Sony Vaio Type G series

[mkreku]

 

A full computer with 2 GB RAM, 12.1 inch super sharp screen, 80 GB shock resistant hd, Bluetooth, wifi, and more.. encased in a carbon fiber casing that's supposed to withstand 120 kg of pressure.. and it weighs LESS than 1 kg!

 

Source: http://akihabaranews.com/en/review-72-Vaio...ini+review.html

 

Long time since I wanted something so bad

[Bokishi]

Where's the widescreen?

[LadyCrimson]

Sounds like a good field laptop - light and strong and small. And a decent battery life.

[Deraldin]

Yeah, but being a sony laptop, the bottom probably heats up enough to cause your wooden desk to spontaneously combust.

[mkreku]

Sounds like a good field laptop - light and strong and small. And a decent battery life.

Decent? It has 12.5 hours of battery life! I've never seen a longer life than that.

[LadyCrimson]

12.5? I guess I misread somewhere ... I thought it was 1.5. :blush10:

Twelve would indeed be awesome.

 

*googles some more*

12 is with the optional battery, right? I'm reading more like 4 hours with the default one (Sony says 6, reviewers got around 4). Still be very good tho.

[Diamond]

I suppose SSD is a big factor for the battery life. Finally a laptop that can last at least one flight.

 

However the one thing I distinctly remember about Sony laptops is that they are ridiculously overpriced.

[mkreku]

I suppose SSD is a big factor for the battery life. Finally a laptop that can last at least one flight.

 

However the one thing I distinctly remember about Sony laptops is that they are ridiculously overpriced.

Yes. There's a guy in Sweden that sells them already. He wants $3000 for them. And he claims that's almost $1000 below Sony's retail price

[SamuraiGaijin]

As the proud owner of a Sony VAIO VGN-S560P, the only issue I had was that it came with only 512MB RAM ... and DDR2 was a bit difficult to find when I first bought it (a year and a half ago) ... luckily I had a trip to Hong Kong coming up, and upping the RAM to 2GB is the only change I've had to make (other than software updates).

 

It's a bit dated, but still plenty of hardware to keep up with everything I throw at it ... except games ... it can run most games at minimum quality settings.

 

It was probably a bit overpriced, for the performance, but zero problems and good portability have been well worth it.

 

I find the "less than 1kg" data point hard to swallow, but then again, if you remove the battery and DVD drive then I'd bet mine isn't too far off that mark.

 

You do pay a premium for the smaller form factor and Sony style, but I'd buy another VAIO - mine's been nothing but goodness (after I upped the RAM).

[metadigital]

The biggest hurdle with a Sony laptop (as with most of their products) is the high entry price. Apparently the finish is worth the premium.

[Walsingham]

I confess that the technical specs sound good. But I also confess I became so angry with the Vaio interface rubbish that I nearly threw the last one I worked on out the window. The only thing that stopped me was the thought that to do so would deprive me of the pleasure of throwing the damned thing at an actual Sony marketing swine if I ever happened across them.

[metadigital]

I think they're trying to create the "Apple iBook" niche (i.e. not an ugly generic laptop case) for the PC market.

[SamuraiGaijin]

... I became so angry with the Vaio interface rubbish that I nearly threw the last one I worked on out the window. ...

The proprietary bloatware that the laptop came with ("Sony" or "VAIO" software for darn near everything media related) was a complete waste of HDD space and boot-up time for the 15 minutes it took me to figure out I didn't need them and to kill them with "Add/Remove Programs". So, I'm not sure what "VAIO Interface rubbish" you're specifically talking about. The driver support has been pretty slow to update, but I don't know if that means that new drivers are released infrequently because the tech support is slow or because the drivers shipped in good shape. As I haven't had any problems with it so far, I'd bet the latter, though.

 

I think they're trying to create the "Apple iBook" niche (i.e. not an ugly generic laptop case) for the PC market.

Yep - it's a sexy little piece of hardware ... it turns heads, but doesn't scream "non-conformist" or "cute" like an iBook. Performance in such a small package (for the portables ... if you're shopping for a desktop-replacement, shop around) comes at a premium, though.