.

[HalfBajan]

if you want a gaming laptop (completely for gaming...) then alienware is the brand.

What about the razer blade?
I mean the laptop from razer just to make it clear