Might as well post an update :^)
I have long given up on laptops as a primary workstation. For reasons of:
- Lack of IPS Displays
- non-upgradable graphics, very few dedicated GPUs in thin & light, usually comes with a loud fan
- coil whine, coil whine, coil whine
- a lot of creative stupidity in new touchpad designs
I might be back on board someday if we get IPS ultrabooks, with external videocards, and whine-free.
I go for weeks without using my laptop. But, I still need one. I'm now the owner of a Sony Viao VPCEG190S , since about 5 months now. My sample is 100% whine-free.
It's 14" Consumer-centric model , neither thin nor light, but it provides good performance, has a nice keyboard and touchpad, and has entry level nvidia graphics without associated "fan penalty". It's the first unit I've used for a long time where I've been unable to hear any disturbing electrical sound on a consistent basis. It also cranks out about 5 hours of battery life in real-life scenarios, and I didn't even select the highest capacity battery. The fan profile is a tiny bit aggressive, but should remain somewhat quiet during light usage. It does a very good job of keeping all the surfaces very cool.
here are the specs as configured:
Product: CA-VPCEG190S-LBOM
Component: 14" VAIO Display with LED backlight (1366 x 768)
Component: High capacity battery
Component: No Fresh Start
Component: Norton Internet Security™ 2010 (30 day subscription)
Component: Microsoft® Office 2010 Starter (32-bit)
Component: NVIDIA® GeForce® 410M (512MB VRAM) dedicated graphics
Component: Intel® Core™ i5-2410M processor (2.30GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 2.90GHz
Component: CD/DVD player / burner
Component: Microsoft Windows® 7 Home Premium
Component: 4GB (2GBx2) DDR3-SDRAM-1333
Component: Bolt Black
Component: Adobe Bundle (Free - $448 value)
Component: 500GB (5400rpm) hard drive
Per Unit Price: $549.99
Quantity: 1
Total Price: $549.99
Description: VPC-EG190S Configure-to-Order
Ship Method: Express Delivery
Estimated Ship Date: 07/13/2011
Review: (not mine)
http://chrisyim.netne.net/?tag=review