laptop
I've had both. Both a sony viao and currently a Toshiba sat p20. Personally, I find the toshiba to be better, a total work horse. The viao's are nice, but I did find that sony likes to use "sony" software, load up the computer with it and then charge you more for the laptop.
Go to costco and see if they have both. You can buy a compter there, use it for 6 months and return it with no questions asked.