Are expectations for the VAIO too high ?

Now that I've been part of the VAIO community for a weeks, I'm noticing that people expect a LOT from VAIO.

Yes, the machines are expensive... but so are a lot of other machines (ex Fujitsu... Panasonic... Dell XPS, Alienware...). The new players have low prices to gain a foothold, and the mass market companies have low prices due to quantity.

Evidently, if you go into any other forum here you will find people who are *****ing about their machines not living up to the high standards that they hold for them, but I find Sony to be a little bit higher.

To me, the VAIOs remain the lightest machines for their specifications... the SZ is still the lightest machine for a built-in CD-ROM and Geforce video card (which makes me wonder if Sony is buiding their computers like the Russians built their nuclear subs... they moved faster than the American subs, but at the expense of less armor plating to protect the seamen from radiation...)

Are people expecting too much ? Are VAIOs hyped to an impossible level ?

 

Well, Sony has been in the notebook business for quite a long while. I do know people who are still using the old VAIO old models and they still work like magic. The SZ is one of the hottest items this season as it is one of the best all in one solution that has portability and power.
Sony is cheaper than Fujitsu but Fujitsu do make nice notebooks. If you start weighing the specs, Sony is more well worth it.
I have a preference in Japanese Brand names as they are more "user orientated" in R&D. Its simply the Japanese company structure that really makes these notebooks great. The US company structure is not as well user orientated as japanese ones.

 

I agree...

It's true the SZ is VERY hot, I don't think anyone can argue with the fact that it's sold out everywhere.

It is a great machine with some unique specs (the dual video card and weight amongst others) but I wonder if that's truly why its in very high demand...

Of course, when it comes to Sony you're paying for design. Some people disagree, but I think the VAIOs have always been some of the slickest looking laptops on the market.

Seeing so many people complain about their machine just gives me the "post-laptop-purchase-paranoia", I'm sure everyone understands ! You know, the "Did I make the right choice ?" feelings. This is my first VAIO, so...

What do you mean by user oriented R&D ?

 

R&D = Research And Development
It's not my first VAIO, my previous previous notebook was a GRX. My previous one was an ASUS S1N (Hated it), got it cuz it was cheap.
One of my desktop is also a VAIO, Slim PC P3, still works great.
The SZ is the first of its breed so there bound to be problems. Sony will most probably make the SZ 2X series fixing these problems.
I dont expect that many changes just after a chipset change thus I went and got the SZ for University.

 

hehe I know what R&D stands for... I just wanted to get an idea of what you mean specifically...

Yeah Im sure they'll do an SZ version 2...

 

Well, through studies, Japanese companies usually spend more money on research compared to american companies. The research they put in are towards improvements with users in mind. Japanese companies think of the consumers more greatly than an american company would. It is probably why japanese products are sometimes so much better than american products.

 

Yeah I see what you mean...

I still feel that some people think that VAIOs should be magical machines that do everything perfectly. I'm not sure where that expectation comes from...

 

Well I dont think they expect more from they're vaio's more than any other company. But aside from being popular for their design and innovation, I think SONY is just a basicly a household name. From PSP, walkman, TV's...people expect the same quality from their sony products, that have been with them for years.

 

I have the FE and the only thing that annoyes me about it is that it only supports 533mhz ram not 667 and I feel thats something sony really should have done.