Sony Vaio VGN S5XP - Best laptop ever?

It really is, it has everything and yet it is so small and unbeliveably light. I just don't understand how it packs more power than even the Asus W3V in such a small, sleek, case with that amazing xbrite screen that is just as good as the very advanced TFT monitors you get today.

This laptop, if it wasn't for the high price, really is the best around for the college user, gamer that wants a very light and small solution.

I know im getting it, ive got enough in a couple of weeks or so

 

I am getting the Sony S58GP.. which I think is the same one marketed in US.
I agree.. the nearby competitors like Asus,NEC all hover around the same pricelist, yet I feel that the SOny is much more elegant, built well, and has better screen . All are subjective of course. Usually Sony charges very high for their products but I am amazed since it is(made in japan vs NEC made in china), and yet priced very competitively. A very good sign indeed. No brainer - I am getting the Sony 2 in 2 weeks' time too.. to replace my heavy toshiba laptop. Maybe the only catch is that their service is very expensive should u need to repair the Sony's and the inflated price of their accessories.. other than that they're perfect.

 

I know where to get this baby real cheap. mu ha ha ha ha ha ha

 

Where can you buy it cheap? Can you please tell me? I am really interested in buying S580 right now...(only sonystyle.com is the way to go that I know of)

 

im confused, is that the s580? seems different

 

No, this picture is the VGN S5XP (As said in the title of the topic), notice the slightly different left/right click buttons.

Oh forget it jack9999, I DID see the laptop cheap on ebay (Listing here: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Sony-VAIO-VGN...ameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting) but then a few hours ago it closed down, god knows why, im emailing the seller. He says they are new and sealed.

 

bah its just a uk version of s580 series

 

just got my S580.. so far so good.. very quiet HD and fan noise.. but thats prob because I am in 21 C temp.. just want to share some positive and negative things abt the laptop for the undecided ^^
pros:
-keyboard feel well and responsive
-tactile and solid operation overall
-and most importantly.. the lcd is really good.. even viewing normal picture on the net is a different experience from my old toshiba satellit 5100 series
only thing is that the speaker is really bad.. but I guess most laptops are
-Love the fact that the connections are all on the side.. easier for me
-solid, stylish, and definitely eye turner

cons:
-battery does wiggle a little.. but doesn't quite bother me as it feels it's well in position
-slight bleeding on the side.. again I don't really notice them unless I purposely set all white background and squint.

would definitely recommend this to ppl who value portability yet still want to play some games. It's the current best choice for multimedia, powerhouse and portability. I've done my homework and none.. I mean not even Asus, FUjitsu, Dell come close in offering all this in one solid stylish package. The money is well worth to spend on the sony. Though I have to admit, sony is really stingy.. the box doesn't come with any extra stuffs...
ps I also put in another 1 gig ram making it 1.5 .. the operation is really fast.. this notebook will be a mainstay for another 3-4 more years

 

Excellent, just what I expected to hear, I think it's a very good notebook, It's amazing how my mind keeps swaying from Asus W3V to that Sony, I think I'm sure but then I read another article and it changes my mind.

Do you think it's better to get the Sony or get the Asus W3V and upgrade (the Asus is MUCH cheaper)? I need a VERY light and small laptop and the Sony has it all, tell me, does the Sony play Battlefield 2 or Half Life 2 very well?

 

Well I was facing exactly the same decision as you were a couple of months ago. I ordered the Asus W3V because it was much cheaper, had a better graphics card than the Sony (S4 series) and just seemed perfect. The first impression was good, the looks of it were great but it was simply too heavy. I never found a reliable weight on the internet but with battery and DVD-Drive this thing weighs ~2400g. I could get a 15 inch Samsung X20/X25 notebook with this weight! Display was slightly worse (more reflections) as well, but this was not the deciding factor for me.
If this doesn't matter to you, then I can recommend it (like many - see the Asus forum).

But now that the Sony has an equivalent (or better?) graphics card, no more serious noise issues and add the 450g less weight, I overall don't regret spending the extra money.

I haven't played HL2 or Battlefield, but Need for Speed Underground 2 runs fine at 1024x768 with details on 3/5, looks great!

