Laptop buying...

[Ben]

Reet im after a new laptop, seen a nice spec sony quite cheap, ive got an Acer atm and really like it so am tempted to get another one but not quite so keen on the new acer styling.

Are Sony just overpriced due to name etc? I have used one before and never minded it but is there any common faults?

Am going to America next month are they cheaper there and any problems with buying a US laptop and using it in europe?

The laptops here are quite a bit cheaper than the UK but they have the uber gay AZERTY boards which drives me nuts!

Link to the sony im thinking of getting...

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/-/653/860/-/5809785/Sony-Vaio-AR71-M-Core-2-Duo-T8100-2-1GHz-4GB-300GB-17-Blu-ray-Vista-Home-Premium-Laptop-Notebook/Product.html?searchtype=genre

[Pistol Pete]

My dad works with computers he reckons Sony are priced beacause of the name. I bought a Dell Inspiron 1525 about 6 months ago for about £450ish by the time i'd added a wireless mouse. I love it!! :)

[Welsh Dan]

The sony's are usually reliable but you do pay a premium for the name. We sell acers at work and I wouldnt buy one.

You should have no problems buying a laptop in the US and using it in europe, with the exception of possibly the charger.

[SRimon]

Dell for me, had 5 or 6 dell's now, never had any real problems

Great support, just formatting mine now, its so easy.

[Stuart]

Having abused IBM Thinkpads for the past 4 years I'd buy one for personal use (If I hadnt already gone gay and got a MacBook instead). They can be dropped, twisted, smashed about in the back of cars/bikes and they come back for more.

[Pistol Pete]

All my dads previous work laptops have been IBM thinkpads. One got melted along the top of the screen casing, bit of duct tape over it, still going strong!!

[Ben]

Stu whats the macbook like? used to use Mac's all the time when doing media **** and always liked them, and the airbook (is it called?) looks awesome!

I dont really abuse my laptop, it sits under the coffee table and then on my lap dont ever take it out so durability isnt really an issue and the IBM's are chunky and ugly so would rule that out lol

[Stuart]

oh, a US keybarod has ghe things like the @ symbol on the 2 key and the " where the @ is, and no £ symbol on some etc. Small nusciance but no biggie, I'm used to it on the macbook now lol.

Other than that there shouldnt be any problems as most laptop powersupplies are switche mode so can take 110-240V.

The Air is a great idea, but for £1K+ **** that!!!!! no DVD drive etc.

I've got one of the first generation Intel Core 2 machines, does the job well. Little to no software that dosnet have an OSx alternative etc. You can install windows if you really want that retarded feel too lol.

[Ben]

That rules that out then, i hate odd keyboards, probabl y not as gay as the azerty but annoying enough!

[Stuart]

I find the bigger problem is going back to a "normal" keyboard/normal non two finger scrolling touch pad.