Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with laptop and Sony

What lightweight but powerful laptop should I buy?

bkudria — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:36:10 -0800

Which light-weight yet powerful laptop should I buy? I like the Sony Vaio Z, followed by the MB Air and the Thinkpad X200. Am I missing any models? I'm looking to replace my current work laptop - I use it for web development, so I need to be able to run Apache, MySQL, PHP, and some other stuff. I also use Chrome pretty heavily, and of course I watch a DVD every now and then, play music, etc. I don't run an office suite or play any games.

I carry my laptop to and from work every day, and my current HP is pretty heavy, so I am looking to buy the lightest laptop possible that still has a real CPU (e.g. no Atom, ULV, etc). I don't want anything at all resembling a "netbook". What I'm not considering at the moment is price - I'm happy to pay extra for a nicer, lighter, laptop.

At the moment, the best option I could find is the Sony VAIO Z-series. It weighs 3.3 pounds, not the lightest on my list, but it has a nice CPU (a T9900 @ 3.06 GHz). The MB Air is 0.3lbs lighter, but the CPU clocks in at 2.13 GHz and as expected does slightly worse in benchmarks. The Z also has a higher-res screen. I use an additional external monitor, but it is a nice extra. The Lenovo Thinkpad X200 and X200s are lighter even than the MB Air, but have even smaller screens and slower CPUs.

(Note: I am aware of the Z's in-BIOS VT block. I have no problems with patching the BIOS to work around this. I don't consider it a downside.)

Additional details: I plan on running Linux, so gross Linux incompatibilities are a no-go, but I think I can handle anything merely pedestrian. Also, I plan on swapping out the HDD with an SSD some point in the future, so if that has any bearing on anything, I'd love to know. I'm still in the research phase for that.

In short: I want a light yet powerful high-quality workhorse laptop. The VAIO Z looks to be a good balance.

My question: Am I missing anything in my analysis? Do any of these laptops have any glaring flaws? Are there any other models that have solid build quality and similar or better specs?

Thanks!

New laptop - help me choose!

aimeel — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 11:53:39 -0800

New laptop choices - Fujitsu? Sony? Dell? HP? I know what I want in a notebook, but trying to figure out which maker will best meet my needs. I'm an English and Theatre teacher soon to move to Norway and I don't think my old laptop will last much longer. Looking for a Core 2 Duo and up, a 4-500 gig hard drive, Nividia or ATI graphics, a decent amount of RAM about a 16" screen. As a teacher, I have about 60 gigs right now of documents and photos, another 60 of music, and I do a lot with music, photographs, and not a lot of gaming. (That could change she suggests unrealistically). I do a lot of work on the internet and usually don't travel around much with the laptop. If I weren't headed to Norway I'd probably get a desktop, but there it is. It would be nice to be able to help my students with editing short films on my laptop, but not vital. And oh yes, can it be a dependable machine?

Big note- I am an old school typist. I like to feel definable keys under my fingertips. And I hate the whale-snot, smear magnet surfaces of most of the laptops I saw when I went to Frys. I did like the texture of the keyboards/touchpad on Sony and Fujitsu. I know it's cosmetic, but I like a clean deck. Suggestions? And am I better off buying through Frys, Best Buy, online through ?? or manufacturer? I'll have to live with it for a long time so I want to make a good choice. And I thank the hive mind in advance - you guys are the best.

Do I buy a new laptop before I know if I need it?

Galt — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 21:28:01 -0800

LaptopFilter: Do I get a new one tomorrow because I'll have the money and it's a good machine, or do I keep on with my trusty older machine that hasn't given me a touch of trouble yet? Much (maybe too much) I’ve got a HP Pavillion dv1000 – I bought it for cheapz, on sale for around $700 and it’s served me well; it’s small, it’s keyboard is amazing, I rarely run into battery/CPU constraints. I’ve also got a 2.33GhZ iMac – I use it for most of my video/media/fun stuff. The HP has been my windows machine for two years now, and it’s got a lot of stuff installed on it – office, flash, adobe cs, two versions of cygwin, multiple versions of visual studio, eclipse, apache, five versions of java, sdks, plugins, the works. I need to have a windows machine, and I'm not spending more than a thousand dollars on a laptop, so the first person who suggests I get a MacBook and put boot camp on it can defenestrate themselves.

