Notebook Reviews

If you buy this model or something closer to this model please know that it gets heated. I have Sony laptop. It is very cool. Similar heating problem was there with a Dell laptop (12.1" screen) that I had earlier. I thought Toshiba should not have this problem. No professional review tells about this. After buying the computer only, I saw another customer in this page has already written about it. The key board also gets heated up. I don't feel very comfortable working under such a heat.

Just bought the Toshiba M35-S359 after much debate and research on which laptop will best benefit needs of wireless connectivity and good processing power without being penalized by the short battery charges of many laptops. Centrino is just a marketing ploy by sticking a less powerful Intel chip then some of the more readily available of 3.0 Ghz and around that, but that didnt concern me...Processing doesn't need to be so powerful anyway, unless you're manning a mission to Mars. Admit it, the majority of your time will be spent on a basic application like Word or the Internet. If you're a gamer, buy a Playstation. Anywho, what sold me on this laptop was the widescreen...Period. It's beautiful and a much needed change from the square screens the corporate world of design has left us with over the years. Using an nVidia GeForce FX graphics controller with 32 MB of dedicated video memory, the screen display really makes your mouth water even if your stomach is full. The 512 mg of RAM should be standard on all computing devices by now, which is true for this well designed machine. Everyone is watching their weight and figure more then ever now, and the M35-S359 is on the same track as us weight watchers. It's not heavy around 6 lbs at all...I don't mind carrying around this 6 lb diamond. It looks just as pretty, but actually is just a more practical gem to have then what's out there right now. One broohaha as I would call it is the lack of a manually operated volume dial around the outside of its' waistline. Ah, who cares! Another negative is lack of a 802.11g wireless networking. I know 802.11b is the standard right now, but the "G" is much faster and the 'future'. Even the lower priced laptops you find in stores have the "G". Hmmmm, what was Toshiba thinking?? Oh, and the keyboard layout could have been just a little bit more sensible. You'll get used to it after a while, but don't be surprised when you goof to your conventional PC keyboard and find yourself lost looking for the Windows button. This thing is gorgeous to look at though. The negatives seem to fade away quickly after she looks at you with that twinkle in her eye. So if you're looking for a Cindy Crawford with a brain and muscle to match, she's the one for many of us. The right balance of practicality and luxury, she may just be right one for you.
One last tid bit though...Hunt around for the price...I paid 1399 after rebates, so don't pay more then that! If you're wondering where I got it, due to Amazon's interest I can't say it's circuit ci...Whoops! Don't wanna upset Amazon now;)

I have just bought a new M35-S359. This is my first laptop and I have thought very much about the brand and the model of it. Toshiba was a very good choice for me. In this price range it offers a Centrino Processor which has indeed a very good performance with low battery consumption. Also its Widescreen feature makes you to watch DVD's in great quality and comfort.
All software comes within a DVD and you don't bother much with tons of CD's.
It has international warranty and an universal frequency adapter which allows you to use the laptop anywhere around the world.
It has got quality Harman/Kardon speakers which sounds very good. The keyboard layout is very comfortable.
I can say in this price you won't find any model with Centrino processor and with the quality of Toshiba..

I was thinking about switching to the Targus until I read all your reviews. I have the Franklin Covey e-Pocket Leather belt clip case and after 2 years of hard use, the spring is not very tight and I was looking for a replacement. From the reviews, my belt clip seems to hold up better than the Targus, so I'll get another Franklin Covey. Also, it comes in black and has an additional belt loop behind the metal clip for those who want it.

I have owned this case for 12 days and the belt clip broke off too. I reached to pull it off my belt and the belt clip broke off. I had to call targus and get a replacement case. It is a very nice looking case and it also fits my Palm IIIc very good. This case shouldn't have broken off this early and I think there must be a problem with these cases if two people had their belt clips break off in less than a month. My recommendation is "buyer beware", it is a very nice case but if you buy this product be careful with the belt clip, I hope your case doesn't break like mine and the other reviewers.

Well I shipped the broken case back to Targus and was sent a brand new one. This one has lasted me almost a year.I think the problem with them is that the belt clip is so tight that if it is stretched excessively for a thick belt, it loosens the clip causing it to break. I switched to a slightly thinner belt and have enjoyed it eversince.

