Customer Reviews

Sony VAIO GRV550 Laptop (2.4 GHz Pentium 4, 512 MB RAM, 30 GB hard drive)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Just opened my new PC and have been playing with it for about 3 days - here are my first impressions...

Excellent value - very fast (2.4 ghz) - fantastic screen - good mem at 512M, although don't like the fact that you can't add more (reportedly). Downsides - battery hog - 2 hours reported but a realistic 1.5. No floppy with the unit - have to buy as an extra. Poor battery bay - can't open the bay with laptop closed - must be open - very clumsy. Have to remove a panel every time you plug into port replicator - can't leave panel off when using laptop alone - bad design flaw.

HDD comes formatted in 2 partitions! Why would anyone do such a thing? 30 gig is slim to start with - try fitting everything on 15! Good news is you can reformat and reload everything on 1 partition.

Over all, excellent machine for the $$ ... - I'd buy it again. Good desktop replacement - ok to lug around if you don't mind a large laptop bag (that 16.1" screen takes lots of room!

i have had the same problem as a previous poster, and many other furious owners. My machine randomly shuts off consistently. I have read that this is due to a malfunctioning motherboard that overheats when you are performing standard operations. I have read so many complaints on various websites i am amazed they have not been sued yet as this has been an issue with previous versions and i am sure future versions. sounds like they tried to save money by cutting costs with cheap parts. amazon should not even sell these laptops!!

this is all on top of the fact that there are some serious flaws in this machine such as poorly placed outputs, horrible battery life, huge and heavy adapter, NO support for media given it is a "media" machine, extremely poor speakers, etc.

I got mine in january 2003.... After a couple of weeks using it I had to send it for technical service, due to malfunctioning in burning and connecting to internet.

After I got it back It was all perfect, although It is the most noisy laptop I've ever seen, I enjoyed watching DVDs on this great screen.

Recently though, It has been turning off suddenly, because it gets extremely hot. I'm Away from the US now.. Service outside the US sucks... I have no idea of how to fix it... I just have been patient enough to wait 20 minutes after it turns off... But I'm definitely buying other brand after this... I'll chek the reviews for an IBM or a DELL. NOT RECOMMENDED

I have a major problem with my GRV 550, which suddenly after 1 year ownership just turns off power, at any given time.

I have even tried to load DOS and still it shuts down for no reason what so ever.

Does anyone have any idea what this problem might be?

Please write soon, I am about to trash the laptop and get me another brand.

Hope to hear from you soon.
Ivan

If you want good desktop replacement, and you live in Alaska, then this laptop is for you. It has a big screen but gets VERY hot (thus Alaska) and poor overall design. NOT RECOMMENDED.
Pros:
>huge screen
>Very fast
Cons:
>battery life (1-1.5 hours)
>Desktop processor, not mobile P4: VERY hot and power consumption
>extremely noisy (intolerable)
>bad speakers
>A LOT of junk software, some of which had expired by the time I got the machine. Some wouldn't delete.
>huge ac adapter with short cable and gets VERY hot...
>no floppy drive
>VERY slow hard disk. At 3600RPM (or 4800RPM not sure) won't do video editing with video resolution above 320x240.
>BIOS does not support RAM and higher than 512MB
>Video card not-upgradeable
>FN keys software controlled can't change CPU or screen brightness or volume in Linux, UNIX or DOS.
>EXTREME overheating problem, had to use 2 C++ manuals to elevate the laptop and put 2 fans under it.
>No serial port
>4-pin IEEE-1394 provides no power

If you want good desktop replacement, and you live in Alaska, then this laptop is for you. It has a big screen but gets VERY hot (thus Alaska) and poor overall design. NOT RECOMMENDED.
Pros:
>huge screen
>Very fast
Cons:
>battery life (1-1.5 hours)
>Desktop processor, not mobile P4: VERY hot and power consumption
>extremely noisy (intolerable)
>bad speakers
>A LOT of junk software, some of which had expired by the time I got the machine. Some wouldn't delete.
>huge ac adapter with short cable and gets VERY hot...
>no floppy drive
>VERY slow hard disk. At 3600RPM (or 4800RPM not sure) won't do video editing with video resolution above 320x240.
>BIOS does not support RAM and higher than 512MB
>Video card not-upgradeable
>FN keys software controlled can't change CPU or screen brightness or volume in Linux, UNIX or DOS.
>EXTREME overheating problem, had to use 2 C++ manuals to elevate the laptop and put 2 fans under it.
>No serial port
>4-pin IEEE-1394 provides no power

I needed a new laptop so I really splurged and got this one. I haven't regretted it for one second. It's a little bulky to accomodate the large screen size, but it really helps with eye strain and makes dvds look incredible.

I use a sony video camera and these two were made for each other. I got a firewire cable and plugged it in and was really impressed with how great my videos turned out. The firewire allows you to edit from the computer without ever touching the camera - start, stop, fast forward and reverse cue are all controlled from the keyboard and inside of Adobe Premiere (which is a great program which is included with the laptop).

