How can you explain Sony to be a reliable brand for Sony Vaio?

Anyone here please help pitch in your intuitive feelings, opinions, thoughts, questions, concerns, and comments here about Sony. Now, I have been an avid HP user for quite some time in the recent years. Now graduated from HS, I'm off to the University in search of a reliable notebook. I have looked everywhere! HP, Dell, Apple, Lenovo, Newegg, eBay, and now Sony. Out of all these, what makes Sony a brand I can truly consider to be my trustee for 4 more years?

Some questions to consider:

• Has the Sony brand kept up to its name? (i.e-build quality)
• Customer Support for the Vaio, how would you rate it? Are they quick, responsive, and ideal to the typical consumer who might experience problems from time to time?
• Updates, drivers, and firmware-are they constant?

By quick glance, Sony is the Apple's PC. The company is for style, easy user experience, and simplicity, all with the love for Windows. Ultimately, can you tell me if and why Sony is reliable to purchase from?

I hope to hear from your thoughtful responses soon. It's been a battle having to compare so many notebook models, price points, strong elements, and weaknesses. Thanks.

 

http://www.pcworld.com/zoom?id=156450&page=1&zoomIdx=1

 

WOW! Thank you so very much! This is just what I need! Great find.

If anyone has any other input, please do so!

 

sonys are not built to withstand much abuse though. Also the fact many of their designs dont provide mmuch support at the end and border of the screen, when you close the screen, overtime, may lead to scratches.

but it is debatably more stylish to some.

thinkpads on the other hand are built like tanks. i've dropped mine off a table by pulling on the power cord (while it was open and still on btw) and it was still ok. ive been using this thing for 4+ years now and its still going. panasonic toughbooks are very reliable too but they look pretty ugly on the whole except the business toughbooks I suppose.

 

So in condition, any notebook that pays attention to style has a chance of more wear and tear? Whereas less-appealing machines are stronger, I suppose.

 

Kinda goes with the territory I suppose if you think about it. Stylish stuff are usually the more fragile stuff (e.g. shiny parts, patterns, thinner components, etc) that can get scratched broken, chipped etc. Plus style is always an issue of personal taste. Personally I think thinkpads are much better looking than the silly colorful shiny stuff offered by other companies but I realize thats just my opinion.

Its like how some people put flames on their cars. I think its really ugly yet some like it and call it stylish.

Its like humvees (not hummers) can take a good beating but they are ugly by some people's standards, and their interior certainly ugly by most peoples standard.

 

I think Sony is definitely one of the top electronics manufacturers. I have owned numerous Sony products, with my two favorites being my Playstation 3 and VAIO SR. Never had any build quality issues or defective products with the others either.

 

Sony has good background in build standards, quality. I've had A LOT of Sony products and only ONE was faulty...it was about 15 years ago, a portable CD-player which always skipped tracks on a new cd's. None of the rest had issues.

 

Whaa your joking.

My sony has been dropped 3 times, had a bottle of vimto spuilt over it, been dropped again, had power problems (metal pins not touching but they just were bent and fixed) overclocked beyond any limit i've seen on my lappys and its still working after 4-5 years

I Love Sony.

My laptop ^^ Still functioning!
Great condition (the mousepad has worn off after all the usage and the batery is dead) But its still as good as it was from day 1.

 

depends how you drop it and what you consider a drop. i literally dropped my laptop by yanking it off a table with the powercord while it was still on. how high is a table anywa, 2-3 ft?

I've dropped it a couple of times too while it was off and screen closed too on lower heights also.

I've seen some of the sonys and they seem delicate to me, particularly the fancier businessclass ones. Some of their normal ones are almost similar to other brands in build. Certainly nothing like a toughbook.

 

In general, you get what you pay for.
With Sony, the foci are on design and features. You pay for good design, and you pay for modern features.