I have been a Visor user for over 2 years now. I started with a Visor Deluxe, but now use a Visor Prism.

I bought my Visor Prism over 9 months ago and got a Targus Leather Case to carry it in. The Targus Leather Case is made with good quality material, and is very well crafted. The stitching is first rate.

I carry the case with me daily, and clip and unclip it from my belt an average of 8-10 times a day. Exercising standard care in clipping and removing the case, I have had no problem with the clip.

I normally unclip the case from my belt during long drives. But during short drives, I do not unclip the case from my belt. The case has a swivel type clip which allows me to swivel the case away from the seat belt during short drives.

Being made from leather, the case invariably gets scratched and pinched during regular use. But its wearing out very nicely, and with due care, I am sure that this case will last me for quite some time. I intend to keep it for as long as I can.

The case provides very good protection, specially at its corners. I credit the case of saving my Visor Prism from severe damage on at least 2 occasions when I dropped my Visor Prism to concrete. On both occasions, I had a barcode laser scanner module on my Prism - and this too survived with nary a scratch.

I bought the case from Amazon and am delighted that it is now available at a considerably reduced price. For this reason, I have bought 2 more of this case. I will be giving one of these to my wife, and will be giving the other to my brother.

Like everyone else. I read the reviews, user's comments, checkout the stats, etc. about this laptop. Then finally put out the big $$$ to get it. There are alot of things to like about this computer like other owners have described. My only complain is about the battery. Sony's site and most folks in this column said that they can get 6 hours with a fully charge with the battery that comes with this laptop. But I only get about 3 - 3.5 hours max including using the "Maximum Battery Life" profile. I have put up some more $$$ to get the larger battery, still what I got is about 7 hrs or less. So where is the 8+ hours that other people have said ? I have been looking up and down in Sony's technical support site and Goolge but find nothing said if this long lasting battery claim is true. Does anyone have an actually experience with this battery claim ?

For work, I've primarily used ultrathin notebooks: the Sony R505 for a year and then the Toshiba R100 over the last 12 months. Here's what I look for:

> long battery life (for plane flights)
> minimal sacrifice of processing power, HD space, keyboard, other features
> painless wifi and ethernet access
> other cool, smart things I can showoff

This VAIO is great on a number of fronts:

1. INCLUDED battery is solid: 6 hrs for docs, powerpoint, etc, 3 hrs for a DVDs. Meets all my needs for coast-to-coast flights. Light as a book.

2. It works great as my primary computer. I do hook up to a full keyboard/monitor at the office, but I don't feel compromised on speed or functionality.

3. On the road, the is very usable. You might want to try it out, but I don't have an issue. The monitor is extremely clear and bright. They've included a ZOOM feature on the unit to make it easy to enlarge the screen image. Thoughtful, and it works very well.

4. WIFI switch works perfect. Have connected in coffeeshops, airports and the like. No issues. The Ethernet and dial-up jacks are well-postioned.

5. Monitor jack is on the side so it doesn't interfer with the screen being open. 2 USBs are on opposite sides for good reason. Generally, well laid out.

6. When you're working on your traytable on a plane, and the person in front of you leans back, your poor display doesn't get crushed because it's short enough not be compacted.

7. Other items: The camera is fun and useful if you use IM video. Well positioned for informal chatting. It includes DVD viewing software (which my other computer with a DVD drive didn't). My long-term experience with Sony laptops has been that they are very good, durable computers. I researched this unit and compared to other Toshiba, Dell and ThinkPad before the purchase, and after a month feel even more confident about the decision.

Some Cons

> Additional battery is overpriced. As usual, Sony makes the upcharge for another battery or larger capacity battery abusely expensive. Such a turnoff. Thankfully, you really don't need one with this model.

> The Screen IS smaller. Hey, you should know this going into it. Fine for word docs, email, ppts, some spreadsheet work, and DVDs (16x9 format), but if you do a lot of graphics work, it's going to feel tight.

i am in love with my new vaio. I was hesitant to choose between the Z1 vaio or TR3A for a long time and finally decided cause of the lighter weight and the built in camera. I bought a wireless router and i am video chatting with my friends all over the world lying in my bed.