I’m starting grad school next week (a one year masters program), and I’m wondering if I should get a new laptop. Specifically, I’m eyeing the Sony Vaio FW, on sale for a shade over a thousand dollars at Best Buy. A part of me says that my 1.5Ghz, 1GB RAM two year old loss-leader laptop won’t survive constant use in software engineering grad classes. That part says that a 16.4” screen will be better than my 14.1” screen, and a Core 2 duo with 2.26GhZ and 3GB of RAM will be great for any needs (not to mention that I might be able to play team fortress 2 without having to reboot my computer every night, something I haven’t even attempted on the HP). And my parents are here, now, helping me move in. Through reimbursing them later, I could most easily get access to the money to buy it - but only tomorrow (because that much is over the limit of my existing credit cards, my checkbook is back at home and without my own internet, I’m hesitant to manage my money online right now. So I could have the money myself…in a week or two, maybe). Given how much I’m into technology and how much I’ll be working on the laptop, I’m not sure that I’ll be able to resist.

The other part of me looks at how much I’ve already spent moving in and looks at how much is installed on the HP. It’s worked fine so far – virus free, defect free, glitch free for two years. The only problem is that the fan introduces a whine into the audio feed, so it’s hard to watch videos or listen to music on it. I have no pressing need to get a new laptop. This part of me says to wait, see what classes are like and maybe try out team fortress 2 on the HP. Be reasonable, it says. And don’t impuse-buy. It’s important to be able to control yourself. Some stuff (Flash) I wouldn’t be able to install on the new computer, and I’m not sure of other’s compatibility with Vista (Adobe CS2?).

But then the first part kicks in and says that I’ve got some money in savings and what’s it for if not fun stuff? Most of the stuff I should be able to get onto a new machine in a week or two, and it’ll be good to clean house.

But then the second part says, “oh, yes, and you’ll make how much money this year? And can’t you clean house by /cleaning/ instead of, to continue this analogy, buidling a new house next door and wrecking the first one?”

And the first part says, “It’s a great deal, it’s a beautiful laptop, and it’ll last! Think of it as an investment. Or a continuing plan to stay on top of technology. You’ll need to be able to work with Vista. You can’t reasonably expect to build software without even having a machine that runs it. And everyone else will have Vista, too.”

And the second part says that it’s not critical and the first part says “you’ll end up buying it anyway” and the part of me that doesn’t war with its self says, “I wish I had some less biased input!”

So, hive mind, some help? Wait and see, or just get it?

Vaio gives "system timer error"

daksya — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 07:58:44 -0800

My laptop gives a "system timer error" and so I probably need some guidance in replacing my laptop's CMOS battery I've an 8 yr old Sony Vaio laptop, model PCG-F590 (a.k.a PCG-9201), which for practical purposes, stopped working 3 weeks ago. The computer boots into XP, but during the login screen, or shortly after logging in, freezes altogether, not responding to any input. Occasionally, it gets stuck during POST itself, displaying "KEYBOARD ERROR" and "SYSTEM TIMER ERROR". Some web browsing tells me that it's likely that the CMOS battery has a lifespan of around 10 years and that could be the issue here.

Before I replace the battery, is there something else I should look into? There was no physical trauma inflicted on the laptop, and I guess the system timer hardware itself hasn't gone kaput. This initially happened all of a sudden while watching a video (the sole purpose of the laptop) 3 weeks ago.

I searched online and this store indicates that the battery is NiMH 2 cells with a mainboard connector. How specific do I have to be with the battery purchase besides the voltage and the connector type?

Most importantly, before I open my laptop, I'd like to know where the battery is located and how I should go on about replacing it? Despite my best efforts, I can't find a motherboard schematic for this laptop. The laptop's way past warranty and besides I'm not the original owner. Repair businesses here charge exorbitantly, so I'd like to do it myself.

