1366 x 768 VS 1600 x 900

I'm currently looking to buy a good 14" laptop for college, and right now, I've narrowed my choices to two main candidates:

HP Envy 14 Beats Edition and Sony VAIO CA series, the sony is cheaper by around 200$.

Honestly, I'm tipping towards the HP right now, because I'm sketchy about the reliability of a sony vaio and its customer service. In addition, the HP offers higher specs (6GB vs 4GB ram, 640GB vs 500GB hard drive).

But the sony vaio has one main advantage: it has a higher resolution screen. I've looked at some laptops in some shops with an average resolution, and frankly I don't see what's so bad about it. I think it's just fine. But there are many experts on this forum who strongly recommends a high screen resolution.

So right now, I'm in a dilemma. Should I sacrifice the screen resolution and go for the safer path (HP), or bite on the Sony Vaio CA?

Also, I will be bringing a monitor to college, so at home, I will hook up the laptop to the monitor. If I do, will I be able to experience a higher definition on my monitor? (sorry for stupid question).

 

I'll personally never buy an HP but thats just me. I think they produce terrible, noisy, poor quality laptops. High resolution screen was a must for me, I even sold a new laptop i had just to upgrade to another laptop with a higher res screen, thats how important it was for me.

 

Screen resolution is mostly a personal preference--personally, I could never stand the low pixel density and screen real estate of a 1366x768 14" screen. My advice is to go to a local electronics store and check out 1366x768 and 1600x900 14" laptops and see how important the difference is to you.

Also, please do not multipost--if a moderator has to warn you again, you will receive an official infraction. Thank you.

 

I think 1366x768 is just fine on a 14" screen. People here tend to exaggerate about how much resolution you need... I'm sure many here would recommend 1080P even on a 14" screen, way overkill. When you move up to 15.6", the 1366x768 resolution becomes too low, but on 14" it works.

1600x900 would be better if you're gonna be doing a lot of Photoshop work or other things like that. In that case, though, you really should be going with a bigger screen.

Also, IMO the quality of a Sony VAIO is superior to most HP laptops, and probably on par with the Envy series.

 

In most cases though, the resolution still makes more of a difference than the other specs, even if you don't have a specific need for it.

In most cases you're never going to notice having an extra 2GB of RAM or a 6% faster CPU.

 

1366x720 on 14" is essentially the same DPI as a 1440x900 on 15,4" was, and that was a pretty good compromise. The real question is however the screen quality.
Screens are not equal: Check for the contrast and the viewing angles of the screens in tests.

 

+1 rep!

 

Screen resolution aside, Sony Vaio laptops have proven to be more reliable than HP laptops over the last few years. HP has been the least reliable, Sony one of the most reliable.

 

Beyond the external casing, Sony and HP laptops contain largely the same components. Reliability rates, therefore, are more or less equal, so it's pointless making that comparison. A more worthwhile question is which laptop has better specs, build quality, support, upgradability, etc.

Each laptop has its own quirks/issues: even famously-reliable laptops such as the Dell Latitude D630 and Thinkpad T60 have their share of problems. You just have to make sure that those problems likely won't be much of a problem for you.

 

Your statements on reliability are based on what?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10400447-1.html

 

Common sense, reason, and experience with laptops of various brands. The better question is what your statements are based on--it would seem they're based on the same SquareTrade "studies" that many others have also cited.

Theres are tons of flaws with the ST data that statistics majors can tell you all about:
1) Their definitions of netbook versus laptop are highly flawed: all laptops below $400 are "netbooks."

2) The severity of "issues" are not factored in whatsoever: an entire failure of a motherboard is weighted the same as, say, an even touchpad button.

3) Business/prosumer/consumer laptops are all lumped in together. Obviously, this skews numbers.

4) The ST subset cannot be extrapolated to the entire population of laptops--it's simple statistics.

5) Accidental damage is included in the statistics.

6) Not all laptops from a manufacturer are on the same level of reliability. Primarily low-cost manufacturers such as Acer are obviously going to be hurt by this when compared to, say, Apple or Sony.

And really, many more. Don't be fooled by those numbers. Instead, do research on the specific issues with the laptops that you're considering and keep those in mind when making your decisions.

 

I also vote for the Sony. It should be more reliable than the HP; the higher res is very important; it's cheaper; and both RAM and HDD can be easily upgraded later if needed (though the 2GB difference won't be noticeable). It's a no-brainer.

