Customer Reviews

Sony VAIO GRX560 Laptop (1.60 GHz-M Pentium 4, 256 MB RAM, 30 GB hard drive)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

When I got the laptop and turned it on for the first time, it was loading windows XP home for the first time, and it took a long time to load, and the hard drive was going pretty loud. So I was kind of disappointed at that time. However, after I cleaned up everything, got windows XP Pro on it, it then ran smoothly, just as fine and fast as my P4 1.8 GHz desktop.

Pros: 1. Gigantic 16.1 inch screen @ 1600X1200, awesome, beautiful.

2. P4-M 1.6 GHz, fast and low heat.

3. Fast CDRW at 16X and 10X.

Cons: 1. No hot keys except the function keys.

2. 256MB ram not enough for gamers (but expandable to 512).

3. ATI M Radeon 7500 w/ 32MB DDR video card is not enough to handle intense games.

4. No PS/2 port for mouse or external keyboard. Have to buy a port replicator.

5. USB, not USB 2.0.

6. Big screen, big size.

On the other hand, 30GB notebook hard drive at 4200 RPM is clearly not fast enough, but most laptop uses it, so it's not about the 560.

Overall, a great desktop replacement. I love the pros more than its cons... A great product at that price!!

Having spent a week abroad with my GRX550 (15" screen) I can tell you this machine is a joy to work with for web and desktop apps.

Watching DVDs is great, for the best in sound quality though be sure and get a SONY SRS-T77 speaker set to plug into the notebook, this little set of 4 watt speakers will rock the room and are small enough to fit into your bag and port along.

As for validating other comments I've read I'd suggest:

Size, yes the dimensions are a bit larger and I too bought a new bag - happily. I think this size of unit is best suited for a backpack versus an over-the-shoulder bag

Batteries, seem to last me about 2 hours, I'm ordering an extra one

Hard drive noise, havent really been bothered by it

Screen quality - stunning. I've used Toshiba, IBM, and Dell's - The screen quality is really outstanding with the GRX

Size of the charger unit. Yes, it is larger and bulkier than any others I have used recently. SONY should be able to do better than this

Rebate, came to me in about 3 weeks

Hope you enjoy your new GRX as much as I do. I'm very much a fan.

The Sony Vaio GRX 560 is very well constructed. The 16" screen is very sturdy, the keyboard feels crisp not cheap and plastic like a lot of laptops. You might think a 16" screen is too large but it makes a very noticeable difference from a 15" screen, especially if you use the 1600x1200 resolution. The 1.6ghz P4M and 32mb VRAM are enough to handle games such as Medal of Honor, JKII, etc. Also it comes with Word 2002 and some video and multimedia editing software...

I couldn't be more satisfied with this laptop, I think you'll feel the same, go try it out at a computer store for yourself. I seriously think you'll never get another laptop like this again, Sony has created the best of its kind. The only thing that could surpass it would be a whole new type of laptop with detachable or flexible display or something like that.

There was only 1 glitch when I got it - the hard drive made a loud clicking sound about every second. Turned out the processor was turning on and off the drive in order to conserve power.
You can download the "Intel Application Accelerator" from Intel to fix that.

To answer the only negative comments I remember seeing about the new Sony VAIOs:
1. "The keys are loud when you type." Me personally I like the feedback, its not so loud to be annoying. The keyboard feels very solid.
2. "The arrow keys are small." Sony made the up and down arrow keys slightly narrower, but I have not even noticed the difference.
3. "Heavy laptop, AC adapter too big." The AC adapter is really not abnormally large. Yes the laptop is heavier, but I used to carry a powerbook across campus everyday that was 14 pounds. If the weight is an issue I'd recommend a backpack carrying case or else buying a weaker and tinier ultralight laptop instead.
4. "No USB 2.0." It does have firewire, buy a firewire-compatible external hard drive for backups. Or get a USB 2.0 PC card... Or just hook up the USB 2.0 device to your USB port if the data speed is not such an issue (such as with backups).

