Sony Vaio AR61E

Sony Vaio FX405

I ended up buying a second computer for for my daughter, so it was only to be expected that I would end up buying something, yep, you've guessed it, a Sony Vaio PCG-FX405. After all my doubts about money and the cost of the machines, this was probably one of the most expensive machines in the store, so what swayed me ? Well firstly, the machine is being discontinued, in Comet speak this generally means discount in sizeable chunks off the ticket price (I bought both my computers in the same manner). On this occasion, 20% to be exact which on a £1,400 machine meant £280 off. My ...

Sony Vaio FX501

price, and yet it still manages to come in at under a grand. I'd always wanted a laptop computer, and when I finally had the money to buy one, Sony was my brand of choice. They're always styled nicely, and previous experience with other Sony products has led me to believe that Sony produce well-built, high-quality items. I wasn't disappointed either. On opening the box, I found the laptop itself (duh), the mains adapter/charger and an 'egg box' containing assorted cables, CDs and manuals. The laptop was packaged very securely, minimising the risk of damage in shipping. Once I'd unpacked the laptop and plugged it in, I powered up. First I had to ...

Sony Vaio FX501

carried away. The first one I received had a problem that made the keyboard and touchpad work intermittently. Thankfully, it was quickly swapped out by the retailer. Sony have now acknowledged the problem and corrected in a BIOS upgrade. Any new machines should have this update already. The positive aspects of this laptop are as follows. The screen is excellent. It is a 14.1" TFT that is both crisp and bright. There is lots of built in hardware, including LAN and modem, 2 USB ports, Firewire, 2 PCMCIA slots, TV and VGA out, DVD drive, floppy drive (the trend is towards removing them these days - a mistake I feel). You cannot fault the value for money - ...