Pros: lightweight, whoever sees it with you see that you have a style, long battery , relativly fast performance with pics and videos , very good keyboard i can type faster on it than my pc and doesnt tire my hands , sony picture and vidosoftware is great, the built in cam gives you the freedom t o re cord a meeting easily what i often do since ..in fact that is why i shoose this model, excelent screen quality , if you buy it you will be simply happy with it, but dont forget this is a second notebook

Cons: if you are not a mediaperson like me and rather wanna use it for business like word, office ..i wouldnt suggest it cause this screen is too small for a long use with document. and if you are not using the built in mic which has excelent qualty and cam which is good for the net, i would rather suggest an asu with 12 screen, or the Z1 modell from sony which has 14 screen and mic too and bigger processor. For some reason though Cnet has bad revews on that modellbut if the little heavier weight doesnt disturb you and dont need built in cam i might go with that .And important if you do not see well close choose a modell with bigger screen cause with this one you have to be a bit shortsited that i am though..lol..

SUmming it up i love my vaio.

Would not suggest this laptop, oblivious to the tech specs the laptop has no support for any non-xp OS. Sony plays the role of a Compaq-like scum bag and makes the drivers .exe-install only with the .ini's associated compressed and encrypted. For 2000USD+ I won't play that game. This laptop gets the worst rating because it forces you to use the worse modern day OS (XP-series.) Sony needs to halt their continuing progression towards complete and utter crap. The new 04' laptops, don't even come with recovery CDs, that's right they cut that as well, making the laptop 15cents more profitable for Sony. Instead now because all 04's come with CD burners installed, they require you to make your own Sony-proprietary recovery CDs (9 of them) with CDs you have to buy!!! (I can't think of anything I would rather do right after I finish charging my dead new-from-factory battery then burning CDs for 90minutes) Other complaints are the crappy hinges connecting the lcd to base, and the crappy archaic and obsolete speaker system (Sony makes better sounding headphones from 5ft away.)

This is a real pitiful purchase; excluding Trinitron monitors, headphones, and smart-shoot cameras I feel Sony's future is extremely bleak, there other products fail to compete in price, they fail to offer even minimal product support, and they just barley run par to the competition's specs. (03's entry model has wireless lan, 04's doesn't - the only manufacture that hasn't made wlan a barebones requirement)

The real kick in the ass is the gizmos no one will ever use on the laptop. Like a phone modem, the memory gate port, or even a smart card slot on an all inclusive 2000USD laptop...
All that waste and all I want to do is run Windows2k OR Linux.

As one more side note Intel's flagship chipset - Centrino, fails to support Linux natively as well. The only free solution is using ndiswrapper around the Centrino xp drivers. Hooray for two companies which I'm quickly loosing respect for.

I just purchased the Sony PCG-Z1WA (the 1.70 GHz model). I replaces a three year old Dell that is a brick in comparison. The screen on the Sony is truly impressive although you have to adjust the resolution down unless you can read in micro print or have 20/15 eagle eyed vision. The key board works well (not to small for a mid-weight laptop). It would be nice if the page up and page down buttons were primary keys and not accessed through the function button.

The WA model has upgraded wireless 802.11b and g, it works great, if you've never gone wireless before you simply don't know what you are missing.

The battery life is awesome, I went from east to west coast, watched a DVD and still had plenty of juice to get some work done. All batteries should be this good.

My only issue with the laptop relates to the touch pad, sometimes it seems to lock up for a second and you have to take your finger off the touch pad and set it back down to get it to work. Everything else I've been able to adapt in Windows XP, the touch pad I haven't.

One last comment, this is simply the best looking laptop going. I can't beleive how many people have commented on it. Style, performance, battery life and relatively few quirks - Almost the perfect laptop. I highly recommend it.

I thought I would never buy a vaio because they were too expensive but here I am writing a review for my PCG-Z1VA. This vaio has everything I wanted - centrino technology, a good battery life(about 3.5 - 4 hours usually), under five pounds, a 14.1 inch screen (which is difficult to find in lighter laptops), and a wireless networking card. Some features that I wasn't even looking for was the 60 GB hard drive, sony compatibilty (e.g. memory stick slot), and integrated Bluetooth. One more thing that sold me was that my cousin has had a vaio notebook for four years now and praised it highly.

