Sony VAIO C Review Discussion

The recently introduced Sony VAIO C Series laptop sports an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 13.3" widescreen display, features sleek styling with a selection of colors and starts at about $1,099. That description sounds suspiciously like the Apple MacBook, and there's no doubt Sony is trying to take a bite out of Apple's recent success in the portable notebook market space with the VAIO C.

Read the full content of this Article: Sony VAIO C Review

 

nice review. wow that c series looks really nice!

 

Nice review Andrew. This looks like an attractive option for portable systems that don't need dedicated graphics. The price is quite attractive and Sony's styling is excellent as always.

 

I hammered around on a bunch of the notebooks at Frys and this one really stood out in terms of the feel and look.

 

Wow that sucks, the Toolbar, Video, Music, AOL Browser, AOL Broadband, Xdrive, AIM (Triton?), Desktop search. Yeah, that is everything they make except for Openride (which is all of those things combined and will make your eyes shoot blood when you take a look at the memory usage). That's terrible.

One of the Cs I've played with must of had a faulty keyboard. The second one I play with was much better. I think the fancy lids are to much for me, but I love all the solid colors with the trim. It's to bad the green color isn't brighter. Nice notebook. Great review as always Andrew!

 

This is more of the "Show-off-your-laptop" type of a notebook. Same with the N series. I wouldn't call this the "bang-for-the-buck" deal since for $1200, there's the HP or DELL available with maxed out options (C2D T7200, ATi X1400, 100GB 7200rpm, etc.).

So for something that'll catch the eyes of friends, co-workers, and thieves (xD), that'll do. It's also a nice competitor to MacBooks since apple doesn't offer dedicated gfx on the MB.

overall, nice review.

 

Another Great Review Andrew!

I personally saw this notebook in the stores here in Taiwan a few weeks ago. My 3 major complaints were that it had only 2 USB ports and it weighs over 5lbs! If it was ~4lbs I might have considered grabbing one. And then the speakers...

One thing I am VERY surprised to hear is that you liked the speakers... The one on display at a Sony Retailer in Taiwan, that I had a chance to play around with, had terrible speakers. The room was very quite, and the only way I could hear the speakers was to put my ear right up against them. I checked to make sure that the volume was all the way up. They were worse then my PSP speakers.

 

It's cruel how this doesn't come with a dedicated graphics option. Darn you Sony!

 

It would no doubt eat into the sales of the SZ. Apple takes the same flac for the iG in the Macbook versus Macbook Pro!

I prefer the SZ styling for sure, but this is bound to be popular.

 

Yeah but the build quality of the SZ is mediocre at best..

 

Great review
And a interesting notebbok, not as expensive as SZ3
Here in Europe there is a GF7400 model, the C1Z/B but is a bit expensive, official prize at ony web is 1500 Euro
I think a Dell Inspiron 640m or HP Pavillion dv2000 are best "bang-for-the-buck.

 

Dell's do not feel nearly as sturdy as this. I've got to configure a few of them at work recently for consultants and they genuinely felt like toys.

 

Great review Andrew! Nice to see a relatively cheap 13.3 inch notebook from Sony, although I wish it was under 5 lbs.

 

Is it me or does the SZ seem like a better deal? The SZ comes with a Go7400 and starts at $1200, I am confused. Nice review though.

 

Over here the top end models come stock with GeForce 7400 Go's... Its suprising they don't in the US too.

 

If "style" is important, I guess this notebook does the job.
Unfortunately, I cant figure out why a 13-incher is pulling more than 5 lbs and 1.5" thickness. What is inside that chassis that requires so much height room?
Also, I used to own a FS series that had wonderful viewing angles, both vertical/horizontal, and this one seems to have fallen off the track.

 

Very nice review.

I notice SZ and C has the same very poor viewing angles issue. Its somewhat the same as SZ view from bottom and top.

There is the palm resting area on the C, feels/looks like Carbon fiber. The material looks much better the metallic palm rest on SZ IMO. I also really like the red strip on the sides and the LED indicator lights, very pretty.

Kinda regret buying SZ seeing all the colours available. Carbon top looks nice but colourful laptop looks better.

If they had 7400 Go, I would be happy settling for a C.

Very good review!

 

So far there's no option to have dedicated graphics in the VAIO C over here. I'm not sure why Sony would differ their offering in Europe for this, but seems like they are. Honestly though, I think it confuses people if they do start putting the exact same components in the VAIO C as the VAIO SZ.

 

Sorry if this comes out weird, but Ch28kid, you Chinese or Japanese? Can't seem to figure it out lol.

 

Fantastic review. I really like the Sony VAIO C-series - much more so than the SZ. I'm not 100% sure why I like it so much, but I just do.

The keyboard is pleasing on this model. The light tough appeals to my typing style. That's another thing that is better on the C than the SZ in my opinion.
And another feature of this notebook that fits my groove is the textured palmrests. That feels great and is a good design feature.

True, it is a bit heavy at 5 pounds, but it's not heavy to someone coming from a 7.5 lb, 15.4" notebook.

 

The Sony SZ that starts at $1200 starts with a Celeron M CPU. The Sony C Series starts at ~$900 with the same specs and a celeron M CPU also. Here in Taiwan the Sony C series comes with a built in Nvidia 7400 card, its quite disappointing to find that this one does not include that card.

 

Taiwan and Japan always get the better specs.

