Customer Reviews

Sony VAIO PCG-FRV26 Laptop (2.8 GHz Pentium 4, 512 MB DDR RAM, 40 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD-RW Drive)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Sony has always made quirky computers, not bad mind you but their products remind me of Saabs. Anyway, this one is certainly a powerhouse, with a bigger processor than most home systems today, coupled with a mediocre sized hard drive (especially when one considers this PC is designed to be a media center, with its very good graphics and CD & DVD player) and a very crisp display.
The drawbacks here are important:
1) The 2.8 P4 processor is not ideal for mobile use. It throws off a lot of heat and it uses batteries recklessly.
2) The addition of another battery is a pretty steep investment, and in true Sony style, it's proprietary, so make that check out to S O N Y.
3) The weight of this machine is a killer if you're traveling, especially through huge airports where your flight is almost guaranteed to land at the gate farthest from civilization.
4) The absence of an integrated wireless modem these days is unforgivable. Wireless is commonplace, especially for travelers & students (airports, hotels, convention centers, schools, libraries, etc.), and in the next few years it will be virtually ubiquitous.
Anyway, it's not a bad computer, but I think it firmly meets the needs of no particular market segment. I have no doubt that today's buyer can do better at Dell or Gateway, or, for the traveler on a budget, at Averatec.

I was more than a bit disappointed in my new Vaio FRV26, but not for the reasons stated by the other reviewer.

My biggest beef is the misrepresentation of the size of the hard drive. It is supposed to be 40GB (give or take). I can understand a little leeway for the operating system, the preinstalled apps and a recovery partition (after all, this is my first non-Compaq computer ever). But my C drive has 13GB (9GB available) and my D drive has 18GB (18GB available, although there is an empty "Images" folder on the drive).

Second of all, the combo CD-RW/DVD drive seems flimsy. As much use as a peripheral like that would get, I would have thought it would have been made a bit more sturdy. I don't abuse my equipment, but constant repetitive motion of the door popping slightly ajar, and me having to pull it out the rest of the way with my fingers, and then press the CD into the spindle is a recipe for disaster IMHO.

The sound from the onboard speakers is anemic at best, so unless I'm using headphones, I won't be able to enjoy my CDs or MP3s (and with that skimpy hard drive space I doubt I'll be collecting very many and storing them on the computer).

The packaging was sound, the laptop arrived safely with all parts intact, not a mark on it. It fired up right away, and began charging its very expensive ($229 at sony.com; $130 give or take at ebay.com) battery.

I immediately went to Add/Remove programs and got rid of the hoggy Microsoft Works, Microsoft Money and a few other items of no use to me.

The placement of the arrow, Home, End and Delete keys was haphazard, and not in any pattern that I have ever seen or been used to. The keyboard itself will take some getting used to. (I upgraded from a -- don't laugh -- Compaq Armada 4160T, 166MHz.) The keys are so far back; the "wrist rest" or space between the keyboard and the front of the laptop is so deep that it's difficult -- awkward -- to type for any length of time.

I am impressed with the power underneath the Vaio's hood, however. It's got a nice fast chip. It will run all my apps (Dreamweaver MX, Photoshop, Nero Burning ROM, Word 2K, Wordperfect 8, Topstyle Pro 3, Links 2001) with ease.

At over 8 pounds of carrying weight, this Vaio is not ideal as a traveling laptop. Instead, it's designed to be a desktop replacement. Witness the 2.8Ghz P4 processor (not the mobile version), which is screaming fast especially for gaming and video/audio editing, as well as 512MB of fast RAM and large screen. BTW, the screen is beautiful and has terrific viewing angles.

This particular configuration is a good value; what you won't get is built-in DVD burner. Otherwise Sony, in its usual way, throws in a lot of add-on software. Performance seems pretty good, as the system is responsive at all times. The internal fan does kick in a lot, to cool down the system. In this regard, I highly recommend a cooling pad with built-in fans, such as the "Bytecc cooling pad" I'm currently using. It plugs into the USB port and the fans keep the air flowing under the laptop.