The only complaint I have is that you don't get alot of software considering the price. But don't let the price scare you away, this truly is a good value in the long run.

I was in awe with this cute little camera because of it's size which seemed to amaze me, especially because it had a 3X zoom without any protruding lenses, minolta's worth-praising technology. I thought this was going to be every amateur photographers dream come true, as it is extremely mobile.

After purchasing this camera and seeing the quality of pictures, I now realize what the price of this camera is all about. To say the least, the picture quality is pathetic. When I compare this to my already existing canon powershot, the difference is strikingly clear. Quality of pictues in this camera would be like those of a web camera, if you excuse the size.

I am terribly disappoited. The photo looks totally granulated with lot of disturbance. The color is made up and not natural. I would have forgiven the cheap little camera had I taken photos in no-so-good lighting condition. But as the lighting was good, the performance should have been better.

After checking out so many cameras, I belive there is nothing better than canon powershot. If you have some extra bucks, it's worth spending on a canon. The picture quality is amazing.

You can read my review for Canon powershot 4 mega pixel digital camera. This doesn't come even close to that.

You can waste your money on this one only if you need to be able to carry a camera around in your shirt pocket and be least bothered about quality photos. I wonder how many of us would do that.

Strengths:
Compact and lightweight camera that allows photographers on the go to take high-quality pictures in any place and at anytime
Weaknesses:
No A/V output and slide show function. This is probably the biggest loss for the XG.
Summary:
The ultra slim Minolta DiMAGE Xg packs a 3x optical zoom and 3.2-megapixel resolution into a body that is just 20mm thick! Though the DiMAGE Xg is almost identical to its predecessor, the DiMAGE Xt, it has a number of fundamental difference, including a faster start-up time (a speedy 0.8 seconds), a larger 1.6" LCD monitor, and a fast, 30-frame-per-second movie mode for high quality movies. Much longer battery life - 240 minute playback versus 120 for the XT. Specific AE program modes for sports, portraits, landscapes, sunsets, night scenes. Sports means faster shutter to catch action and so on. Multi-frame in one frame capture for action sequences (9 pics in less than three seconds). Manual settings mode somewhat like the Canon S230. One switch setting chooses the auto settings including the 5 AE modes. The other lets you choose color mode, ISO sensitivity, metering, and white balance. PictBridge printing support. In camera picture editing functions such as cropping and reframing pictures. In camera cut/paste function allows you to place an image within another image. This is one fantastic camera!

By far the best ultra compact, truly shirt pocket digital camera with the right combination of features. Not the best in the world, but real close. The start up time is less than a second and your ready to shoot. One mode for fully automatic with preprogrammed settings for portait, sport, sunset, night, and landscape. Another mode to have more granular control of sensitivity, white balance, and exposure.

Prints great 4x6 pictures on glossy paper, which is 99.9% of the type of pictures I will print. Comes with a 16MB SD card allowing continuous shooting at 1.5 frames per second.

There is a 3x optical zoom that is non-protruding. Great technology with great pictures. I haven't taken a camera on trips due to their bulkiness. Yes, I'm lazy. The Xg is easily kept in a shirt pocket readily available when the urge strikes.

I have had this laptop for over 6 months now. Here's my review:

PROs:
- Good lookin!
- Nice wide screen
- P4/ 2.8 GHZ/ 60GB HDD is great
- Love the DVD/CD burner

CONs:
- It comes with XP Home. It SHOULD have XP Pro. I had to upgrade mine, but you have to take care to upgrade it before you install SP1. This was a big issue for me.
- Battery life is about an hour. With P4 and all the applications, this is expected I guess.
- No INFRARED port!! I was disgusted when I found this out recently.
- Toshiba Support is NOT good. They do not even have a decent user forum on their site!!!

EVERYTHING else is fine. I love this laptop, despite its 3 shortcomings above.

overall the computer is a great buy. everyone was like who that is a big screen. after a while you get used to it and you love it. and so do they. 2.8 ghz is amazing and the hard drive is the perfect size for any gamer, or business man/woman. the only problem i had and still have is finding a carrying case for it. again it is a great computer for anyone.

