I might be buying an SZ280P/C, but I'm still wondering about any cons of the notebook

Basically, I want to know all of the cons and known problems with the SZ premium series. Thanks in advance.

 

Very short battery life (IMO), 3.5 hours out of the box, 4+ hours optimized,
burning hot, 5400 RPM HD, difficult to do a clean install,
"Flimsy" keyboard, defective spacebar, loose battery and loose docking latch,
only two USB ports, I've heard no ports to connect to TV (?),
camera quality could be better, somewhat awkward positioning of touchpad,
needs to reboot when switching between wireless cards, bluetooth and LAN
are on together with the wireless switch, fragile optical drive ...

Umm ... that's all that comes to mind at the moment. Maybe you can find more.

 

lol thats a lot of problems o.o

 

To many to be called "premium"!

 

>Very short battery life (IMO), 3.5 hours out of the box, 4+ hours optimized

I wouldn't say that's short, but it's no where near the advertised specs (6 hours).

 

Space bar problem is non-existant anymore. I bought my SZ281 in early july and mine has no such problem as people have explained.

Burning hot? Is that casual use or intensive use? Mine runs very very cool compared to other laptops i have used. But when i play games such as BF2 it can get very warm, but that is to be expected. It should get warm when the graphics card core temp is 60 degrees celcius.

I have also found the location of the touchpad to be quite pleasing. When typing, it is impossible for me to touch the touchpad or click it, I believe that it is a very nice feature.

It is also very easy to turn the bluetooth off if you still need the wireless.

As far as ports there could be a few more, but as i look around the sides of the laptop there's maybe, maybe space for one more port. You're not going to get all the ports you want with this size of a laptop. The XPS can pull it off since it is much thicker. If you get the docking station you get three more USB, a DVI, external monitor, and gigabit LAN connection. I couuldn't do without the dock.

Battery can easily be fixed, yes optical drive is a bit fragile, not the end of the world. Biggest problem is doing a clean install.

Overall I love my SZ, i wouldn't trade it for anything right now.

 

lol, you couldn't even if you wanted to--there aren't many other notebooks worth 3,000 dollars right now

 

I wouldn't even if I could. I absolutely agree with tschield.

Carpe diem, carpe VAIO (Premium)

 

Battery life (IMO) is fine. It can do about 4.5 hours if you use Ultimate Battery mode with the screen brightness set to low.
My hard drive does not get burning hot. Just warm. It's the cpu area that is burning hot on my notebook...but only when I game. I'm not sure where the gpu is, but the only hot places on mine is the bottom area around the heatpipe for the cpu.
My keyboard has no flex at all. The keys are very short and strange, but once you get used to them they're ok. I still prefer the normal keyboards like the thinkpads. My spacebar does have the infamous problem. Loose battery sucks.
Camera quality is good enough for light use. Optical drive is pretty flimsy, but you can't really complain with a notebook this thin.

I think the pro's should really be looked at here as well as the con's.

 

Thread's closed.

 

^OK I admit it, I lied in that post, but I was still ready to dish out $3000 for a Sony SZ280 (which I might be buying at the end of this week), and their customer service is not outsourced.

 

Do you really have that much money to burn?!

Get a 250 for 800 dollars less! 270 if you want to pay for Cingular service, if you want a protruding antenna on the side of your monitor, and tons of extra bloatware

 

Actually, I have $3300 to burn on a new laptop (yea, I'm pretty rich...). With the cons you have posted, I might actually look elseware at the LGs.

 

Hey, hey, don't pin the blame on me!
I actually LIKE my SZ--you wanted my honest input on all of the SZ's cons (IMO), and others provided rebuttals based on their own experiences. Stick with the SZ--just spend your money more wisely.

Contraire to minority belief, LG is not a great company.
In the field of electronics, Sony clearly dominates because it is a superior company that makes superior products.

I don't know when or why it ventured into the computer market, but it's sure to make better computers than LG (which is attempting a similarly unusual expansion into the computer market).

By the way, are YOU wealthy, or are your PARENTS wealthy? Just curious

 

I was not blaming anything on you, I actually liked your input (it was very helpful). It is just now a days it gets really difficult to find an ideal laptop with minimal problems (I REALLY want to get an ASUS, but none of the configurations really suite me. I also wanted to get an IBM, but they sold out to Lenovo for cheaper, worse parts).

As for the wealthy question, my parents are the wealthy ones (I'm only 16). But I'm not spoiled!

 

I'm sixteen too.
And my parents spend money like rich people ;P

Well, in your quest to find the best notebook with the most minimal problems, I'd say that you were very right to consider Lenovo. IBM has been around for more than a CENTURY. If anyone makes the most reliable and least problematic notebook computers, it's them. I'd know, considering all the workstations in my school are IBM's, so I've been using them for three years now. However, also keep in mind that IBM = International Business Machines Co. Good, in that they have a reputation for catering to the highest expectations of the entire WORLD-- bad, in that they are designed for the businessman in mind.

When I had to decide between the SZ, 3.7 lbs, and the X60s, 2.7 lbs, I ultimately chose the SZ, because I thought I would be most happy with it. If you/your parents are going to spend a lot of money on a product that you'll be using extensively for years to come, I'd recommend you get something that you'll love and enjoy.

 

Thanks a lot NuntiusLuminis, I'll consider the T60 series for my new lappy.

 

Hey REM333, you might want to consider the new Core 2 Duo SZs, or other Core 2 Duo laptops now, if you're not in a rush.

 

Sony customer service is terrible. see the article attached

http://laptopmag.com/Features/Tech-Support-Showdown.htm

 

Yea, I saw the post on this forum about the new Core 2 Duo SZs. I'll definitely consider them.

I was talking about Portable One's customer support, I know that Sony has bad customer support. The article is a good read by the way.