New Laptop Ramblings
So I ended up getting this Sony VAIOVPCF125FX/B laptop. It's great, it really is. Windows 7 is very pretty visually and easy to use. Everything loads as fast as you'd expect from an i7 and 6gb of RAM. The keyboard is nothing short of awesome. There's a full-sized numpad (!!). And it even has the Home / End / Delete / Page Up / Page Down keys that most other laptops don't have. The backlighting is cool too, I guess.
But there are some issues. First, the Zone Alarm firewall that I downloaded and installed caused a couple of BSOD before I went ahead and uninstalled it. I've had problems with Zone Alarm before on my XP machine so it's not entirely unexpected. But obviously that's not Sony's fault.
Also the screen is really... bleh. Seems America can't get matte screens so nearly every laptop at CompUSA, this one included, is glossy, and I can see my reflection in it. It's annoying when the backlit keys are also reflected. And the viewing angle is very narrow. I have to adjust myself a lot to get the display to look right... and I'm sitting directly in front of it. Pretty lame. I don't want to imagine someone trying to watch a movie with me on this screen. Everything does look good on it, though. I like the widescreen resolution (1600x900) a lot. I have no trouble reading anything, not sure why people complain.
The touchpad is nice and small which is fine by me since I never use it (in fact, I disabled it).
Sound isn't that great either. But that's what my headphones & external speaker system are for.
Can't speak for battery life since that's not why I bought it. Same with weight. It's 16.4''; it's gonna be a heavy.
The USB ports are in bad locations: 2 on the lower right side, you know, right where your hand would be when using an external mouse. The headphone jack is there too. This would be fine if I was a lefty, but I'm not. I wouldn't mind if they were on the upper right, but they're not. They're right in the way. There is a 3rd port on the lower left side for a total of 3 ports.
Not much else to say. I've spent the last few days installing tons of games that I never had hard drive space for. I started with BioShock 2 (of course) but I also got Half-Life 2, which I've never gotten all that far in, and some other really old games I haven't played in forever, or at all (Majesty, Icewind Dale, Fallout). I've got a few other games queued on Steam (actually they are my brother's games, but hey, he hasn't bothered playing them, so why not?)
But there are some issues. First, the Zone Alarm firewall that I downloaded and installed caused a couple of BSOD before I went ahead and uninstalled it. I've had problems with Zone Alarm before on my XP machine so it's not entirely unexpected. But obviously that's not Sony's fault.
Also the screen is really... bleh. Seems America can't get matte screens so nearly every laptop at CompUSA, this one included, is glossy, and I can see my reflection in it. It's annoying when the backlit keys are also reflected. And the viewing angle is very narrow. I have to adjust myself a lot to get the display to look right... and I'm sitting directly in front of it. Pretty lame. I don't want to imagine someone trying to watch a movie with me on this screen. Everything does look good on it, though. I like the widescreen resolution (1600x900) a lot. I have no trouble reading anything, not sure why people complain.
The touchpad is nice and small which is fine by me since I never use it (in fact, I disabled it).
Sound isn't that great either. But that's what my headphones & external speaker system are for.
Can't speak for battery life since that's not why I bought it. Same with weight. It's 16.4''; it's gonna be a heavy.
The USB ports are in bad locations: 2 on the lower right side, you know, right where your hand would be when using an external mouse. The headphone jack is there too. This would be fine if I was a lefty, but I'm not. I wouldn't mind if they were on the upper right, but they're not. They're right in the way. There is a 3rd port on the lower left side for a total of 3 ports.
Not much else to say. I've spent the last few days installing tons of games that I never had hard drive space for. I started with BioShock 2 (of course) but I also got Half-Life 2, which I've never gotten all that far in, and some other really old games I haven't played in forever, or at all (Majesty, Icewind Dale, Fallout). I've got a few other games queued on Steam (actually they are my brother's games, but hey, he hasn't bothered playing them, so why not?)
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