A beautiful screen, admirably fast performance, and general good looks make this Vaio a good choice for anyone except those needing a constant traveling companion.

After buying a Sony Desktop 3-4 years ago I thought I would buy another Sony for school.Lets start with the negetive.The hard drive are suppose to be 40 gigs but only about 32 gigs is able to be used. The second complaint is the battery life is almost nil for the lenth I need to use this computer for school. The battery life is between 2 hour to 2.5 hours it just depends on what kind of usage you are using it for (more powerful programs will use more battery life)The third complaint is that the recovery "Disk" is accaully on the hard drive there is not an extra cd recovery disk included.In contrast,Sony makes some of the best computers for what is being payed. I enjoy the fact it does come with 512 megs of memory(Half A gig). It makes a pentium 4 go pretty fast and (not to mention the bus size for the rest of the computer geeks out there)This is a stable system I have had it for pretty close to a month and not one crash(due to system flaws)and has been very dependable for school. The dvd drive is a excellent feature and more of a added bonus but the cd burner is an awsome little burner and usful for on the spot recording (I'm a broadcast student).The bundle software I am never a big fan of but it does include some very handy software such as money 2003,Intervideo 2004 and Works those are just a few but the ones I use the most.The techincal support is the best support team out there they will speak english to you instead of computer lingo and will accaully be nice when the custumer is getting upset.I have use Sony's tech support on and off for the last three years and they truely know how to treat their custumers with kindness.I would say comparing to the computers I have used in my life (Hewitt Packard,Dell and Gateway) you are getting more for the money when you purchase a Sony Vaio and you are buying quality.

Everything else is ticking me off lately, this Vaio being the latest. It won't run my Nero software, or STOMP, or anything it seems that is not somehow Sony affiliated. And their software has givin me nothing but problems. The video editor that came with the bundled software tends to disappear right before my eyes, so I end up saving my work every 3 seconds. And I've burnt DVD's that are bad even though Vaio says they're fine. Sonic music software that comes with it will not burn .wav files to CD's unless you have imported them using their software. The list goes on. And I recommend avoiding their external DVD burner like the PLAGUE. And their DVD players (I have 2) won't play 5% of my DVD's for no reason (and of course they play on others).

this laptop is great except for a few things-
Good: The 512mb allows you to run many things at once.
2.8ghz is really fast
very bright screen..and clear
and many more things
Bad: no integrated wireless internet
battery life is very low; not very portable
kinda heavy

but there are definetly more good things than bad things about this laptop, and if it is mostly going to be used at home or around the house..its a very smart buy...but if your going to be mobile..going from place to place, the weight and the battery will keep you from doing what you want..
but overall..a very good laptop..and the price is amazing.

Pros

- Price
- Speed

Cons

- Noisy fan, gigantic AC adspter
- Takes forever to boot
- Do not even attemp to listen music, the sound quality is awful

For the money, it's a deal..

