Now or Later - Sony Vaio FW $900

[mudanes]

I've been considering getting a laptop for a while now and I've looked into various companies. First, I thought an acer aspire would be a good deal then I thought an alienware m15x but then I came upon this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834117938.

It has what I'm looking for a centrino 2 class processor. The ati mobility 4650 which can smack the nvidia products around and go toe-to-toe with the mobility 3870 of the m15x. Better chipset with faster ram and room to upgrade. A decent resolution screen. Stylish looks. 7200 rpm hd.

I decided to go on over to the sony vaio website to see If I could get a better deal and I could get nearly the same config 512mb vram for $900, $50 less. The extra vram would be useless anyhow. Comes in a sexier color than the silver as well.

Now what I would like to know is if I should spring on this while sony is having its academic discounts or if I should wait till later in august or september or wait till black friday in november. I've read that the academic discount season provides the lowest price on laptops of the year and I worry that notebooks geared for christmas shoppers wont be what I need.

Tell me if I can do better guys cause this is the best deal yet for me. And yes I'm a student who likes to game recreationally and I take liberties with grammar sometimes.

Here's the chatlog I had with a sony rep if you care to read:

You are now chatting with 'Brian'

Brian: Hi there! How are you doing?

Mudanes: good

Brian: Good to hear

Mudanes: I wondered if this chat window opened because of me looking at this page so many times.

Mudanes: I know you might have an ip record but my cookie sget flushed

Brian: It did.

Mudanes: well if you can see I'm interested in a fw series

Brian: Well no it opened because you're on the page for a certain amount of time/

Brian: Ha, yes.

Mudanes: aye

Mudanes: I first saw it on newegg

Mudanes: but i decided i could get a better deal going direct because of the academic savings

Brian: Right, and right now we have great discounts on the configure to order.

Mudanes: True

Mudanes: seems like this particular laptop has what I'm looking for: good res,decent processor/chipset/the 4650

Mudanes: I think I might purchase it within the week but I'm wondering if I shoudl wait for a back to school sale

Brian: This is the back to school sale.

Mudanes: that or black friday

Mudanes: so its already began?

Brian: Yes

Mudanes: is there going to be a new upgraded model of the fw being released anytime soon

Mudanes: i dont figure because the older ones have the 3650

Mudanes: and a 7XXX class processor

Brian: I don't have any information on that, sorry.

Mudanes: ok

Mudanes: well also i was wondering

Mudanes: i see discount on upgrades added

Mudanes: and a program discount

Mudanes: is that post academic discount

Mudanes: or am I still able to get a 7% off at checkout

Brian: That's discount added.

Brian: You should see You are now shopping at the Education Store on the left of the page.

Mudanes: and its verified at checkout

Brian: Discount for FW is 5% and 10% on accessories. Right.

Mudanes: ok

Mudanes: how long is the sale going to run

Mudanes: i'm waiting for my living situation to stabilize

Brian: I don't have an exact date, it should run to about mid August.

Mudanes: thats odd

Mudanes: i thought this was a summer sale

Mudanes: i thought academic sales began in august

Mudanes: i suppose its geared for the college semester

Mudanes: because high schoolers arnt going to be getting fresh laptops

Brian: Probably. Most of our student customers are college students.

Mudanes: ok well $900 for my desired configuration is excellent and i'm happy i wont have to use vista for too much longer

Mudanes: one disappointment though

Mudanes: is that I have to buy a 1gb 4650 to get the upgraded screen

Mudanes: is there any workaround too that?

Brian: Right, that's just the way it is marketed.

Brian: That would be it.

Mudanes: i figure its because these are already in the warehouse

Brian: Right what's on the site is what we can offer.

Mudanes: ok and the refurbished models are quite expensive

Mudanes: hmmm ill run this by some forum ppl

Brian: Sounds good.

Mudanes: and ill make up my mind soon im leaning very close to purchasing it

Mudanes: you dont know of any sales following this?

Brian: No I don't.

Mudanes: like what is an average christamas/black friday for sony?

Mudanes: i'm willing to wait that long

Brian: I have no clue. I wasn't working here then.

Mudanes: hmm

Mudanes: ok well thx for the help

 

[mudanes]

bump

 

[Guest]

I wish I had seen your message earlier, I spent $1100 on a FW370 in March, been in the repair shop twice, fist bad IO controller, of course they wiped the disk. then 1.5 months later the disk is bad, waiting to get it back. Also if you get one with integrated Intel 4 series graphics forget playing any real games. Dont get me wrong-for the money the FW had everything I wanted. but two repairs in less than 4 months. So if your Vaio starts to make an occasional sad sounding beep and click from under the touchpad, immediately backup your critical data, because the blue screen of death and no boot will be coming soon. Also am upset with Fry's-i bought a 5 yr warranty, only to have them find some tiny bit of case damage when I went in about the second problem. I didnt damage it, their idiot check in clerk turned it up on side to get serial. But Fry's now says that may negate teh warranty, and I may have to pay to fix case before I can rely on teh warranty being valid. Overall I will never buy another Sony or buy at Fry's.