Sure, a HP might be a better value -- a few months older components and a longer development cycle can make a great deal of difference in manufacturing cost, and they will be able to sell it to you for far less. And by not focusing on design, it's easier to make a rugged[*] laptop too. Granted, it may also be an ugly clonker weighing in at 7 lb or more.


[*]: Pet peeve: Why do people say "ruggedized" when they mean "rugged"? If you pack a fragile laptop in neoprene, it becomes ruggedized. If it has the neoprene as a built-in feature, it's rugged.

 

Are the screens of good quality too guys? Light leakage or dead / stuck pixel problems?

 

Depends on what you're buying. I'm given to understand that the lower-end (say <~$1000) models are pretty much like any other Chinese-made ODM machines. I would imagine failure rates for these machines to be pretty much the same as the rest from companies like Dell, Apple, HP, etc.

The higher-end models incorporate better build quality, with some exceptions - I'm not particularly enamoured of the TT for example - and stronger materials so that they can be as apparently insubstantial as they are and still take a reasonable beating, especially for the weight. Not as much as a Thinkpad or similar, but still, quite close.

At the lower end, given the famous terribleness of Sony's support I would imagine that Dell and HP especially would offer a better overall package for your bucks.

 

Sony makes quality products including Vaio notebooks.
Their customer service is not that great.
The driver support is really bad. They make you to use the originally installed OS in the notebook.

 

You mean like these business class Sony notebook?

 

I have the Z, and in reality it seems rather fragile. Yes, it can survive impact as long as it's distributed around an entire edge (note that NONE of the "tests" were done with the Z at any kind of angle). Drop it so it hits with a corner (which will be almost all drops), and I am quite sure the result will be different.

And yes, the LID survives a lot of pressure. But it deforms very easily, bending the display with it, which is why so many Z owners have a worn horisontal stripe on their display, where it hits the edge of the keyboard and wrist rest. Real toughbooks always have a rigid clamshell design for the lid, to prevent the display from bending.

 

Depends on the nature of the floor of course as well as the heght, but the result will be mildly uuurgh-but-understandable cosmetic damage or body separation, but it will survive. Even the TT will survive with nary a ding... but I just can't reconcile the way the panels are with a Sony.

 

I have a post here referring to my Sony Vaio. It has Sony Update 4 installed on it, but every time I try to update, i receive the message,
'VAIO Update 4.0 is required.
VAIO Update (Ver. 4.0 and above) is required on your VAIO Notebook.' The problem here is I already have Vaio Update Version 4 installed, but it is not recognised. Try and get any information from the Sony website, and it is like a maze of rabbit warrens. I do a search for the model number of my unit, and the web site can't even locate it.
I have had the Vaio for only 18 months and I look after it and keep it clean, but already the keyboard is faded and the letters have worn of the keys. It is also very slow, but maybe that is the Windows Vista installed on it.
I have had many Sony products and have had no trouble, but I wouldnt buy another Sony Vaio.

 

Sony...

Customer Service - I had teh bad luck of a bad battery - and good customer service, that was in Germany though - it varies from country to country.

Build quality - the high end models, definitely a good build.

Driver updates - no, they aren't constant - my SZ71VN/X hasn't had any new Vaio updates since 2008, I think all updates where pre summer as well, on the other hand you don't need constant driver updates, unless you have a problem.

 

depend on quality of screen. clear brite eco tend to spoil easily, give a duration for 2 years, you will notice the light wont bright anymore, well.. its ccfl. i guess its all rely on the usage.

imho, the fragile part on Z is at the rollcage thingy at the back.. it surely crack if drop :/
other than that part, pretty rigid and compact.

why dont ya download directly from the website instead via VAIO Update software? i notice it utilize the IE only, so if you have problem on your IE, the software wont get stuff update correctly.

agree on customer service. in Malaysia, the support pretty decent, but you know, repair cost is pricy than others manufacturer (Toshiba, HP etc)

about build quality, some low end do have decent build, like my previous VAIO namely C series pretty sturdy built , but of course heavy for 13" class lol