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Sony VAIO sucks - What's your preferred laptop?
June 6, 2011 - 12:53pm
o.p.
I have to vent.
I bought a Sony VAIO laptop about 4 years ago. Something that expensive should be made to f#^king last, no?
This piece of crap has buttons coming loose. The left click button is loose and visibly wearing out. The fan has become distractingly noisy. There is a piece of liner tape sticking out at the corner of my screen.
Is it only VAIO that has such sub-standard quality? I'm pissed off because it would be quite painful for me to go out and buy another machine. VAIO is a brand name that does not deserve a good reputation.
The metal-bodied Apple laptops have proven quite bulletproof, though it's hard to justify their price. (It's impossible to justify the plastic-bodied entry level units, which are no more durable than any ol' PC.)
On the PC side, I've owned or used several Acers (very good quality, great value, but disposable - servicing is inconvenient, and cost of depot servicing is astronomical), HP/Compaq (not so good an experience, but that does go back quite a while ago - about a decade), Toshiba (okay) and IBM/Lenovo (very good, quite well-supported, but a touch pricy. Like Apple, they have metal-bodied laptops available). I currently have my third Dell, and it's much better made than the other two were - perfectly acceptable in fact. Not so in the past.
Never used a Sony, but I'd heard good things about them. Sorry to hear about your problems.
I'd like to say I really like my Dell Inspiron, but I think in another thread someone said Dell subcontracts work out to children in third world countries - or was it Apple? I can't remember.
I've got a Dell desktop at work and a little Vaio laptop (very light-weight) for home and when I travel. I really like the Vaio. Sorry to hear yours has been a lemon, but mine (and my partner's Vaio) have been pretty good.
I'd like to switch to Mac, but they weigh a ton. I don't think my shoulder could take it.
I like the Toshiba 650 so much I bought 3, one for work, one for me, and one for my son.
I'm looking for a little laptop, or a netbook that isn't too hard to type on (I touch-type without looking at the keyboard). I much prefer Macs too, but indeed even the smallest Macbooks are somewhat heavy. Ideas? This is basically for travel purposes.
The blond guy uses a Lenovo netbook for travelling, especially when he's shooting and has lots of other stuff to carry. The keyboard is a bit cramped (it's an ultra-light 13 inch model), but he's managed to adjust from his regular keyboard while on the road. It's a bit slow, but he's willing to deal with that as it's a temporary thing and in exchange for the weight of a larger laptop.
Can't stand laptops.
I can use them when I have to do business on the road, but for regular work I'll take a real keyboard, mouse and screen, thank you.
I think a small screwdriver and a new keyboard should do the trick.
Nothing made for us working class slobs lasts forever. It's built-in obsolesence for a reason. If things were built to last, the capitalist system would not survive. Industrial capitalism was obsolete in the 1970s. Compound interest, usury and rent is the new capitalism. Debt servitude lasts forever. Fixing that will require more than a screwdriver.
..bought a small LG for $500 in vancouver. it weighs under 5lbs and the demensions are 10"x7". great for travelling. the keys, screen are large enough for these old fingers and eyes.
edit run on sentence
6079, I work on a full sized computer at home. The laptop would only be an adjunct for travelling.
How nice to see you, lagatta.
I like the Acer netbook, nice and light and works well - albeit a bit slower than some. It's so light that I get panic attacks that I might have lost it. And cost about $300 before add-ons.
What kind of technical problems, L ?
From what I know of Acer from years ago, they tended to put high quality components in their puters and were always lower priced than name brands. Although I bought an Acer laptop recently, and the DVD drive wouldn't recognize certain Memorex DVDs that I had. I returned it for that reason. I loved the thing as it came with 6 Gigs of RAM and 500 Gb hard drive. I'm still waiting to buy my first and can't decide which model to buy.
Indeed. I use them when I have to.
Speaking of which, anyone read the recent story about the laptops given out by a U.S. school which spied on the students?
ttp://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/06/webcam-scandal-resurfaces/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher
My son jumped our technology into this millennium. as an Xmas present. I am on a MAC laptop typing on a wireless keypad and using a wireless mouse. My TV is the monitor.
I love shooting pictures and am always looking for the one or two shorts that are not just good but that "pop" when you look at them. Editing on a large screen sure makes the gems stand out unlike any computer screen I've used.