Recovery key plz? (again)

T.D. Strange — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 11:17:14 -0800

What key I need to hold down to access the recovery partition on my Sony Vaio? So my Viao is corrupted and wont boot (again, god how I hate Vista and its shitty sleep/shutdown). I can fix it because this has happen 4 or 5 times now, but I can't for the live of my remember which key you have to hold to enter the recovery partition. I've tried F2 (bios), F8 (Vista recovery console) F10 (nothing), F8, Nothing, F6, Nothing and R, nothing. I need to get this started in the next hour if Im going to be able to take notes in my night class this week - help me hive mind!

Does anyone know what the right key is?

Extremely hot laptop

jonathanbell — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 01:12:40 -0800

I have a hot laptop. In fact, it's so hot that I can't even touch it. Is this normal? Or has the fan given up? I have an 18 month old Sony Vaio VGN-SZ1XP. Either the fan is incredibly quiet or it's broken. Regardless, if the laptop has been on all day, the temperatures on the underside, around the battery, are so high that it's painful to touch. I usually leave it plugged in with the battery installed, but make a point of not leaving it unattended on beds, carpets, etc. Is this normal? Is there a way of seeing if the fan is functioning normally, or does it need replacing? And can I do that myself?

PC card reader broken - Can anything be done?

likedoomsday — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 13:51:16 -0800

My (secondhand) Sony Vaio PCG-V505DC2 laptop's PC Card slot isn't recognizing any cards put in it (I've tried three, all of which I know work). I know it's not a driver problem because all of the cards worked until recently, when they started working only intermittently before stopping working at all. Can this be fixed in any kind of cost-effective way, preferably by myself? When they're plugged in, nothing happens; the "power" light on the ones that have them doesn't activate.

I'm not terribly afraid of opening the laptop and doing some very basic fiddling, but I'm not good enough at soldering to do anything really involved. Sony wanted something on the order of $150 just to look at it, which is out of the question. Is there anything that can be done?

The laptop is running Windows XP Professional, has a 2.0 GHz processor, 40 GB hard drive, 512 MB RAM, though I doubt it's particularly relevant.

Recovering Sony Laptop

shinynewnick — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 10:01:25 -0800

Sony PCG-TR2A Recovery CD: My laptop was hosed by a SP2 install, and I want to restore to the factory defaults without paying for a recovery CD After installing Service Pack 2, I'm in a wonderful Blue Screen of Death loop. No access through safe mode, last know good config, etc.

The laptop has a built in recovery partition, but that is only accessible through Windows, or a seperate recovery CD, which at this point would be $20 to purchase from Sony or other retailers.

I ran off a Knoppix CD and pulled off all the data I need, so I'm not worried about losing that.

Basically, is there any way to get to this recovery image? What other options do I have for running a clean Windows install? (I currently don't have access to a copy of XP, but should have one later today)

How do I get a Vista laptop over its wireless quirk?

Cricket — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 03:04:05 -0800

Why does my laptop disconnect after it wakes up? At tax time, my husband and I bought new laptops. They're Sony Vaio I-don't-know-the-models running Vista and have generally been great for what we've needed (communications, media, and schoolwork). There's one quirk, though. When either of us opens one of the laptops and enters a password, the internet will work for the first thirty seconds to a minute and look like it's been connected either the whole time or for a while (my IM will either show offline messages or messages that came through--and other people have reported me online when I know the computer was shut). After that first minute or so, the wireless loses connection and thinks there's no network at all for a few minutes. It automatically reconnects after that, and I can't manually reconnect any faster. Is there a reason it does this? Any help for the problem? Google only brought up people who were having problems with reconnecting at all after their Vista laptops woke up.

Decide what laptop is best for me!

tomcosgrave — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 09:29:33 -0800

I am seriously considering getting a laptop. Basic requirements are that it have a 15-inch screen, 2GBs of RAM and Windows Vista Home Premium. I've done a fair bit of research, but am finding it hard to come to a final decision. So now I turn to you, wise MeFi'ites. Can you help? For various reasons, Apple machines aren't an option. I've decided to take the Vista plunge as it has some nice photo editing options I'd like - I'm a current XP user and I want to move on from it. Budget is under €1500.

