Which is better? Asus G73JH-RBBX05 vs. SonyVAIO VPCF115FM/B

christophmcchris

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Asus G73JH-RBBX05

Intel® Core™ i7 1.6GHz (with Turbo Boost up to 2.8GHz )
8-cell lithium-ion Battery
High-definition widescreen LED-LCD (1600 x 900) 17.3"
DDR3 6GB expandable to 8GB
500GB SATA (7200 rpm)
Double-layer DVD±RW/CD-RW
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 1GB GDDR5
Built-in 10/100/1000 Mbps Fast Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 connector) Wireless-B+G+N
3D Audio with EAX Advanced HD 4.0

vs.

SonyVAIO VPCF115FM/B

Intel® Core™ i7 1.6GHz (with Turbo Boost up to 2.8GHz )
6-cell lithium-ion Battery
High-definition widescreen (1920 x 1080) 16.4"
DDR3 6GB expandable to 8GB
500GB SATA (5400 rpm)
Double-layer DVD±RW/Blu-ray Disc/CD-RW
NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M 1GB dedicated; up to 3831MB total available
Built-in 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T Gigabit Fast Ethernet LAN (with RJ-45 interface) Wireless-B+G+N
Intel® High Definition Audio with Dolby Home Theater

 
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I spent hours looking at both models at Best Buy.

I ultimately chose the Sony.

The Sony's screen larger resolution means more for me as a developer. Even if it also means I have a Blu-Ray drive that will never be used.

The Sony is also marginally lighter.

I know the ATi mobile 5870 will cremate any nVidia subsystem, but for what I need the 330M suits me very nicely (web design, programming, virtual machine in the background, etc).

I also read that the Asus will freeze if you hit Fn + ESC. And that the latest BIOS (206) knocks out the backlighting. :(

Sony did have a problem with buzzing, but Sony halted production and restarted in early April after fixing it (microphone input volume was the culprit).

For both models, a few...

Shadow703793

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I'd personally get the ASUS because it's got better specs over all (8 cell, 7200 rpm, bigger screen, LED back lighting.) The main draw back on the ASUS is the lack of 1920*1080 screen which would play HD vids at native res.

Imo, ASUS build quality is on better than Sony and on par or better than Lenovo (I'm talking about the "old" lenovo quality btw, not the "new" lenovo).

Also, I'm assuming these will be used for gaming,photo shop,etc. If you just want to surf the web,etc any cheap $500-550 laptop will do.
 

christophmcchris

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Some gaming(on the high end) but, mostly Adobe Suite Software (Photoshop). they finally released the specs of the new Macbook Pro's and honestly they just didn't quantify the $2,300+ price tag in my opinion. I want to get a substantial system that I can be happy with for at least a couple years. However, I want to purchase it from Bestbuy. If anyone has an opinion of which laptop they offer that would be better suited for me I would love to hear your opinions.

-Chris
 

Chainzsaw

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The Asus has slightly better specs besides the screen. The sony has the better screen, but the Asus has a better hard drive (7200 RPM vs 5400RPM of the Sony) also the video card on the Asus would slap the sony one around.

I own the Asus G73JH-A1 and I can say, i am quite pleased with it!
 

thermodynamic

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I spent hours looking at both models at Best Buy.

I ultimately chose the Sony.

The Sony's screen larger resolution means more for me as a developer. Even if it also means I have a Blu-Ray drive that will never be used.

The Sony is also marginally lighter.

I know the ATi mobile 5870 will cremate any nVidia subsystem, but for what I need the 330M suits me very nicely (web design, programming, virtual machine in the background, etc).

I also read that the Asus will freeze if you hit Fn + ESC. And that the latest BIOS (206) knocks out the backlighting. :(

Sony did have a problem with buzzing, but Sony halted production and restarted in early April after fixing it (microphone input volume was the culprit).

For both models, a few people complained about purported poor quality and machines dying after a few weeks, but any model can have a bad batch.

The core issue is, will you do more gaming or more design and development? If the latter, I'd recommend Sony. For the former, definitely go Asus.
 
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Komomu

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Since you want to game the GT 330M will allow you to play crysis on med with some lag but other games it will run best on low so if you want to game on the high end while future proofing get the ASUS
 

thermodynamic

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Futureproofing is a myth. At the current time of purchase, get as much computer as one can afford and justify for one's existing apps.

New apps will always need higher requirements and those typically come out after a major hardware release (e.g. new video card.) In the end, one can only really plan for optimizing current needs and simply know that upgrading apps and OS will be inevitable. After all, by the time every OS and application will make great use of multithreading, a quad-core running 1.6~2.8GHz will still be too slow anyway.

If for no other reason, every new version of Windows bestowed upon the public alone tends to work best on a new computer with 2~4x the capabilities of its predecessor (e.g. Win2k needed 64MB RAM, XP needed 128MB, Vista = 512MB... Win7 = 512MB... of course, for real-life real-world use, Win2k needed 128MB, XP needed 256MB, Vista = 2048MB... Win7 = 2048MB... never mind hard drive space, which went from 700MB for Win2k to 1500MB for XP and to 15000MB for Vista... 16000MB for Win7... ouch...)


http://www.tech-forums.net/pc/f76/future-proofing-computers-86955/

There are some excellent arguments to prove futureproofing is a myth there... :(

I too am coming back from Mac territory...
 

christophmcchris

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I ended up getting the ASUS G7 and I am extremely happy with it.

I have been using it for Adobe CS5 and it runs circles around that program and that is exactly what I wanted. I have also been playing a few video games on it namely Everquest2 and I run it on highest settings, I don't even run it in turbo mode and it runs it like its not even trying.

Weirdest thing is I have been taking it around and I keep getting random people coming up to me who recognize the computer and tell me how cool they think it is... strange.

Biggest problem I have had with this Laptop is finding a carrying case that will fit it. I ended up having to take 2 bags back because they machine was way to tight. I finally found a bag that I was satisfied with on Newegg.com a Targus Backpack Model TXL617

I am a fan of ASUS's minimalistic look, which was my main attraction to mac. also the microfiber coating is great. I would recommend this computer to anyone. the price is right.
 
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Thanks for the info, I'm quite close to getting the G73JH-A1 model, however in addition to some cs5 work and gaming, I also do quite a bit of typing, and moving around so Plugging in a mouse would be a nuisance. I've heard from a computershopper.com review (http://bit.ly/9Us2H4) that the pad is "gloriously responsive", however on the review by notebookreview.com (http://bit.ly/dqRSJx) it says the Scroll pad "required an unusual amount of pressure to use", and "the touchpad buttons are harder to press down then expected".
So how has your experience been on this?

lastly, how is the razor mouse they gave with it? do you have any Bluetooth mouse suggestions for when travelling?

Thanks again.



 

christophmcchris

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the pad its self is great, very sensitive with a larger than normal area to work on. the two mouse buttons aren't ideal but, i have gotten use to it. they take more pressure than you would originally assume to press them down. The scroll on the pad has no issues I'm sure the review meant the buttons.

On the go, I use the pad a lot. However, I also carry an external wireless mouse, that I use equally as much. I suggest the Microsoft wireless mobile mouse 4000 or 6000 with the mini USB. the Mini USB is so small i just leave it plugged into my laptop and I turn on or off the mouse when I decide to use it. its like 25-30 dollars at bestbuy/walmart.

At my house I still use the Microsoft Wireless Mobile with my Wacom Board combo. its better then the shitty Wacom mouse that comes with the board.

Chris