Sony offers a free PS3 or Vita with back-to-school PC

Matthew DeCarlo

Posts: 5,271   +104

Shopping for a back-to-school computer? Spend your money with Sony and you could walk away with a free gaming console. On the heels of Microsoft's promotion, the Japanese manufacturer has announced that students and faculty who purchase an eligible VAIO machine will get to choose between a free PlayStation 3 160GB, a PlayStation Vita Wi-Fi or a $200 discount on select PlayStation gear.

Alternatively, if you're not looking for gaming equipment, Sony offers a flat 8% discount on an eligible system, which includes various models of the VAIO S, T and Z series notebooks as well as the L series all-in-one. The cheapest option is the 13.3-inch VIAO T ultrabook, which starts at $746.89 with a 1366x768 display, a 1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, 4GB of RAM, a 320GB HDD and 32GB SSD, and Windows 7.

That can be upgraded to a 1.9GHz Core i7-3517U, 128GB, 256GB or 512GB of flash storage, and up to  6GB or 8GB of RAM. Of note, the VAIO T also ships with a free carrying case until June 16. You can get the PS3 and Vita with a coupon code (FREEPS3 or FREEVITA), but you'll have to call Sony for more options (1-877-647-7699). Alternatively, CAMPUS8 offers a flat 8% discount on your purchase.

Microsoft's promotion is similar, though less restrictive in that you aren't limited to one computer maker or retailer. If you purchase one of the 64 qualifying machines priced at $699 or more from Best Buy, Dell, Fry's, HP, Newegg or Microsoft Stores, you'll get a basic Xbox 360 4GB free of charge. The free Xbox will only be available until September 8, while we haven't seen an end time for Sony's deal.

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It's funny, after following the link to the 64 qualifying laptops the 2nd one on the list is a Vaio E for $699, less than the cheapest Sony option.
 
It's funny, after following the link to the 64 qualifying laptops the 2nd one on the list is a Vaio E for $699, less than the cheapest Sony option.

Cheapest qualifying Sony laptop = $747
Cheapest qualifying Microsoft laptop = $699
Less than $50 more

160G PS3 is worth about $100 more than a 4G Xbox

Your argument is invalid.
 
Does the consoles comes with some educational software?, like Mortal Kombat?
 
Dude, Xbox sucks!

4gb xbox means you gotta pay $120 more for a proprietary limited hard drive after you fill that tiny flash drive up (1 good game or 2 kinect games).

On top of that you will have to pay for xbox live - $300 every 5 years.

On top of that the xbox 360 is a piece of junk. Sure RROD 33-55% failure is mostly gone, still 10% though and that's more than 3 times the industry standard for reliance.

No blu ray, no browser, no recharge controllers (also no blue tooth or gyroscope).

And you gotta pay $60/year to xbox for the "right" to pay for a sub to netflix or like service.

Plus all best 360 games are on PC with free online play the PC way

Plus ps3 gamers get FREE exclusive content in all the best AAA multi plat titles like Assassins Creed, Battlefield, Batman, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, LA Noire, Red Dead Redemption, Fight Night and even on old xbox exclusives like Mass Effect and Saints Row. LMAO, even though xbots gotta pay for online play (the only ones in the world that do have to pay) and PS3 gamers have free online.

Oh and thanks to the dvd you gotta swap disks like it's 1995 and thanks to M$ being cheapo's you gotta worry about scratching those disks.
 
you will have to pay for xbox live - $300 every 5 years.
-they keep offering me months for $1. personally, I couldn't care less.


No blu ray, no browser, no recharge controllers (also no blue tooth or gyroscope).
blue ray?
-streaming and cloud gaming = the soon to be new standard
-there will soon be a browser availible, and it will surely be better than the PS3 one (not hard to beat, it's a real POS)
-no recharge controllers? where did u get that from?
-gyroscope? rly? then I can say the 360 got kinect.


And you gotta pay $60/year to xbox for the "right" to pay for a sub to netflix or like service.
-it comes with the XBL subscription, so who cares?


