Which Laptop is better?

Nathan_84

Nathan_84

Nathan_84

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Joined
22 Jul 2010
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Hello everybody!

I need to get a decent spec laptop for my father. He asked me to find him a suitable laptop which he'll use for:

1. Watching DVD's
2. iTunes
3. CD/DVD Burning (this is includes applications like DVD Shrink
4. Connecting to the TV via HDMI

His not interested in playing games, his just more interested in multimedia performance.

Now I have found two laptops.

SONY E Series - £668.99
  • Intel® CoreTM i5-520M, 2.40GHz
  • 320 GB Serial ATA (5400 rpm) - Can be upgraded to 320 GB 7200 for extra £60
  • 4 GB 1066MHz DDR3-SDRAM
  • 39.4 cm LCD, 1366x768 + webcam
  • Blu-ray Disc writer
  • ATI MobilityRadeonHD5470 512MB - Can be upgraded to ATI HD5650 1GB for extra £40

With the both hard drive and graphics card upgrade it comes to £768.99

OR

TOSHIBA Satellite A660-11M - £750 (probably be able to get 10% - £625)
  • Intel® Core™ i7-720QM Processor
  • 500GB SATA (prob 5400rpm)
  • 4GB installed DDR3 RAM
  • Dual Layer DVD Rewriter
  • NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 330M 1GB

My questions are
  1. Which is the best laptop to go for?
  2. If I went Sony do I need to upgrade the graphics card to 1gb, bare in mind he'll be only watching blue rays or dvds and no gaming whatsoever
  3. Also how much difference would the 7200rpm make especially as he will use applications like DVD Shrink
  4. Which laptop has the best longevity as don't want to shelve out more money within a year or two

Thanks in advance!
And sorry for the long post :)
 
10% off 750 is 675... Just pointing out...

I would go for the Toshi, provided he isn't mobile enough to worry about battery life. CPU is better, which is the main thing from the requirements, as is the GPU, so it's a win-win. And if you can get 10% off, it's position only strengthens.

As for the HDD, I'm pretty sure you could find aftermarket drives cheaper to be honest.
 
Thanks guys for your prompt response.

Just out of question I've read that the i5 520M goes upto 2.9ghz in turbo mode, whereas the i7-720QM goes upto 2.8ghz in turbo mode. What would this mean to someone like my father especially as his interested in multimedia performance, excluding gaming though.
 
i5 520m is a dual core with hyperthreading so another 2 virtual cores 4 total, also 3mb cache size.

i7 720qm is quad core with hyperthreading so 4+4=8 total, also had 6mb cacha size.
 
Nathan_84 said:
My questions are
  1. Which is the best laptop to go for?
  2. If I went Sony do I need to upgrade the graphics card to 1gb, bare in mind he'll be only watching blue rays or dvds and no gaming whatsoever
  3. Also how much difference would the 7200rpm make especially as he will use applications like DVD Shrink
  4. Which laptop has the best longevity as don't want to shelve out more money within a year or two

Thanks in advance!
And sorry for the long post :)
Click to expand...

i would go with the Toshiba is it better at storage with a 500gb drive and improve quality when on a bigger screen, you went with the vaio you might get a little bit more performance on a bigger screen but not worth 40 pounds. a 7200rpm hard drive may speed up start up times but will not effect the DVD drive. they both will have a pretty good life span and will last longer then 3 years :)

**update**

you might find a good performance boost with the i7 in turbo mode but keep in mind that the i7 is a quad core processor with 4 physical cores meaning faster speeds so the i7 is the one to go for.
 
Last edited:
Thank you all for your help.

It's pretty wide open from what people are saying. I've just found I can'nt get the 10% discount on the Toshiba :( - However it seems like everyone on here is leaning towards to Toshiba
 
To be honest, even without the 10% off, the Toshi is a better bet.

Pros of Sony:
-Cheaper (before upgrades)
-Blu-ray drive
-Uses less energy (guessing)
-Better GPU after upgrade

Pros of Toshi:
-Quad core rather than dual core processor, that is clocked at nearly the same speed on Turbo anyway when clock speed matters more than core count
-The GPU isn't as good as the upgraded Sony, but still beats the stock Sony one
-Larger HDD
-Cheaper after upgrades. And frankly better overall.

Unless Blu-ray is important, the Toshi wins.
 
Thank you Marvin for your help.

To be honest the Sony was appealing as it offered a Blue Ray writer for free, but when you look at the processing power overall the Tosh just seems more logical.

Thanks again for everyone for your time and help!! :)
 
If your dad does find that Blu-ray would be useful down the line you could always just buy the drive, by which point they'll have hopefully come down in price.
 
both laptops are good, it's not like you'll do video encoding or 1920x1200 gaming on it.
It pretty much all comes down to whether you need the blu-ray or not, if you need it pick one that has it, if not then the other one.


But tbh if he only is going to use it for basic use and watching movies, why not save some cash and pick something cheaper?
Any old dual core laptop would be perfectly fine for this kind of use and for the cash saved you could get maybe one with SSD drive instead of mechanical which will extend battery life and make general use experience super smooth.
 
Just out of curiosity all,

Is there a major difference in performance levels of both ATI 512mb and 1GB graphics cards Sony is offering. I mean the priority is the for the hdmi cable to carry sound and graphics which are crisp for film playback?
 
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