Buying a new VAIO Laptop, advice?

[DNT 2.5]

So I am looking for a Sony Vaio laptop to replace my old Dell Latitude. I think I will go with the SR series for a couple reasons
1) they are Smexeh
2) The Internals look pretty good
3) It is a business class model, So that means that they are Durable.
4) They have a Biometric scanner for passwords (That means Mah parents can't see my Stuff)
linky
Would you guys Advise against this? I really like the look of this laptop.

Or I could go with the Simpler AW series, It would be a little better for me as I could play Console games via the Built in TV tuner. AW series

[RyaNtheSlayA]

As far as aesthetics... looks like a Mac rip-off :\

Its okay I guess, as far as PC's, I only ever go for Lenovo.

[GamerMON]

[Niode]

My advice, don't buy a Sony laptop. If you want a nice looking laptop get a Macbook Pro. They are the best laptops you can buy bar none.

Biometric scanners are a gimmick, at best. They can't beat a good password. If you are paranoid about security, steganography is your friend. However at your age you're probably just trying to hide your porn stash. Steganography is good for this.

[DNT 2.5]

Indeed Niode,
I don't really want a Mac, Most of the stuff I do Requires windows/Is much less Complicated with windows. My sister has a Macbook, it looks very nice, and when I do get a chance to use it it is very nice, But it is a bit to...much, Not money wise, but it just seems like there is too much shiny. I prefer my laptops to be black and look somewhat rugged but New tech.
The Biometric scanner doesn't matter really, A hidden folder is good enough, my parents don't know. Is there any other inherent problem with sony computers?

[t0yrobo]

Looks alright, the only thing I'd be concerned about is it having a Centrino. Defenitely check out Lenovo though, they're pretty much the end all of business class laptops. I hear lots of good things about Toshiba also.

My advice, don't buy a Sony laptop. If you want a nice looking laptop get a Macbook Pro. They are the best laptops you can buy bar none.

Don't buy a Mac unless you live near a mac store, it'll be a pain. They aren't as reliable as some people would like you to believe, they're as good as any other top tier laptop but not better. They WILL break, I base this off my own experience with a mbp, multiple trips to the genius bar, online research, and going to a school that's 99% macs.

[corn619]

My advice, don't buy a Sony laptop. If you want a nice looking laptop get a Macbook Pro. They are the best laptops you can buy bar none.

Biometric scanners are a gimmick, at best. They can't beat a good password. If you are paranoid about security, steganography is your friend. However at your age you're probably just trying to hide your porn stash. Steganography is good for this.

I'm gonna have to agree with Niode on this. My brother just bought a Vaio about 2 months ago and its been nothing but a nightmare for him. He's gonna sell it, take a loss and start over. He's had connectivity problems with his internet, Ipod and external HDD. Also, theres been problems with it not powering down, freeze ups and weird errors. It had Vista when these issues started and installing Windows 7 solved none of these problems. He sent it in for repair "again" and he's selling as soon as it comes back.

[Unleaded Logic]

Go with Lenovo, stay away from VAIO. My wife has a VAIO with lots of issues and I've had two of them used in the field at my job. Both of them were prone to crashes and endless loops of trying to restart windows. HDD nightmares popped up a lot as well.

I have about 60+ Lenovo's for my users in the field and they are solid laptops and have lasted for years. I always uninstall all the biometric crap because it just seems to eat up stuff on the system and works like crap, but they are very solid machines otherwise.

[DNT 2.5]

I'm gonna have to agree with Niode on this. My brother just bought a Vaio about 2 months ago and its been nothing but a nightmare for him. He's gonna sell it, take a loss and start over. He's had connectivity problems with his internet, Ipod and external HDD. Also, theres been problems with it not powering down, freeze ups and weird errors. It had Vista when these issues started and installing Windows 7 solved none of these problems. He sent it in for repair "again" and he's selling as soon as it comes back.

I know that a while back there were a bunch of hardware problems with the VAIO laptops, He might have gotten a bad one. Lenovo laptops are great, I have used them but they seem to bland for me, I used on for about a year and I had no problems but it was clumsy carrying it out into public. I know that they are a very very good brand of laptop. What model was your brothers?

[DNT 2.5]

Also, would it be a good thing to mention that I am somewhat of a Sony Brand whore? All of my Home theater/Camera/Consoles/Computer External drives are Sony, So I think that would get rid of the compatibility issues