|
I researched and read endless reviews on many laptops before making my decision and overall I am very satisified with my purchase of the sony Z530N. The hardware has many issues from bad screens, system shutdowns, battery life, etc. It does everything I need and more. Apple although popular because of all the advertising is not that reliable. Apple is great at promoting thier product however, they need to invest more time in quality control. I am happy to be a PC and look forward to future sony purchases.
However, the machine is very complicated and I like that SONY had the critical drivers on those XP roll back DVDs. Mine came with he option to "roll back" to WindowsXP Professional AND the two DVDs to roll it back were included. For one, the default SONY settings don;t even set up the software to address and take advantage of that huge 6 MB of L2 cache. VISTA is a terrible opporating system.
Otherwise I would give this machine a 5-star rating. But, still I had tons of crapware loaed up from SONY on their roll back DVDs to get rid of. I wish SONY would not load up all that software by default. I bought this machine after a lot of research & consideration. SONY needs to listen to its customers and give us what we want rather than dictate to us, especially when they want so much money for on of these.UPDATE & WARNING April 18, 2009:While this machine is advertised as having DDR3 RAM that operates at 1066 MHz, the truth is it ONLY operates at a paltry 800 MHz under WindowsXP Professional. But there is a lot to be desired.
For another, by default, the DDR3 RAM is set to run at a lower speed. Also, I find the instructions, guidelines and recommendations for battery charging & care to be confusing.
While SONY claims to be working on a fix, be advised SONY has not produced a fix for their SONY VAIO Control Center which appears to be malfunctioning since February when I first contacted SONY for tech support.Moreover, SONY blamed this on Microsoft Window's XP operating system. I would not have bought this machine without that option.
SONY has a very slow loading website and SONY does not allow users much in the way of options when configuring a notebook. Had a better equipped machine been available for XP I would have bought it.
There is a lot to this little machine and it is FAST, at least with XP. If I didn't need this fast processor with its huge L2 cache for voice recognition, I would have bought something at half the price with more standard warranty coverage, better support and a lot less crapware.
Heck, shouldn't SONY test & know these things in advance since they design & build them.[.].
It took me 5 hours just to get from 90% to 100% one time, and while off, it lost 18% in 15 hours. I guarantee you this beast will kill your average desktop. The monitor is super thin and covered in one material, the keyboard area is covered in a slippery albeit comfy metal feeling material, the bottom is composed of another kind of material and the battery is in its own kind. My main complaint would be that Sony's crapware really clogs up the system.
I would say it only differs by about 30 to 50 minutes of work. The monitor is super bright if you turn it all the way up, which I doubt you will. I have yet to really get the battery to over 5 hours. It switches really fast and smooth. For the more adventurous souls out there, if you have a stand alone copy of windows vista, WIPE THE SYSTEM AND REINSTALL. It is clean and sharp, however it doesn't glare as bad as some other types of monitor.
For such a small laptop, all the necessary ports are there (vga, 2 usb, ethernet, modem, express slot, wireless, sound i/o). Although my laptop arrived with the express card slot flap messed up, it did not ruin my love for this lovely laptop. Unlike other brands of laptop that just heats up like a stove, sony did a surprisingly incredible job on heat control and truly deserves your attention. Solid build, great look, light and powerful for such a small notebook. However as per the power that is saved.
For the keyboard, I don't know if its my hand or what, but I tend to miss a few letters when typing which may come annoying but it happens rarely and most typing program catches typos for you. 80% charge. Windows 7 users might have some problems as I have yet to be able to get the fn adjust brightness keys to work. When I first saw this laptop at local electronics store, I immediately knew that this is the laptop that I will be getting. Dont' know how they adjusted it but I've only managed about 4 hours with bluetooth wireless dvd drive off, and screen to lowest. The laptop under prolonged use does not get hot. My biggest gripe on this laptop will be on the battery however.
The battery takes forever to charge from 80% to 100% and loses charge quickly from 100% to 80%. Regardless, it is an excellent laptop. It sounds like a clump of non matching stuff, but they fit and the design is flawless. Excellent build quality and great design. Sony's driver website provides all the important drivers in which one should have no problem when reinstalling. The hybrid graphic switch system is really great. So somehow, the battery likes to stay below.
It is incredible.
The photos are on the screen are outstanding and much better than my printed photos. (How do they do that).
It has performed superbly. I have had his unit for one month.
I read that the battery life was extended but, I didn't suspect it would be as long as it is. The screen is bright with exceptional definition.
This is my first 2+ GHz machine and I am very pleased with the speed of operations. I even use the high output in my power management.
Now I must buy another printer.
I purchased this Z Series laptop about 5 months ago, its my first Sony laptop, Im a Mac fan, but not any more I guess. This computer has all of that.The screen display is very sharp as well as scratch-resistant. I gave my sister my macbook pro, and the change has been great. I was looking for fast performance and reliability, as well as light with strong battery life (6 hours in speed mode). Keyboard is very comfortable and not loud; similar to my new Macbook.Price is MORE than fare. (once you bought it you wont regreat it)I also own a macbookpro that I bought here in Amazon (15 inch,2.53 processor,4gb ram) that I loved untill I found this one, now I found my Macbook heavier and slower compared to this pice of heaven.
|