 

Thank you, you've really cleared up alot of things for me.
Now I am down to onling having 4 doubts about the Sony;

1.Does it really only last for 3 hours on battery?
2.Is the 13.3" big enough to use Dreamweaver, Word, etc or games?
3.Is it a nice black (or dark grey) colour or is it all silver?#
4.Does it FEEL as good, solid, realiable, long-lasting quality as the Asus looks like?

 

1.) 3 Hours is a good average time including maybe switching off once, playing with brightness settings in the notebook, etc. You can tweak a bit here with Notebook Hardware Control and my guess is a max time of around 3:15-20 with minimal screen brightness should be possible. I guess if you need more you'll have to get the additional battery

2.) Yeah for me it is (Word, browsing), you get used to the size pretty quick. Unfortunately a lot of games don't run in 16:9 so you'll have black strips on the left and right of your screen.

3.) My S5XP is black/anthrazit on the top, rest is silver (keyboard and bottom are black as well)

4.) I have to admit the Asus felt a bit more solid than the Sony. Not to say the Sony isn't but you got things like the slight battery rattle and a loosely fitted/cheap WLAN button. I can't understand why Sony hasn't changed this from previous models.
Other than that it feels well built, no creaking of the chassis.

 

In the politest way possible I'd like to mutter "Dam you!" under my breath, lol, now I'm having doubts again, I nearly cried when you talked about the 16:9 thing, and the battery rattle, grrrrrr.

tell me more! in comparisons! more stuff i should be aware of!

 

i personally dont think its big enough for dreamweaver, im going for a 15.4, fs probably.

 

I've ran photoshop CS.. looks nice.. wide screen certainly is good in the sense that you can stack more things on the right side
haven't installed any latest games yet coz I am still arranging the files and installing more crucial applications
Actually the battery rattling is a bit overhyped, if you don't touch the back then it won't matter your operation at all on the front.
Maybe I will take a picture later.. the blackstrip is there but not very visible and yes I am now surfing on the net with almost white or v light blue bg yet I can't really see them.
FUlly charged, with some tweaking they reach about approx 3 hours.. I suppose you can squeeze abit more.Quite reasonable batt life for me

 

Ok here are the pics..

#1 viewed from a distance


#2 closer look with white bg


#3 surfing the net


judge for yourself.. to me yes it's there but not really distracting. Also let's put it this way, with such a wide screen, you won't be looking at the extreme side most of the time. It is the center that matters the most.

Go get the Sony.. it's only a bitmore.. but the aesthetic, feel of it.. is really different. The Asus screen is not even in the same league IMO..

 

Thank you for that, could you take some more! I know of a place where I can get the Sony nice and cheap, so I think I'll be getting it.

Is it easy to upgrade the processor, hard drive and RAM in the vaio?

p.s. I can't see the black strips, do you mean the TINY little 2 millimeter (if that) black bits on the side?

 

oops sorry my mistake yea i m referring to the bleeding on the side
uograding memory is a breeze
cant help u with proc and hdd.. but IMO if u need any larger get a external hdd.. faster and cheaper. processor.. well mine comes with 2.13.. so it's quite high already
i suppose u cant change it.

 

How did you get one with 2.13? The S5XP is 2.0Ghz as standard! you must have the SVXP or something!

 

I don't know.. but I know a few varients exist for the different region. Mine is for Asia.. S58GP .. 2.13 gig, 80 hdd, 512 ram, nvidia 6400, and the rest I think is the same
not much difference I think
btw where do u live?

 

The UK, I get 100GB hdd, 1GB ram and 2.0GHz.

Would you be able to take photos, in the light? They are really helping me and I really apprechiate them!

 

Hehe.. well I am just telling you these details so you won't later say no one told you Battery rattle is really of no concern to me, zerodivine is right, its really just a minor detail.

But think of it this way, no laptop is perfect, I think the S5XP comes pretty close and I definitely would not want to trade it for anything else in its class.

 

concur with u totally..
now when I play my cousin's desktop monitor.. samsung.. the colour and sharpness is not there compared to the vaio
it's really sharp and viewing pictures are pure joy when u see he vibrancy in colour. blacks r really black not dark shade of grey.
another minor slight gripe is that the cd-tray is abit too close sometimes rubbing against the pearl exterior when I push the tray in.

 

what is the price you can get it for?