Anyone Have A Sony Vaio Or Know Anything About Them?

You pay more for Sony for the same hardware (just like most of their electronics). I would never buy a Vaio simply because I know I can get better deals for the same hardware. It's not like Sony's the one making the video card, CPU, hard drive, etc. (well not usually anyway). The reliability of computers most often is sheer luck. You can have the same hard drive I use fail while mine runs for years. When it fails, you think the computer manufacturer "sucks", whereas I say it's a great manufacturer and I'd buy from them again. This is why you have so many people recommend Dell and so many not recommend them.

 

Exactly, no matter what computer you buy or build your probably sharing the same parts as all the other companies. They charge you for the name and the looks. The rest of the stuff is all standard.

Having a part break down is no different than someones Honda running for 300,000 miles and the other breaking down in the first week. Crap happens and you can't do anything about it.

However I would go buying the lowest end either since they do use the crappier bulk parts which probably don't have the best reliability. If you stick the middle of the pack and up Laptops or computers your basically getting all the same parts.

 

i would not recommend the sony vaio, in my personal experience they do not hold up well. my hard drive gave up on me in 1.5 years, true i traveled with it frequently which may have put stress on it but still...i would stay away if i was you.

 

I can't say anything one way or another about the one with the Intel Graphics chip.

The reason I bought my Sony was that I had used them at work. The ones we have there don't seem to have any problem above and beyond normal wear and tear. On the bad side, I wouldn't go to far from a power outlet. You'll get an hour from the battery, tops. Plus, the speakers are usually not that great.

Another thing to keep in mind when dealing with Sony, you may not get the customer service you might expect. For example, my broken FZ190. Dell, HP, and Apple all used the same graphics chip. They have extended all of the warranties on the computers that used the chip. Sony however, refuses too.

 

I would recommend the Toshiba A305-s682....great quality build , great speakers, 4 hrs of batt time , 3gb of RAM/250hd and all for $599 at Best Buy.

 

To me the price of a laptop is all about the quality of the case. It is not a desktop which just sits there. It has to open and close many times per day, live in a case, deal with heat, and get knocked around.


To me the quality of this aspect is more important than the CPU or HDD size.

 

how about buying a jacket and pants that fit from overstock?

 

The jacket and pants analogy is perfect.

Overstock is going to sell you crap.

Don't buy from them.