[IMPRESSIONS] Sony S15 & Samsung NP700Z5C

[mastypk]

Hmmm... The only thing is it's so much bang for the buck! Could you give me reasons as to why it doesn't compete with the sony and samsung?

Yes, it's true that you get more for money on HP, but they have issues specially their build quality. I have HP DV7, I used it very carefully but it has been damaged from 2 places. (I can update images)

Also, HP DV is heavy & thicker than both Sony & Samsung. I personally don't mind of size & weight, but build quality is very bad & I don't recommend it to anyone even if you move it for sometime

[gadgetrants]

Buy the dv6t, HP has a 21-day return window with no fees, you can add it to your on hands comparison here

Andrew, don't stir the pot! This is a 2-way comparison, not a 3-way

Seriously, I would LOVE to get my hands on a dv6t and I bet I could time it right with my credit card billing cycle. It's a shame the local stores don't have one to try.

-Matt

[hm_u]

So it is still not clear for me if the samsung can be overclocked as efficiently as the sony S15. Because it is quite impressive what people can do with the S15 even if it has a GPU with DDR3 instead of DDR5 like the samsung. Any thoughts?

[gadgetrants]

Bump -- did a bit of editing and added Heat/Noise and Performance.

-Matt

[WondAbrar]

So it is still not clear for me if the samsung can be overclocked as efficiently as the sony S15. Because it is quite impressive what people can do with the S15 even if it has a GPU with DDR3 instead of DDR5 like the samsung. Any thoughts?

Have you had any luck with this? Because I am on the verge of cancelling a Sony SVS13P because I realised this came with the GDDR5 GPU.

I know the Sony has a locked down BIOS and I wanted to see if the Samsung did, too; as I'd be keen to get in and check if the 'Turbo Boost' was turned on - that's the built-in nVidia overclock and basically ramps up the clock speed if the temperatures are OK.

Might be worth underclocking the CPU just to allow that process to happen - most games won't take advantage of the full quad-core so I reckon you'd get similar FPS for 85-90% underclock on the CPU.

I love the size and screen (and subsequently DPI) on the Sony but the quad-core processor here just seems a lot more future-proof. Wish I could trial both out for two weeks at the same time but my wallet doesn't stretch that far!

[Andre24]

I am leaning a bit more towards the Samsung after that review. If I were to buy the S15 I would buy the i7 one, but at this point I guess performance isn't the issue.

I just hate dealing with QC issues so that's why I am shying away from HP. Also, I like the Samsung's supposedly long battery life. However, I would get the free sheet battery with the Sony anyway. Can't wait to see more though!

If I had to pull the trigger right now I would buy the Samsung. But buying the Sony would be much easier since I can find it at Frys.

Great job on the comparison!

[gadgetrants]

Andre, thanks for the comments. I'm leaning the same way -- I probably have a secret bias toward metal unibody construction and while the Samsung isn't an ultrabook, it has a really nice solid feel. Have you had a chance to do a hands-on with either machine? Please post back if you get to spend some time with one or the other.

Other than the display, a minor con I am kind of irked about is the "mini" VGA port (a major thing for me when teaching). Other than that -- and the need to adjust wrist posture a bit when typing -- I thought the battery life was more than decent and it gamed a tad hot but well.

To borrow your words, if I had to pull the trigger right now -- I would wait (which kills me) and try to see if the appearance of Win 8 influences the field. But to give my hands something to do, I'm tentatively planning to pick up the Asus N56VZ this weekend (Microcenter, 15-day return policy) and give it a spin. Based on the comments here it has weak battery life (no worse than the Sony S15, tbh) and weighs 6 lbs (ugh), but the display looks as good as or better than the Sony, it seems to handle heat well, and if there's no restocking fee I'm all over it.

-Matt

[Andre24]

I, too, have a crush on metal unibody construction. With that said, I watched the review video that you linked to (showing the leaking of the keyboard's backlight) and it was the first time I had seen a video of the silver S15. I really love how it looks, especially with the silver keyboard. It truly has that clean feeling! However, I am disappointed that it has a plastic feel to it. Although, it still looks extremely beautiful.

