Why are VAIOs so expensive?!

I've always wanted to know this question, I asked 3 stores and they basically told me Sony's asking price is higher so they have to sell higher..

When I compare the VIAO laptops that I see in stores next to say the computer I got. A VAIO with lets say a crummy 4500MHD GPU compared to my laptop with a GT 540M the VIAO is 200€ more at least.. on top of that they have half the specs that most other computers offer...

So they have to have some sort of selling point? Really long battery life or a 3-4 year warranty or something.. the only time I even see VAIO laptops are on TV on advertisements or on News programmes. So what's the advantage of spending so much more to have a VAIO? They sure don't look that appealing on the outside and the design doesn't look any better than another laptop. From a point of view like mine it just looks like Sony wants to throw a ton of extra money on their product like they always do... but there has to be a selling point or no one would buy.

This thread is purely just to sate my curiosity btw.

 

It's essentially the "Sony" tax which is similar to the "Apple" tax. They charge more because they can.

IMO, some of their designs are really nice so I don't mind paying a little extra for something that I think looks good.

 

If you think Sony is expensive now, boy you missed the old days Sony when it used to have triple the price tag of a similar-speced laptop.

 

I can understand your question taking into account you are an Acer user

Totally different class and quality

Some people don't like it when I give car-examples but you see an Audi is always much more expensive than an Opel and there is a whole bunch of reasons why (which on the other hand by far doesn't mean Audi is "perfect" - nothing perfect in this world!)

Looking at my signature you can figure out I made my way through cheap brands like Fujitsu and Acer. Would never make this mistake again. Trust me - the price difference is worth it.

 

It's the Sony tax, but you pay that tax for some extra options and goodies you won't get from Acer:
- better and brighter screens
- better keyboards
- backlit keyboard on some models
- USB 3, HDMI and options for FW on some models

As you can see, these features are interesting for an audience that doesn't care about graphic cards.

 

Well not all Sony's are equal. I'm not sure if the lower end Sony's like the E series is actually any better than similarily priced Fujitsu's or say Asus notebooks. From a design standpoint though the Sony notebook might look nicer.
People used to say that Sony's came with better screens well that's not uniform across the board now.

 

I don't really know what the exact answer of the question would be.... IMO even lower class VAIOs are significantly better built, better looking and generally higher quality than an Acer or Fujitsu.

I do understand the question though as this was what I was thinking a few years ago - Why buy expensive brands when I can buy an Acer/Fujitsu/etc. with the same configuration or better for much less money... well.... how do I put this...
I think a picture of my fujitsu would help:



That's why: CHEAAAAAAAP plastics, CHEEEEAAAAP construction and build quality, heating problems, noisy, etc. etc. etc.
And it was still much better than all (but one) Acers I have ever used (5 or 6).

It is true that much higher price doesn't necessarily mean much better quality... but as we are specifically speaking about Sony - I am now convinced the price is adequate to what you get (maybe with exception of 1 or 2 models that have some bad typical problems)! But again - there is nothing perfect in this world

 

id say 1: the screens 2: imported from Japan

 

Both generally not true!

1. More and more people remain rather disappointed from the screens. Could be the high expectation... I'm personally satisfied with the display.
2. Sony is made in Japan, China and Taiwan! But that doesn't mean much - among those models made in japan many have more issues than those made in China. The country of origin is nowadays absolutely meaningless.

 

I've had good experience with a Fujistu Lifebook that i purchased and it's still going well after almost 3 years and i would purchase from Fujistu again. The Lifebook brand is meant to be Fujistu's higher end brand. I suppose the Fujistu Lifebook AH550 would be quite comparable to the Sony E series.

Review Fujitsu Lifebook AH550 Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews
Review Sony Vaio VPC-EB1S1E/BJ Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews
With the Sony it looks better and you get CTO options but when it comes to build i'm not sure if the Sony is better.
I've not had a chance to read the above reviews yet but looking at the scores the Fujitsu seems to score better when it comes to build quality. Of course you could also get this model with dedicated graphics.

Even Acer has come out with some higher end models but i don't know what these notebooks are like yet.

 

The Vaio Z is worth every penny of the super expensive and to some extend overpriced tag. But by god full HD in a 13" 1.5 kg i7 power house is freakin amazing!! the weight only super crappy 10" netbooks can compete with.