It took me a long time to decide which Toshiba notebook model to chose. I had an old model Toshiba notebook that rendered excellent service through four years and I never thought of replacing it with any other brand notebook.
The P15-S409 has been an excellent choice. It is a very good combination of a relatively lower price with every service needed.
Wireless, DVD burner, an excellent 15.4" widescreen, an incredibly fast start up and downloading. There is practically no time delay in the printing process.
I use it for my business replacing my previous desk PC with
excellent results because it has a very easy to handle keyboard.
I took a big chance being from Argentina as I had the Toshiba sent by air freight. But a good packaging brought me a perfect working unit. As a matter of fact, Toshiba has a good service unit in my country. This is a highly recommendable notebook.

I bought my P25-S609 brand new from Circuit City on 1/24/04. I bought the $300 mega-warranty through Toshiba upon registeration. I have never hated a computer or a company like this before. 45 days after shelling out over $3000 for everything listed above, my HD starts clicking and sputtering. Long story short, total hard drive failure and data loss. After a week of waiting, my repaired laptop came back to me. I spent over $200 on software suites to create back-ups and restore disks to try and avoid ever losing everything like that again. Big help they turned out to be. Here we are, less than 5 months after buying it and already having the HD replaced.....the HD has failed AGAIN. The situation is such that I cant even get my back up disks to restore data. Toshiba wants to just replace the HD again. FORGET IT! I have a warranty that covers replacement should I physically break the unit, yet when I I politely request that my lemon of a notebook please be replaced, I am told no. I am fed up. I lost everything, AGAIN!!! Toshiba could care less. Looks like my notebook is headed for a head on collision with my Range Rover....OOOPS! And Toshiba America is being handled through my state's Attorney General's Office.....better luck to those of you out there with this computer!

This laptop is everything it is said to be. It is a desktop replacement, you can't be weak and be able to take this laptop around with you all day. From the 17" screen to the DVD burner, it amazes me every day. This computer is a little on the pricey side, but right now you can get a $200 rebate. As the old saying goes, you get what you pay for. I believe this machine will last quite a while. I have not had a use for Toshiba's customer service, but I am pretty sure that I would be able to get adequate service from them. I bought this laptop from a seller on eBAY. The only thing with eBAY is the problem of fraud. You have to be careful who you pay. Be sure that they at least take Paypal, but better yet use Escrow or COD. If you want a great laptop, get a Toshiba, in my opinion, it kicks all the big brand name's ass.

This computer (next to my beau) is the light of my life. I've had it for 11 months and am head over heals in love. I use it for photo manipulation with Photoshop CS, web development with Dreamweaver MX 2004, animation creation with Flash MX 2004, authoring multimedia projects with Director MX, a bit of music mixing with Adobe Audition, streaming music from Rhapsody, listening to NPR and watching DVDs.

All my peripherals (Epson Photo printer, iRiver mp3 player, SanDisk media reader, cordless mouse) plug and play nicely together, all at the same time. The big, beautiful monitor is the best feature. Watching DVDs in bed is such a treat!

The computer is a dream to type on. Feels like there are shock absorbers or pockets of air beneath each key.

The harman/kardon speakers are the only drawback. Having heard the speakers on the Toshiba Satellite 5205-S704, which are fantastic, rectangular speakers that actually raise up above the keyboard area, I had high expectations. But the volume on the P25 speakers is far too low. I overcome this with Creature speakers plugged in.

Whilst I wouldn't want to transport this computer with me every day due to the weight, it does fit in my bike messenger bag for those occasional trips across town or overseas. Not many laptop backpacks will fit the 17" screen.

The WiFi is wonderful. Even in a small apartment. I love being able to take it to the kitchen table, the living room couch or the bed with no cords dangling off.

