Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Anyone Have Any Sony Vaio Advice?

I'm in the market to buy a new I2X laptop, and happen to be fairly impressed with this Sony over at Best Buy. It's cleverly named: VGN-SR520G/B (and I thought car makes and models were annoying)

It seems to be have a good balance of power (duo core CPU, 4gig with 8gig upgradable RAM, 500GB hard drive) with mobility (13" screen, 4.3lbs). According to the card at Best Buy, it gets 6 hours of battery life - a number I can't imagine is real, but even if it gets close to that, it's a good start.

The problem is, try as I may, I can't seem to find any real reviews of this laptop. Perhaps it's a model just carried by Best Buy? Who knows. Anyone have any experience with this laptop, or know of any comparable ones that have reviews?

I usually write off Sony's as being too flashy for their price, but this one has me wondering if it's time to re-think that stance.

Oh, and if you've got another suggestion of a powerful but light laptop, I'd love to hear it.

Update See this post which talks about battery life. The short answer: the battery should last 3.5 hours if you're careful.

23 comments:

  1. Well I've never had a Vaio of my own, but those who I know who have had them, loved them, but not for that long. They are suppose to be great machines, but they just don't have the longevity in terms of years of laptops like Dells and such. Basically you'll have to replace your laptop again sooner than most other laptops.

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  2. Hmm...that's interesting.

    Given how important a laptop is for my business, it seems reasonable for me to upgrade once a year. So, I'm not sure how important longevity is to me.

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  3. Anonymous11:25 PM

    I just bought it yesterday and am taking it out of the box as we speak. I was in the same boat as you - not being able to find any real reviews - but it looks good as far as being thin and light and still very powerful (which was what I wanted). It only has two USB ports, but being that I have a larger laptop I am not too concerned - this one is going to be a commuter computer. Vaios are great though and have come highly reccomended, so . . . I will try to keep you posted.

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  4. Anonymous -

    Sweet - thanks for sharing!

    I'd love to know any other experiences you may be able to share.

    -Ben

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  5. Anonymous10:06 PM

    I am loving the new laptop. Super super super fast and because it has Windows 7 professional there's none of the trial junk, et cetera. Unbelievably light . . . it is not a desktop replacement but as far as a commuter computer I think it's probably one of the best PCs and significantly cheaper than the comparable mac. I would definitely recommend!

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  6. Anonymous -

    Oooh, that's all great to hear.

    What's the battery life like?

    I think my wife is heading out to buy me one of these tomorrow...

    -Ben

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  7. Anonymous6:44 PM

    I have seen reviews from people who bought this and they said battery life is 3.5 hrs.

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  8. Anonymous -

    This timing is actually about right - I got 3hrs 27minutes on one charge. Thanks for sharing!

    -Ben

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  9. Anonymous12:44 PM

    how the viao is doing,can u tell plz

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  10. Anonymous12:46 PM

    plz let me know how the viao is doing, am abiout to get one. write me back hernes29@aol.com

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  11. Anonymous12:48 PM

    hey ben did u get ur viao hernes29@aol.com

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  12. Anonymous2:31 PM

    hello, i bought one of this laptops two days ago, and it's supossed to get today to my brother's house, yet i won't have it until next monday because i live out the US. i'd really like to know how are you doing with the vaio, is it fast? does it really pays what it is? thanks for the help.

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  13. Anonymous11:30 AM

    Can you upgrade the battery to one with more capacity?

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  14. I'm still very much liking the laptop. As I've said, it's fast and light - just what I needed.

    I did a bit of checking and haven't found a good answer on the battery capacity question. I found one extended battery, but it was really expensive an I'm not sure it's even for the right laptop.

    So far, I've been quite pleased with the battery life - it's the battery meter that's so poor, not the battery.

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  15. Anonymous6:00 PM

    I've had a this laptop for 3 months, I use it primarily for converting game film as I'm a college basketball coach and of course email/web. It's been great, however I would love to get an extended life battery. I also added an SD card for the speedboost and will probably upgrade to 8GB of RAM as I primarily watch and convert game film, but I love the laptop. It's held up great so far and it spends a lot of time on the road.

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  16. Anonymous -

    Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm with you, so far, the Vaio has held up great.

    -Ben

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  17. Anonymous11:04 PM

    Hi. My husband purchased exact same model Vaio from Best Buy last month. Very pleased, no problem with speakers or battery life. Have been researching prices in an effort to cash in on Best Buy's price guarrantee, but unable to find it anywhere else. Very curious that this model is listed as "No Longer Available" on Sony site......can u comment? Do you mind sharing what u paid for it? katie

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  18. Someone said it could not be a desktop replacement but as far as one person converting game video, it sounds pretty close.

    I am a professional photographer and need to bring in large amounts of data (could be as much as 16GB after a day shoot) and then edit them through a workflow and upload them out to my website.

    Any thoughts? i do this today on a 3 year old Dell D430 12.5'' model and despite some slowdown now, it has operated pretty efficiently; even with a 500GB portable Western Digital hard drive attached.

    Thoughts are appreciated - I may buy this as soon as today!

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  19. Daniel -

    I use the Sony Vaio as a desktop replacement - and I'm a programmer who's using his laptop to develop on, not just surf the web and compose e-mail. So far, it's performed great.

    It's light enough that I can take my setup anywhere with me, and powerful enough that I don't mind running bunches of apps at the same time.

    Of course, YMMV - but I've been really happy with the laptop.

    -Ben

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  20. Anonymous7:24 PM

    I love mine too. light weight, fast, solid, powerful. Only two complaints, simliar to some others, speakers work but are of poor quality--surprising for a Sony and I could use an extended battery. My daughter wanted to purchase one, however, and she cannot find one either at Sony Style or at Best Buy where I got this one in late December.
    Stephanie

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  21. Anonymous3:38 PM

    I just bought I sony VAIO today, it looks nice, I am not sure if that is faster than my old fujitsu siemens (amilo pro), I hear some noise on it when working.

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  22. Anonymous12:18 AM

    Had mine for 8 months..love it...overall! Lotsa horsepower....def. recommend it...if you want good sound...buy external speakers....battery life not the 6 advertised but def. close to 3.5hrs or so...lotta bang for the buck I think!

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