NZFF

I'm looking for a new notebook and this one keeps coming through my searches - link below but in a nutshell

- Sony Vaio E 15.5"
- i7-3632QM
- 4gb ram (needs more)
- 1TB hdd (but only 5400rpm)
- Radeon 7650M graphics with 2gb dedicated video memory (is that out of the 4gb ram?)
- windows 8 (it's all you can get now) 64bit

Any astute observations from people who know more about this than me ? Mainly wanted as a backup machine and for light general computing / playing movies but I don't want something that keeps me waiting every time I press a key, and it has to play games too, including fsx and/or fs9.

Product page on Sony NZ website

Thanks
Gary

It will be adequate in terms of processor and graphics....but it would really benefit from more RAM (assuming 64 bit OS) and a faster harddrive (mainly for faster scenery load times)

If you don't like Windows 8 on the laptop, you can always downgrade to Windows 7, as Timmo has said could do with 8GB of ram though and a slightly faster HDD, although I was running FSX on a 384MB integrated chip on 4GB of ram and it ran fairly well!

the dedicated RAM should be fully dedicated though, a lot of manufacturers are moving away from shared graphics!

Thanks

Ram is easy enough but the price pretty much goes up by half as soon as you start looking for anything as flash as a fast hard drive :-/ Is that something I could easily change myself if I bought one a bit further down the road ?

Cheers
Gary

For your comparison, I'm using an HP DV7-7008tx and it seems ok. It's a core i7 3610qm 2.3GHz, 8GB mem, 2GB [dedicated] Nvidia GT650M graphics and 2x 1TB hard disk (5400rpm too) with 30GB solid state 'accelerator', Win7 64-bit.
Can't honestly say I have too much problem with it and FSX / ORBX. It still can't drive two screens at a sensible frame rate though and I stick to just the big external screen when using FSX. Doesn't drive FSX at stupid frame rates but I have it set to 25fps and seems ok except when scenery gets heavy, especially some airports at night with the lights. Otherwise fine 95% of the time.

Thanks Jeff

How does it cope with complex aircraft like the PMDG ones ? I don't run scenery except VLC and the most complex thing I'd be flying here is probably the J41 so my main issue would be the aircraft.

Cheers
Gary

Chairman wrote:

QUOTE (Chairman @ Apr 8 2013,2:47 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks Jeff

How does it cope with complex aircraft like the PMDG ones ? I don't run scenery except VLC and the most complex thing I'd be flying here is probably the J41 so my main issue would be the aircraft.

Cheers
Gary

Gary , i have FSX on my i5 and it run the AerosoftA320 Extended on the laptop no problems

Cool thanks Ian

Ian Warren wrote:

QUOTE (Ian Warren @ Apr 8 2013,11:56 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Gary , i have FSX on my i5 and it run the AerosoftA320 Extended on the laptop no problems

Actually, I don't have much in the way of add-in aircraft, except the Aerosoft F-16 and one or two other minor ones. Mostly looking for whatever realism I can get for the Alpha 160 and local area scenery.
Only time it really slows is heavy clouds and lights at dusk / dawn. Otherwise it is fine. I have done absolutely no 'go fast' tweaks of any sort, either on the laptop or within FSX. In fact, all I do is disable the AV and leave everything else running.
On that basis I have no complaints. No doubt I could streamline this thing and I'm no stranger to that being in IT for a good number of years, but when I get home I can't be bothered to fiddle with computers and evert to 'dumb user' :-)
Cheers