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New Sony VAIO Laptop w/ 16.1" Screen

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the now-thats-lustworthy dept.

calc writes "Sony Japan has announced a new VAIO laptop that comes with a DVD-R/RW CD-R/RW drive along with a Radeon 7500 Mobility and 16.1" UXGA LCD." The spacebar on my thinkpad has been dying... maybe its time for a change. Sony? You listening? *grin*

15 of 343 comments (clear)

  1. And the news is? by nigelo · · Score: 4, Funny

    Reduced to posting advertisements now?

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    *Still* negative function...
  2. Topic missed the point... by calc · · Score: 5, Informative

    Sony already has laptops with 16.1" screens the point of the post was the new DVD-R/RW drive included. I am not sure why cmdrtaco changed the title to miss the point. ;)

  3. Oooh by billatq · · Score: 5, Funny

    I could sure use a new thinkpad. CdrTaco? Are you listening ;)?

  4. Got one of these last month by AirLace · · Score: 5, Informative

    The screen is beatiful. But the keyboard is a nightmare, just for that reason I though of giving it back. Also, the BIOS doesn't support APM properly so you have to use the ACPI stuff if you need power management, and swsusp to suspend to RAM as it's no longer built in to the BIOS. It's also a nightmare to carry around, like the lunchbox computers of yesteryear -- this is kind of my first VAIO I've been disappointed in.

  5. Yet again another "Sony is godhead" story by MsGeek · · Score: 4, Funny

    Wow.

    You'd think /. would know better by now. Sony is NOT your friend. Sony is a member of both the RIAA and the MPAA and would like nothing better than to control everything you put into your machine.

    There are so many other companies that make laptops. Vaios are cute and kawaii but then again so is the Fujitsu Lifebook. And Fujitsu belongs to neither the RIAA or MPAA. Plus you can get a spiffomundo Crusoe chip in the thing, so you can say that you've got Linus Inside! How cool is that?

    "The RIAA and the MPAA are a bad, evil corporate conspiracy...OOOH! Shiny objects! I want!!!"

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  6. Sony Has Sold Out To Microsoft by the+eric+conspiracy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I recently went shopping for a laptop, and seriously considered a Sony 16.1" screen model. I decided against purchasing a Sony product because
    Sony has an extremely bad policy in regard to OS support.

    Sony encodes the BIOS with a designation describing the OS that it was sold with. This designation is checked by the drivers supplied by Sony. If the driver OS doesn't match the BIOS designation, the drivers do not load. This is to prevent buyers from installing an OS that the laptop was not sold with. Sony also does not make driver packages available for download online.

    The end result is that you will be stuck with whatever OS the machine was sold with. Want to run Win2K Server on a machine sold with Win XP? Too Bad.

    Want to dual boot Win2K and XP. Nah. Want to upgrade when the next Windows comes out? Nope.

    The only exception to this is that it is possible with some fiddling to install Win XP Pro on a machine that came with XP Home. But don't count on Sony to tell you how! They won't.

    In my opinion the result is that Sony laptops are completely unsuitable for technically inclined users.

    BTW, my search ended up with a Compaq 2800T with WinXP and the same Radeon card as the Sony. It's got a 15.1" screen, USB 2.0 and is FAR more portable. It also runs RedHat 7.3 and Windows 2000 just fine.It's also expandable to 1gig of RAM and has USB 2.0. The configurability from the Compaq store is also far better than with the Sony.

    Sony? Not until they adopt a less hostile OS policy.

    1. Re:Sony Has Sold Out To Microsoft by The+Bungi · · Score: 4, Informative
      I don't work for Sony, particularly like them or otherwise give a shit, though I think they make good consumer electronics. But this is nothing but FUD.

      I have a Vaio PCG-F430 (older model) here that shipped with Win98. It's running Windows 200 Pro right now, and at one point it was also running Win2K Advanced server. I got it through a company-sponsored purchase program. I figured Vaio was better than no laptop, although I probably wouldn't have bought one if I was spending my own money. Still, I've had absolutely no problems other than an intermittent green ghost stripe in the LCD that appears when the thing is left in the car in 110F heat for too long. It disappears after the screen has cooled.

      About four months ago I replaced the 2.5 inch hard drive. Not a single problem. I also upgraded the memory to 256MB. Not a problem.

      Sony makes drivers and utilities (such as those that control the touch pad and so on) available from their web site, on a per model basis. That means that you can find your model and download replacements for every single piece of software that shipped with the laptop originally, from the sound card to the video card. If you haven't already, I'd recommend you visit Sony's web site. Bring some crow for muching.

      Now, when I installed W2KAS I didn't even bother installing the utilities. Everything worked perfectly fine. And then with W2kPRO, I installed all of them. Guess what? Everything works fine.

      I can say the same thing for late model Vaios since I helped a friend get rid of WinME and install W2K Pro on his. He didn't even bother installing the updated drivers, because everything was working fine, with the exception of the SD thing, which he wasn't using anyway. USB, FireWire, video, sound, NIC, PCMCIA, etc. Everything worked flawlessly the first time W2K booted up.

      Perhaps you want to provide a link or two backing up your claims?

  7. Linux-Loaded? by Ted+V · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Sorry to sound like a typical slashdot troll, but does this come with Linux preloaded? I'm shopping for a laptop, and I *really* don't want to pay the Microsoft Operating System Tax(tm) for an OS I'm not going to use. Any recommendations on laptops with preloaded linux and places to buy them that *WON'T* charge me for Windows?