Plus all best 360 games are on PC with free online play the PC way
-if you want to play on a PC, then just buy one, don't buy a console... BUT, if you want a console, the xbox 360 has many good games (gears of war, halo, forza, witcher 2, mass effect 1,


Plus ps3 gamers get FREE exclusive content in all the best AAA multi plat titles like Assassins Creed, Battlefield, Batman, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, LA Noire, Red Dead Redemption, Fight Night and even on old xbox exclusives like Mass Effect and Saints Row. LMAO, even though xbots gotta pay for online play (the only ones in the world that do have to pay) and PS3 gamers have free online.
-you already mentionned the subscription price twice before...
-I never compared the exclusive content, but I'm pretty sure the difference between both systems is small.
-you mentioned Mass Effect... xbox has the 1st title (wich is the best). PS3 doesn't. that alone dishes any downloadable content you can be talking about.


Oh and thanks to the dvd you gotta swap disks like it's 1995 and thanks to M$ being cheapo's you gotta worry about scratching those disks.
-out of the ±50 games I have, I never scratched any disks to the point it won't work. if you do, you are simply neglectful.
-swap disks? only few games require you to do that, and most of the time, it's divided between single player and multiplayer (like for BF3). if you can't move your fat as s (insult is NOT directed toward you) and change the disk...
 
Hell yes!!! Great deal. In your face M$oft with your crappy Xdvdbox deal...lol. Am getting this deal for my little brother - was gonna get him a pc anyways. He can now lay-off my PS3. Sweet
 
LOL @ the dude defending xbox. dude that thing is a POS.

Overheating, disk scratching, pay to play, pay to stream, no exclusive, no exclusive content, POS.

M$ made halo 2 for PC Vista only, no reason other to FORCE their PC gamers to upgrade.

M$ dropped all support for orig. xbox - no service, no support - no games. PS2 still sold and supported today.

M$ fked over 33-55% of all their customers just to gain market share and win the online market by default.

[FONT=Consolas]PC, Wii & PS3 - Free Online Gaming[/FONT]
[FONT=Consolas]PC, Wii & PS3 - Internet Browser[/FONT]
[FONT=Consolas]PC, Wii & PS3 - Netflix no additional charge[/FONT]
[FONT=Consolas]PC, Wii & PS3 - Hardware reliability[/FONT]
[FONT=Consolas][FONT=Consolas]Wii & PS3 - Wifi since launch[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Consolas] [/FONT]
[FONT=Consolas]360 - Online $60/year, which is $300 for 5 years![/FONT]
[FONT=Consolas]360 - No Browser, Even Wii has a browser[/FONT]
[FONT=Consolas]360 - Netflix must have $60/year subscription[/FONT]
[FONT=Consolas]360 - Wifi extra $100 for 5 years[/FONT]
[FONT=Consolas]360 - RROD, now RDOD, no need to own, all best exclusives are on PC, free online play[/FONT][FONT=Consolas]for PC. new slims still scratch disks and xbox live is $60/year.[/FONT]
 
LOL,

Halo, Gears, Mass Effect 1, all the Fables, Left 4 Dead, Battlestations, Alan Wake are all on PC.

There is no reason to buy a 360, RROD was horrible, pay to play is horrible, pay to stream is horrible, disk scratching is horrible (Blu ray no worries)

oh and LOL at the streaming buddy. Best way to watch HD on that $2000 HDTV you bought is blu ray, and its' hell of convenent when you are renting movies too and everyone else is a loser that bought a loser of a console that can't play blu ray.

Xbox has also only come down $100 in 7 years compared to $350 for PS3 in 6.

Who do you want to support, the one that gives you nothing and makes you pay for stuff everyone else gets for free?

Or the one that gives you the most bang for the buck, with reliability, tons of free exclusive content and it's "optional" pay service gives nothing but free games. E3 this punk - PS+ users get what, 13 awesome high ranking titles FOR FREE. you must have missed that part.
 
w/e MS haters. I played with both consoles and I know wich one I prefer.
+ in 3 years, I never had any problems with my 360. my best friend however, did return his PS3 after few months because it was crashing too often.
 
I've been fooled by Vaio's before, no thanks. I already have a ps3 too, and not interested in Vita. Niece wants an Xbox, so let's see. Yeah, no.
 
+ in 3 years, I never had any problems with my 360. my best friend however, did return his PS3 after few months because it was crashing too often.

I have a preference also:

Had a PS3 for 5 years now, not a peep of a breakdown. Yet my brother's 360...well, let's just say it's seen the inside of a repair shop more than his house. So really you can't argue this because the simple fact is that some people get lucky and some don't.

On the article: Personally I think that's great. I'm seriously thinking going for one.
 
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