So I have narrowed the search of a laptop for my 12 year old nephew for Christmas. I have found 2 in my price range ($800 or less) and below they are listed. I have never owned a 14" screen and not sure hwo big a difference there is in that and the Dell but never the less, below are the specs and what he wants it for. 1. Internet play 2. some low end gaming, maybe WOW 3. playing movies 4. Good cutomer support Dell Studio 15 ($824.00) Windows 7 Home Premium Intel Core Duo T6600 (2.2) 4 GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 @ 800Mhz back lit keyboard 15.6" 720P True Life screen 256 MB ATi Mobility Radeon HD 4570 500 GB SATA 7200 RPM HDD 8 X Slot Load Super Multi Media (DL DVD +/-R Drive + RAm Support) Audio 2.0 Web Cam 6 cell battery 15 months FREE MCAfee Security Center 2 year in home Dell Warranty Sony Vaio CW Windows 7 Home Premium Intel Core Duo T6600 2.2 4 GB PC-6400 DDR3 Blu Ray DVD +/- RW - CD RW 14" backlit screen 1366x768 500 GB SATA 5400 RPM HDD NVIDA GeForce G210M Web Cam 6 Cell Battery 1 Year Warranty
Ok, so both of these are nice systems, what your really gonna want to compare is the blu-ray drive vs the perks the dell pc offers you. If your nephew has a lot of blu ray media, or is big into the video quality of the movies he is watching, than the Sony is a good choice. The cpu is the same on both, the Ram is the same, and the hard drive holds the same amount. so really, you are comparing screen size, free virus protection for 15 months, and a 2 year warranty, against a blu ray player, (and on the off chance he has a PS3, then he already has one of those). WOW will run well on either of these, so nothing to worry about there, you have a decent computer for your nephew in either one of these really....... but do keep in mind, he's 12, that means that hes gonna discover what the internet was primarily created for soon......naughty pics and videos (my nephews have already, unfortunately), so maybe the 15 months of free MCAfee security is a good idea to keep the internet aids down
i wouldn't base your decision just on the fifteen months of mcafee. if i were in your position, i would purchase the sony, hands down. first reason is because i have been a sony fan for many years, and their products have never let me down. from TVs to PS2 to portable audio devices to even their damn alarm clocks, they make great products across the board. second because myself, family, and friends have all had dell at one time or another, and i think everyone of them has had a problem with it at one time or another. one was a hard drive crash, one was a bad lcd screen, and one was a faulty battery. i will say though that in the past few years their quality has improved though. but still, i would go with the sony. as far as the free mcafee for fifteen months, thats really not that big of a deal. i would not recommend mcafee to begin with, because it is a major resource hog. there are much better ones like AVG that work just as well and use less resources. the basic virus scanner from AVG is free, but their other versions include a complete computer protection package for much cheaper then the big names like Norton or mcafee. go with the sony, but both laptops are more then enough capable to keep a twelve year old happy.
Thanks for the help. I told my brother about the two (laptop is for his son) and he really likes the fact the Dell has a 2 year in home warranty added on and he also think the the 15.4 as oppsoed to 14 screen size might be a big deal. No, my nephew does not own any Blu-Rays but his father does have a PS3. My nephew does have tons of DVD-R with tons of shows so I think the Dell might do it. I forgot to ask what the heat & battery life was like on thee 2. Again, thanks for you input DJ & Scrobe.
what from ive heard on some forums Dell is one of the worst computer makers they offer computers with cheap motherboards and othercheap parts.sony usually make good products and they have an excellent reputation.im not an expert on computers but if it came to buying a new laptop i would personally go with Sony over Dell anyday.