    1. Re:Linux-Loaded? by elflord · · Score: 5, Informative
      Sorry to sound like a typical slashdot troll, but does this come with Linux preloaded? I'm shopping for a laptop, and I *really* don't want to pay the Microsoft Operating System Tax(tm) for an OS I'm not going to use. Any recommendations on laptops with preloaded linux and places to buy them that *WON'T* charge me for Windows?

      I get my computers from ASL, and so do my employers, so I've dealt with a number of their machines. They do Linux laptops, and will not charge you for Windows on a Linux-only system.

  8. Re:Is there a point to this? by furiousgeorge · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you don't like it, then quit yer bitching and move on.

    I guess I'm one of the morons who would consider buying this. Why? Because I want a small, simple computer that I can move around easily if I need to.

    Right now i have a 14" Dell notebook. LOVE IT. Use it on the kitchen table, use it on the coffee table, put it on my lap when i'm in bed, etc etc. One self contained little unit that folds in half to close and to move it all i need to do is plug it in. What do you do with your desktop? You go to where the computer is. What do i do? I just put the computer where I want it and use it. Wireless networking. Life is sweet :)

    Now lets look at the desktop example. Monitor. Mouse. Keyboard. Speakers. Computer Box (which are ALL wayyyyy too big. I don't need expandability - I don't need 5 PCI cards. I need the ability to add memory - period. When the graphics are out of date I'll replace the whole thing. With hard drives already topping 160GB, the last thing i need is 4 drive bays.). Plus millions and millions of cables.

    The modern PC is really a silly, badly designed, convoluted tech nightmare.

    This is the first laptop i've ever owned, and I don't see myself buying a real desktop system ever again. This is way too convenient.

    If i was looking for something VERY portable - then yeah 16" is a bit of overkill... but there are lots of options out there. What I want is something simple, convenient that CAN be portable if I need it to be. This fits the bill perfectly.

  9. Re:Is there a point to this? by Stoutlimb · · Score: 5, Insightful

    For me, it would be perfect. I'm an AutoCAD designer, and I have to take my laptop with me to many clients, and use it as a presentation device. In the design field, any upgrade in size and resolution, that will still fit in a briefcase or laptop sack and not break my shoulder when I carry it is good enough for me. I generally take my laptop with me to wherever I'm working, set it up for the day, work, then take it home with me. This laptop is perfection!

  10. This is the same Sony that... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful
    • is a member of the MPAA
    • is a member of the RIAA
    • Blocked people from writing Open Source projects for their AIBO's
    • Blocked people from developing with Linux on the PS2
    • Sued people for writing emulators for their old discontinued games
    • Developed the proprietary memory stick, and are a proponent of the DMCA
    maybe its time for a change. Slashdot? You listening? *grin*
  11. No problems here by Skevin · · Score: 5, Informative

    I bought my sister an FXA47 for her birthday, with WinXP pre-installed. WinXP on a Vaio doesn't seem to like DirectX 8.1, so I reimaged it with Win2K. The only things it didn't recognize immediately were the sound card and the modem (which was a WinModem anyway). I used the XP drivers that came with the machine, even though it warned me that the drivers were not signed/trusted; I got both working just fine.

    The only problem was getting the original applications back onto the machine, complete with registry settings. The Application Restoration Disk keeps telling me that the installer can only run on Sony Vaios... Hah! (Along these lines, I'm trying to actually write a program/script to analyze a Registry Image for such settings... a Key Copier, if you will).

    Anyway, I just want you all to know that OpenGL and Direct3D run *much* faster under Win2k than the default OS crap called XP that came installed on the system.

    Solomon

    --
    "Twice half-assed makes an ass whole." --Solomon K. Chang
  12. Sony Notebooks in general by ErikTheRed · · Score: 4, Insightful

    1) I've always found them to be extremely fragile. The number of people I know with Sony notebooks that haven't (badly) cracked or broken the cheap plastic case within one year is still zero.

    2) As has been mentioned, their driver policy sucks ass.

    3) No DVD-RW drive for it yet, but my 1-Year Old IBM Thinkpad T22 has a 15" screen (1400x1050x32), weighs less than 5 lbs, fits in any standard-size notebook carrying case, has the traditionally awesome IBM notebook keyboard (and personally I prefer the Trackpoint to the various touchpads), runs any version of Windows that I want, and is fully Linux compatible (Red Hat 7.3 installs perfectly). Oh, and since IBM's notebooks use the "UltraBay" spec, I know that when they do come out with a DVD-RW drive, it will work with my machine...

    'nough said.

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  13. Re:Whoa. by Zeinfeld · · Score: 5, Funny

    I use a 1930s hollerith punch card tabulator running red hat Linux 5.4. Not only do I use it for all y computing needs, it also doubles as a workout center. Being hand cranked it not only needs no electricity, but once you get through the boot sequence you can save the state of the machine by simply running the deck through a punch card duplicator. I'm having a few difficulties getting the TCP/IP stack to work, I keep hitting timeouts and dropping connections. So not only do I win the 'my computer hardware is more primitive than yours pissing contenst' I hereby demand that under rule 43 the other contestants prostrate themselves before me.

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