Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
Great Laptop!!
By ReviewerDave
I just received this laptop 2 days ago. I've been using it as I've been setting it up as my main PC. It has a great build. Feels and looks fantastic. I watched a blue-ray disc and it looked great on the laptop's screen. Bluetooth is nice to have to be able to listen to music from the laptop on my bluetooth headset.I've used it on battery power and it lasted over an hour and a half, and I had the setting at "balanced". The system said I had over 62% battery life remaining and I had been viewing video, pics, and wireless web usage.The only thing that I haven't adjusted to yet is the sound from the fan whenever it's plugged in. I have it set to "Performance" mode whenever it is plugged in, but the sound from the fan kind of is going to get some taking used to. It's not loud, but you can hear it when things are quiet. It's not much, but something I'll have to get used to.The other thing, which is minor, are the stickers Sony put on the wrist wrests. I would have rather not had the stickers all over the the wrist wrests. But hey, that's just me being picky. It has nothing to do with the system or the performance.Reason I gave it 4 stars: was because of the fan. Were it not for the fan noise, it would have been 5 stars. I'm sure in a month or so, I will be used to the fan and will change it to 5 stars.Update (July 7, 2011): Since my original post, I have changed this laptop rating from 4 stars to 5. This laptop has worked perfectly for me. I have since gotten used to the fan and really don't notice it in most environments.I usually only keep laptops for a little over a year, but I see myself keeping this one longer as I see no reason to upgrade.Pros:plenty of options (blu-ray, bluetooth, hdmi, wireless b/g/n, gigabit ethernet, large screen, etc.)fast (performance)comfortablesturdyreliableCons:Screen brightness could be a little brighter.Heavy (not a good laptop for traveling)Since I purchased this laptop, I have had 0 issues! Also, I open and close this laptop daily and it has held up just fine.I definitely recommend!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
Strong Perfomer
By trlamb
My old laptop was getting blue screens and intermittent Internet connections, so I researched my options. I liked the combination of price, size and performance that this Sony offered. I've been using it for two trouble-free months.I intended to use this computer strictly as a desktop replacement. But the graphics are so good that I'm going to try it for streaming Netflix when I travel. I uninstalled the usual pre-loaded software, turned of the UAC (since I'm the only user), cleaned up the start-up files, and the laptop is operating quickly. I am happy with Windows 7 (with UAC off). The laptop is very quick to find and connect to my home's wireless connection. The 16.4" screen is a nice viewing size. The screen is as tall as my 5-year 15.5" laptop but wider. There's enough memory to let automatic updates, backups and scans occur.I recommend placing the laptop on a riser or fan, because it runs quite warm. I use it at a desk on electric power with the battery out.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
multimedia laptop but surprisingly good gaming with Call of Duty 2, and 4
By a gadget lover
I bought this laptop mainly for bluray player (and burner), a discrete ATI graphic card (for multimedia) and large screen (to do work) at a good price. I thought about getting the ASUS 17 inch A1 laptop for gaming but decided not to since I already have a high performance gaming desktop. plus the ASUS costs twice this laptop. Received this Sony laptop for 1 week, first set up wireless, then downloaded and updated all windows 7 patches (>50) and VAIO patches. Bluray movies (Valkyrie, Life series) are beautiful. Browsing internet, applications are speedy. This laptop's Core Duo 2.2 GHz, 4 Gb DD2 RAM is fast enough for common apps. you don't really need new i7 CPU, DD3 RAM unless for heavy apps such hi def video editing, etc. Then I installed Call of Duty 2, and 4, and racing game GTR 2 to try out. All played smoothly (probably >40-50 fps) at max resolution for this laptop 1600x900, with 4x antialiasing, medium settings. this is surprisingly pleasant being able to play these games as this graphic card ATI is not really for gaming. Gaming laptops with mobile graphic cards ATI 5870, Nvidia 360M are much more expensive > $1500.Pros:1. Good price for the features: Bluray, discrete graphic, large screen with good resolution, 7200 RPM HDD (vs. 5400 RPM in most standard laptops)2. Mainly for multimedia but surprisingly good for gaming, at least those games I tried (new demanding games probably need better hardware)Cons:1. battery life is not long, about 2.5 hours using wireless. but it's expected due to standard battery capacity, large screen, discrete graphic (integrated graphic uses less power)2. Screen is good and bright enough but I don't think it's LED backlit (not listed in the features), which is available in most current laptops
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