in general, how good is a sony laptop?

been eyeing on the sony f series.

Generally is good, except the CS model and some model with battery-drain issues...

Was looking at getting this Acer below. But heard Asus notebooks are more reliable. any good Asus alternative to this Acer?

AS4745G-432G50MN
(3yrs warranty) Price: RM2599 FIRM
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Intel® Core i5-430M processor (3 MB L3 cache, 2.26GHz with Turbo Boost up to 2.53GHz, DDR3 1066 MHz, 35 W), supporting Intel® 64 architecture, Intel® Smart Cache
ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5470 with Switchable™ Graphics technology, up to 35793 MB of HyperMemory™ (512 MB of dedicated DDR3 VRAM, up to 30675 MB of shared system memory), supporting Unified Video Decoder (UVD), OpenEXR High Dynamic-Range (HDR) technology, Shader Model 5.0, Microsoft® DirectX® 11, OpenGL® 3.1, OpenCL™ 1.1
Acer InviLink™ Nplify™ 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ supporting Acer SignalUp™ with Nplify™ wireless technology
14" HD 1366 x 768 pixel resolution, high-brightness (200-nit) Acer CineCrystal™ LED-backlit TFT LCD, supporting simultaneous multi-window viewing via Acer GridVista™
16:9 aspect ratio
500GB HDD
2GB DDR3 RAM (upgradeable to 4GB)
Integrated 56Kbps modem & Gigabit Ethernet, Wake-on-LAN ready
Integrated 8X DVD-Super Multi double-layer drive
Acer Crystal Eye high-definition webcam with 1280 x 1024 resolution
Integrated Bluetooth
Optimized 3rd Generation Dolby® Home Theater®7 audio enhancement features including Dolby® Digital Live, Dolby® Pro Logic® IIx, Dolby® Headphone, Dolby® Natural Bass, Dolby® Sound Space Expander, Dolby® Inverse Filtering, and Dolby® High Frequency Enhancer technologies
Multi-in-1 card reader (SD™, MMC, MS, MS PRO, xD)
Four USB 2.0 ports
HDMI™ port with HDCP support
External display (VGA) port
Headphone/speaker jack with S/PDIF support
Microphone-in jack
Ethernet (RJ-45) port
DC-in jack for AC adapter
Estimated battery life: Up to 6 hours (Actual battery life may vary, depending on usage and configuration).
3xUSB, VGA port, HDMI™ port with HDCP support,
342 (W) x 245 (D) x 21.1/29.1 (H) mm
2.23 kg (4.92 lbs.) with 6-cell battery
1-Year International Traveller Warranty
Free:- Acer Designed Carrying Bag

Asus A42Jk, i5 430M + ATi HD5145@RM2899, you lose the switchable GPU though....

lee_what2004 , u got ASUS notebook all price list ? xD

no...

a42jk is abit losing to a42jr in terms of gpu rite?

Yes, but A42Jr phased out already...

A42jr is using HD5470 wor thus, better than A42jk but seems like it's hard to find a42jr anymore because there's no more supply?

Please recommend me a RM3K 15" laptop with good GC, mainly for gaming. Thanks.

15'' wise, Acer 5741G, i5 520M + Nvidia GT320M@RM2999...
Though if want better gaming performance, you can consider Dell Vostro 3700, i5 430M + Nvidia GT330M@RM 2849, the thing is its 17.3''...

yea loh.. i wonder y leh.. =( i wan to buy de lar.. ptptn hvn get money..

Well, Asus Malaysia stated there's no supply for HD5470 hence they phased out A42Jr/A52Jr...

This post has been edited by lee_what2004: May 3 2010, 02:21 PM

Any ATI GC option? Don't really like nV GC after the nV mobile GC problem last time.

Those GT300Ms are just rebrand from previous generation GC right, another thing that I don't like about nV GC.

Well, the best choice is getting HD5470/HD5145 for your budget, which is weaker than the Nvidia mentioned before...
Try look Asus A52Jr/A52Jk if want the ATi...
or BenQ S57, maybe got stock from Startec, P8700 + ATi HD4650@RM2999, which is more powerful than all those mentioned before...

This post has been edited by lee_what2004: May 3 2010, 02:27 PM

In terms of performance, is a 2gig to 4gig ram step a big one? How significant is the performance difference? And the Windows 7 Home Basic and Home Premium, what's the difference that separates them? I was thinking of getting the Dell New Inspiron 15.

2GB to 4GB is not really a big step unless you are using memory extensive program...
Home Basic don't have those transparency and eye candy...

So It's not really a big mstep lahh? lol no transparency = No Way!!
For ATI Mobillity Cards, Their still able to be overclocked through ATI Overdrive right?

You can try to use AMD GPU Clock Tool....

Still able to overclock through the CCC? is the AMD GPU clock tool safe and trustable?