Canada is always behind in technology in terms of developed country. :'(

 

There's no mention of the 'electronic' noise some ppl are having in the Sony forum. I was considering this laptop but the noise would definitely be an issue.

 

I picked up the C15 last week. In Australia, this model has a discrete Go7400 card with its own video RAM.

I'm pretty happy with it, although it is surprisingly thick and weighty for it's size. Also, the spacebar on my keyboard isn't the greatest, as I can't press it on the left hand side. I may have to send it in if it annoys me, but it's tolerable for now.

I've also had some drama with the autodimmer support in the NVIDIA drivers. I had a Bluetooth mouse paired while the laptop was on power, then went to standby and turned off the mouse. About an hour later, I moved the computer to another room, and resumed it without AC. The drivers kept dimming the display. Until I get some newer NVIDIA drivers, I'll keep that feature turned off.

Also, it appears we Aussies get spared most of the bloatware. I just had NIS, which I promptly removed, SonicStage, a few Sony video editing apps, Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements (which may actually be useful, haven't used them yet) and Roxio (which I will replace with Nero).

For AUD$2000 I think it's a very good laptop. Most other laptops around this price point and spec have awful build quality.

 

Bargearse, don't bother... if it's like in the USA, you'll need to send in the whole laptop, the keyboard is not a field-replaceable unit for consumers. If the experience is like here, you'll also be unable to remove the hard drive for the return trip without voiding the warranty, I had to argue with a Level 2 Tech before they would approve it.

I have the same spacebar issue as do a couple others on the forums, and I checked the display models at the local Circuit City and Best Buy... again, same problem. To me, that's a MAJOR design defect given this is targeted to be in the retail ~$1200 to $1400 range. The FE770 next to the C140 didn't seem to have that problem.

</end rant>

 

Keep in mind sony is all about style. you can't look at the hardware you have to look at quality / design. 1/4 of the girls on the floor have a sony vaio so i guess we can consider it to be appealing to the eye.

 

The only thing stopping me buying this system, is the issues people seem to be experiencing with the noisy components. Otherwise it seems to buy one of the buys of the moment.

How much running time do you get btw with the 7400Go? Surely there would be some detriment?

 

I did read about those issues fellow forum members are having, I don't have that issue with my unit and it seems to be sporadic for those that have it -- maybe I'll notice it at some point, but nothing right now.

 

But really, how many 13.3" notebooks are there which satisfy all these ?

1 Performance
2 Dedicated graphics
3 Weight (and tickness maybe?)
4 Budget
5 Looks

 

Asus W7J perhaps?

 

I got this notebook 2weeks ago and while I like most things about it, i still have a short list of negatives and one major problem. THE TRACKPAD SUCKS.

I'm not sure if i'm not used to Alps or I have a defective one but the trackpad is almost unusable. Its not broken but it theres a strange inconsistancy in mouse tracking. Rubbing my finger from one side to the other will move the mouse halfway across the screen but trying again the same motion will move the mouse all the way across and it gets annoying because your mouse movements are never the same and ive changed all the settings with no comfortable fix.

It works so Best Buy won't recognize it as a problem, but in everyday use its one of those small quirks that makes you crazy. Outside of this then its a very nice notebook but that trackpad just stinks.

Other minor complaints:
- Deceptively thick. Ive said it about my macbook too. Its only 13" so why is it so heavy?
- Power brick is easily the biggest ive ever seen on a notebook
- For this price then it should have a webcam or more features
- Faint random static/radio interference noise when in complete silence.
- Loud keyboard

 

I'm dying here... I'm about to buy a laptop but don't know exactly what to get.. either a VAIO C series or a DELL.. I've read so many bad reviews for VAIo that am afraid I'll get into deep trouble.. this would b my first laptop.. but not sure what to do.... PLEASE PLEASEEEEEE advice.. thanks.. = )

 

Apple's first 13.3" laptop, MacBook, introduced on 5/13/2006.
Sony's first 13.3" laptop, VGN-S, introduced in 6/2004.
Sony's second 13.3" laptop, VGN-SZ, introduced in 1/2006.

EC

 

Anybody who owns the Vaio C have any problems that needed to be dealt with at the service center? I'd like to get a feel for its reliability.

 

I got mine a week ago for 650 (used but just like new) No scratches at all...

Here is my opinion on the laptop.

WellI had a Dell i9300 before. It was fast and big. 17inch became a pain to carry around so I decided to get a smaller one. I looked at the market for 3 weeks, everywhere. I found this C140g online and decided to get it. So for $650 it is a bargain. No problems at all so far.

The keyboard is ok, but the space bar is annoying. You have to hit pretty hard to space. Especially if you do not hit on the center it is mostly no space....

Speed of it is enough,I mean it is core 2 duo. I do not play games, so graphics card is not relevant. intel 950 is doing an ok job.

Screen is better than my i9300... Angles are not perfect obut not annoying either.

just 2 USB ports is pretty disappointing.........

Other than that, I love my laptop. These are just small things and do not bother me anymore.. I love my laptop......

 

Hello;

i am using C2z/b since5 months.But yesterday i knocked ower a glass of orange juice on to the keyboard. Hopefully it is still working perfect exept onething. Because of the suger key board letters gets sticky,and also after pressing, some letters stays still for some time. So i need to clean under of keyboard, is there any1 knows how can i do that ? Is there any way to take out letters one by one to clean under them.

Thanks in advance, i really need help

 

Please do not dig up old threads, create a new one, thank you.