Just like everything else in tech the smaller things get the more pricey they get, or for TVs I guess its opposite

 

Build quality, screens, keyboards - have had very good luck with 4 laptops to date (1 survived a Senior in HS and then 4 years of college) - now has been relegated to "internet checker" but still runs like it did close to 5 years ago. The other three laptops range from 2.5 years old to new models. All based on experience with them and the quality of the components in them (gaming really not a big priority).
You get what you pay for. Build, design and quality.

 

Those scores are rather subjective... The Fujitsu Amilo you see on the picture was rated with good build quality too.... So are some of the Acers I have used but...

Exact conclusion! Valid for pretty much all brands.

 

+1 to that.

 

I'm going to have to disagree with the $$$ = better quality.

The HP Envy series is plagued with problems, despite the higher tag. Same thing with Dell's XPS and Alienware brands (though these are hit-or-miss). A well-built Clevo, on the other hand, isn't as pricy.

It's all a ruse to make you feel like you are getting a premium product. Diamonds, leather, etc, all of these are inexpensive products that people feel like they are special...

 

I had both an Envy 14 and a Dell XPS and there weren't any majr problems. I definately think they're both worth it. The XPS series aren't really expensive, I actually think they're priced pretty competetively. As for HP, they always have a $200-$500 off coupon every month so it turns out to be a pretty good deal.

 

If you think it is expensive, it is not made for you. Period.

You do not buy a CL63 AMG if you are just fine with a Ford.

 

I have Sony SZ4 model and i never understood why were they so expensive (it was like Z back in the days).
It has relatively short battery life, never lasted more than 3.5 hours. It's fan is almost constantly on, it creaks and squeaks, even if i move it just a little. It's almost 4 years old but still..

 

I've just moves from a road warrior TZ (Great battery life) to a Vaio Z13 i5. Yes it was expensive, but damm... its amazing. So Sony charges more for the laptops, but you get hell of a lot more that other laptops offer.

 

How do you like your Express Card SSD? Does it get hot?

 

Well that's Hp
Sony>>>>>>>>>>HP

 

Higher salaries paid to engineers, higher research and development costs, located in costlier Japan which is a more evolved economy and so on and so forth.

The Japanese engineering teams are a delight and some of the finest in the world on high end products which is why right now we are having issues because of the Earthquake disaster and the nuclear power issue in the world global economy. Hopefully the Japanese will rebuild soon.

My Hitachi monitor came shipped from Osaka Japan which is a heavy 19" CRT which I still use. While others I know bought crummy monitors which broke and with lower quality this monitor lasted for a significantly long period of time and the CRT backlight has still not worn out. Plenty of brightness left.

And I wonder why home light bulbs keep going out when this monitors CCFL backlighting has lasted for literally years now without getting dimmer.

The engineering quality of the Japanese can not be understated. I paid a one time fee for this monitor which was 5 times higher than competing alternatives. I can honestly say the ROI was well worth it, in fact CRT is now outdated although my CRT is sharper and clearer than all of the LCDs I have seen.

My Panasonic LCD TV was made in Mexico but also has been flawless for years now.

Panasonic only makes Toughbooks which are overkill unless you are in a hardened environment (oil wells, military, desert, etc....). I never understood why Panasonic never made notebooks that weren't hardened.

I had a Sony 13" CRT in the past with RGB and composite inputs with TV monitor. There is a reason why Sony was used intensively in the recording and broadcast industries. Back then they also had the trinitron patent so arguable any Sony TV set was clearer to watch than any other TV in the industry sans others who were able to license the patent.

Yes Sony is a premium product with extremely high level of expertise in developing consumer electronics including notebook computers.

The premium notebook makers right now non hardened are:

Apple, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba and Asus. Asus is from Taiwan and gets their experience from a motherboard design they were able to stabalize while Intel engineers weren't able to. They have extensive experience in the R+D of computers.

Each one of these makers offers their own unique offerings to the marketplace. I wouldn't go out and say only Sony is higher end. In fact all the companys compete for marketshare from everyone but the fact is all of these makers above can make a very high quality notebook pc with different specifications and standards.

Quality will not be cheap and it never has been that way.

Dell is known for BTO (build to order) easily customizable machines with very low prices direct from Dell. However customer support has not been so great. I own 2 Dell Desktop's and I know people who had Dell notebooks. Quality with Dell hasn't been horrible though.

 

Back in the old days trinitron patents and engineering prowness for Sony.

In todays market: They are made in China and ODM'ed just like everyone else unless its a unique model like the Sony Vaio Z at the high end.

Sony is a leader though and does have unique designs and usually decent specifications in their machines. They focus their R+D on the high end models.

