SONY VAIO SVS15113FXB Intel Core i5 3210M(2.50GHz) 6GB Memory 640GB HDD 15.5" Notebook Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit

Pros: Excellent specs, excellent build quality, the keyboard is very slick and responsive, If you've never owned a 15" laptop before typing with the big trackpad will take some getting used to, but my previous laptop was a 15" as well so I'm already adjusted to it! The multitouch trackpad is so amazing, can't live without it. Excellent battery life, the backlight automatically adjusts brightness based on ambient lighting! The backlit keyboard is a big plus. Has an optical drive but doesn't need it--can be disabled in BIOS. The body is made of magnesium alloy so it's very lightweight and has a great feel to it! Easy access to replace the HDD and RAM if necessary (I replaced the HDD with a Vertex 3 SSD--see cons for more info). Runs very cool and quiet (once formatted and has an SSD). The screen is beautiful!

Cons: Needs a fresh format out the the box--there's a lot of preinstalled bloatware and trial software that cripples the laptop. Also, I put an OCZ Vertex 3 in it, (I looked everywhere online to find out if this laptop has SATA 3 or SATA 2, but couldn't find anything, so upon replacing the 5400RPM 640GB HHD with the Vertex 3, I was sad to find it's SATA 2 :/) Nonetheless, with the money you're saving from not buying a Macbook Air or Pro, you can definitely justify ordering an SSD to replace the HDD with. Lastly, I read everywhere that the speakers are really weak--I thought I wouldn't have minded or noticed since I always wear a headset when working on my laptops, but I was actually very surprised at how weak the built in speakers are, my samsung galaxy s 3 can produce more noise ha!

Other Thoughts: Some people have a preference of where the Fn (function key) is placed in conjunction with the control key (Ctrl), my previous laptop had the same layout of Ctrl then Fn, so I'm happy with that, also, people tend to forget that getting a 15" means you're probably going to get a Num pad as well, which is something I love.

Pros: Dont know. looks nice.

Cons: slot load DVD\CDROM does not work.
sony support couldnt help and I am still waiting on them to send a replacment

Other Thoughts: couldn't be more dissapointed, going back to Dell

Pros: This computer has pretty much everything thing I'll ever need and more for school. It's really fast, has an amazing display, and on top of that it's really pretty. Another thing I love about this is that it came with Sony's creative software, like Sony Vegas Platinum 11. This thing also seems to run fairly cool for such a fast, thin laptop.

Cons: This is only a little con, bloatware. It's to be expected with every laptop you buy these days and it's not too bad to remove.

Other Thoughts: I'm not at all an Apple fan, but I do really like the touch pad on the MacBook Pro. The touch pad on this laptop is almost identical to an Apple touch pad and it's awesome!