I went to the Sony store a couple weeks ago and was able to try it out. I was thoroughly impressed at how smooth everything ran. I did not notice anything about the screen. You can probably tell that the screen really isn't a deal-breaker for me. The only game I was able to try was Diablo 3 since it was already installed on there. I thought it ran quite smoothly and I maxed out the settings. Unfortunately, I haven't had the chance to try out the Samsung. I guess I really should do a hands-on on one some time. Hopefully soon.

Actually now... I am slightly leaning towards the Sony more... I think seeing a silver one in action really sold me. I was going to buy silver anyways but I had never seen a video of one. It looks really nice!

I will still wait to make my decision and see what else you can report. It's been a long journey to purchase a laptop to start college this fall. Other than the Samsung and Sony, I've considered the HP ENVY 15, Dell XPS 15, MacBook Pro, Macbook Pro with Retina, and the Lenovo Ideapad U-series. It's been crazy so hopefully you can shed some light on things one could only notice by comparing the Sony and Samsung.

So, yeah, if I had to pull the trigger right now... yeah, I'd probably wait too, haha. I am leaning towards Sony though.

[gadgetrants]

Ah, we're on the same page again. I gave the black model a try because it's the only one Best Buy had -- but I had my eye on the silver Sony too.

Have you seen Sony's latest promotion:

Free Sony PS3 with Sony VAIO Laptop Purchase is Back, Plus $150 Off Rebate!

You can get a free PS3 or Vita, plus $100/$150 rebate. Keep in mind that you can also get a free sheet battery instead of the game system too, but it isn't worth as much. So you could walk away with a nice 15" machine + game system for about $950. That's something that might tip the scales a bit farther toward Sony for you. And one more thing: remember that Sony has a 30-day return policy, so you can always pack it up and ship back if it's not the one for you.

The store model had D3 on it!??!?!?!? That's awesome that you got to try it. I thought it handled games well, and my son was very impressed with how BF3 looked at medium settings.

My notebook journey? Let's see: in March, I bought the Asus U36SD (13") but returned with stuck pixels, then looked at Lenovo Y470P -> Lenovo Y480 -> HP dv6t -> bought the Samsung NP700Z5C (returned with trackpad defect) -> bought the Sony S15 (returned due to "trial ownership") -> and now looking at the Asus N56VZ and Gigabyte U2442N. I AM EXHAUSTED!!!! I JUST WANT MY LAPTOP!!!! LOL

-Matt

[sockfish]

Ah, we're on the same page again. I gave the black model a try because it's the only one Best Buy had -- but I had my eye on the silver Sony too.

Have you seen Sony's latest promotion:

Free Sony PS3 with Sony VAIO Laptop Purchase is Back, Plus $150 Off Rebate!

You can get a free PS3 or Vita, plus $100/$150 rebate. Keep in mind that you can also get a free sheet battery instead of the game system too, but it isn't worth as much. So you could walk away with a nice 15" machine + game system for about $950. That's something that might tip the scales a bit farther toward Sony for you. And one more thing: remember that Sony has a 30-day return policy, so you can always pack it up and ship back if it's not the one for you.

The store model had D3 on it!??!?!?!? That's awesome that you got to try it. I thought it handled games well, and my son was very impressed with how BF3 looked at medium settings.

My notebook journey? Let's see: in March, I bought the Asus U36SD (13") but returned with stuck pixels, then looked at Lenovo Y470P -> Lenovo Y480 -> HP dv6t -> bought the Samsung NP700Z5C (returned with trackpad defect) -> bought the Sony S15 (returned due to "trial ownership") -> and now looking at the Asus N56VZ and Gigabyte U2442N. I AM EXHAUSTED!!!! I JUST WANT MY LAPTOP!!!! LOL

-Matt

Matt, I know how you feel. If only that perfect machine existed, we'd all have it.

I was pretty set on the S15 until I tried it at a store. The red/orange issue and the finicky trackpad really got to me, plus I view the 640M LE's DDR3 as non-future proof even though people have gotten some pretty good results out of OC'ing it. That's a nice promotion from Sony though.

How did you find the Samsung's screen?