I've worked on 2 laptops and 4 desktop computers for multimedia in the past and this one is by far the best.

i did a lot of research before buying this card, and in my honest opinion this is one of the best PCI graphics cards you can get, and at $100 is a great deal. i was playing unreal tournament 2003 on my dell dimension p4 1.8ghz with 512mb ram and standard onboard intel 3d graphics running windows XP home, and i had to play with practically all graphic options unchecked and set on the lowest settings. after i installed the card (see below) i gleefully checked every box and pumped all options to the max, and was rewarded by a beautiful game in its fully glory, and at an even better framerate than before. well worth it.

to install, it was somewhat of a hassle. the drivers included on a cd didnt work, and i had to go to pny's site to download them. but they send you over to nvidia to get the drivers, and since nvidia is the chipset and not the card, they provide drivers only with no support whatsoever. so, i got the drivers in, got direct x 9 installed, and no dice. you have to (again, this is windows XP home) go to the display, enable the dual monitor support, select the GeForce FX 5200 as your display for the second monitor, then choose that as the default, then dont expand display over 2 montiors. then you shut down, then plug the monitor from your onboard video to the new GeForce FX 5200. this is more of a windows XP/dell onboard video problem, which is what i still gave the card 5 stars, but you should still be aware of it.

anyways, bottom line: great card! good value, great performance, and if youre stuck in PCI graphics land, you cant go wrong with this for $100 bucks.

I love this card. It's versitile, its east to install, its great for newbies or hardcore graphics users. The price ain't bad either :-) What more could you ask for?

I bought this card because I was attempting to install dual videocards to expand my desktop. As it turns out this card comes equipped with two outputs. Instead of having to run this card along with a crumby 8meg ATI rage, I was able to run both monitors off of a single PCI slot @ 128 megs. Bravo.

Having spent a week abroad with my GRX550 (15" screen) I can tell you this machine is a joy to work with for web and desktop apps.

Watching DVDs is great, for the best in sound quality though be sure and get a SONY SRS-T77 speaker set to plug into the notebook, this little set of 4 watt speakers will rock the room and are small enough to fit into your bag and port along.

As for validating other comments I've read I'd suggest:

Size, yes the dimensions are a bit larger and I too bought a new bag - happily. I think this size of unit is best suited for a backpack versus an over-the-shoulder bag

Batteries, seem to last me about 2 hours, I'm ordering an extra one

Hard drive noise, havent really been bothered by it

Screen quality - stunning. I've used Toshiba, IBM, and Dell's - The screen quality is really outstanding with the GRX

Size of the charger unit. Yes, it is larger and bulkier than any others I have used recently. SONY should be able to do better than this

Rebate, came to me in about 3 weeks

Hope you enjoy your new GRX as much as I do. I'm very much a fan.

After researching the notebook computer market, I've come to an conclusion that every brand has its own target user group and should not be compared simply by price, CPU speed, memory size, etc.

Don't get me wrong. Price and component info are important. However, in my opnion, the purpose and your application for using the notebook should be weighted equally as well before purchase a notebook.

It is quite obvious that sony has a different market point than other brands. Other brands seem to present more general purposes notebooks. Copmpare the bundled software you would understand the difference. Sony's notebooks (or desktops) seem to aim at those users who also use other sonys, e.g. digital camcorder, camera, handheld etc.

I purchased this notebook simply because I had a sony DV camcorder and wanted to do some video editing. I also plan to buy a high end sony digital camera. I've already have a P4 desktop with two 19" monitors. It only leaves me room for a notebook.

I've seen some negative user reviews about this notebook on other websites. Some complained about the bulky size, and some complained about the memory stick slot which they never used. Well, if you are a college student or you often have to carry notebook aroud, this might not be the notebook for you, because it is really big as a notebook. However, the 16.1" LCD screen is very bright and beautiful to stared at. The memory stick slot is a lifesaver for me, if you use memory stick you would understand what I mean.

This is a perfect notebook, but it seems to get opposite opinions among users. I think that might be becuase it is not meant for everyone. Don't just buy it because it is a sony, as sony means expensive, I figure sony usually cost about 20% more than comparable others.

The only complaint I have about this notebook is the memory size, only 256 MB. However, there is a promotion to get a free 256 MB upgrade now. So, if you decide to get this notebook, remember to get the free memony upgrade offer as well.

The Sony Vaio GRX 560 is very well constructed. The 16" screen is very sturdy, the keyboard feels crisp not cheap and plastic like a lot of laptops. You might think a 16" screen is too large but it makes a very noticeable difference from a 15" screen, especially if you use the 1600x1200 resolution. The 1.6ghz P4M and 32mb VRAM are enough to handle games such as Medal of Honor, JKII, etc. Also it comes with Word 2002 and some video and multimedia editing software...

