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The Sony UX390N vs The Sony UX280P
So, as you know (you being the one reader out there left after all these UX posts), I've been using a UX390N for a little over a week. At the time of purchase, I was familiar with the UX180P, the UX380N, and the UX390N. Naturally, the UX180P was old and old had half a meg of RAM, so it wasn't a choice. The UX380N, though, is basically the same as the 390 other than the 40GB physical hard drive compared to the 32GB flash disk in the 390, for a $500 premium and theoretically better battery life.
However, I became aware of the UX280P recently when Sony had refurbished units for $1,129 that I missed out on. What would one get for $900-1400 les money? Turns out, not much is different. You get 133MHz less on the processor, a mere 10%. You get only a physical 40GB hard disk. It also comes with Windows XP Pro instead of Vista Business, but if you'd purchased before March 15 (refurbs went on sale March 16) you would have qualified for an express upgrade. Compared to the UX390N it has a silver body. That's all. Well, besides the fact they aren't in retail channels.
Actual selling prices on eBay range from a rare $1000 to the more common $1500 to an occasional $1800. I found one for a little over $1100.
So, I'll probably be swapping for the 280P and upgrading to an 80 or 100GB drive in it. To make up for lost battery life, I'll get the large battery. That'll still leave me with over $1000 left. That'll take the "sting" of the 10% loss in processor speed. ;)
(NOTE: Neither image is of the US model variant. Do you know why?)
Posted by Shane on April 3, 2007 8:18 AM | Permalink
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Comments
This is directed at Shane, the author of this article.
How difficult is it to swap out the hard drive?
I'm interested in a 280P, and like the idea of a larger drive.
Thanks, Captirwin
Posted by: captirwin | May 8, 2007 10:35 AM
Hi Captirwin,
First, I haven't done it yet. However, from looking at the instructions, opening the device for hard drive access would rate much simpler than opening an iPod (special tools, scratching, etc) but a bit more difficult than opening a modern Dell for hard drive access (usually just one screw and a slide out tray).
Once the physical drive is swapped, the software would be the next part. I'd like get a USB enclosure that can take the 1.8" ZIF drives and use a tool to mirror the disk, then use another tool to increase the partition size of the primary NTFS partition, if it was the one at the end of the disk still. If not, you'd either need to just use the empty space on another drive letter or do a more complicated move of the partitions.
If you haven't done anything like this, I'd highly recommend ready about safety (of you and the computer) when the case is open and making sure you'll be prepped to reinstall the OS from scratch should that be necessary.
Posted by: Shane Conder | May 14, 2007 8:04 AM
(NOTE: Neither image is of the US model variant. Do you know why?)
No, I have no idea why, and now I'm dying to know. Why would you do this to me?!? Don't you know that I'm obsessed with knowing the answer?!
Anxiously awaiting the answer,
Aaron
Posted by: NewUxer | June 14, 2007 3:11 PM
Hi Aaron (NewUxer),
Neither image is of the US variant because you can see that the bulge for the cover for access to the Cingular SIM card slot isn't in the pictures.
Sure, it could have been Photoshopped out, but more likely the pics are of non-US versions.
That's all. ;)
-Shane
Posted by: Shane Conder | June 15, 2007 11:04 AM