topic Re: to buy B1XP or S2XP in PCs & Accessories

to buy B1XP or S2XP

enzo95 — Wed, 26 Jan 2005 00:31:52 GMT

Hi all,

Despite being a loyal (and happy) Vaio user for the last 5 years (began with GR series, at the moment using a GRX315MP at work and FX505 at home), I have discovered club vaio forum very recently.

I want to buy a new Vaio but this time a lighter model - 3.9 kg is becoming too much to carry along, getting older I suppose . I keep on hesitating between B1XP and S2XP/HP (or maybe S3 which is yet to come out). Could you guys help me with some advise on following aspects:
- Screen (13.3 vs 14.1)
- HDD (4200/5400/7200 RPM, which model has which RPM)
- FAN NOISE (annoying experiences with FX505, happy with GRX)
- Graphics card (doing a lot with Photoshop)
- overall quality

Thank you all in advance for your time!

Cheers to all from Netherlands.

Re: to buy B1XP or S2XP

kee-lo_ — Wed, 26 Jan 2005 12:49:52 GMT

If you're going to be doing some graphics work I suggest the bigger screen, a good CPU (1.8-2Ghz) and a 64MB graphics card.

Re: to buy B1XP or S2XP

enzo95 — Wed, 26 Jan 2005 21:43:35 GMT

Thanks for your reply, Kee-Lo!

Shall I better consider B1XP then?

I have not yet had the opportunity to see this model in the showroom. Would the fonts then not be too small in 1400x1050 resolution?
For photoshop activities I use an external monitor (both at work and home), notebook screen is important only when I'm outside the office, as long as it is readable.
By the way, would the shared graphics memory cause performance slow-down in Photoshop?

Re: to buy B1XP or S2XP

kee-lo_ — Wed, 26 Jan 2005 22:14:41 GMT

Hi

Hopefully a B user can answer some of these questions for you. The shared graphics shouldn't slow down Photoshop.

Re: to buy B1XP or S2XP

enzo95 — Thu, 27 Jan 2005 01:00:53 GMT

Kee-Loo, somehow you are the only one who has bothered to reply till now. Hope some B users would still reply.

Thanks for your reaction!

Re: to buy B1XP or S2XP

monssao — Thu, 27 Jan 2005 01:39:16 GMT

hi. well, first of all i hope that you understand my english :smileygrin:

i'm learning ...

well, i have a B1XP about two weeks, i'm very pleased with it, the screen resolution is very good, fonts don't get too small, i thing it takes the perfect size to work with a lot of windows.

the screen resolution that i have at my dispose are, 1400x1050, 1280x1024 1280x768 1024x768 and so on..but lower than 1400x1050 i think that the color becomes too strange...i don't know what other users think. if you want, i can see the resolution's that i can take with an external monitor... let me know if you want.

Now, i hope you understand..the processor gets could from the lateral, right side..the fan noise (for me) is preety good (not annoying ) and never becomes too hot (about 60º C at maximum, normally 30º - 40º C)

i never try a game in this notebook, but in Linux the graphics works fine, i think that is good enought .. i don't know for photoshop .

i think that's all folks :smileygrin: .. some that you didn't understand, say, i will try to explain...i know that i'm bad writing english

i hope that it helps ... answer my post to let me know that.

Re: to buy B1XP or S2XP

MatOakley — Thu, 27 Jan 2005 08:38:38 GMT

I have the B1 and the Mrs has the S1 and I prefer the B1. Screen is a bit bigger (but not as crisp), graphics seem fine for Photoshop and Quark at 1400 by 1050.

No idea on the HDD, but fan noise is fine (and as a right hander its nice to have that warm air blowing over cold fingers on my mouse!)

Mat

Re: to buy B1XP or S2XP

enzo95 — Thu, 27 Jan 2005 13:10:21 GMT

monssao,

Thanks for the information, do not worry, your English is fine, at least for me - I was able to get all I needed from your response.

Thanks again for your help.

Enzo

Re: to buy B1XP or S2XP

enzo95 — Thu, 27 Jan 2005 13:17:35 GMT

Thanks, Mat!

Cheers...

Re: to buy B1XP or S2XP

monssao — Thu, 27 Jan 2005 16:07:30 GMT

hi.

ok, everything you need, just tell me

Re: to buy B1XP or S2XP

kee-lo_ — Thu, 27 Jan 2005 16:48:19 GMT

See I only have to say one thing an a load of B users arrive....