@ NS
Sounds like a great setup.
That is part of the reason I hate using laptops. A lot of what I do is graphics and design work, so that teenytiny finger mouse and small screen just will not do.
The other thing of course is the small keyboard. Any machine where I have to actually think about what my hands are doing is too much of a distraction. No blackberries for me.
Ya don't get a Blackberry. You'll sprain your thumbs.
Thanks for the expressions upthread of sympathy for my woes. I have to add to the above, the little rubber stands on the bottom are also falling off.
Rapidly advancing technology has been a great excuse for built-in obsolescence, made by virtual slaves in the most exploitable corners of the world. It took a rash of suicides for Foxconn to realize human beings were doing the labor.
Imagine part of the definition of "hi-tech" being something that is upgradable without having to throw out the entire outdated product. I try not to buy anything unless I have a compelling need for it, so I "leapfrog" in my tech chattel.
What do you all think of tablets, and tablets vs. laptops? Whay would one NEED a tablet?
If we want to get a handle on polution we should make every vendor provide a ten year transferrable warranty for any product sold.
Sure prices would go up-- but so would quality and the amount of landfill would go down.
If you are going to use limited world resources-- you should use them well not for a quick buck then garbage bin.
The best laptop? I'd say the cheapest right now-- they are are poorly built likely in the same factories... The best names used to give better quality now they only make better ads.
That is the same for all manufactured products these days.
Yes, sad when we need to be able to reuse more now than ever before.
As it is, parts are seldom available beyond the very limited warranty periods - and where they are, they are made insanely expensive, to encourage our disposable society.
As opposed to expanding warranty periods, I would demand parts availablity for an extended period - and stipulate that the entire parts assembly cost cannot exceed the original suggested retail price.
As for me, I need a new laptop. I have already posted the following at bread and roses, and intended to post it at Babble as soon as I had access to a computer I could post on at this site - I get logged off on my home computer now.
Hi Gang,
Here are the parametres: My home computer is a PowerMac G4 - fairly powerful, but rapidly becoming antiquated. I have a so-called portable PC as well - a Toshiba, VERY heavy, which I simply can't take anywhere on the métro, my bicycle or travelling - it is simply too heavy and bulky, and I have arthritic pain in my shoulders if I try to lug such a thing. The only reason I keep it for the moment is as a work backup if my main home computer should die.
Eventually I need a new full-sized computer as well, but I especially need a new laptop. I'd much prefer a Mac as I've worked in a Mac environment for decades - we had them at the CSN communications department in the early 1980s.
But Macs do remain far more expensive, and my funds are limited (as opposed to utterly non-existent, a year ago).
I'd been contemplating the LARGER type of netbooks (11" and up) as I touch-type and the 10" ones are a bit small for that. Having to hunt-and-peck would double my workday.
But I've heard a lot that netbooks aren't dependable enough yet. The small Macbook (?) size would be fine, about 13" or so (I can strap it on to a larger screen when one is available, or to a separate keyboard...).
I mostly want to produce documents - word processing, perhaps enhanced now with some graphics if need be, and in e-mail and searching the web. I don't use a lot of other programs except Excel for accounting, Power Point for that kind of Presentation, and other really basic ones. I am NOT a nerd, except a word-nerd.
Ideas? Cheap ones? New or used, but dependable. But I don't have a credit card, so buying online, while possible, is complicated. And the computer must be able to function properly in French.
Hi,
Best way to get a desktop is to build it from parts -- way cheaper and much better quality in the end. If you need help and can get to Ottawa I can help you put one together let me know -- takes a couple hours to do and I'd be glad to help you -- this is mecano for adults. I'd do it in exchange for a good political conversation while putting it together -- just sit with me and talk to me while we do it.
Laptops-- I would watch the sales-- NCIX is one place that has sales and they will ship all over-- Canada computers sometimes as well.
The netbooks are very slow-- okay for word but quite limited otherwise even for surfing I find.
Honestly I use to think Toshiba laptop was the greatest piece of electronic equipment since the clock radio but over the past few years their computers have gone downhill. I think the best notebooks out there for the price might still be Toshiba, as they are nearly the same price as Acer but Lenovo (formerly IBM) are solid but you will pay a premium. If you are really rough with your notebook, you might as well by a Panasonic Toughbook-- you know, the same ones construction and police use.
Cheers
-CanadaManEH