Long term Sony build quality/reliability?

Have very little experience with Sony laptops, and honestly didn't think I would with the premiums they charge. But, the FE and SZ are both surprisingly reasonably priced compared to the competition.

Obviously, no one here will have any experience with these two laptops, but I'd like to get a feel for the brand. My experience with other Sony electronics has been that they're either built like tanks and last forever, or nice while they last, but tend to fall apart, usually starting shortly after the warranty ends.

 

Bought my Sony S last September in the US, in December the screen developed a 2 inch vertical dark shade down the right hand side, Sony UK were appalling refusing to help they even wanted 12 pounds ($20) just to give me tech support on the telephone (which was incompetent)

Sony US where willing to help as long as i sent it back to the US couldnt get them to speak to Sony UK, and they would only send it back to a US address,

The laptop cost $2000, Sony are supposed to be an International company yet leave there customers with the impression they are dealing with a market stall in deepest darkest India (no offence ment to India)

Just my thoughts enjoy your Sony Experiance

:buyIBM:

 

Oh, why you gotta pick on India? Why not some other country?

To be honest, I have little experience with Sonys but feel that their machines are flashy and nice looking, but far overpriced and have average at best build quality and tech support. I would really only buy a Sony if it were offered at a deep discount, which is extremely rare.

 

I don't know about Sony Support since I never had to use them.

I have a 4 year old GR300 and it's been good to me. The only thing that broke was the HD (after 3 years - and I only had warranty for 1) but it wasn't a big deal as I had everything backed up on my external. I just put in a new HD and everything worked fine.

Being a heavy 15" notebook (I think around 7 pounds) it was mostly stationary. But I took it on vacations, longer trips and used it occasionally for presentations. After about 2 years or so the battery life significantly reduced. Only get about 30 - 40 minutes now as opposed to 1.5 hrs in the beginning (which was ok 4 years ago). It has quite some wear on it, the lid is pretty scratched up, and once I even dropped it on a marble floor (thats probably why the HD broke) so one of the hinges is cracked, but it still works just fine. The screen has no problems staying in place (but it's a bit more wobbly). So overall I think it's pretty good quality. Hopefully that didn't change as I just ordered a new FE.

 

If you want a well built notebook, I would suggest a ThinkPad, Asus or Fujitsu.

 

Don't worry, that is completely normal for all notebooks. Notebook batteries never last very long actually, probably around 1-1.5 years I think with normal use. To be honest, I'm surprised your's still even holds a charge.

 

As I always say, nearly 6 year old Sony laptop is still doing just fine despite a 3 foot drop that occured when somebody tripped over the power cord and made it fall. It even holds a charge after 5 years. But that's not normal. My current laptop still holds a decent amount of battery life (~2 hours) even after 4-5 years.

 

Well, it depends on how much you used the battery and how well you took care of it. I think keeping the battery in cool conditions when not using it prolongs its life. I think someone said to even put it in a refrigerator when not using it, but I'm not sure about that.
I also think that todays computer batteries aren't as built well as they were a few years ago.

 

I rarely use the battery in my HP Dv4000 that I bought in October, yet Notebook Hardware Control tells me that I've used 6% of it's life already.

 

Doesn't Asus make Sony's notebooks? That would imply similar quality.

 

yep Asus did make Sony notebook.. but since 2006 Quanta has won the order..

 

Oh, so is it safe to assume that Quanta is making the SZ laptops?

 

I am not even sure 100%. Quanta is a Taiwanese company while Sony is based in japan. For S series most of it are made in japan, which led me to believe that Sony still has some in-house production for their higher end series. The cheaper series like FJ, BX etc are no longer MIJ though- for FJ they are MIC.
It is not possible to have Asus(at that time) producing the laptop and assembling them in Taiwan and then slap on the label Made in Japan on the Sony. There is some regulation before one can easily slap the 'made in', so I believe top tier Sonys are still assembled in Japan. So is Fujitsu and high end Toshiba - they are still assembled in Japan I believe(which also partly explain their high price tag considering the specs compared to other brands like dell, hp, acer, etc)

 

I have gone through 2 viao cords in a year and a half I hate sony

 

I had a sony tr3 for 4 years and it took a beating (traveling in a backpack around the world on multiple occasions including time in sandy deserts, humid jungles etc.) and kept working fine. It finally broke after a six foot fall onto concrete sidewalk - though only the screen stopped working, the hard drive and motherboard are fine.

I can't speak to Sony support because I never needed to use them and did not hesitate to replace that with anotehr sony (tz90).

 

hm. my sz483 says "made in japan" on the product label.

i'm pretty sure sony wouldn't lie about this, unlike some unscrupulous taiwanese manufacturers ...