I really would like to rank this computer as 5 star, at least 4,5 star, but I should mention my disapointment with Sony post sales customer service.
I bought this notebook from Amazon. Amazon.com was perfect (as always) and delivered my Vaio in San Antonio, TX. I really enjoyed the computer and also the bundled software. For me it was an excellent buy (I compare with similar Satellite and Compaq). At this moment my only regret is not buying the PCG-FRV37 - I blame it on my hurry. ( I think that 20G extra on HD specially in a notebook that is very powerfull - and this worths easily 150-200 dollars more). Regarding the computer itself, my only complaint is the HUGE size of AC adapter (almost twice the size of a similar Satellite's). Of course, one reason for my choice of VAIO was Sony itself: I already own several Sony Digital Products and Memory Sticks - Sony Digital Camera (we have 4 Cybershots at home), Sony Camcorder, Sony Clié, Sony DVD player, Playstation2, Wega TV,but I am not sure on this point. I feel I must use this comment to make a strong remark on my evaluation on quality of Sonystyle.com and Sony Customer Service (please note my advice: if you buy something from Sony - probably you will need acessories and help, you cannot count on them). Sony answers things like: this is not available, we have no idea when - and if -will be available, we can't deliver and worst: we can't suggest what you can or should do, etc. Unacceptable. (the best thing she said was: OK, I understand your feelings... not very helpfull).
But, this time again, Amazon.com saved my life: I was able to buy the couple of acessories I really needed - from Amazon - in a next day delivery-basis. So, I strongly recommend: before buying, check all the items you may need on Amazon.com. Of course, unfortunately, there are some items you just realize when you get the computer and sometimes after some days of use. And that's when you need accessories and help, and Sony does not help at all.

My advice: don't trust Sony Style and Customer Service. I have text file I pasted - more than 30 min "on-line chat" with Sony. I can mail it to anybody who ask me so. It's a real piece of nonsense !!! I hope this review can help someone....

If you need to bring your work home, this is the notebook for you. But, if you're looking for a more whole experience including watching movies, playing games, and listening to music, etc..., then this Notebook is not for you.

I bought it a week ago from Fry's Electronics, but ended up returning it because it was a "barebone" system in that it has a blazing fast processor, bus speed, and memory; but that's about all it has!

Don't get me wrong. Sony Notebooks are excellent in quality. About 6 months ago, i bought the 505BX (12.1") display, and it was a great performer as well.

But the problem here is that this FRV26 has no Wireless Internet, which is becoming so important these days. Also, it has Shared Video Memory which takes from your 512 MB of memory, leaving you with 448 MB of main memory.

Also, it has no memory stick slot, no floppy drive, and WORST OF ALL, a horrible graphics set with only 1024 X 760 resolution which, although common, is more suitable for a child.

Basically, they stripped it of every bell and whistle to offer it for a cheap $1500. It's a good deal, again, if you need business performance, otherwise....Go for a Dell (www.dell.com) or an IBM.

You'll have to wait a week or two for the dell or IBM, but it's worth it.

I got this machine 2 1/2 years ago as a replacement for an earlier Vaio that was a lemon. I was a little skeptical about Sony at the time due to my experience with the earlier machine, but I've found this notebook dependable, fast, and an altogether excellent machine. Since it was the only computer I used for about a year and a half it has gotten a good workout. About the weight that so many object to: It doesn't seem excessive to me, but then I've been lugging book bags or cameras around most of my life. If you can't carry 7 lbs. around an airport or campus then you'll want to avoid this terrific computer, and should probably think about getting to the gym. After two years the CDRW drive stopped burning, although it still reads fine, and with the heat generated by making CD's and the confinement due to size, two years seemed reasonable. Doing 48 bit scans in the summer produced too much heat and the unit balked. But a cooling pad with fans takes care of that problem. Except for very large graphics files, though, going into the hundreds of Megabytes, I never found overheating a problem. 3 USB-2 ports seems generous to me for a laptop and the 15 inch screen is just beautiful. As a photographer and photo-restorer I've had no problem using Photoshop on this machine and having my prints come back matching what I see on screen, provided, of course, that the printer is using the same color profile. Music restoration goes like a dream, although I agree with others that the built in speakers are awful. Plan on using earphones or external speakers. I almost always delete most of the preinstalled software from computers since I have programs I like and prefer not to have pre-installed stuff taking up space. So I can't comment on the software Sony provides. But Microsoft Office 2000, Adobe Photoshop 7, DartPro xp all work fine. And I installed and have used Nero Burning Rom on it since I got it. In short the pcg-frv-26 has been a great workhorse for me and restored my faith in Sony. Others seem to hate it, but I have found it the answer to my laptop dreams. Chacun à son goût.