Sony Viao notebooks?
Discussion
I've got a GRT-796HP and it is a great desktop replacement - 16" screen, good processor and RAM, loads of features.
Only trouble is that it weighs 4kg with a standard battery that gives about an hour of use.
Add the weighty power supply, a spare battery, and all the other crap that one needs to carry when mobile, and the laptop bag ends up weighing a ton.
There are smaller, lighter VAIOs available than mine, but they cost even more and have smaller screens and less powerful processors too. So I guess it is a case of paying your money and taking your choice.
Only trouble is that it weighs 4kg with a standard battery that gives about an hour of use.
Add the weighty power supply, a spare battery, and all the other crap that one needs to carry when mobile, and the laptop bag ends up weighing a ton.
There are smaller, lighter VAIOs available than mine, but they cost even more and have smaller screens and less powerful processors too. So I guess it is a case of paying your money and taking your choice.
JonRB said:
I've got a GRT-796HP and it is a great desktop replacement - 16" screen, good processor and RAM, loads of features.
Only trouble is that it weighs 4kg with a standard battery that gives about an hour of use.
Add the weighty power supply, a spare battery, and all the other crap that one needs to carry when mobile, and the laptop bag ends up weighing a ton.
There are smaller, lighter VAIOs available than mine, but they cost even more and have smaller screens and less powerful processors too. So I guess it is a case of paying your money and taking your choice.
Thanks Jon. I'm toggling between buying a new notebook or a desktop model (in which case I'd then use my old notebook just for travelling) - there's so much choice though! I think your idea of a powerful notebook is best though.
My wife uses our aforementioned VAIO as her main desktop machine and it does very well in that role.
I wouldn't recommend it for mobile use though - think of it as transportable rather than portable.
But if you're looking for a desktop replacement (which you appear to be) then I'd recommend it.
I wouldn't recommend it for mobile use though - think of it as transportable rather than portable.
But if you're looking for a desktop replacement (which you appear to be) then I'd recommend it.
VAIO's are great bits of kit. I'm typing this on a three year old VAIO GR214MP and it hasn't let me down once. Sure the RAM has been upgraded to 512Mb and it's been through three hard disks (purely for space reasons and not through any faults - the previous disk is currently sitting in an external drive caddy) but it's still up to the job.
They are a little overpriced though. As much as I want an VGN-A297XP it's too much for me at £1700, especially as I can get a similarly spec'd Toshiba Satellite M30X-127 for about £1200. To me 2" bigger screen size and a magnesium alloy case isn't worth the extra £500.
They are a little overpriced though. As much as I want an VGN-A297XP it's too much for me at £1700, especially as I can get a similarly spec'd Toshiba Satellite M30X-127 for about £1200. To me 2" bigger screen size and a magnesium alloy case isn't worth the extra £500.
Based on experience of a couple of mates, Vaios tend to be nicely designed, well built, some innovative features, can be a pain in the arse when it comes to getting drivers and are expensive. One mate had a dinky one that had no real performance clout, but weighed nothing much (even with its extra battery pack), was tiny and would happily tickover for six hours between recharging. Perfect for sales git hopping between meetings with powerpoint presentations, keeping notes, sending e-mail, etc. Other mate was a developer using a more powerful Vaio ... more luggable than laptop. He had driver issues (and sod all help from Sony) when trying to install various microshite operating systems. That was a big headache, but otherwise he was perfectly happy with the machine as a desktop replacement.
I have a Vaio A197VP and it is the best piece of kit ever!
IT has a 17" widescreen monitor with the biggest resolution of any laptop I have come across (1920x1200) which is true HDTV high resolution format, quality case and THE best monitor of any laptop.
It was becuase of the quality of the screen that I bought it in the first place.
MAke sure you buy the right one as the A range come with XP Pro and the other has XP Home. I didn't see the point of going for the most expensive one as this has everything I want.
You can buy one for £1500 from Dabs - www.dabs.com/uk/channels/hardware/notebooksandtablets/productView.htm?quicklinx=35WL
IT has a 17" widescreen monitor with the biggest resolution of any laptop I have come across (1920x1200) which is true HDTV high resolution format, quality case and THE best monitor of any laptop.
It was becuase of the quality of the screen that I bought it in the first place.
MAke sure you buy the right one as the A range come with XP Pro and the other has XP Home. I didn't see the point of going for the most expensive one as this has everything I want.
You can buy one for £1500 from Dabs - www.dabs.com/uk/channels/hardware/notebooksandtablets/productView.htm?quicklinx=35WL
I've got a PCG-GRT896HP with 15" screen. I would not classify it as a portable. Machine weighs nearly 4kg and adaptor is huge (!) - for 19.5V.
