You Grade The Brands: Sony Notebooks

January 15th, 2010 by K. T. Bradford  

rating_sony_shSony is the next vendor in the spotlight for our continuing You Grade the Brands series, we’re taking a look back at a year’s worth of Sony notebook reviews to identify which strengths and weaknesses we’ve observed overall to give consumers some guidance on where to begin their search for the perfect laptop. We’ve also factored in the data we collected in our 2009 Tech Support Showdown and third-party data on notebook reliability.

So how does Sony stack up? Read on to see our take on the vendor’s strengths and weaknesses and the 2009 review scorecard below. Then sound off in the comments and tell us what you think of the brand and about your own experience with your Sony notebook or netbook. Without your input, our report card will be incomplete.

Strengths

  • Design: The mainstream and business notebooks in Sony’s line are notable for good keyboards and touchpads, solid yet thin chassis, and attractive designs. Form and function blend well in these models, and even the more aesthetically-inclined VAIO P and X don’t eschew the basics.
  • Configurations: Though we only reviewed four Sony notebooks this year, two of these represented a model series with multiple configurations under one design. The vendor’s offerings are pretty diverse, ranging from high-price, high-concept machines like the VAIO X to the modestly-priced multimedia machines in the NW series.
  • Making Miniaturization Sexy: In the past few years Sony has introduced several small computers based on big ideas. Whether the goal is insanely thin and light (VAIO X), a reinvention of the netbook concept (VAIO P), or packing as much hardware as possible into the smallest practical form factor (VAIO TT — from 2008), the vendor always aims to take your breath away with their smallest laptops.
  • And The Kitchen Sink: We can usually count Sony to include some extra feature to make their notebooks stand out in the crowd. Whether it’s Blu-ray on a budget or integrated 3G and GPS, the feature set is never understated.

Weaknesses

  • Price: We appreciate the moderately-priced mainstream notebooks in Sony’s line, but the hype-generating systems are also likely to have hefty price tags. Unfortunately, the cost doesn’t always match the value users get out of the machine.
  • Form Over Function: We’re always ready to praise Sony for their aesthetic choices because they have a habit of making good-looking notebooks. However, sometimes the look takes precedence over practical considerations. To get the VAIO X super thin Sony went with a low-power processor and no fan, which caused serious heat problems on the underside.

Review Report Card

In 2009 we reviewed 4 Sony notebooks and netbooks. Of those, the VAIO X earned 3 stars, the VAIO NW series and VAIO P earned 3.5 stars, and the VAIO SR series notebook earned 4 stars. None of Sony’s offerings were awarded LAPTOP’s Editor’s Choice last year.

sony-chart

Best Rated Notebook

Worst Rated Notebook

Tech Support and Reliability

Sony received a good score of B+ in our Tech Support Showdown. According to a study by Square Trade, Sony has a fairly low malfunction rate over 3 years — 16.8% — indicating that their notebooks are reliable and, when they break, users are in good hands.

There’s no doubt that Sony creates big-idea notebooks that look stunning. But we’re hoping that the new models we saw at this year’s CES have more of a balance between good-looks and performance.

Now It’s Your Turn

Do you own a Sony laptop? Owned one in the recent past? What does Sony get right and where does the company need improvement? Tell us how you’d grade Sony and explain why in the comments.

Poll
What grade would you give Sony Notebooks as a group?
 
A
B
C
D
F
| Results
Comments (8 Responses) 

Our Related Content

From Other Sites

Related Deals

 

8 Responses to “You Grade The Brands: Sony Notebooks”

  1. peegy Says:
    January 16th, 2010 at 6:26 am

    What happened to Z series?

  2. Mike Fa Says:
    January 16th, 2010 at 2:20 pm

    My sony laptop was very unreliable. I complained to Sony within warranty. They said that I had to run their software that destroys all data on the hard drive, reinstall all of my programs and erase all of my data, before they would even think of allowing a return. I finally had to purchase a back up external drive to do this.
    I did not get their return info, until the warranty was expired, so they said too bad. Apparently there was a lawsuit against Sony for the unreliability of their notebooks. My over $2300 sony notebook is now a large paper weight. I used notebook coolers with it, but apparently, Sony must designs their laptops poorly. I will never buy a Sony product again. “Sony” is now a curse word.

  3. David Johnson Says:
    January 16th, 2010 at 6:47 pm

    I bought a VGN-NS140E/L exactly a year ago. I like it’s relatively slim design but was very disappointed with it’s screen display and it’s finicky trackpad. It suffers in comparison to the standard Dell and HP offerings in these areas. Battery life is moderate … neither disappointing or great. Ultimately, as a keyboard user, I’m not that wild about the flat keys. It was well-constructed … other than the right hinge developing a hairline crack.