Here are my only cons about this laptop:
1. Doesn't fit in most standard laptop cases, you'll likely have to buy a new case.
2. No 64mb VRAM option, but again 32mb is enough.
3. No integrated wireless. Wireless PC cards are not too expensive but it would be nice to have it incorporated inside the computer.

this is my second sony laptop in 3 years. I've been shopping for a desktop replacement that could also be transported easily between my office and the classroom and be comfortable for small-scale but sophisticated multimedia work (film clips, pp presentations, editing film footage, etc.). Photoshop 7 is reasonably fast with a 20mb file. Once you incrfease the ROM 512K (a freebee from Sony), Adobe Premier 6 works very well, and occasional initial choppiness in the Premier editing display monitor during on-screeen editing tends to disappear after a few minutes. Rendering is reasonable fast on transitions (final rendering of a 2 min. dv file into MPEG2 at best full screen resolution takes about 5 minutes). The only problem with this machine is its rather slow and intermittently VERY NOISY HARD DRIVE (chirping and grating sounds from time to time as if it is having digestive problems). I was irritated by them at first enough to consider sending it back (and Amazon was ready to oblige), but I so much liked the screen and the feel of this machine that I've decided to send it back to Sony first -- to see if they could fix the hard drive noise). It came back a week later with a new hard drive and exactly the same noise. I gave it another week and -- decided to keep despite the irritant. The screen and the ergonomics of this laptop are so fantastically good that I have not been able to go back to my desktop, with its 17 inch monitor and all the possible bells and whistles. Some users complain about the sharpess of the screen. This has turned out to be spurious: once you figure out how to angle the screen optimally for your desk and chair, it all comes into the sharpest possible focus. I do a lot of writing and note taking on it, and it is a superb device -- as close as you can get to a legal pad and a dozen shar pencils! I keep it in itse native 1200 x 1600 resolution but set my Word files to 130% view, and I have no complaints -- crisp and sharp as a tack. Even in MS Access which does not have a zoom feature, the small type is so sharp that it is not a problem. While I was considering sending it back, I looked at comparable Gateway and Toshiba. Gateway's screen is as almost as large but it is not as crisp. Toshiba is 15 inches, and once you've experiences Sony's 16.1 inch, you'd not want to look back. In any case, I've figured so much stuff in a such a small box, they all have something wrong with them somewhere. At least, I know where Vaio's problem is and that I can live with it. It's also helpful to have the memory stick on your laptop -- if you have a sony camera or their pda, though this can be limiting too. In any case, if you can afford it, get it!

Decided to make the leap and replace my desktop with this laptop. Largest screen on a laptop that I know of and incredibly sharp. CD-RW/DVD combo drive is really nice. So far so good. I love it. Would also recommend the Port Replicator for desktop use because you don't have to plug-in and unplug everything everytime you take it with you!

This is the notebook for people who love sony products. I just bought mine yesterday and all I can say is "Wow!". The memory stick slot for my digital camera and the iEEE port for my digital camcorder. How can you go wrong. If you like sony products and have them all, this is the notebook for you.

I would advise not to order GRX 500 series from Sonystyle's website.

Oct 22: Order placed

Oct 29: Order status not shown up on online order tracking.
Waited 30 min on customer hotline and was told order was in process and informationw would be available 7 days from order date.

Nov 3: E-mailed about status and was told order was built to order and in process of building.

Nov 5: Further enquiry about the same simple question: What is Order Status? Issue unresolved.

Nov 7: Same question. Possible Cancellation of order and was told to call customer hotline again. Issue unresolved.

Nov 8: Told me I would have received an e-mail. But, I never did. Will I ever receive a confirmation of cancellation of order? I don't want to be billed for it later on and want to place an order somewhere else.

I purchased my Sony Vaio GRX 560 notebook at Fry's Electronics. I got a really good deal and received my free 256 mb ram upgrade in two days delivered by FedEx (signature required). I am still waiting on my [price]rebate check. It has only been a week. So, my final cost was [price]. Not a bad price for a great product. I like the screen size, but you do lose some brightness of the screen when you are on battery mode. The chirping from the hard drive isn't too bothersome. You seem to get used to it. The battery life could be better.Watch dvd movies on a great screen or burn Cd's with a push of a button! Overall, I am very pleased with my purchase. Very easy to use and a lot of free software installed.

I am amazed at the comments about bulk. The defining feature of this killer machine is the 16.1" display. Complaining about bulk here is like complaining about your new 65" TV being too large for your tastes. If you aren't looking for the largest and brightest display a notebook has to offer, this may not be the product for you, but it is certainly no drawback. It has all the features you would expect from a high end notebook, with an amazing display, DVD/CD-R combo, firewire port, and memory stick slot. The is the best notebook I have ever used.

Since I bought this notebook I am in trouble. The computer is slow and two months later the LCD screen did not worked. I claim for repair under warranty to Sony and I had to ship the computer to San Diego,California paying all shipment expenses. They knew what the problem with the LCD was before they received and now they do not want to repair it under the warranty. What kind of computer is this, that I bought it in September as a new model and now is discontinued.