Battery lasts only 1 hour. For some reason didn't like the power supply on BA with their adaptors.
Pretty reliable but, in hindsight, should of chosen one of the smaller (lighter) models.
Trying fo find a bag that accompodates this monster is a pain. Eventually settled for the Sony brand which had to be replaced 6 months later because the straps ripped under the weight.
Battery lasts only 1 hour. For some reason didn't like the power supply on BA with their adaptors.
Pretty reliable but, in hindsight, should of chosen one of the smaller (lighter) models.
Trying fo find a bag that accompodates this monster is a pain. Eventually settled for the Sony brand which had to be replaced 6 months later because the straps ripped under the weight.
RossMac said:Yep, all of that applies to to my GRT796HP as well.
I've got a PCG-GRT896HP with 15" screen. I would not classify it as a portable. Machine weighs nearly 4kg and adaptor is huge (!) - for 19.5V.
Battery lasts only 1 hour. For some reason didn't like the power supply on BA with their adaptors.
Pretty reliable but, in hindsight, should of chosen one of the smaller (lighter) models.
Trying fo find a bag that accompodates this monster is a pain. Eventually settled for the Sony brand which had to be replaced 6 months later because the straps ripped under the weight.
As for the bag, I found a rucksack one that accomodates laptops up to 16" and it is superb. Very well designed, very strong and survived a trip to Singapore and back with no problems at all. More than can be said for my back under the weight though.
Unfortunately I can't remember the make offhand, but I'll have a look when I get home if you wish.
JonRB said:
I've got a PCG-GRT896HP with 15" screen. I would not classify it as a portable. Machine weighs nearly 4kg and adaptor is huge (!) - for 19.5V.
Battery lasts only 1 hour. For some reason didn't like the power supply on BA with their adaptors.
Pretty reliable but, in hindsight, should of chosen one of the smaller (lighter) models.
Trying fo find a bag that accompodates this monster is a pain. Eventually settled for the Sony brand which had to be replaced 6 months later because the straps ripped under the weight.
Yep, all of that applies to to my GRT796HP as well.
As for the bag, I found a rucksack one that accomodates laptops up to 16" and it is superb. Very well designed, very strong and survived a trip to Singapore and back with no problems at all. More than can be said for my back under the weight though.
Unfortunately I can't remember the make offhand, but I'll have a look when I get home if you wish.
please, it'll make a change from the dead shoulder
I've just remembered what it is. It's a Techair / Airbag case.
A quick Google search came up with a pic:
And a link
And a link to the whole range.
So there you go.
What I particularly like about it is
1) It is very comfortable
2) It has lots of pockets, including a pocket within one of the compartments custom-made for a CD wallet.
3) It holds the laptop really snug & secure and makes me feel as if it is actually protecting the laptop.
4) It has a rubber bottom (ooer) so you can put it down on a damp floor
>> Edited by JonRB on Friday 31st December 13:47
A quick Google search came up with a pic:
And a link
And a link to the whole range.
So there you go.
What I particularly like about it is
1) It is very comfortable
2) It has lots of pockets, including a pocket within one of the compartments custom-made for a CD wallet.
3) It holds the laptop really snug & secure and makes me feel as if it is actually protecting the laptop.
4) It has a rubber bottom (ooer) so you can put it down on a damp floor
>> Edited by JonRB on Friday 31st December 13:47
stin hambo said:
I have a Vaio A197VP and it is the best piece of kit ever!
IT has a 17" widescreen monitor with the biggest resolution of any laptop I have come across (1920x1200) which is true HDTV high resolution format, quality case and THE best monitor of any laptop.
It was becuase of the quality of the screen that I bought it in the first place.
MAke sure you buy the right one as the A range come with XP Pro and the other has XP Home. I didn't see the point of going for the most expensive one as this has everything I want.
You can buy one for £1500 from Dabs - www.dabs.com/uk/channels/hardware/notebooksandtablets/productView.htm?quicklinx=35WL
Visited the Micro Anvika site today and they have them on sale for...
£1299 inc VAT!!
www.microanvika.com/SONY/product.asp?TXT=INFO&PNO=SON14772
A misprint, surely?
You'll need to add delivery on top of that, but take advantage. I only wish I didn't have enough on my credit card already, or I'd order one right now.
>> Edited by Teppic on Friday 31st December 16:23
I don't think it's a misprint as Sony are rolling out their new Vaio range.
I have to say they're no better than mine with no obvious upgrades etc. In fact, judging by their official site, the screen resolutions have decreased!
Grab one from Micro Anvika and you really won't be disappointed!
I have to say they're no better than mine with no obvious upgrades etc. In fact, judging by their official site, the screen resolutions have decreased!
Grab one from Micro Anvika and you really won't be disappointed!