I couldn't be more satisfied with this laptop, I think you'll feel the same, go try it out at a computer store for yourself. I seriously think you'll never get another laptop like this again, Sony has created the best of its kind. The only thing that could surpass it would be a whole new type of laptop with detachable or flexible display or something like that.

There was only 1 glitch when I got it - the hard drive made a loud clicking sound about every second. Turned out the processor was turning on and off the drive in order to conserve power.
You can download the "Intel Application Accelerator" from Intel to fix that.

To answer the only negative comments I remember seeing about the new Sony VAIOs:
1. "The keys are loud when you type." Me personally I like the feedback, its not so loud to be annoying. The keyboard feels very solid.
2. "The arrow keys are small." Sony made the up and down arrow keys slightly narrower, but I have not even noticed the difference.
3. "Heavy laptop, AC adapter too big." The AC adapter is really not abnormally large. Yes the laptop is heavier, but I used to carry a powerbook across campus everyday that was 14 pounds. If the weight is an issue I'd recommend a backpack carrying case or else buying a weaker and tinier ultralight laptop instead.
4. "No USB 2.0." It does have firewire, buy a firewire-compatible external hard drive for backups. Or get a USB 2.0 PC card... Or just hook up the USB 2.0 device to your USB port if the data speed is not such an issue (such as with backups).

Here are my only cons about this laptop:
1. Doesn't fit in most standard laptop cases, you'll likely have to buy a new case.
2. No 64mb VRAM option, but again 32mb is enough.
3. No integrated wireless. Wireless PC cards are not too expensive but it would be nice to have it incorporated inside the computer.

If you are looking for a portable computer this SONY is simply awesome. A notebook or laptop it is not; its big and heavy by todays standards but the performance is fantastic!

The Gateway desktop died (will never buy from them again) and couldn't be brought back to life so I decided to pick up a "notebook". The FRV37 is blazing fast, the screen is large, bright and clear & its got plenty of HD space (if you need more consider getting an external USB hard drive). With a CD and a DVD burner you really don't need a desktop machine anymore. It comes with a nice software bundle. Its got firewire built in and is great for capturing video from digital video cameras. If you go on vacation, take this computer, a Sony or Canon Digitial video cam and an Olympus digital camera and everyone on the trip can go home with CDs or DVDs of the trip.

Buy this machine if you want to replace your desktop, you don't need long bettery life (it gets about 2 hours max), and you want something portable but not light weight. The only thing missing is built in wireless but for about $50.00 you can get a wireless card that will do the trick. This computer has NEVER crashed unlike all previous computers (desktops from Gateway) that crashed frequently.

Only 4 stars because its heavy, has short battery life and missing built in wireless.

Recently purchased the PCG-FRV37 to replace an aging PCG-F360(and an aging OS). The processor speed was among my primary draws and the PC seems very fast when applied toward its intended application: heavy duty spreadsheet crunching. Excellent 15" screen. RAM expandable to 1 GB. Recovery disks not provided, but may be created using a recovery application and 3 optical disks (I think one DVD and two CDs), OR 10 optical disks (I don't recall the precise requirements for this option). The dial up modem provides me with much faster connections (52 kb every time so far) than my old machine. 3 USB ports + Firewire. Operating system seems extremely stable relative to my older device - cool.

Relative to the above-referenced portable, I somewhat miss the programmable power keys. Maybe I haven't found the application to activiate a similar function yet, but either way I'm sure I won't miss that feature all too much - even though the PPK's were convenient.

Also, (from an old timer's perspective) I kind of miss the 3.5" floppy - but the new USB storage device I recently purchased makes those seem really dated.

I had my old Sony VAIO for about five years, and only had to deal with Sony service once regarding an easily replaced broken "port flap." Their customer service was excellent. I got the piece shortly after dealing with them, and it was readily installed.

I bought this to work from my desktop, hotel room, or other geographically stable locale - not Starbux or waiting in an airport terminal :) So far, it is exactly what I was expecting and needed. The PCG-FRV37 sits at an excellent price / value point relative to many other alternatives.

Five stars for happily meeting my expectations.

Great computer!