I have been nothing but completely thrilled with this machine and would highly recommend it to anyone - especially if you do any video editing or home movies.

i have owned a Sony VAIO VGN-SZ330P for a couple of years. i bought it with WinXP Pro on it. The machine ran hot and loud all the time but things were great, otherwise... though the heat and noise bothered me. Then i updated to Vista AS PART of the SALES pitch that Vista would be a free upgrade. The disc took forever to arrive. It was not a normal bootable DVD, was only 32-bit (retail discs offer both 32-bit and 64-bit installers) and it installed a few old-dated drivers to make the Sony features Vista-compatible... but that didn't work. Sony updated software twice since the DVD, but nothing of note. The updates were mostly their own stupid bundled software, not drivers or BIOS. The problems began to grow worse with time:

- Hotter running.

- Noisier fan, as a consequence.

- The wireless network interface would randomly shut off (i've read this happens to the miniPCI Intel wireless card used in this and a few other machines - an update from Microsoft temporarily relieved the problem, but it started up again).

- The web cam was invisible to Vista in all ways except being listed in the device manager as "working properly." AIM and MSN Messenger would use it, but NONE of Vista's features would, though XP had handled it beautifully.

- The fan started rattling. The design of the machine means that all dust, hair, dirt etc. gets sucked into the machine, clogs the fan and the heat sinks and increases heat and causes cooling problems. There are lots of places for air to get in, but they're all unprotected for dust and there are no filters.

- The battery lifespan decreased suddenly. 15 minutes and i'd have to plug back in. The battery always ran very hot, too.

There's been no support from Sony for this laptop since the Vista DVD came. Nothing. No driver updates, no firmware updates, no BIOS updates... Yet, there have been new drivers and software for other VAIO machines that came out AFTER MINE, using the SAME chipsets. There's no reason why they cannot add these updates to my model. If i attempt to download and install these updates for other machines, the installer tells me that i have the wrong machine and aborts. Thanks, Sony.

Sony clearly has no interest in supporting their users beyond "capture customer for purchase."

- Often the sleep mode would fail and i'd have to remove the battery to get the machine to either power off or start up again.

i tried replacement drivers for the network interface that had been provided by other manufacturers who used the SAME components. Nothing helped. Random shut offs of the wireless continued.

- Sometimes networking would still be "active" and Windows would indicate there were networks available but would not locate any when asked. Half the OS did one thing and half did another, depending on the Sony drivers vs. the Microsoft software.

- The Wireless Switch Utility did not function properly with Vista's built in wireless management. Google it.

i do audio/graphics work and a noisy machine with a tiny hard drive was a hindrance. Between the small 100GB drive, random loss of networking and the RATTLING and VIBRATING fan, i desperately disassembled the unit to clean the fan and install a new hard drive.

Laptops are not meant to be serviced. By ANYONE. It took forever. Parts broke, even with a service manual. The fan was pristine and clean, the machine was reassembled (albeit missing a ribbon connection, which i fixed after disassembling it again), but the fan runs FULL SPEED constantly. No heat is coming out of the vent and the drive is cool. The whole unit is cooler than i'm used to, yet... after all of that hassle, i have a machine that spontaneously shuts off after about 30 minutes. i cannot even install Windows. If the machine doesn't spontaneously shut off, Windows "detects a problem" and "shuts down to prevent damage to your computer."

It's a wash. The machine lasted a while, but only because i stopped using it for much, have two other machines to use and because i tolerated the problems for so long. i wont do that again. i wont buy another Sony laptop. My MacBook Pro has been just fine. It went through an OS upgrade without a blink. Apple beats Sony in my book. Sadly, most of my pro audio and graphics software investment is Windows-based, not Mac-based.

i found this page you're reading right now by searching Google for "Sony VAIO VGN SZ shuts off spontaneously" ... and i found the other reviews here stating the same things as i've stated (granted i am more wordy). but look around and you will see... Sony laptops are hot, loud and temperamental. There have been several battery recalls in the past for heat problems (the Apple batteries with the same problems were apparently manufactured by Sony), but i did not have this problem (just ridiculous heat that seemed dangerous but never started a fire).

The machine was so hot in general use (GENERAL USE) that it was uncomfortable on my lap. It is NOT a "laptop" at all.

STAY AWAY.

My complaints are similar to most of those already posted - the biggest being that the computer just shuts down any time I try to use it for anything other than checking email or typing a Word document. I can't even burn a single CD without it turning itself off after getting through one or two songs. And watching movies on the fabulous 16" screen? Nope. You won't even get through the opening credits. The thing runs so hot on the bottom forget about even using it on your lap! I paid way too much money for this thing for it to be this worthless. I will never by another Sony computer and will advise everyone I know not to either. If I could have given this thing a zero star rating I would have.

I really liked this Laptop. But after a year or so it started overheating. I found out that there was a lot of dust on the cooling grid. A simple use of Dust Off being sprayed into the bottom fan intake blew out lots of dust and no more random shut downs.

The only two things bad I found was the short battery life and the fact that in less than a year my battery life has decreased to less than a half an hour on two different batteries no. The second is that the DVD drive now has problems playing DVD movies. It stutters with long pauses then just stops.