DELL Studio XPS 16 vs Sony VAIO VGN-FW490

By Argote
in Hardware Hangout

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DELL Studio XPS 16   

30 members have voted

  1. 1. Please read the specs below and consider the price before voting

    • DELL Studio XPS 16 ($1,645.60)
      19
    • Sony VAIO VGN-FW490 ($1,153.04)
      9
    • DELL Studio XPS 16 (refurb) (~$1,400.00)
      2

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Grand Master

Argote

Posted
Posted (edited)

The features are listed in descending importance to me

I love high screen resolutions and I'm trying to find 1920x1080 or 1920x1200 in the smallest size possible that still has decent performance and is preferably around $1300.

DELL Studio XPS 16

Edge-to-Edge FullHD Widescreen 16.0 inch RGBLED LCD (1920x1080)

ATI Mobility RADEON™ HD 4670 – 1GB

Intel? Core™ 2 Duo P8700 (3MB cache/2.53GHz/1066Mhz FSB)

500GB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive

2Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis

4GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1067MHz (2 Dimms)

6-cell Battery

Intel 5300 Ultimate-N (3x3) & Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module (2.1+EDR)

Obsidian Black with Leather Accent

8X DVD+/- RW(DVD/CD read/write) Slot Load Drive

Windows Vista™ Premium x64

$1,645.60 (including taxes & shipping)

The good things about this one is the fact that it reportedly has the best notebook screen on the market (any actual reports from you guys will be appreciated), the machine itself looks very nice (aesthetically), it has a backlit keyboard and the awesome DELL warranty.

The bad thing is the price.

Sony VAIO VGN-FW490

16.4" widescreen with XBRITE-FullHD™ LCD technology (1920x1080)

ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD4650 graphics card with 1GB vRAM

Intel? Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8700 (2.53GHz)

320GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [7200 rpm]

1 Year Sony Warranty

4GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 2GBx2)

Standard Capacity Battery

WLAN (802.11a/b/g/n) with integrated Bluetooth? technology

Black

CD/DVD playback/burning

Microsoft? Windows Vista? Home Premium 64-bit

$1,153.04 (including taxes & shipping)

The good thing about this one is the price and the interior aesthetics are very nice.

The bad thing about the Sony is the warranty which is shorter and AFAIK does not cover incidents outside the US, also I think the DELL looks a bit better in the exterior (maybe higher quality). Also, I'm not sure if this Sony has a backlit keyboard (if anyone knows let me know).

DELL Studio XPS 16 from the Outlet

Edge-to-Edge FullHD Widescreen 16.0 inch RGBLED LCD (1920x1080)

ATI Mobility RADEON™ HD 3670 – 512MB

Intel? Core™ 2 Duo P8700 (3MB cache/2.53GHz/1066Mhz FSB)

320GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [7200 rpm]

2Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis

4GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1067MHz (2 Dimms)

6-cell Battery

Intel 5100 Ultimate-N (1x2) & Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module (2.1+EDR)

Obsidian Black with Leather Accent

8X DVD+/- RW(DVD/CD read/write) Slot Load Drive

Windows Vista™ Premium x64

~$1,400.00 (including taxes & shipping)

The good things about this one is the fact that it reportedly has the best notebook screen on the market (just like the other XPS 16), the machine itself looks very nice (aesthetically), it has a backlit keyboard and the awesome DELL warranty.

The "bad" thing is the 3670 graphics card and maybe the fact that it's a refurb.

Now, if you know of any other notebooks in this price range and with decent specs feel free to let me know.

Also, where do you think the Mobility 4650 and Mobility 4670 would fit on this table: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon...ics,2296-6.html ? Would the Mobility 4650 on the Sony VAIO be closer to the 4650 DDR2 or the 4650 DDR3?

Which would be faster, a 500GB 5400RPM drive or a 320GB 7200RPM drive? Would it be noticeable?

I appreciate your:)elp :)

Edited by Argote
Enthusiast

systemx

Posted
Posted

Personally I will stay as far away as I can from a Dell because of the quality control that is lacking in their products..

But maybe its just Asia Pacific that faces this quality issue... if you are lucky enough, you get a system that will last you for a very long time, if not, you'll be running into problem after problem and calling tech support and get ****ed in the end, just my humble opinion, does not apply for everyone.

Grand Master

Argote

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Personally I will stay as far away as I can from a Dell because of the quality control that is lacking in their products..

But maybe its just Asia Pacific that faces this quality issue... if you are lucky enough, you get a system that will last you for a very long time, if not, you'll be running into problem after problem and calling tech support and get ****ed in the end, just my humble opinion, does not apply for everyone.

I currently have a DELL Inspiron 640m which has served me well for about 26ish months now. I got the charger replaced once because cable stress broke the isolation on the wires and they became exposed.

Grand Master

Yusuf M. Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

I recommend buying the refurbished Dell Studio XPS 16. It's pretty much identical to the other Dell Studio XPS 16. The only difference is the video card and hard drive. Keep in mind that the Mobility Radeon HD 3670 outperforms the GeForce 8600M GT which used to be the prominent video card for the Dell XPS M1330/M1530. As for the hard drive, you'll definitely notice the speed especially if you're accustomed to desktop hard drives which usually operate at 7200 RPM.

Enthusiast

systemx

Posted
Posted

Like I said, maybe its just Asia Pacific having this Q.C. problem :p

Sony really doesn't cover outside of the U.S.? That sucks..

I guess Dell would be the better choice here, in regards to warranty, I believe they would have a service center in Mexico as well, so it would be much easier for the techs to come and replace parts if there was any faulty hardware.

