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Sony Vaio?

Started by Radek, 2007.06.25, 14:20:39

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Radek

I am planning to buy a notebook for eCS. The notebook should not depend on winblows, more precisely, it should not contain even a single byte of it. So far, I have excluded (perhaps, prematurely) contemporary T's - because of graphics, it's either "not supported" or "not good".

Searching a notebook, I have found Sony Vaio bx297xp. It has 17'' display, promises 1920x1200, has 200G HD and a video card, which should be supported by SNAP (ATI Mobility Radeon X700). All this at surprisingly low price. Well, it's not a super new model, it has Pentim M but eCS runs like hell on far worse CPU's. Well, it's rather heavy (4 kg) but I am not about to run around with a comp in my hands all the day, I want to take my comp with myself if I need to.

What I don't know and what I would like to know is:

(a) Is the notebook worth of buying?
(b) Shall I be able to install eCS on it? What about the HD's (SATA), what about the DVD?
(c) Shall I be able to connect to web from the eCS?
(d) What about audio, will the basic audio (.wav, CD player) work?
(e) What about APM? Battery life is 90 min so that APM seems to be essential.
(f) Does SNAP work with the video card? It should.

Knows someone something? Perhaps, I am completely wrong with my choice, I don't know. Am I completely wrong?

BigWarpGuy

http://www.os2warp.be/index2.php?name=nb2Sony
"This webpage is currently under construction. If you have any suggestions for a future content of this page, or further enquiries, do not hesitate to contact us, by sending an e-mail to os2chl@yahoo.co.uk." It is listed but no information. If you do try it, perhaps you could submit the information.
:-[

kim

The only thing I would take a closer look at is the resolution, ie 1920x1200, since that might get a bit hard to work with on a 17" screen.

/Kim

Radek

The resolution can be lowered, this should not be a problem. In the meantime, I have found the following: MB chipset - Intel 915PM, audio - Realtec ALC260, I have found this codec among "supported by uniaudio" but in combination with nVidia chipset, HD - SATA-150, I have found such SATA on Mrs. Daniela chiplist so that the chances aren't zero, web - Gigabyte Broadcom(?), DVD - no usable info

What are my chances now?

kim

Even if you can lower the resolution, the panel is made for a specific resolution and lower it would give you a kind of blurred image. So if possible, make sure to test it. I'm just comparing with Dell Inspiron 8600 where the 1920 resolution was a pain to work with and lowering the resolution made it even worse to work it.

Suggestion is to give a try on a system at any of the local shops or what so ever to make sure that the resolution really works out for you (I find it to small on a 17" panel and on a 15.4" it's way too small). I'm just saying it so that you don't get system that will be a pain to use.

RobertM

Quote from: Radek on 2007.06.26, 11:29:09
The resolution can be lowered, this should not be a problem. In the meantime, I have found the following: MB chipset - Intel 915PM, audio - Realtec ALC260, I have found this codec among "supported by uniaudio" but in combination with nVidia chipset, HD - SATA-150, I have found such SATA on Mrs. Daniela chiplist so that the chances aren't zero, web - Gigabyte Broadcom(?), DVD - no usable info

What are my chances now?

I think your chances *seem* pretty good based off that list - and the newest version of eCS. The older (v1.2R) versions *may* require you to update Dani's drivers to get the SATA to work. In either case, you may need to adjust the BIOS settings in regards to the SATA support. In addition, if the hard drive already has XP/Vista installed, you may have to use DFSee (or an XP/Vista disk) to remove all partitioning on the drive.

Ensure you burn the unit's Recovery CDs before you do anything.

Personally, I love the ThinkPads, and most support OS/2 and eCS with decent to excellent results. I've used T20 Series and 600, 701, 760, 300 Series, 500 Series with great luck and full support for all hardware (except some WinModems - which in most has just been because I have been too lazy to find the Lucent WinModem driver for Warp). Finding the OS/2 drivers for these can be a little bit of a pain with Lenovo re-arranging content, but I think a lot of it is available via Software Choice (and thus an eCS subscription without Software Choice) or on various other sites. As a computer technician for 20+ years, I love the elegance and design that goes into ThinkPads (old and new). They are definitely (as a whole) more reliable than Sony or any other brand I've seen (as my 10+ year old, runs every day without being turned off, ThinkPad 600 shows).

The ThinkPads aren't "pretty" (eye-candy, curvy, colorful casing wise), but the thing I have noticed is that if you like a machine that looks good (in a techy cool sorta way), the ThinkPad's looks never get outdated. They also (consistently) have the best rated keyboards in the industry (in typing feel, response, and design). The keyboards are built sturdier, and usually have multiple screw-down points (to the much thicker metal plate on the bottom of the keyboard) which helps prevent keyboard bow when pressing keys in the center, and provides a better key response feeling everywhere on the keyboard.

Just my 1 cent (I'll try to dig up the other penny later... )   ;)

-Rob


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