I am extremely tempted by either the VGN-N31Z/W or the more expensive, slightly less pretty, but better featured VGN-FZ11L. Can anyone give me their thoughts on these two models?

Also, has anyone got any non Sony suggestions?

Acer are my second choice of machine...but I've not been able to play with the ones I'm interested in, only read about them online. I have played with a large 20-inch screen Acer, which was lovely, but are far too large for my liking and beyond my budget. What are the smaller ones like?

I'm not that interested in Dell, I have used some of their newer machines and I'm not all that impressed - they feel sort of clunky when I sit down and use them. The one XPS model I do like has a smaller screen than I want.

Help me make my mind up!

Laptops: Apple MacBook Pro versus Sony Vaio/Dell/Toshiba. Please help me choose.

davidinmanhattan — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 21:32:43 -0800

It's time for a new laptop. I have very strong thoughts on this subject, but I need your help, suggestions, and guidance. I am using a three-year-old Apple PowerBook G4. Previously, I had a Dell Inspiron (home) and an IBM ThinkPad (work.) Truth be told, I found the Windows machines' interface more precise (easier to highlight a portion of a web page or text,) and, well, I could run MS Outlook. (I love Outlook, and miss the drag & drop, email to appointment functions.)

I love the ease of use, everything just works Apple "lifestyle," but I also love formatting my harddrive, and even switching the Windows GUI to Litestep.

And, I have to admit, I am shallow enough to allow my self esteem to be improved when I am working on my shiny, elegant Mac in public. Also, I live in Manhattan, and have 2 Apple stores closeby (one is open 24 hours a day,) and "TekServe," a full-service repair shop that does a great job. Makes repairs and emergencies much easier and faster.

So, I can get the new MacBook Pro (with the Santa Rosa chip!) and run Windows and Outlook, or get a Sony Vaio, or Dell, etc., and run Windows and Outlook.

Do you have any suggestions? Is there a great Windows laptop you would recommend? For something this important (I am a writer, and could not function without a laptop) money is a non-issue.

Or, should I get the new Apple MacBook Pro? I love the idea of an imbedded webcam, and I plan on getting the new iPhone. There are some Mac-based OS X programs (BluePhone Elite, iSync, AcidSearch, iPhoto, LaunchBar, OmniOutliner, etc.) that I love and might miss.

Is the MacBook Pro faster than a similar Windows laptop? How fast, via Parallels, is Windows? I work extremely fast, am a whiz with shortcuts and key-combos. Even with a gig of RAM now, I find myself waiting for my laptop to catch up. Speed is of the utmost importance, and I would install as much RAM as possible.

Thanks for your help and advice!

Which mini-laptop should I buy?

cashman — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 11:38:20 -0800

Help me pick between a Sony VAIO TX series laptop and a Dell D420. Like some others before me, I'm going nuts looking at laptop specs. I've read a lot of the information here and I've narrowed it down to a couple of models.

Main draw - portability/weight. I'll be carrying it around and using it for document construction mostly (MS Word), powerpoint editing/construction and some surfing here and there.

Mac is unfortunately not an option right now.

Which would you buy with Vista on it - a Sony VAIO TX series (I really like the look of the 11-inch TXN25N) or a Dell Latitude D420 (12.1 inch screen)?

I keep getting told 42,000 rpm (presumably hard drive disk spin) is a problem, but I don't know.

Which one of these laptops should I purchase? If there is some other reasonable alternative that is as light (2-3lbs) and as small (11-12 inch screen) that's worth purchasing, that would be great to know as well.

Display problems with a Sony Vaio PCG-C1VE

tomcosgrave — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 05:58:47 -0800

My girlfriend has acquired a second-hand Sony Vaio PCG-C1VE laptop. The OS is Windows XP. Her problem is that she can't get the display out of 640x480. She's looking for display drivers, specifically video drivers and monitor drivers if such things exist - she can't find them anywhere. Has anyone got any ideas?

How can I shut off the auto-click feature of the touchpad on my Sony Vaio?