The price like you said is much more expensive, most likely because of the 2 year limited warranty included, could be, just guessing. But XPS warranties allow you to call in any time, and it's 24/7, and you do get more "special attention" if it's an XPS system.

Grand Master

MightyJordan

Posted
Posted
Personally I will stay as far away as I can from a Dell because of the quality control that is lacking in their products..

Yeah, stay away, please. Dell's laptops are good quality products. I've got an Inspiron 1720, had it for about 6 months, and the build quality is good, and I've had no problems with it at all so far. The maker to avoid is HP. My parents bought one of their laptops, and it looks alright, but it uses a Synaptics touchpad, which is the cheapest touchpad you can use, and it shows, because it stops working half the time, and I've reinstalled the drivers countless times to try and fix it. It also comes bundled with a hell of a lot more crapware than Dell's laptops. It wasn't too hard for me to get rid of the Dell crapware; PC Decrapifier took care of most of it. HP on the other hand, has a lot of it, and it took a good couple of hours to sort it all out.

Grand Master

Chasethebase Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted
Personally I will stay as far away as I can from a Dell because of the quality control that is lacking in their products..

But maybe its just Asia Pacific that faces this quality issue... if you are lucky enough, you get a system that will last you for a very long time, if not, you'll be running into problem after problem and calling tech support and get ****ed in the end, just my humble opinion, does not apply for everyone.

Running a Dell Dimension 9100 which is 5 years old which has only had a RAM stick die. Otherwise no failures throughout our family (5+ computers across the family).

I'd say definately the XPS 16 (Non Refurb) is the best option.

Grand Master

Yusuf M. Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

I don't see the point in paying an additional $245 for the non-refurbished model. Aside from the video card and hard drive, both the non-refurbished and refurbished models are identical.

Grand Master

Argote

Posted
  • Author
Posted
I don't see the point in paying an additional $245 for the non-refurbished model. Aside from the video card and hard drive, both the non-refurbished and refurbished models are identical.

Isn't the 4670 like way more powerful than the 3670?

Grand Master

Yusuf M. Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted
You're also paying extra for the fact that it's refurbished, and not new.

i.e. it might have marks/blemishes, etc.

True, but it isn't definite. It could very well be a brand new laptop.

Grand Master

chconline Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

A quick note -- I heard the Studio XPS laptops in general suffers from relatively poor battery life to comparable laptops. You might want to consider that. Otherwise, it's an excellent laptop but don't expect it to be a mobile warrior of ANY sort :p

  • 2 weeks later...
Grand Master

Argote

Posted
  • Author
Posted
No. And it certainly doesn't warrant an extra $245.

According to this it certainly is a BIG improvement in performance.

So I'm down to choosing between the XPS 16 and the FW 490. Both are backordered on dell.com and sonystyle.com respectively till the final days on the month though

Rookie

billymayshere

Posted
Posted

Go with the Dell. Their support team is fabulous.

Even if you don't have Complete Care warranty, the technicians will throw in all kinds of plastics for free, even though you never request them. For example when I did a LCD replacement on my Latitude D620 (no Complete Care), they threw in a new lid, bezel, and rubber bumps for free.

Grand Master

Argote

Posted
  • Author
Posted
According to this it certainly is a BIG improvement in performance.

So I'm down to choosing between the XPS 16 and the FW 490. Both are backordered on dell.com and sonystyle.com respectively till the final days on the month though

I just noticed I did NOT post the link the 1st time around, my bad.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphi...List.844.0.html

Mentor

Spartan Erik

Posted
Posted

I've only heard good things about the Dell Studio XPS (but plenty of bad things in my experience with the XPS M1330 lineup).

But if you want good sound quality to external speakers, make sure you check where the audio ports and power adapter ports are located. My friend has a Sony laptop, and when external AC power is connected, you get massive audio interference.. bad design on Sony's part. Not sure what model of laptop it is, but it's rather recent.. I'd say less than 6 months old

Grand Master

Argote

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Hey guys, first of all thanks for your help and insights. I have placed an order for the following:

Sony VAIO VGN-FW490

16.4" widescreen with XBRITE-FullHD? LCD technology (1920x1080)

ATI Mobility Radeon? HD4650 graphics card with 1GB vRAM

Intel? Core? 2 Duo Processor P8800 (2.66GHz)

320GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [7200 rpm]

1 Year Sony Warranty

4GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 2GBx2)

Standard Capacity Battery

WLAN (802.11a/b/g/n) with integrated Bluetooth? technology

Chocolate Brown

CD/DVD playback/burning

Microsoft? Windows Vista? Home Premium 64-bit

I decided after all that the XPS16 and the warranty was not worth the extra ~$400, I saw an FW490 @ a Best Buy and it's a really beautiful machine in brown so that's what I ordered (not from Best Buy though).

The bad part is it'll take about 2 weeks to get it. I'll feel you in on how it is when I get it.

  • 1 month later...
Neowinian

windozesuk

Posted
Posted

I have had my Studio XPS16 for 4 months now.. I just got off the phone with dell support.. they are sending out a new system board, hard drive and optical drive!.... after only 4 months... I am not too happy about that...

However, with the XPS line, you get AMERICAN support which is so much easier due to no language barrier... I have nothing against anyone in any other countries, but it is much harder to communicate with someone in which English (or american english) is not their primary language.. Also I bought the next business day support.. I only hope they send out the current system board with the radeon 4670 video, as I have the early StudioXPS16 which has only the 512mb radeon 3670....

Good luck with your sony, post back here and let people know how you like it

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