I am shopping the 13.3" line right now and the VAIO SB series is coming in with very high specs that no other competitor is able to match but the models are still in progress and I have not bought yet and am waiting for all players to come in. So far the Sony is the frontrunner in the search.

In the past Dell would have had the most competitive pricing models.

 

Hardware is no good if you dont update your drivers...and Sony sucks at this

Be prepared to use the same driver you have today for the life of your PC

 

Drivers aren't inherent to Sony and most drivers whether graphics or whatnot can be upgraded by the OEM websites themselves unless its a Sony specific issue.

 

In fact, Z is one of the models with most problems among Vaios, although it is made in Japan.

Others like the S and Y which are as well business class have less to no problems, although made in China/Taiwan. Country of origin makes absolutely no difference nowadays.

Why do you need sony to update your drivers!??? Such a nonsense!

Like all other laptops, Sony uses Intel, Nvidia, ATI, Qualcomm, Atheros, etc.
You go and get your drivers from the manufacturer! I have the most up-to-date drivers on my Vaio... where's the problem!??

You sound like a typical Macbook user

 

VAIO Quality : Sony

They invest in quality control more than most of the competition. Therefore Vaios are more durable in the long haul. My FE notebook from early 2007 is 4 years old and still working well.

 

All the manufacturers invest in quality control though some are made better than others.

 

I presume he's talking about graphics drivers on models with switchable graphics.

 

No problems there either. Most drivers for Sony laptops need to be modified to be installable. That's true. So what?

He obviously has 0 idea.

 

Why is VAIO pricey? Well when you get to a certain level of recognition you can charge higher prices and customers will buy them.

The Vaio's style team did an amazing job with this one and when I see the new high resolution images, it is visually very nice. Fits the upscale personality type nicely.

You can buy a cheap $50 suit or a $10,000 custom made suit or something inbetween. For every product you have various areas where it fits into the market place.

I wouldn't want Sony to charge lower prices. Would ruin the brand and the image it portrays. It is exactly what it is and for good reason.

If you think Sony is overpriced, buy a Cheap chinese made laptop if you wish. Competition is good!

 

Vaio? Pricey? I think their mainstream lines are priced somewhat above average, and also have build quality that is above average. It seems to be a fair deal.

Laptops like Z or SB aren't meant to compete with Pavillion, Acer, (most of ) ASUS and alike. These also are competitively priced compared to their intended competition.

 

My last 4 laptop has been Sony because I dont like this fingerprint magnet.

I just bought a new Vaio Y 11.6" last week.

 

Sony has higher build quality.
At least in most models.

Disassemble a few other brands side by side with Sony and you start to see the difference.

Sony models hold their value better in many cases. So while you pay extra when new (for which you do get something for it), you also get more for it later should you decide to sell it.


I rarely see 4 year old HP/Compaq/Dell/Gateway/Acer/etc. that are in decent shape... Broken hinges, damaged keyboards, worn paint, cracked plastics. They creak just by picking them up while closed, the lids wobble, they run like crap, fans barely work... And battery life? Most got 2 hours when new, and get 5 minutes now.

Most of those laptops are dead by the two year mark under semi-heavy use. I have a 10 year old Sony in better shape, and my mom has my 7 year old V505, that is in mint condition after logging 20-30k miles of air and car travel. Meanwhile the 2 year old Dell I sent my brother is falling apart. That was after I decided not to send the 3 year old HP, that was in worse shape.

It's 4 years old.

Do yourself a favor, open up your SZ, tighten a few screws, replace the thermal tape with compound, clean out the heatsink, give it a fresh Windows install (Win 7!) and watch it become a brand new laptop (maybe a newer, faster hard drive and more ram too).


My SZ is about 3 years old, it spent the first 6 months as a demo model at Best Buy and since traveled about 20k miles. I did what I stated above, it runs better than many $1000 computers today. It looks like new, and runs better than it did the day I got it. I even get 5-6 hours battery life still, which is competitive with newer systems. I would love a newer system, but so far, other than the Z, there is nothing to really replace it with that is a major upgrade.

 

It's good quality. I had a TT, best laptop ever. It's small, but it's sturdy. The quality was excellent, excellent temperature management, thin, light, just the all around best.Couldn't ask for more.

 

Thanks for advice but I already did it several times, doesn't help. I do clean it once in a while (it's quite easy on SZ), and i also got my fan, heatsink and battery replaced.
Yes, it is 4 years old, but it didn't start doing it just today, and i also expect more for such money. Battery was wobbling since day 1, you think it's normal for such high priced laptop?

