View Full Version : Sony Vaio B1VP with Free 40GB Vaio Pocket
Not often you see a good deal at Microwarehouse but they have the B1VP for only a bit more than Ebuyer but with a free Vaio Pocket thrown in. Got one at work to replace a stolen laptop this week. Lovely looking laptop - nice and light - and a nice looking MP3/JPG viewer. £893 after VAT and delivery by my calculation.
http://www.microwarehouse.co.uk/product.aspx?SKU=E535761
Megalomaniac
02-12-2004, 20:54
Yep fantastic deal that - if only I had the money....
crazyniz
02-12-2004, 20:56
Yeah saw this one thinking i could flog the laptop on ebay and get a cheap mp3 player out of it ! going on ebay brand new for £650-700 ! so dont really save too much !
Anyone used these guys before not actually heard of them, any idea what model the pocket is (there are 2 listed on the sony website) how come the offer is only listed when you click teh link and not by visiting the site as a regular user.
Id sell the mp3 player and keep the laptop :)
dnaddison
03-12-2004, 08:51
Anyone know if you can get a better spec laptop with this (or anything else free) ???
Anyone used these guys before not actually heard of them, any idea what model the pocket is (there are 2 listed on the sony website) how come the offer is only listed when you click teh link and not by visiting the site as a regular user.
Yes they ok, big online pc shop... know by other names as well (cannot rem) click help qnd company info to find out more.,
Anyone used these guys before not actually heard of them,
That's because they're huge and most of their business is selling to the minnows like eBuyer etc ;) direct sales is a v. small operation by comparison and why you won't see "bargains" there.
Hmmm - very tempted by this. Any reviews ?
Cheers to OP
That's because they're huge and most of their business is selling to the minnows like eBuyer etc ;) direct sales is a v. small operation by comparison and why you won't see "bargains" there.
Sometimes they do have a very good price... they will have a special price from the manuf or they will be clearly stock for end or quarter. I have bought stuff in the past that was cheaper than other options DABS etc. Always worth a look.
I work for them ;) and we are mainly B2B and not really consumer focused but we have recently been brought out by the DSG. Because of this we are now really dropping prices accross the board to aim to be the cheapest for most of the popular items we sell. This particular bundle *should* be exclusive as our Sony business manager has negotiated this deal with Sony.
The more consumer side of the company is called Technomatic and also known as Inmac (not the hair removal stuff) or MacWarehouse.
I hope this is of some help to people :).
For anyone wanting to know, the B1VP is more than your average laptop. The only thing to remember is that it is designed principally as a travelling business laptop. If you want a machine to sit on your desk permanently at home, well this machine wont be the best one out there as that is not what it is designed for. What it does well is that it is small and light (well under 2.5 kg) yet in contrast to many machines of this size, it packs a big (14 inch screen). The only machine that was close (that I could find) was the samsung x05, anything else that compared was somewhat more expensive. So you have a nicely styled, small, light laptop, sufficient memory for business use (very few real business people need 100's of gigs to store music!), reasonably quick operation, it is quiet and runs quite cool. Further to that, the battery life is great, with mine set for maximum storage, it would get you more than 5 hours (addmitedly with a slightly dim screen) and if you want, there is a double life battery also available.
Highly recommended as a surf the net, office type document use machine, it also doubles very well as a portable dvd player..... big screen and good battery life see to that. It should be more than enough laptop for conventional laptop use, but if you want to play games or store shedloads of music, well then you might be best looking at a much bigger, desktop replacement, machine
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I work for them ;) and we are mainly B2B and not really consumer focused but we have recently been brought out by the DSG. Because of this we are now really dropping prices accross the board to aim to be the cheapest for most of the popular items we sell. This particular bundle *should* be exclusive as our Sony business manager has negotiated this deal with Sony.
The more consumer side of the company is called Technomatic and also known as Inmac (not the hair removal stuff) or MacWarehouse.
I hope this is of some help to people :).
As I said... they have a few names and as a B2B and reseller they can get good deals that they can pass onto you... but, as with most resellers they DO NOT like returned goods.
Never had a problem dealing with their CS for returns as a business user.
rickyboy
03-12-2004, 17:41
@gunner - Is this offer only on the B1VP, I'd prefer a higher spec machine but wouldn't mind the free vaio pocket too :) I tried emailing them but haven't had a response :(
This offer was not initially limited to these guys, misco were doing it at one stage. One or other was offering the higher spec B series machine (which was £200 more expensive for basically a higher res screen and a dvd rw). If the B1VP isnt enough machine for you, I think you need more than the higher machine, basically you are just looking at the wrong range.
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Never had a problem dealing with their CS for returns as a business user.
That will be right - 'Business user'..... When you have a phone number and the public dont (same for DABS etc)
@gunner - Is this offer only on the B1VP, I'd prefer a higher spec machine but wouldn't mind the free vaio pocket too :) I tried emailing them but haven't had a response :(
Hi Rickyboy, the offer also stands with the B1XP :)
parasthacker
06-12-2004, 16:38
i think Dabs (http://tracker.tradedoubler.com/pan/TrackerServlet?p=14532&a=60823&g=86005) may have the same offer on also.
Ordered on at one minute to four yesterday and it arrived at 9.30am this morning. The computer alone is a bit of a bargain in my opinion and the MP3 player is awesom.
