VPCY115FX/BI
4.4
5
17
17
Great laptop for college
First off this is a really really beautiful laptop. I got mine in teal blue and the magnesium gives it a nice metallic glow which is absolutely stunning. This is why I got this laptop over comparable ultraportables. Amazingly, the actual laptop was even more beautiful in person than it was online, which is amazing.
Of course this thing is light. It is really light and slim, but not cheap feeling, which is a problem I have with other ultraportables. It's nice and sturdy. The only one weakness with it is that if you press on the back of the LCD, it'll distort the image on the front, which didn't happen to my old IBM Thinkpad.
The performance (with the i5 and the Radeon graphics card) is actually quite good for an ultraportable, and I can run games at medium/medium high settings. The only thing is, with the standard battery, the battery life doing web browsing and word processing and low load stuff is actually roughly 4 hours, not the 6 advertised. I should have paid extra for the extended battery, but whatever.
One thing that takes a bit of getting used to is the glossy screen, especially if you haven't used one before. I'm personally a fan of 'old-style' matte screens, so when I first got this laptop, I wasn't pleased with the screen's small viewing angle, washy colors, and mad glare under sunlight, but I'm getting used to it now.
Another thing, unless you get Windows 7 Professional and Fresh Start, you get mad bloatware, which took me a bit of trial and error before getting all the junk off. But after that it ran like a charm.
Overall this is a great laptop for college. My only gripes with it are really small, and the pros definitely outweigh the cons. If you are ordering it, I discovered a trick discount- if you order it over the phone or Sony chat, you can ask for a 5% discount! Also, if you buy an SSD, you get a 15% discount! So don't forget to get those.
July 28, 2010
Very happy with my new computer!
This is a great laptop and I'm very happy with it. I tried it in a store while considering other models and brands, but realised that this one had the keyboard and trackpad that felt the best to me. The battery has plenty of life for me to use it at work without an adapter, providing I put it in sleep mode when I'm not using it. The light weight is appreciated. I will not rate reliability, as I've only had it for 2 weeks.
Note that if you want to buy an extra AC adapter for this, it's the VGP-AC19V39, which is on the Sony Style site but is only listed as being compatible with the W-Series. It will be a fine match because it's the exact model that comes in the box with the computer.
I had the dreaded 'beeping' problem, which was really loud and annoying, much worse than people were describing it in reviews. I seem to have solved it by updating the audio driver from the Sony site. I haven't heard it since.
To the reviewer 'chocopie', please don't deduct stars from this product because of your lack of research before buying it. It is an ultralight laptop which doesn't have an optical drive, and is meant for people who don't want or need an internal optical drive. Do your research next time before you buy a product, and buy a computer that suits your needs.
May 2, 2010
Disappointed
Why a such laptop does not have the disk drive. It prevents me a lot from working, studying and even entertaining. Why, why, why??? :((
April 15, 2010
Great, Light 13" Laptop
Love this little laptop. It really packs enough punch for everything you need while on the go. It plays YouTube HD videos without hiccup. Keyboard is a nice chicklet style and has good response. I havent timed the battery, but it seems to last a good amount of time before you need to recharge.
I would recommend this laptop to others, i think its the best deal out there for a 13" laptop with the SU7300 processor. It had has all the features I wanted.
April 9, 2010
