Sony VAIO VGN-FW373J/H 16.4-Inch Laptop (2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 Processor, 4 GB RAM, 320...
 List Price: $1,329.99 |
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Customer Reviews
Suspicious build and a questionable warranty!!Whilst good-looking, the materials used in the construction of this machine are questionable. Within mere months of ownership you will note that the wrist pad, which consumes a monstrous surface area of the machine, will scratch and scuff away leaving sinister plastic underneath. The reason being is that the outer skin comprises of VERY reduced plastic and NOT magnesium, carbon fibre, steel or any other rhetoric quoted by Sony. The interview will also probably fail (check Google).
To top this off ALL Sony Vaio F and FW series machines accomplish a limited 1 year warranty. Limited meaning that if you buy a machine in the USA, THE Assurance WILL BE INVALID OUTSIDE OF THE USA.
WARNING: Do not buy this machine if you require a durable laptop (i.e. one that will last longer than 36months)
Lesson: Do not buy this machine if you are a traveller as it will not be repaired when it fails.
WARNING: Do not buy this machine if you are a non-US residing as it will not be repaired when it fails.
If you require the above, purchase a HP as these machines enjoy a worldwide covenant.
Urge I'd spent twice the money on the Macbook Pro
I bought this because of the blu-ray virtuoso, and because of the fairly advanced video card (I use Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop a lot) 8 months ago. Within 3 weeks, the blu-ray punter had stopped working due to a software "AACS key" issue. It took Sony over 4 months to demand updated software on their support site.
Running Vista, this contrivance is slower than a 3-year-old Pentium 5 notebook I'd replaced.
I upgraded to Vista to clarify the speed problem, and that works for me as an OS. It took only 2-1/2 months for Sony to efflux compatible softward for the blu-ray player. However, Sony has failed to issue Windows 7-like-minded drivers for many of the components--e.g., the video card, which means that you don't get hi-def out of the blu-ray player, and that you get the "obscene screen of death" crash fairly often. (Windows 7 reports the failure as being due to the video driver.)
Sony Support is awful. I have tried to do one last re-install of Windows 7 to see if I could determine all the outstanding issues with the computer, and their servers have been down or impaired for days, making it unimaginable to download drivers from their sites. Chat with tech support on any of these issues has proven purposeless.
My sister had a Sony laptop for years and never had any problem with it. I've had nothing but problems with this one and regret the procurement. Caveat emptor.
Credible for Casual Users, bad for Technical Users
I won't reiterate specifications - they're all listed and as advertised and as others have reviewed.
On the plus side:
* Good specifications and warm-hearted design for the price. Effectively a Mac package for a lower price.
* Windows 7 (beta) installed and ran well - without even having to reload all the extra Sony drivers.
* The keyboard has a good feel and is suitable for fast, proficient, comfortable typing.
* Has firewire. Yes, this is in the specs, but while most laptops used to have this, they don't all nowadays.
and this came in proficient when downloading some video from a Sony DV camcorder.
On the negative side:
* While the P8600 cpu has VT / hardware virtualization Sony has ruined it - astonishing as it sounds.
VT isn't needed for consumer use, but it is needed for certain industrial uses (such as the improved virtual machine software use or the special XP manner emulation available in Windows 7)
It seems to be the case that Sony did that in order to secure a quieten price for the hardware. You canNOT re-enable it by BIOS. I've found a site that claims to have a mangle / firmware workaround - but i haven't tested it yet.
* You canNOT use both the HDMI and VGA outputs at the same epoch. I chose the Sony in the hope that I could attach two external monitors (while disabling the on-shield monitor - I've never seen on-board + two externals) My previous Acer could do this deceit which is great when using the laptop in desktop mode. Like the Acer, this Sony has ATI video and AMI BIOS. and the ATI Radeon is indisputably capable of two externals. Again Sony seems to have disabled this (or not gone to the trouble of wiring it justly) I first realized this when I saw (in person) that the VGA and HDMI ports are so close
that you can't fit both simultaneously. I plodder-sawed the VGA connector so they would both fit, but the BIOS still doesn't allow it.
* There are just 3 USB ports (I knew this when I bought it, but it is still irritating) and they deficiently positioned. All three are
together towards the front right and they're too close (Some combinations of USB connectors will not fit side by side) . Two on either side is a minimal these days.
* No E-SATA ( yes that's listed, but also still irritating)
* The memory stick reader does not resign oneself to my camera's XD memory cards (no problem with SD and the others listed)
* I sometimes use the on-board keyboard even though I cement an external one, but the computer does not maintain a separate num-lock state for each. The exterior is always on numlock so whenever i press U,I,O, etc on the on-board they come out as numbers. Actually, most laptops do this, but i did have a one before which kept them group.
There's plenty of room on the laptop for Sony to have added a numeric keypad (even while leaving the well spaced ranking keyboard) but they chose not to.
* Despite the specifications, it's no screamer nor major repair over my previous Core duo T2500 from several years ago. Though I suppose it's the same as any currently, similarly spec'ed party and there's probably not many dramatically faster laptops available at this time.
While they perceive fine 'consumer' user laptops, as a technical user I would try to keep a Sony in the future and would look harder at the Acer and ASUS line-ups.
Top laptop!! I always buy Sony.
I am very contented with my new Sony Vaio (VGN-FW373J/H). The only problem I have been having is some companies haven't bothered to update their drivers. Epson is one model. I have a scanner that works perfectly with Windpws XP, but now I can't use it on the my new laptop because they haven't made a new driver for Vista 64bit. Crippled Epson! Very lame! This is not a Microsoft or Sony problem so I am not blaming them in any way. But, I just wanted to decipher people aware that some companies aren't updating their drivers which means you will have to buy new components when you switch to Vista.
Our second-best Vaio, and no turning back!
Vaio has turn up light years from our first, purchased in 2000. It lasted almost 9 years with very few problems along the way but definitely had insufficient memory for our current needs. This VGN-FW373J is beautifully designed, licentious, light, and includes many user friendly keyboard features. We have been astonished watching movie DVD's (high definition, making our flat mesh TV less appealing since we can't take that to bed) and streaming other online programs. We give it a top rating and will buy another soon.