Sony Vaio FE11S (Sony Vaio FE11S)

Member Name: jackthereviewer

Product:	Sony Vaio FE11S
Date:	11/08/07 (107 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Looks fantastic, huge hard drive, light weight, integrated pc cam and wide screen

Disadvantages: keys become murky and paint on buttons comes off eventually. no big deal though!

I am writing (typing) from the model above to write this review and to start with, I can assure you that it is a laptop worth buying. I have had no problems running the latest Microsoft office professional 2007 which is the same as is used on machines with vista. On top of this I have no problem using things such as tabbed internet browsing and the machine copes with complete ease when I use more than 20 tabs at once.

I have software installed to write CD's for my first car which I got last year and the CD writer appears to be faultless as there are no skips in any tracks on the CD's I have made. As well as this, (provided you use CD-R's) I am able to play CD's that I create on all CD players in my home as well as in my car. I have found the massive 160GB hard drive the best part of the machine. I was sick and tired of having an iPod with a greater hard drive capacity than my own laptop. The sheer size of it has enabled me to use one hard drive (there is both a C and D hard drive) for films and the other as a normal hard drive. Furthermore I have the capacity to store games on my computer as opposed to having to pack a load of discs into a laptop case. There is also a TV out socket which means that all the films I have on my laptop can be played through my TV with a lead that cost little more than £10 (PC World). even without the lead, watching films is great and crystal clear on the extremely bright (adjustable brightness) TFT wide screen .The Vaio gets on great with my iPod (easily plugged into any one of three usb slots) and my iTunes and the laptop itself packs a relatively powerful punch in terms of its own speaker system.

As I have found, the laptop is also extremely good as a communication device. There is a subtle web cam integrated into the top centre of the screen frame which automatically configures through live chat programs such as msn messenger. This is accentuated by the integrated wireless internet which is activated by a sliding switch, out of view and at the front of the machine. When you consider the 3 hour battery life (possibly longer with the screen dimmed and few programs running) you can imagine how convenient this laptop is simply for a serious working laptop. In wireless zones you can take yourself back to the movies (e.g. James bond in casino royale!) and sit in a cafe with your stylish vaio whilst typing up your latest report or whatever it may be.

The only problems I have experienced with the vaio have not been technical but more so the aesthetics. The Vaio has latched on to the sleek iPod design which is all good and well...until you come to type on the bright white keyboard and to use the equally white touch pad. You will soon find that your sparkling white machine slowly turns grey no matter how many times you wash your hands before using it. As well as this, the volume and mute buttons on the main body above the keyboard deteriorate after about 8 months. They are originally silver with the relevant symbols on them but this silver paint or coat soon comes off so now I have two and a half blank buttons. This isn’t so much a problem as I know what they do by now!

I suspect that you can pick one of these up now for around £1000 pounds maybe less although mine cost £1300 a year ago when I bought it. By far the best laptop I have owned. Used to have a Toshiba satellite and this runs rings around it!

Summary: If you dont want to go with a Mac this is the PC for you!

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