I also checked some other threads, i was looking for relpacement and still am, most Asus, Acer owners claim at least 5 hours battery life, i don't know where you got that 2 hour figure. How do you get 5-6 hours? Is wifi on?
I was talking about normal web surfing, may be in word processing mode with wifi off it gets more. Also, your SZ6 is newer model, probably they improved it somehow.

 

vaios aren't expensive..its all the other ones are cheap

 

What do you mean it didn't help?

The later models had a better, quieter fan, it is adaptable to your system, takes very little work. Later models also had a slightly higher capacity battery. Battery wobble happens as tolerances loosen up, add a little felt (they did have a little wobble from the start though and Sony is actually not alone here, I have seen upper end Toshibas do it too).


As for battery life...
It's always over-stated, I have seen very few consumer level systems over from a few years ago that really got much over 2 hours if left using the default power profile. They just didn't. Some got a little more, some got a little less, but few really got much more.


Mine...
For power settings, I disable the webcam, fingerprint scanner, and firewire I never use them, and put fans and wireless on variable power. I also run a 4 gig speed-disk in the memory stick port, but I couldn't say if it hurts or helps. I also have a different HD (not sure if it's better or worse) and 4 gigs of ram (which helps).

On battery I set it to disable the cd-rom, turn brightness way down. I then kill as many background programs as possible (I run a VPN). This gets me 4 to 5 hours of light surfing using wireless and bluetooth. If I really need more, I turn down the color depth to 16bit (you can't really tell) and refresh rate to 40 (again, you can't tell), then disable bluetooth. This gets me about 6 hours under light wireless surfing using Firefox. I.E. will get a little more I would imagine.

If I don't surf (or do it minimal) and just stream music I lose 25% because it constantly is using the sound card and wireless. I do not disable the network, modem or sound systems in any way.

While this all may sound like a lot or a hassle, it's not really. It all happens automatic once you set up the power profiles. The only thing I really do manually is kill the bluetooth, which is rare since I use a bluetooth mouse.

 

I had a 4 year old SZ as well before I got a Z. The Z is light years better in terms of build quality.

Bear in mind, about 4 years ago, the 13.3 frame wasn't THAT popular. When the original S came out ages ago (precessor to the SZ), it was literally the only small form factor with a dedicated gpu. The SZ was definitely priced a bit too high given that it's competitors offered the same set of specs for the price.

Right now, the Z stands alone as a high resolution 13.1" screen with a fairly decent gpu. Nothing like it on the market.

 

They don't charge nearly as much of a premium as they used to, apart from for the Z, which is so much better than anything else it's worth it. The SB I've just ordered is actually pretty competitive - especially considering its clearly pitched at the 13" Macbook Pro.

The SB will be my fifth (I think?) Vaio, and they've all been significantly better made and more reliable than the other laptops I've had (work ones, lower budget secondary ones etc).

 

If I speak to some people they will say that Sony is horrible and there are loads of problems.

From what Ive seen in reliability studies on the net, Apple, Sony, Toshiba, Samsung and Asus are amongst the most reliable. They used to say Lenovo was good but some studies show it as poor now.

Asus was actually rated the tops however out of all these brands doesn't have as good specs.

Had an Acer Desktop machine where I believe the HD and the CD Rom drive had to be replaced if I recall. The Acer I had came with the most software Ive seen including some ready to play games.

However Acer has been known for poor quality. So I wouldn't trust it with a notebook PC.

Sony is allegedly the BMW of Personal Computers right now and this fact stands true. I have seen the guts of the Sony and it used a decent amount of quality Japanese parts in the unit itself even though it was made in China.

The design team of electrical and computer engineers and designers and stylists and factories and the whole team worked exceptionally hard to put out something that really represents the first world of computing though in doing so, they do try to keep profit margins high and sometimes have added spyware or other software to the unit itself.

Sony is keeping up the Notebook PC business exceptionally well.

You can get a multitude of Notebook PC brands right now but the top short list of manufacturers you should go to is relatively small.

Sony is definitely on the short list.

 

I spent only $1,000 CDN on my FW and I couldn't be happier with it. I don't see it as being expensive and I think my model is a bit higher quality than the C series. It's still running great after almost 3 years and I hope it still lasts...

