Btw, I was very excited to find a site of TR enthusiasts since I was skeptical of how great the TR would be!
Ok, so I’m trying to decide the difference between which model I want and which model my bank account wants. So doing the side by side comparison on Sony’s site, I compared the cheapest one, with the most expensive one.
Am I wrong or are these the only differences:
-512 vs 1024 MB RAM
-DVD Reader vs DVD Burner
-XP Home vs XP Pro
-No bundled softare vs Bundled Software (who gives a crap)
If these are the only true differences, are there any reasons not to just buy the cheapest one, buy my own 512MB stick of RAM and live without the luxury of a DVD burner?
This to me seems like a no brainer, which is why I feel like I’m missing something important.
Memory - an extra 512MB can be had for under $150 (some have found for $99). Wait - I only need 512MB anyway (what can you be doing on a TR that requires more than 512MB!? - I know, you can do a lot that requires more memory, but at what point should you just get a beefier machine?)
Home vs Pro - I’m not running on a domain server here at home soooo - no interest there.
DVD burner - got one on my desktop. Don’t need one on my laptop. I’ve read here that you can buy the DVD-RW from Sony and install if you really need one - and still pay much less (total) than you would for an AP3
More software - I already wasted too much time uninstalling the other junk that came with my TR.
I’m betting there are others that need what we don’t and will pay for the AP3..
[quote author=“logik”]If these are the only true differences, are there any reasons not to just buy the cheapest one, buy my own 512MB stick of RAM and live without the luxury of a DVD burner?
This to me seems like a no brainer, which is why I feel like I’m missing something important.
Thanks for listening
That is exactly what I did, bought the TR3A and the 512MB of memory separately and installed it myself.
Aside from bragging rights, there really are no reasons to purchase anything above a TRxA, as the AP can easily be remedied with an XP boot via http://www.hexleyinmotion.com, and the RAM and DVDRW upgrades can easily be remedied as seen in earlier threads. But there’s No need to feel ashamed of buying the TRxAP or whatever, just be proud that you own one of these sweet things!
I would slightly disagree…if you can find a good deal and need XP Pro then I would get the model that has it pre-installed. It saves you a lot of time and headaches even though the guides out there are pretty decent. From what I’ve seen, there are still some headaches even with these great guides.
So, if you can find a deal and it’s $100 or less than a non-Pro version then I think it’s worth the money especially if your time is money and you want less headaches.
[quote author=“Anonymous”]Well, I dont have any need for XP Pro on there so it looks like it’s time to start shopping… thank you guys for all your feedback. Hopefully I’ll be visiting on my TR soon… 8)
...sounds like you’re making the right choice…happy shopping!
I have several PCs at home, but neither are in areas where my wife/Family likes to be - sooo either I computed alone or I figured out how to get mobile in my own house. I tried a Pocket PC, but the form factor was way too small to enjoy the internet (my favorite evening pastime).
I sold the PDA on ebay and bought a low speced Compaq Presario 715 at Staples for under $1000. The Compaq’s DVD drive broke within a month but was fixed under warranty. Then I had a bunch of issues with it freezing randomly (unrecoverable w/out rebooting). It was a combintation of a Microsoft Hotfix and a thermal problem that plagued the entire series of Compaq Presario 700s. I actually had to take it appart and replace the thermal pad with thermal paste. I finally got it stable and then the hard drive crapped out - after a little over a year of constant problems, I had enough.
Time to shop for a real laptop. Beyond the Compaq’s numerous defects, it was big and heavy. I use my laptop around the house and while I’m traveling or on vacation - you really had to lug the Compaq around. The TR’s size and beautiful screen made it a must have - even though it was well beyond my budget. I sold my Comcrap on ebay ($600) to help get the price down. Then Circuit City has the TR3A for $2045 after a $150 rebate so I grabbed one.
Easily the nicest piece of computer equipment I’ve ever owned.
[quote author=“Lumpydog”]Wait - I only need 512MB anyway (what can you be doing on a TR that requires more than 512MB!?
Good point. I suppose if someone were using it as field video editor they would need more ram; however, the hard drive is way too slow and small to accomodate that anyway. Djn’g mp3’s and karoke work fine on it (though I find I needed to use a good external USB 2.0 drive to accomodate the extra space needed for mp3’s and yes it was fast enough to play them right off the USB 2.0 drive) as it is with 512mb ram as does slideshow presentations.
The only thing I found, other than the video argument, for more ram were some programmers like a lot of ram on their notebooks and voice programs like IBM’s ViaVoice need 1 gb ram to work well (yes there is a world of difference between 512mb and 1gb ram for this sort of voice application it has to do with loading the entire vocabulary database into ram for quick access resulting in quick and accurate interpretive response). Don’t know about Linux and whether it works better with 1GB. I know the Linux I have loaded up on my old Gateway notebook ran really slow in graphical interface mode compared to Windows XP. Hope this info helps a member somehow. Peace .
