I'm looking at getting a new laptop that will allow me to play WoW and watch Blu-rays. I'm considering the Sony Vaio FW 590 with these specs:

• Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T9900 (3.06GHz)
  
• 6 GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 4GB+2GB)
  
• 128 GB Solid State Drive with RAID (64GBx2 dual channel)
  
• ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 4650 graphics with 1GB dedicated video RAM
  

Since this is not a cheap machine, I want to make sure there are no major issues with it before I click the "YES, TAKE ALL MY MONEY AND SHIP TO ME NOW" button.

I have read many reviews but they are not giving me enough assurance to dive into this purchase. And the guy I spoke to at the Sony Store had nothing useful to say at all. I might try to go again tomorrow and hope for a gamer who can help me out. :D

Does anyone use a Vaio that could give me additional insight? Or has anyone heard anything about Vaios that could impact my decision? Are there any other laptops I should consider over this one?

I used to hear very bad things about the Vaio, but that was quite a while back.

I know that a couple of the Dell laptops have blu-ray in them, not sure about the Alienware line... it's probably an option in there somewhere.

Sounds like the Vaio will be a hefty chunk of change with those specs, but should be very portable and not too power hungry. Laptop graphics chipsets like the mobility ATI stuff or Nvidia's M equivalents tend not to be great at handling all the bells and whistles of games, but with some of the options turned down it'll probably do fairly well. (And WoW is more CPU dependent than graphics dependent in many cases, I am given to understand.)

If you're looking for more performance in exchange for less portability, Dell have sort of extended the Alienware laptops in their range, and they do pretty well for gaming. You get an actual desktop chip and graphic chipset, but the trade off is that they produce more heat and consume more power. (Also tend to be heftier.)

I also heard that Vaios had a bad rep for breaking and being overpriced but everyone is saying they have really improved over the years. That's what I'm banking on.

I already have an Alienware. They are nice laptops but I had a few issues with it that kinda make me shy away from getting another.

Kae priced out a Dell for me that was very similar to this one but the price was not much different. So I figure why not go for the nicer-looking Sony.

And yeah, I don't really want to give up portability since I still have a great desktop when I'm playing at home. I just want something I can travel with that will play Blu-rays and WoW. (Will also be nice to have a spare WoW computer at home for when people come visit!)

I don't really want to go any clunkier than this machine. I'm having a hard time getting used to the idea of having a screen bigger than 12" on a laptop. I was always of the opinion that laptops should be tiny and cute! And then I got all geeky and started wanting better performance. That's why I am leaning toward the Vaio. Sleek, slender, decent performance. I hope.

Sony has had a reputation of having problems. I've never had one, I've always either built desktops or bought a dell or a Toshiba (I would recommend dell over Toshiba). I would just be sure to get the extended warranty (I know it costs a good deal extra but its always worth it), and find out from someone who owns one how good they are at servicing the warranty.

That's really the biggest plus with Dells, the warranty service is incredibly quick and painless.

Vaios used to be good when they initially came out and then to compete with the prices their quality went down. So from what I have heard from people I know who recently bought vaios they are having performance issues....even my wifes vaio tend to slow down for no apparent reason....all she uses it for facebook and youtube. One of the main issue she keeps having over and over is with the wireless card. Sometimes it just wont see any of the available wireless connection. My iPhone's wireless card is better that her laptops. So for those specs you will still be paying a good amount of money atleast more than other brands.

I own XPS1710 for last 3 years had 0 issues except for that one time when I acted like a smart ass and replaced the firmware of my video card with a custom one and then things went boom...over heating and thermal shutdowns because of video card(it was running at 95 c). Dell replaced my laptop when I told them it gets too hot to touch. Home is correct about the dell warranty. they are expensive but unlike other companies they don't try to hide behind minor things to get away from fixing your problem. I can say this be a guarantee because I used to work for dell for about a year in support.

Alienwares are good although I have heard very bad things about their tech support. This one is my favorite quote which I read in multiple reviews when the support guys cant figure out whats wrong: "Try googling the problem"

Toshibas are good if you get a good performance machine. I bought one when I went to university 9 years ago and to be honest I never had any issues with it till today other than the battery.

Also Sap what ever way you decide to go if you are getting more than 3 gb of ram make sure either to get a 64bit OS or install a 64bit OS after you get it else anything above 3 gb your OS wont be able to read and is gonna get wasted. But you are most likely to know this. I would suggest to buy the laptop wipe it out to get rid of all the junk trial programs it comes with and install a clean 64bit OS.

Sleek, slender, decent performance.

What's not to like? :D

Also Sap what ever way you decide to go if you are getting more than 3 gb of ram make sure either to get a 64bit OS or install a 64bit OS after you get it else anything above 3 gb your OS wont be able to read and is gonna get wasted. But you are most likely to know this. I would suggest to buy the laptop wipe it out to get rid of all the junk trial programs it comes with and install a clean 64bit OS.
Yeah, I'm going to get Windows 7 Professional on it ($60 extra) so I can get their "fresh start" - which means no additional crap on the machine. Yay for paying more to get less. ;)

Thanks for the advice!

I've placed my order! Thanks for the tips, everyone!! I hope it is everything I dreamed it would be!! If not, I'm sure you'll all hear about it. ;)