 

I’m currently stuck between a rock and a hard place deciding between the HP Envy 17 3D and the Sony Vaio F 3D. I have had great luck with every HP computer, PDA and printer I’ve owned and I love Sony for their other consumer electronics. I just bought a pretty high end Sony Bravia 55” 3DTV, a higher end Sony Blu Ray Player and a Sony A/V Receiver from their ES line in the past three months and they meet and exceed my expectations. I love HP, I love Sony!

I have no problem paying more for higher quality but here’s my problem. Both the Envy 17 3D and the Vaio F 3D are the highest end notebooks HP and Sony offer. For as equal configurations as I can make, the Sony is about $300 more than the Envy. I’d be totally cool with that BUT, the screen on the Envy is almost an inch and a half bigger, the video card on the Envy is better, HP offers WIN7 Ultimate, best you can do with Sony is WIN7 Pro. HP gives you a 6 cell and a 9 cell battery for a $75 upgrade, with Sony you pay $100 more and only get the larger capacity battery. The WLAN card on the Vaio only operates on the 2.4 GHz band. I’d have no problem paying $300 if the specs were more inline, but despite that, the Sony has a Blu Ray burner and 2 USB 3.0 ports instead of just 1, but I still feel like I’d be paying more for a lesser machine, which isn’t cool. My one beef, and it’s a big one with HP, is that as of last Sunday they no longer offer standalone 7200 RPM hard drives in their Envy line. 5400 RPM drives are completely unacceptable for a laptop like this. You can opt for a 640 GB 7200 RPM hard drive in conjunction with a 160 SSD, but I do not need that much storage and I’m not willing to shell out an extra almost $600 for that.

What I’m leaning toward is by April 17th (I’ll give them a month to the nearest Sunday), HP doesn’t have 7200 RPM drives back in the Envy 3D I’ll pull the trigger on the Vaio F.

 

Well for me, I like the VAIO SB 2nd configuration except for the price I think it should have a blueray reader at a minimum. I seem to be waiting for a similarly speced tho better machines in a VAIO SA with vPRO though.

The GPS tracking feature and others make it quite attractive for purchase as a machine I can use for everything without limitations.

vPRO hasn't yet been released for the mobile line of processors and so it seems like the longer I wait the more features I will get.

Not rushing out to buy the VAIO SB models here.

 

Ever thought about replacing the drive yourself on either machine? Certainly doing an SSD upgrade yourself will be significantly less than $600.

 

Yawn.

Ive been shopping for ages for my "Dream notebook" and I never wind up getting one. Keep waiting longer and longer. New features that I want are always on the horizon.

Ive seen tons of them come and go, but now Im looking at the 13.3" Sony VAIO's hopefully an SA with vPRO but I don't know if i can hold out till Ivy bridge. Before you know it I'll be on this machine and Haswell could even come out since I could be swapping machines in 2013!

 

I meant that i did this replace the thermal tape with compound, clean out the heatsink, give it a fresh Windows install (Win 7!) and fan is still almost constantly on. Surely, if i only read one single page on some forum (like this one for example) for 20 minutes, fan will eventually go off (and battery will last more), but under more realistic use (news, forums, some youtube) it is almost always on and battery does not last long at all, no matter what you disable (i disabled dvd drive, fw, bt).

I also have IBM T42, which is even older than my SZ, and it's relatively quiet under similar conditions. And its fan is quieter too.

 

I've known people who were non-gentle with their Sony laptops and the computers survived the incidents. I doubt Acer, et al would have.

 

Asus, Sony, Toshiba and Samsung or Apple are all excellent machines depending on which specs you are looking for.

 

Son has been the only long standing, real supporter of 12 and 13in for well over a decade.

Always expensive and always well ahead of the competition.

You do realize that Flash video is horrible for battery life right?
It takes quite a bit of power to run Flash.

My SZ runs 100% different than yours. Silent, lasts a long time, etc... Casual browsing to me means only 5 tabs open in 2 browser windows. I don't baby it by any means.

You are lucky you have the T42 and not the T43, which has known fan problems. NOISY, and they tend to fail. Just did one a month ago.

Acer, no.
Fujitsu, like Lenovo, depends on the model (and in Lenovo, the year even).

I expect a LOT from my notebooks. I see what my customers have compared to mine, and how they have fallen apart. Mine are under far worse wear and tear and handle it much better. I own and maintain a 10 year old Sony and 8 year old Lenovo, they still run great. If you asked me to show you a 5 year old customer notebook made by other companies, I would be hard pressed to show you one that could be carried without the fear of parts falling off.