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Never, ever get a Sony Vaio. What computer should I get?

Danoz

Danoz

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Rear Admiral
First, I had to send this 4 1/2 lbs laptop for overheating and the fact that it sounded like a lawn mower. Now, the keyboard malfunctions, the screen has smudges, the battery is pathetic and the A/C adapter has a short. Luckily, there's still some time left on the warranty (3 years) so I'm shipping the thing back in to get something refurbished at the end of my 3 years! Even so, it's so obvious that these miserable kleptomaniacs employ the use of planned obsolescence in their products that they fall apart after a couple years. I just want a reliable machine with strong battery life... maybe the occasional DVD or video game.

I'm about to swear off laptops in general. It seems that I could get a much, much nicer computer if I decide to go stationary and just use my portable DVD player and AlphaSmart/Work-Laptop/Cellphone for anything away from my workstation. So, Mac? Dell (good experience with desktops, bad experience with laptops). Any advice? I'm thinking of building, also..
 
I'm a fan of the Netbook/Desktop combo. Dell's new 9/10" models are a solid choice for the former.
 
Rii said:
I'm a fan of the Netbook/Desktop combo. Dell's new 9/10" models are a solid choice for the former.
Click to expand...

Dell always seems to give you more bang for your buck. I had great life out of a desktop computer from Dell for 4 years with absolutely zero problems (of course, it died right after the 4 year warranty was up :rolleyes:). Is it conspiratorial to believe that all of these companies create parts designed to break after the warranty?
 
Even Macs tend to have their first few problems crop up after a couple of years. Still, with a little bit of maintenance my last Mac lasted 6 years as a primary machine.

I eventually had to replace it because it was just too slow to handle HD media well.
 
Danoz said:
Rii said:
I'm a fan of the Netbook/Desktop combo. Dell's new 9/10" models are a solid choice for the former.
Click to expand...

Dell always seems to give you more bang for your buck. I had great life out of a desktop computer from Dell for 4 years with absolutely zero problems (of course, it died right after the 4 year warranty was up :rolleyes:).
Click to expand...

I've never used a Dell desktop, but I use Dell monitors and had an XPS M1210 notebook a while back, no complaints there.

Is it conspiratorial to believe that all of these companies create parts designed to break after the warranty?
Click to expand...

Probably. Failures do tend to leave bad impressions in the minds of consumers after all, particularly if they occur immediately after the warranty expires. :lol:
 
I've had a Macbook Pro for a year now and I totally think it was worth the price. It's the best computer I've ever owned. The hubby has a small Lenovo with Ubuntu on it and that is quite nice as well.
 
I've had good luck with Dell laptops since 1997. But I'm probably just a statistical anomaly.
 
My choice those days is a generic desktop (I don't do anything high-end) and a netbook for when I'm out and about - I use livemesh to make sure that anything important on one is on the other, so it's all pretty seamless.
 
Danoz said:
the battery is pathetic
Click to expand...
Regarding batteries, you may not know about this aspect of Li-Ion batteries:
At a 100% charge level, a typical Li-ion laptop battery that is full most of the time at 25 °C or 77 °F will irreversibly lose approximately 20% capacity per year. However, a battery in a poorly ventilated laptop may be subject to a prolonged exposure to much higher temperatures, which will significantly shorten its life. Different storage temperatures produce different loss results: 6% loss at 0 °C (32 °F), 20% at 25 °C (77 °F), and 35% at 40 °C (104 °F). When stored at 40%–60% charge level, the capacity loss is reduced to 2%, 4%, 15% at 0, 25 and 40 degrees Celsius respectively.
Click to expand...
So depending on how you stored your laptop, that alone may explain the short battery life.
Personally, I store my laptop with a battery charged to 50% because of that, topping it up when I know I'm going on a trip where I'll need more.
 
Danoz said:
First, I had to send this 4 1/2 lbs laptop for overheating and the fact that it sounded like a lawn mower. Now, the keyboard malfunctions, the screen has smudges, the battery is pathetic and the A/C adapter has a short. Luckily, there's still some time left on the warranty (3 years) so I'm shipping the thing back in to get something refurbished at the end of my 3 years! Even so, it's so obvious that these miserable kleptomaniacs employ the use of planned obsolescence in their products that they fall apart after a couple years. I just want a reliable machine with strong battery life... maybe the occasional DVD or video game.

I'm about to swear off laptops in general. It seems that I could get a much, much nicer computer if I decide to go stationary and just use my portable DVD player and AlphaSmart/Work-Laptop/Cellphone for anything away from my workstation. So, Mac? Dell (good experience with desktops, bad experience with laptops). Any advice? I'm thinking of building, also..
Click to expand...
Interesting.. I bought my Sony Vaio CR320 a year ago, and not one problem. Love it.

Pingfah said:
Dunno, but never ever get a Toshiba Satellite either...
Click to expand...
Heh - as you know, I've had a Toshiba Satellite for... oh... 4+ years now. Still works great! It's now my 5 year olds' laptop.
 
DarkHelmet said:
Heh - as you know, I've had a Toshiba Satellite for... oh... 4+ years now. Still works great! It's now my 5 year olds' laptop.
Click to expand...

Yeah, luck of the draw I guess. Mine had a failed DVD drive and a failed left speaker and cracks around the hinges after 6 months. Then it took Toshiba UK 2 months to fix it, and then the cover cracked around the hinges again about 2 months later.

And now it won't start up with a battery in it. :lol:
 
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