Need to know if this is a good laptop to buy?

Question

I found a laptop on a website that I would like to buy, however, I heard that Toshiba, Dell and HP were not really good ones to buy, the one that I am looking at is a Sony VAIO 1.7GHz Pentium M Laptop Computer with these features
Display: 15.4-inch WXGA with Xbrite technology
Operating system: Windows XP Home
Processor: 1.73GHz Pentium M 740
System memory: 512MB
Hard drive: 100GB
Optical drive: DVD+/-RW dual layer
Network: WLAN 802.11g, 10/100
Modem: 56k V.90
Can anyone give me some clues as to how this computer is rated? Also, what is a Pentium M?

Answer 1

The hardware spec that you have there are good for an average user. I would recommend that you increase the RAM to 1GB if you are staying with XP or higher if you are planning on going to Vista.

Sony is priced higher than other notebooks for the exact same hardware. Their support is mid line, but can vary at time from good to extremely poor. To be fair this can happen to any company with so much support being outsourced.

Dell and HP are very close in quality and price vs performance.

Toshiba makes some innovative products but has had major quality control issues the last couple of years.

You seriously should look at the Dell and HP offerings. They often have sales or discount codes which can make a good price even better.

Also from a only reputable seller or even better, direct from the manufacturer. With a laptop repairs can be costly and they are one of the items where an extended warranty can really pay off.

Almost forgot to answer the Pentium M question.

It's an obsolete CPU that has evolved into the Core Duo and Core 2 Dou in Intel's line.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_M

Answer 2

That'd be a good laptop, HPs are good though (their Pavilion series rock). The Sony looks like is has a fast processor (plenty of power to do today's computing tasks. It's hard drive also looks pretty big. 100GB would be hard to fill up unless you have a lot of music or movies. The lcd looks big and it's got a 512MB of RAM (plenty for today's computers). Sony is also a trusted name for computers. Their traditionaly known for good quality and durability. The Pentium M processor is part of the Intel Centrino platform for laptop processors. It's basically a beefed up version of a Pentium III.

Answer 3

This looks like a really nice laptop. I have always bought Dell Latitude notebook computers, and have been happy with those as well.

Answer 4

Yeah, that's a pretty good system. But you can probably get one that's better for less money at www.stupidcheapcomputers.net