 

Given I fix laptops for a living, sure we get a ton of HP's in for service, but because our store probably sells 10 HP's for every 1 Sony sold. At least servicing HP is much easier than Sony (HP's average RMA to depot and back is ~5 business days, most simple repairs are 2-3 business days). Sony is near impossible to find part numbers for, and for 4 months Sony's SPAN part ordering system was down so no repair shop in America could order Sony parts, all had to be RMA'd to Sony for warranty repair. That and average Sony repair takes 2 weeks, most are 3-4 weeks, you tell me who makes the better laptop, and it is getting off topic enough.

 

I can always do with a little higher resolution but that's just me !

 

Besides that above-mentioned Square Trade study, all other large-scale reliability or customer satusfaction surveys showed Sony beating most other brands and HP at the bottom.

I understand that there are many confounding factors in these surveys. Besides those listed by MidnightSun, there are at least two more:

1) Users take better care of expensive laptops than cheap ones. Because Sony Vaios tend to be much more expensive than HPs, the former are used and treated more carefully and thus are less likely to get damaged.

2) Business-class laptops are built to be more reliable than consumer laptops. However, business laptops tend to be used under harsher conditions (e.g. business laptops are on the road more often, and employees using employer-issued laptops tend to abuse them), and so they appear not so reliable in these surveys.

However, the fact that Vaios almost ALWAYS score MUCH better than HPs makes me believe that they really are better. But this is just a personal belief.

 

Before I say anything, I just wanna apologize for multi-posting. I do stuff on impulse, so when a comparison or doubt comes to my mind, I start posting without thinking of or counting my previous threads.

I've read all your suggestions carefully, I really appreciate all the feedback. I took the advices into consideration and visited bestbuy again today to see the envy and the sony vaio.

Honestly, HP envy beat edition's metalic build quality feels much more superior to sony's plastic chasis. And I still don't think its resolution is that horrid. However, the quality of the display is obviously lacking. I set the background as pitch black, and it displayed a black-gray-ish color.

As I've said before, I hesitated for sony because of poor customer service (if my laptop malfunctions, I'm screwed), driver problems (stated in the official owners thread), and a strange lack of popularity (it's a pain to find reviews and feedback online).

I thought HP would be more reliable because 1) it's a pure computer manufacturer, not one that started off making TV's, 2) much more popular. Also, my mom bought an HP DV7 around 2 years ago. We bought the model without doing any research, and so far it ran with no major malfunctions. (although the fans are fairly loud and the left palm area heats up too much). So based on my limited experience, HP's seems reliable enough.

Sigh, still favoring HP at the moment. Maybe I should just wait for the next envy refresh, and pray that HP restores its radiance display option Screw college.

 

HP, Sony ( except for the Z ), Dell, Apple, Toshiba, Acer, Gateway and most of the manufacturers dont make their units anyways. Foxconn, Quanta, Compal and a couple others make 95% of them.

ASUS, Panasonic, Clevo and Sony but ONLY the Z are made by their respective manufacturers I know of.

does your budget allow you to move to a business class unit like a probook or elitebook? as said they are much better built and twice as durable.

screw the radiance display I want the DreamColor IPS screen in more of their machines

 

XD that shoves my possible 1366 x 768 even deeper into the dirt.

My budget right now is around 1000, though I guess if I BEG my parents and I catch some sort of deal, I might be able to get a higher end model like the elitebook.

But come on, what laptop can possibly look cooler than the envy beats edition.

 

lol, look at the second from bottom on my sig, its good bragging rights.
but on a more serious note Ill take fast, durable and reliable over looks any day when it comes to a laptop

 

There are sub-$500 laptops that may be good enough for college.

But HP, Sony, Dell and others design their computers, and so even though all these computers are made by Foxconn and Quanta, they may still differ in reliability. For instance, if I were to commission Foxconn to make a laptop made of paper, it's not going to be as reliable as the laptops that they make for HP etc.

 

Sure it all depends on what you are doing. But I would never send my son/daughter off to college with a 500 dollar Acer unless it was some sort of sick joke.

College is full of oops moments in life, and I would recommend a business oriented notebook. 1000 is alot to play with, you can get a T420 with warranty and HD+ screen for that and have some money left over. Also considering you are going off to college, an accidental damage warranty would be a wise investment.

