Solid Performer, Elegant Design
Pros:
Two 160GB HDs, bright screen, nice vendor support, HD 1080 & BlueRay DVD-R.
Cons:
Refurb warranty of only 6 months. About an hour of useful battery life.
The Bottom Line:
If you can find this notebook cheap enough, it's a nice deal. I wouldn't pay more than $900 for this feature set.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
Purchased refurbished from SonyStyle using their 12-month same as cash financing ($100 off for opening the account!). Upgraded RAM from 2 to 4 GB PC2-5300 SDRAM then plugged in a removable ExpressDrive card to sample Vista's "Ready Boost" feature.
Outcome: meh.
It's enough machine to net 4.8 on the Windows Experience Index. Having a nice NVidia GeForce 8400M graphics card makes for decent eye candy. Dedicated video RAM totals 256 MB.
This is a desktop replacement notebook, not svelte or anorexic by any means. Use a lap desk or cooler to spare your thighs the warmth. The dual-core CPU cranks at 2.0 Ghz, hence the mild fan noise you'll hear. The front-side bus operates at 800 MHz.
Pound-per-pound (8.1 lbs), the features added up enough for me to avoid (yet again) buying a MacBook. Once I settle on a suitable OS replacement, this unit should serve my needs for years to come.
For the old timers, you'll find no serial port or floppy. No built-in BlueTooth. Touchpad buttons placed along edge of the keyboard surface -- some reviewers dislike this, but it's not a problem for me. Sound is quite nice, and even the built-in microphone works well with Skype.
Software bundle unremarkable except for a full copy of Adobe Acrobat Pro (evaluation license). No issues with MS Office 2007 Enterprise Edition. No wireless issues. Features a 1.3 Megapixel camera built in to the screen frame. HDMI, 4-pin FireWire, and (being a Sony) a Memory Stick reader are standard.