DyRE — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 18:39:01 -0800

How can I shut off the auto-click feature of the touchpad on my Sony Vaio (model PCG-GRT170, if that helps)? I'm assuming this is called auto-click. It's not tapping (which is where tapping on the touchpad acts the same as clicking the left button). I can turn tapping off and it still does this. It's a function where if I move the cursor somewhere, the computer reacts as though I've also clicked there, even though I haven't. I can't seem to find a way to disable this in the mouse options. Google turns up some people with similar problems but no real solutions.

High definition video screensaver?

felix — Mon, 06 Mar 2006 18:51:27 -0800

I've seen an intriguing screensaver for Windows PCs (specifically laptops) that uses high definition video footage. Is this available without buying the laptop? I believe the screensaver is mostly intended to show how awesome the displays are. It cycles between a startlingly colorful picture of a parrot, which then winks/moves slightly to show it's video; a colorful fruit stand; and some other interesting images. I believe all the laptops I've seen this on have been Sony branded.

If this specific one isn't available, I'd also be interested in knowing about other screensavers that use high def video.

Laptop repair in NYC?

Vidiot — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 08:00:47 -0800

Laptop repair in NYC? The fan on my Vaio died last night. Anyone have experience with a decent notebook repair shop in NYC?

touchpad problems on laptop

DOM1 — Tue, 20 Dec 2005 11:14:40 -0800

I have a Sony PCG-GRX700 laptop. When I type an email, suddenly the cursor jumps to the top of the page and deletes all that I have written. Can I turn off the touch pad to just use a mouse?

Adding more RAM to a Sony Vaio.

ChrisR — Fri, 17 Dec 2004 12:33:43 -0800

I've been thinking of upgrading the memory in my Sony Vaio PCG-GR370 laptop for some time now, but recently it came to my attention that there may be issues with some vaios that do not recognize memory above 256Mb (which is what I currently have in it). I attempted a google for issues with it, but, well... Just try search for "sony vaio memory 512" on google and you'll see how useful it is.

Which brings me to my question: Does anyone know anything about said issues with vaios? If so, do they apply to me?

Linux viewing problem

jmd82 — Wed, 04 Aug 2004 21:25:30 -0800

I finally took the plunge into Linux (Fedore Core) and almost everything went perfectly, except for my screen. Using a sony laptop with a ATI Raidon 345m graphics card, which I have found is not directly supported by Sony or ATI. However, any linux techies know how to fix it? I can view stuff, but FC likes to reduce my screen size and if I mess around to make it bigger, then the enlarged screen image burns onto my screen which I'm guessing is not a good thing in the long run. Anyone help or solved this problem in the past? (Also assume while I know a lot about Windows, but know nothing about the functionality of Linux).

Sony Warranty

geoff. — Tue, 25 May 2004 09:32:00 -0800

Major Sony warranty problems. My friend purchased a laptop on May 14, 2003. For some time it had random reboots. I told him to call Sony, which he did and they told him to reinstall Windows, which he did. This did not solve the problem. On May 16, 2004 (2 days after the warrant expired) I called Sony to tell them they never resolved the initial problem. They told me that in their records he called in for a "NTDLR missing", which may have been one of his problems reinstalling Windows but he definitely called in for the random reboot (or he would never had reinstalled Windows). So of course when I call in on May 16, describing the problem Mr. English-As-A-Second-Language insists that it's a different problem now occuring, and won't talk to me at all without charging me. (Gasp, breaking my own rule, more inside). So I assume, after ruling out power supply problems, that it most likely is faulty RAM. I take it into a local mom & pop place and ask them if they can switch out the RAM and see if that helps. I figure an $80 RAM replacement is better than dealing with Sony and could save my friend major hassle.

Several days later I receive a call back from the mom & pop place and they tell me that the whole motherboard needs replacing at around $800, and tell me that it's probably not even worth it. I agree, and right now I'm about to head up on there with my friend and take the laptop back.

Ok so now what do I do? Obviously Sony should be at fault as they did not solve the problem, but how do I convince them otherwise? My friend has kept detailed records of every called made (thank god) but if their records say the problem is different, and refuse to talk to us, there's not much that can be done. I'm close to calling, being mean, arrogant and an asshole so that they'll cave in. I'm hoping for a more civil way of dealing with this.