Re: to buy B1XP or S2XP

jammold — Thu, 27 Jan 2005 17:21:24 GMT

LOL Kee-Lo you have that "magic" touch!

Congratz on 21,000 posts!

Re: to buy B1XP or S2XP

Foxhound — Thu, 27 Jan 2005 19:07:42 GMT

All VAIO's are installed with the cheaper 4200 RMP. You can have it installed with an 5400 RPM or even an 7200 RPM hdd.
for 5400 RMP the max is 80Gb and for the 7200 RPM is 60 Gb.
Both are Hitachi brand Hdd just like the normal installed 4200 RPM.
I heard Western Digital will be releasing a whopping 100Gb 7200 RPM this year!
I see you live in Nederland, so I wouldn't know if there are online shops who give you the option to costumize your specs.
I can give you a German shop's URL.
I don't know if I can post online shop URL is this forum. In some forums making commercial for shops is prohibited.
As for your advice on your decision.
It depends on what you are going to do wih your laptop. My expierence is that with graphic intense use shared memory is not advisible.
In terms of screen I'd say an X-brite screen is cream de la cream. Seeing is believing.
The Fan noise of the S1 is pretty noisy but it doesn't bother me that much. Please also take in account that the new VAIO are also going to be released in March (the S3XP with the new Geforce Go 6200 with turbo Cache Pentium M 755 (2 Ghz). The new FS series are also going to use these new cards.
But then again Sony tends to update their line-up very often.
It's your choice, so whatever it'll be make it a good one.

Re: to buy B1XP or S2XP

AlanHudson — Thu, 27 Jan 2005 22:07:35 GMT

Sorry I'm a little late in arriving here. I've had the B1XP for a couple of months now, and generally very pleased. I use it both for work and leisure, and no problems with screen res and fonts. Very good battery life and fan noise not too intrusive if you go into the settings and adjust accordingly. I just wish it had an extra USB socket on the right side of the case.

Re: to buy B1XP or S2XP

JeAnDrE — Thu, 27 Jan 2005 22:58:09 GMT

I have a B1XP, and I'm very pleased with it.
I bought it to replace my old notebook, a Compaq Celeron 766Mhz, and I think this Vaio is overall a better notebook.
I bought this model because it have some things I think are essential in a notebook:
- 2.3kg (or something)
- Small
- Long battery life
- Very quiet, does not make noise at all (I keep working at night and in fact B1XP is much better than my old Compaq)

The performance is fine, the Centrino 1.7 has a 2Mb cache, which is very important for "heavy" applications, like Java programming applications (Sun One Studio, Borland JBuilder).
512Mb of RAM it's enough to work well with it.
The integrated 64Mb card is not perfect for games, but this not means they do not run videogames, in fact, it runs but is not the perfect choice.
For any other work, even some Photoshop or Adobe Premiere jobs, I think it makes the job done.
The screen is good, I like high resolutions like 1400x1050 because it allows me to work with several Windows at same time to watch and monitor multiple variables, when I'm testing new software, for example.

In conclusion, I think B1XP a great choice for those who wants a very portable notebook, for professional use!
For those who want a desktop replacement to play games, watch movies and have great picture (widescreen) and sound, I'm certain that there will be other choices...

João from Portugal

Re: to buy B1XP or S2XP

seb21__ — Fri, 28 Jan 2005 09:07:09 GMT

By the way, would the shared graphics memory cause performance slow-down in Photoshop?

I think shared memory is no problem for Photoshop.

It's a question of quality and not a question of frames per seconds.
You wan't more speed with Photoshop.

512MB System memory is the minimum, better you use 1GB.

But it's a question of what do you make with photoshop.

Re: to buy B1XP or S2XP

kee-lo_ — Fri, 28 Jan 2005 19:41:00 GMT

I use 1GB with Photoshop, but 512MB is fine for most people

Re: to buy B1XP or S2XP

enzo95 — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 16:37:59 GMT

To all who came to my help

Thank you guys all, with your comments I could finally make up my mind - I think I'm gonna go for B1XP (set the order out tomorrow).

Cheers!

Enzo

Re: to buy B1XP or S2XP

kee-lo_ — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 16:43:58 GMT

Great hope you enjoy the B1