[Tales 68]

Intel® Centrino® 2 Processor Technology with Intel® Core™2 Duo processor T9800 (2.93 GHz and 1066 MHz FSB) and Intel® PRO/Wireless 802.11a/b/g/n
Genuine Windows Vista® Ultimate with Service Pack 1 (English version)
628 GB (500 GB Serial ATA 4200 rpm hard disk drive (1 x 500 GB) + 128 GB SSD Flash drive ultra ATA/66 (2 x 64 GB), RAID 0 supported)
4 GB DDR2-800 SDRAM (2 x 2048 MB), maximum 8 GB (2 x 4096 MB) DDR2-800 SDRAM -
18.4" HD1080 WXGA++ (1920 x 1080) widescreen X-black LCD with RGB 3 chip LED technology
NVIDIA® GeForce® 9600M GT graphics processing unit with Total Available Graphics Memory of approx. 2280 MB and dedicated GDDR3 Video Memory of 512 MB
Blu-ray Disc™ drive: plays and records Blu-ray Disc™ (BD-R/-RE/-ROM/ DVD±RW/±R DL/RAM)


I know the spec on this new Sony laptop is pretty awesome but does the speed of the hard disk mean it's a no no for video-editing?

[Mr Lazy]

Depends what type of video - if AVCHD then possibly it might struggle a little in that area - considering the rest of the spec and the likely price it doesn't make sense to compromise here - I guess Sony put a 4200rpm drive in to keep the power consumption down, figuring the user would use the HDD for long term storage and the SSDs when speed is required (but then the OS + programs will probably be on those). However you can get 7200rpm laptop drives that apparently use the same amount of power as 5400 drives ie. Seagate ST9320421ASG etc.

You don't say if it's 32-bit or 64-bit Vista, but remember that 32-bit will only give you 3.25GB of usable memory.

p.s. bet it's not cheap, especially with the SSD drives and Blu-Ray burning (not to mention the Sony Vaio badge)

[RenaultSport]

Paying a premium for the name when it comes to Sony laptops when the equivalent toshiba/hp etc would probably do the job just as well and save you a small fortune

[Tales 68]

Thanks for your replies

Yeah it is 64-bit Vista.

I've looked at the Toshiba machines but I'm a bit naive in that I was put off with them including a HD Burner as opposed to a Blu-Ray burner and was concerned with compatibility issues? Is it the now the defunct format?

Price £2300 ish
Ebaying for £1750 ish.

Thanks again.

[Mr Lazy]

Yes HD-DVD can be considered defunct. I'm surprised that Toshiba are still making/selling laptops with HD-DVD drives maybe it's an end of line.

Personally I wouldn't pay that much for a laptop unless it was for commercial purposes and you could justify the expenditure, but it's not my money. Like RenaultSport, I've always thought with the Vaio's you're paying for the Sony name (they're not even the best looking any more). I'm sure you could get a HP/Dell/Acer with similar spec for several hundred pounds less.

Make sure you can get your prefered codec in a 64-bit format if you are going to use a 64-bit editing program. Otherwise just use a 32-bit program with 32-bit codecs.