HP, Sony, Dell don't even design their low end laptops anymore. I'm sure they ask ODM to make a laptop via certain specs. They have X prototype submit to Dell and then they pick via final selection on who can make it the cheapest. Dell, Sony, HP will just put their name on the final product and deal with end user support.

Oh and by the way, Foxconn makes nearly ALL of Apple's products, just to let you know.

 

The Envy line is their premium line and are very nice laptops. HP's in general aren't bad though. They offer some good competitive alternatives to much higher priced similarly performing laptops.\

Personally, anything less than 1600x900 is too small of a desktop space to use effectively.

 

Envy 14 is not a true 14" laptop. It's closer in size to the older 15" (not 15.6") laptops. It's got a 14.5" LCD panel while other 14-inchers have 14" panels..

So I think it'll be too low on an Envy 14. I had a Envy 14 with a radiance (1600x900) display once, but sent it back due to a stuck pixel and they didn't have any more radiance screens.

 

It's HP Home's premium line. HP's premium line is their business-class Elitebooks.

I went through college without a computer, and graduated in 3 years with a 4.0 GPA. Having a computer can help, but it can also distract. Lots of students bring their laptops to class just for Facebook.

That's because the main objective of these craptops is to be as affordable as possible. As soon as HP et al. hire someone to design a low-end laptop, it would become too expensive to make. But they still design the vast majority of their laptops.

You didn't have to let me know because I had already known that. What was your point anyway? I had already stated that whether Foxconn or Compal or Quanta makes a machine doesn't matter. It's the design that matters, and Apple definitely designs all their laptops (which is one of the many reasons they are so expensive). Someday if Apple wants to start selling $300 craptops, they too would just pick one of Foxconn's existing designs.

 

I think whether your notebook works out or not probably comes down to plain old dumb luck more than anything else. I've seen high quality notebooks that most sat on desk that one day just didn't work any more. I've also seen $400 notebooks that were used and abused, but just kept on working.

 

1600x900 is 37.2% better.

 

Having previously owned the HP envy I personally found 1366 x 768 to be too small, especially when I opened League of Legends and the resolution was too small to fit the client window, so my friends list got cut off. Hp's service is helpful and fast though, learned that from having to send it back to them three times the final one being for a refund. took 2 days to get the return package 2 to send it back 2-3 for them to work on it, and another 2-3 to get it back in my hands. There was a lot a liked about it, but I do regret getting it, and don't really recommend it. I still have faith in HP though.

Hah

 

actually for HP Envy 14 Beats Edition main point seems audio not graphic
and for both computer what is the graphic card ? if both are same of course it is better to select highest one but for HP ?, you should be really very brave

 

I thought Sony made durable and reliable laptops

 

the graphics card is AMD Radeon 6630M.

hmmmm I see some of your points. Envy 14 is too close to 15", maybe it's just better to buy a 15" laptop for 10000x nicer screen and better specs.

I'll dig through bestbuy for other options

 

That sounds like a good idea, are you only looking for laptops you can get through best buy?

 

if you have more money to spend sony is the best
if you have additional cooler in your house then selection should be Hp
if you are really interesting with cost/eff. then you can think about between asus and alianware.
I had all above, and now sony died, mainbord burnt with by connected printer " service explain- voltage protection ", I got asus " 4 years still perfectly fine, but I gave it as gift later I tried Alienware very heavy to carry for sure it was with 5870, in one week I gave it back final one is ASUS G53SW 3D Vision.

So all depends your style, if you dont care with brand name choise should be depends for ability not outlook I think.

 

AMD Radeon 6630M is not a good choise !!! how about the other ?

 

To add to that, my Toshiba Satellite took some serious beating when I used it (fell 3 times over 2 years, 2 time in a laptop bag, once while the laptop was open). It cost me $430, plus tax.

 

I'm looking through bestbuy because it's the only place I know that sells a variety of laptops in the US.

I plan on going down to the US in a few weeks to shop for a laptop.

Oh yea, is it possible to change the screen on the HP envy after buying it? . Right now, bestbuy is offering a pretty good deal. HP ENVY 14-1260se Laptop & Beats By Dr. Dre Black Headphones Package

 

MamasBoy/// believe me you should keep away from this with same price or little bit higher cost you can purchase better something especially in US.
the reason is this ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 - Notebookcheck.net Tech

 

Are you willing to buy your laptop online?
If my budget was around 1,000 USD This is probably what I would of gotten.
FORCE 16F2 / MSI 16F2

 

hmmm oh yes, the link I gave was apparently the old version of beats 14.

