Sony Vaio newbie

Hello there,

I'm planning to buy a Sony VAIO VGN-CR123E/B.

I need a notebook mostly for software development(.net, sharepoint, j2ee, oracle) and Virtual Machines(Virtual PC 2007 running win 2003 Server). I don't play any games.

Here are the specs:

Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7300 2 GHZ Cache: 4 MB L2 cache
Hard Drive: 160GB 5400rpm Serial ATA
Memory: 2048MB (4096MB max) PC2-5300 667MHz
Optical Drives: DVD+R DL
Screen: 14.1" WXGA LCD (Resolution: 1280 x 800 pixels)
Graphics card: Mobile Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 (358MB shared)
Audio card: Sony Sound Reality - Audio Enhancer
Speakers: Built-in stereo
Networking: Intel PRO/Wireless 4965 (802.11a/b/g/n) 10/100Base-TX integrated V92/90 modem
Ports/Slots: Multimedia Card Reader, ExpressCard slot /34, Secure Digital Keyboard: QWERTY, 82 keys with 2mm stroke
Battery [Life]: Lithium ion
Size: 13.2x1.25-1.67x9.8 inches
Weight: 5.5 lbs (2.5 kg)
Supplied: Battery
Supplied: AC adapter
Supplied: Software Bundle
Supplied: Memory Card Adapter
OS: Microsoft® Windows® Vista Home Premium
Software: Free Productivity, Internet & Graphics Software Bundle
price: $862.00

1 - Deal
Is this a good deal for the price? Is this model worth buying? Is CR a good model for me since I don't play games?

2 - Upgrades
I plan to upgrade the RAM to 4GB and the HDD to 7200 rpm. Are this upgrades easy to do? Are they going to improve significantly the performance?

3 - Drivers
I heard a lot of complains about sony not having drivers for Windows XP. Is that true? Can I make a XP clean Install? What about Windows 2003 Server? What about Linux drivers?

 

Oh, One more please:

In the model name VAIO VGN-CR123E/B

I belive /B stands for black, right? What about 123E what does it mean?

Thanks

 

It seems like a good deal. Try to go for at least a 200 gb 7200rpm hdd as thats where the performance starts picking up.
The upgrades are usually easy to do but i have read a few threads where disassembling the whole laptop was necessary to access the ram and hdd for replacement:\

The xp downgrade sometimes causes certain things to not function (you can search this site and find alot of threads on it) but mainly just small things like the fn key not working.

Aside from that a faster processor and a higher screen resolution would be nice for software development but it would be hard to find a better deal in a 14"...

Also: You may want to fiil out the faq in the "what notebook should i buy forum" for some more options

 

I sure will

Ohh no...

No problem...

Its true. I picked this up because I searched for t7300 at amazon and it was the cheaper one that was not an hp dv6 something...

I did the same with t7400, t7500... But they were all out of my price budget...

I had 2 hps before and I'm kind of tired of them

I can't because I already did... I hope I don't regret!

Thanks

 

I have a VGN-CR125E:

1. Mine is black, so the /B seems not to stand for black!
2. I have downgraded to XP three month ago and could find all of the XP drivers at the sony-asia.com website. They are all working properly and I'm happy of my work.

 

Thanks!

Is there any guide for upgrading the ram in a sony vaio cr?

Take a look at this one for a dell latitude:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=130014

How many memory slots does it have? Where are they located on the computer?

Will I really have to disassemble the whole laptop access the ram?

Will I get one 2GB dimm or two 1GB dimms?

About the XP drivers, I found this in sony-asia:

Windows XP Downgrade Drivers and Applications for VGN-CR1 Series(Zip File)

Is that going to work with my CR123E\B ?

Because it says:

Applicable Models:
VGN-CR13M, VGN-CR13G, VGN-CR14GN, VGN-CR13S, VGN-CR12GH, VGN-CR11GH, VGN-CR11SH

Thanks

 

You'll need 2 x 2gb sticks. You can sell the 2 1gb sticks on ebay and buy the new ones.. ram is very cheap nowadays.
I'm not sure about your model but some of the smaller laptops have to be taken apart to upgrade.
Once you get it you'll know and then you can come back here for support

The downgrade drivers should work fine as long as you install the right ones for the hardware you have.