    I like Sony design, but I don’t think I’d buy another laptop from them. Currently, I’m using an DV6-1361SB which meets my needs, even if it’s a bit thicker and heavier than I would like. Its keyboard, trackpad and screen are all superior to the Sony.

  4. Phil G Says:
    January 18th, 2010 at 1:17 pm

    I purchased an VGN-FW21L in January 2009. Initially I was impressed with it but after only 3 months the a/c power connector which is part of the screen hinge started to come loose. It was repaired pretty quickly by Sony so not too big a deal, although i did check several display models in stores and found around 75% had the same fault. After around 6 months the mouse pad started to peel up in one corner and loads of scratches became evident around the screen frame and the front edge of the palm rest, all this was because the little rubber feet around the screen weren’t big enough to keep the 2 surfaces apart when they are in a laptop case and therefore they rub together. Off it went back to Sony again and when I got it back the mouse pad was fixed and all the damaged plastics ahd been replaced so it looked brand new. I was pretty impressed especially with the speed and efficiency of the warranty repairs in both cases. However, I have had the unit back for 4 days and the mouse pad is peeling up again so it’s going back to sony for it’s 3rd repair. Bit of a shame really because I love the laptop, the screen is great and the spec was pretty good for a £585. The only upside is that i have been really impressed with Sony’s after sales support, really professional, very very quick and they keep you informed throughout the returns process, i would certainly consider Sony again based on the after sales service but the poor build quality has disappointed me.

  5. Kevin Says:
    January 24th, 2010 at 9:10 am

    I’m on my 3rd sony laptop. I’ve had a battery go after 2 years which is about right. I cracked the screen on one but I replaced it myself no problem. And on the last one I ordered from sonystyle, it got damaged in shipping but sony replaced it and gave me $200 worth of free mp3 downloads. So I have no complaints about sony. Everything is easily replaceable and upgradable, which is the most important thing to me since I’m not a retard(if I was I’d buy a mac) and I like to upgrade parts(HDD, RAM, wifi)

  6. Charlie Says:
    February 8th, 2010 at 12:16 pm

    I can only go based on my single experience which is the Vaio TX2 I got in early 2006 and which is still going strong. I bought it for its convenient size/weight and as a basic word processing machine with DVD-watching capability. This year, after it began to give me problems I reloaded XP and then the Sony drivers from the web-site support and it’s now back to its proper functionality. I also replaced the standard battery which had dropped from the 7hrs it was giving to just over 2hrs, which was not acceptable. Yes, it was an expensive choice at the time but it was well worth every pound. I expect to get another couple of years out of it yet, and that’s basically why I bought a Sony to start with.

  7. Diane Says:
    September 13th, 2010 at 2:37 pm

    Bought a Sony Vaio VGN-NW series, Dec, 18 2009. on Dec. 20, 2009, while setting up had my first FATAL ERROR. Took back to Comp USA (where purchased) supposedly fixed it by disabling a Sony tool that interfered with Microsoft tool. (right) Then my touch pad starting going crazy, freezing, going left instead of right etc. Took it to A SONY STORE for warranty work (HAH) they said it was a software problem, guaranteed to fix the problem for only $99.99. One week later, back to same Sony store for same problem. After they had it for 10 days, said it was fixed with help of Techs from Calif (the supposed heart of repair for Sony). Oh and by the way, no refund of my $99.99 (said I had two problems one was the software HUH). Well, end of story I THINK NOT. After 2 days, same problem, now I had to call the wonderful 800 number. Oh, send it to Calif for replacement of the touchpad, cool, sounds great. It was there and back in a little over a week. Great ?? NOT. After 2 days, you guessed it touchpad again. Called 800 number again. This time promised to evaluate for replacement. HAHAHA, Shame on you SONY, YOU LIARS!!! Back acting worse than ever. About to call the 800 number again. Just to hastle them!!! As I am retired I have more time than they do and need something to amuse myself cause my laptop certainly does not amuse me anymore. DO NOT EVER BUY ANY SONY PRODUCT

  8. Adem Says:
    March 13th, 2011 at 5:35 pm

    Bought a Sony Vaio e series 14 inch with i3 processor, feb 2010. I’m using it like 12hrs daily…..
    It’s still working like that first day I bought it…I gotta say its amazing and my next laptop well be sony for sure.
    N.B I had a bad experince with Dell, HP (the worst laptop ever made) and Apple (my wife’s).

Leave a Reply

Featured Sponsors