My new laptop purchase was on hold until Apple released their new Macbook-pro. Well they have now, and it's a beauty, but it doesn't have:
Blu-Ray
HDMI Output
A Media Card Reader
A decent sized hard drive
And Apple still charge £1.5k...!!!
This Sony Vaio is also a beauty, and it has all of the above, plus an 18" screen, and starts at £1k in the Sony Centre (if you opt for a Blu-Ray player, rather than 'read-write').
The finish is so stylish, with quality tactile materials (but it's not 100% perfect... if I'm nit-picking, there's panels that are glued slightly crooked).
Also, in spite of it being Centrino 2, it can gurgle like a blocked drainpipe!
But there endeth the negative bits (sort of... the wider aspect screen compromises web-browsing, rather than improving it, as Sony suggests. A 15.4" screen allows more vertical height, like web-pages need).
The speaker quality is the best Sony has ever put on a Vaio. Their previous efforts were pathetic, a real deal-breaker; whereas these are more than adequate. DVD playback requires full volume, but once 'maxed-up', it's acceptable (nothing better). However, music through this laptop scores even higher in quality.
The screen is very good, but potentially a little disappointing, if you've bought into the hype re: blu-ray. The darks don't acheive black... I'm hoping I can tweak it to improve it (similarly, so far I've been unable to acheive blu-ray playback on my 1080p tv by linking my Vaio via HDMI... if this is something you'd enjoy, double-check with Sony it's possible 'before' handing your money over).
Overall, I'm incredibly happy with this purchase.
Style is important to me, and only the Macbook compares to this machine.
They say 'Less is more', and maybe it is... except when your paying over £1,000... in which case, 'more is more' (so I'm sorry Mr Jobs, you can keep your Macbook... "I'm a PC").