Thanks Steford!
The computer is def a bargain, I have had mine from these guys for 10 days or so. Only one thing to recommend, get those recovery discs made! I know 11 is alot and it takes a while, but I experienced a fatal crash of mine (yes a bit worrying for a 10 day old machine, but it was a result of obviously a very ropey usb driver i installed), had I not made the discs, id have been well and truly stuffed!
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How hot do these run? I'm seriously tempted by this...
Just ordered one, let you know about temp tomorrow.
Tip for laptop users. Don't let the batteries get too hot, it really speeds their degradation.
How hot do these run? I'm seriously tempted by this...
Cool and quiet. Even when the fan comes on, it is still almost silent. Sitting on my knee, it is only just about warm as compared to my old P4 laptop which got hot on my knee.
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I have a Dell Inspiron 8600 centrino 1.4 with 256 meg ram and a 32mb gforce 5200, how much of a step up in power and performance would the sony have over the dell.
The Dell has a 15.4 screen with 1280 x 800 resolouton and a 40 gig HD
I mostly use the laptop for wireless internet browing and the odd game of tiger woods
I am happy with the Dell but this does seem a very good bargain and if I get the right feedback I may have to treat myself to an early christmas present!!!
Cheers
I think you are sidegrading...... the sony will likely provide negligible performance upgrade and its screen will be smaller. I dont know the Dell, but the sony will only be worthwhile if size and battery life and an issue...... otherwise you are probably wasting your money
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Ad, cheers for the reply.
As I said I am verry happy with the Dell as I get about 5 hours on a full charge, I justed liked the idea of a new laptop with the free MP3 player!!!
If the performance is not much to write home about then maybe I will pass on this then.
Cheers
It isnt that it isnt a good performer, it just is not going to be more than a small evolution on your Dell. The only real way you would benefit I guess is if you could cover the cost of the sony package with the sale of your dell.....
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Ad, thats what I am thinking maybe try and sell for about £500 and I guess for the other £400 I would be getting an upgraded laptop with more memory and a cd writer as mine is only a cd/dvd combo and also a good mp3 player.
How much are these MP3 players worth if I wanted to sell it?
Cheers
I sold my one for £200. There is one in the classifieds for £250 but he wont get it given both this offer and that I believe they can be had brand new from ebuyer for £240. I would say £200 is about right when you check ebay and online prices..... you may get more but seeing Christmas is soon, if you wanted a quick sale, I doubt you would get more than £200.
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Cheers Ad, think I will have to think about going for it.
Will have to sell my own laptop first though.
Cheers for the help and info.
dbilsborough
08-12-2004, 17:34
I sold my one for £200. There is one in the classifieds for £250 but he wont get it given both this offer and that I believe they can be had brand new from ebuyer for £240. I would say £200 is about right when you check ebay and online prices..... you may get more but seeing Christmas is soon, if you wanted a quick sale, I doubt you would get more than £200.
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nope, the Ebuyer one was a misprice, the have a used one for sale for £323.68 inc VAT, the 20gig one costs £224.51 inc VAT from them.
You would get £250+ on Ebay with a good ad
well there is one sitting on here at £250 inc SD and it has had zero interest in a fortnight. It took me a good week at £200 to sell and on ebay, you would need to set a reserve because I have seen them go for somewhat less than £200
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Gunner, there wouldn't happen to be any discount codes kicking about?
Hey, I'm from Scotland!!!
fanmeister
09-12-2004, 12:27
:shrug: Darn It, Have a problem with the ALDI laptop I bought the other week, was gonna return it, and order one of these, but it looks like they have removed the offer......
Dabs are charging £100 or so quid extra to get the Vaio pocket as well!!!!
Gunner, there wouldn't happen to be any discount codes kicking about?
Hey, I'm from Scotland!!!
Fraid not mate, though I wonder if you bacame an affilliate for our site (UK affiliates) then maybe you could get paid for buying it ;)
Arrived this morning. Nice laptop, but I would have paid another 50 quid to not have it clogged up with demos and adverts.
The audio player looks nice, haven't turned it on yet. Smaller than I expected. Probably ebay it though, as it can't be connected without its cradle.
are they sold out now??? :(
The I have just checked and the B1XP is still available with the Vaio Pocket - part number E535762.
Ordered a B1XP last night. I was actually deciding between a Thinkpad R51 and this model yesterday, then stumbled upon this thread - kudos to steford!
After EBaying the player my outlay should be around £900, £400 cheaper than the Thinkpad which is only marginally better (it has Bluetooth, I/R and can be upgraded to 2Gb RAM, the B1XP has a limit of 1Gb which worries me slightly for development work, but I didn't feel it justified the £400 difference).
Again, I'd echo previous posters, these are business laptops, and not suitable for games (and no TV/OUT).
fanmeister
09-12-2004, 16:05
Arrived this morning. Nice laptop, but I would have paid another 50 quid to not have it clogged up with demos and adverts.
The audio player looks nice, haven't turned it on yet. Smaller than I expected. Probably ebay it though, as it can't be connected without its cradle.
I thought you could connect USB devices like cameras to it? Does this not mean it will have a USB Connection.
I thought you could connect USB devices like cameras to it? Does this not mean it will have a USB Connection.
USB is in the cradle.
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