Here's the new specs:

Radeon 6630M Switchable Graphics
600GB 7200RPM HDD
6GB RAM
i5-2410M Intel
Brightview Display 1366 x 768
Slot DVD Loader

Same price, same deal. Bestbuy's website is just screwed up.



@Savethekennies: I'm looking to stay in the 14" range XD, but going for 15" is a great temptation. However, it's simply too heavy and too big for me to carry to class/library. Thanks.

 

I'm carrying a 17" to class, It's pretty big but tolerable with the right backpack. Are those the specs just on the HP website? I would not be surprised if Best Buy was still selling the old version, when I bought my HP Envy 14 from HP.com it wasn't available at best buy.

 

AMD Radeon HD 6630M - Notebookcheck.net Tech
graphic card will be best issue, let s say after 5 months when the new games came into the market !!! that s why with similar CPU little bit strong GPU will be the best choise I think, or let s discuss again 5 months later
with this size,I think screen 1366*768 also acceptable.

 

I have no idea if you are comparing two laptops and the choice is either one of them, but I would just like to say that if money is tight you should buy a laptop that have the newest CPU from AMD, Llano. You can get real cheap laptops with Quad core and the IGP is good enough for gaming and much better than the Sandy Bridge IGP

 

Regarding the 1366x768 versus 1600x900 discussion: If you have used low resolutions your whole life, 1366x768 (the so-called "High Def") is fine. If you have used 1440x900 and higher, you would have a tough time going back to HD and below.

Which city will you be visiting? Micro Center and Fry's have a lot more laptops than Best Buy. Go to Micro Center - Store Locations and FRYS.com to see if they have stores near the city you are visiting. Every time I go to their stores I have so much fun playing with their laptops!

 

@Cloudfire: I havent heard good things about AMD I'd probably just stick with intel.

@pianowizard: Thanks for the suggestions! I live in vancouver so I will be going to a city near the west coast (like seattle). I'll check out those websites right now.

If I don't find a better 14' laptop by mid august, I'm going to the US and buying the envy. Screw all this uncertainty and endless search. I'll also basically get a free 400$ beats headphones along with the package in the US, whereas in canada, I'd pay the same price except I don't get the headsets.

 

Yep, Renton WA is near Seattle and has Fry's. If you can drive a bit further south to their Oregon store near Portland, you won't have to pay sales tax!

 

The new AMD Llano isn`t near Sandy Bridge in computal performance, but for gaming and 3D applications, the Llano is totally worth the money. Cheap too. Just giving you options.
HP - Pavilion Laptop / AMD A-Series Processor / 15.6" Display / 6GB Memory / 640GB Hard Drive - Dark Umber - dv6-6135dx

 

If he thinks the 6630M doesn't have enough GPU performance, neither will Llano. Better to get a Y470 or similar and try to change the screen out or just stick with 1366x768.

 

hmmm, I think I'll be satisfied with brightview screen. But radiance is, of course, much desired.

does anyone know an approximate date for the next envy beats refresh? Perhaps they will revive the radiance display option by then. I'm willing to wait, and in the meanwhile, use my 6 year old dell d610

 

for the screen issues it is always better to see by yourself, main thing from different angle how it is seen, in day light , from right and left etc.
As I understood you would like to receive headphones too with comp it is really good deal but pls before test it " computer " on the store if possible with 3DMark06 generally they can supply in best buy

 

well k here's how things basically unfolded:

I went to bestbuy today, played with the envy beats edition again, and loved it. I didn't mind the resolution and the apparently "bad" screen quality at all.

However, I then played with a Sony VAIO Y series, and the screen quality blew me away. Yea, the 1080p resolution is nice, but what really made it awesome was the vivid colors. When comparing the two screens with the same picture, the sony vaio had much much better colors.

That's sorta made me want to hope and wait for the return of radiance screen in the next refresh. I mean, come on, it takes a dummy to figure out that returning the radiance option will skyrocket sales and make this laptop the perfect machine.

 

screen is really most important thing and sony is a good choise of course but when you compare the other details you will see that they are compasating some from the other if screen is good then graphic card little less vice versa but main think which you like and for future what you can