Nice piece of kit the Sony but I wouldn't buy one again unless they change their warranty arrangements. The Sony's afaik have a return to base warranty which in reality means days or weeks without a machine in the event that it goes wrong.
Buy an HP NX7010 instead. This has most of the gimmicks of the Sony depending on model, 15.4" Widescreen SXGA, Bluetooth, 802.11b/g, Firewire, DVD-RW etc etc etc. They normally come with on-site warranty which can be upgraded to a full 3 years for about £70 or so.
They have a list of machines called Top Seller or Top Value I think which are monthly specials. They should compare very favourably with the likes of Dell which is normally somewhat cheaper than the Sony.
As I said, fine piece of kit the Sony, but a home machine rather than business tool. That said, Sony are trying to do something about that.
Buy an HP NX7010 instead. This has most of the gimmicks of the Sony depending on model, 15.4" Widescreen SXGA, Bluetooth, 802.11b/g, Firewire, DVD-RW etc etc etc. They normally come with on-site warranty which can be upgraded to a full 3 years for about £70 or so.
They have a list of machines called Top Seller or Top Value I think which are monthly specials. They should compare very favourably with the likes of Dell which is normally somewhat cheaper than the Sony.
As I said, fine piece of kit the Sony, but a home machine rather than business tool. That said, Sony are trying to do something about that.
Stin Hambo said:
In fact, judging by their official site, the screen resolutions have decreased!
I hadn't noticed that, but you're right. The A117/A197 range had a screen res of 1920 x 1200, but the replacement A217/A297 range has only 1440 x 900 yet they cost pretty much the same as the A117/A197's did when they were new with the only improvement seemingly being a dual layer DVD burner instead of a single layer one.
For shame, Sony. Knock the A217/A297's down to about £1400 inc VAT and watch them fly off the shelves. Keep them at £1800 and watch people buy alternatives instead.
Teppic said:
VAIO's are great bits of kit. I'm typing this on a three year old VAIO GR214MP and it hasn't let me down once. Sure the RAM has been upgraded to 512Mb and it's been through three hard disks (purely for space reasons and not through any faults - the previous disk is currently sitting in an external drive caddy) but it's still up to the job.
They are a little overpriced though. As much as I want an VGN-A297XP it's too much for me at £1700, especially as I can get a similarly spec'd Toshiba Satellite M30X-127 for about £1200. To me 2" bigger screen size and a magnesium alloy case isn't worth the extra £500.
Ditto - mine is the same and I love it. My daughter has the slightly smaller PCG-R600HEP which is fab because she goes to Uni and can remove the 'notebook' to act just as a word processor to take notes etc and then when she comes home, she fixes it back on the docking station when it then becomes a normal laptop. Basically, by removing the top bit makes it very light and portable. Pricey but served the purpose and worth its lightweight in gold!
I have a Viao PCG 582M. I bought it about a year ago and I think its the best notebook I have had to date. It's very smart looking and even though its not the new widescreen generation, I am very impressed with the screen.
It has a 1.5Ghz Mobile Centrino processor, which will give me nearly five hours of use (with economy settings) and its reasonably light weight. It has all the toys, bluetooth wifi etc and I am going to sell it on ebay and then buy another one. It was advertised as £1799 new but cost me £1300, but they're still fetching £900 a year on so whats another £300 to upgrade?
The only downside is that its not as robust as say my old IBM was; but if its for use as a house queen laptop then its fine. By not robust, I am not saying theres anything wrong with it just it feels very slim and light whereas the IBM was very clunky and as pretty to look at as a wart on a virgin
It has a 1.5Ghz Mobile Centrino processor, which will give me nearly five hours of use (with economy settings) and its reasonably light weight. It has all the toys, bluetooth wifi etc and I am going to sell it on ebay and then buy another one. It was advertised as £1799 new but cost me £1300, but they're still fetching £900 a year on so whats another £300 to upgrade?
The only downside is that its not as robust as say my old IBM was; but if its for use as a house queen laptop then its fine. By not robust, I am not saying theres anything wrong with it just it feels very slim and light whereas the IBM was very clunky and as pretty to look at as a wart on a virgin
Anyone an opinion on the K315B model..?
Celeron 2.93 Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 40Gb hard drive (fine for me), DVD RW, 15" Screen, Windows XP Home.
Seems good to me - almost my ideal machine, but have only found it for just under £700 ex VAT. COuld do with something similar for £100 less (cheeky fecker!
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Celeron 2.93 Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 40Gb hard drive (fine for me), DVD RW, 15" Screen, Windows XP Home.
Seems good to me - almost my ideal machine, but have only found it for just under £700 ex VAT. COuld do with something similar for £100 less (cheeky fecker!
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