VPCF11JFX/B
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5
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Excellent laptop
After having a few laptops, i went with Sony because of their history in making quality products. So far, after 1.5 years of ownership, i love it. RELIABLE. Keys are very solid. Survived my son's abuse so far. Screen does have glare but not a big issue for me (e.g. blu-ray playback).
It does put out a lot of heat and some noise, but these are minor IMO as long as it is reliable and fast.
I actually like the Sony Vaio care software. I just add Microsoft Security Essentials and that's it. No virus. No malfunctions. Nothing unexpected from this laptop!
December 4, 2011
An amazing computer
As someone who has a degree in computer science, I've had all sorts of computers, some good some bad, and so I've wanted to buy a vaio, and i've been very pleased with it. The only thing that i would say would be that with the new intel i7 processor, i would recommend getting more then the minimal 4GB's of RAM, you can find cheaper compatible RAM on other websites but if you don't know how to figure that out yourself or if you don't know how to install it yourself, I would suggest spending the extra money on it, it will help you out so much.
June 25, 2010
Powerful, not too big, puzzling design decisions
I'm a software developer and require lots of power. I also work remotely, so I needed power on the go. I replaced my Dell workstation with the Sony VAIO VPCF1, i7-820, 500GB, 8GB RAM, CD/RW, 1080p display, extra capacity battery. All is well when it's plugged into the wall (the power brick is as bick as a brick!), but I don't expect more than three hours of battery life unplugged. Sony software makes it easy to configure and customize hardware settings. Spacebar, Enter, Backspace key squeaked at first, but it went away after a week of use. Still getting used to the position of the Delete, Home, End keys. Display off button extends battery life when you're away.
I will never ever use an eSATA port, so it would be nice if it did not come standard. Instead, the space could have been used for a USB port. There are only two USB ports and these are positioned in the worst place possible (the front of the right side where the mouse travels. Meanwhile, the ports you rarely, if ever, use (Firewire, eSATA, ExpressCard) are on the left side where nothing is happening. Plug anything into the USB ports and they're immediately in the mouse's way (unless you have a long USB cable). The viewing angle of the screen is very bad; any movement up/down or side-to-side will blur the screen. You have to constantly change the screen angle depending on how you're seated.
The internals and fan are very quiet, so not sure why people are complaining about noises. My favorite thing about t his laptop is the power, speed, and high definition screen. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth work well, although it took me a long time to figure out that the Bluetooth settings are managed by the SmartWi Connection Utility, which is not obvious.
This laptop gets high marks because it cost almost half as much as a Dell Precision mobile workstation, which was my other choice. The worst part was the backorder, so I had to wait 3-4 weeks for delivery.
May 27, 2010
Best Purchase Ever
I have been a sony fan for over 5 years. Out of all the Sony vaio laptops I have owned, the F series is by far the best professional looking performance laptop Sony has ever created! There is a little flex by the CD drive, minor but annoying. I would have wished I could have gotten the turbo boost to 3.06 with the 1GB VRAM but apparently Sony doesn't make it with the black color option anymore. I went with the 1.60 boosting up to 2.80, 500GB 7200RPM drive, 6GB RAM, 1Gb VRAM 1920-1080 To give you an idea of how good this can perform, I played Modern Warfare2 on the highest setting with the 1920 1080 display setting. It worked like a charm but it does have a little bit of lag in there, I would reccomend lower screen settings for the game on a 2.80 processor, but with a 3.06, could be better...
May 24, 2010
