Sony VAIO PCG-FXA63 Laptop (1.4 GHz Athlon XP 1600+, 256 MB SDRAM, 20 GB hard drive

by Sony

Product Details

Product Manual [1.31mb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 12.8 x 10.5 x 1.9 inches ; 6.7 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 14 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00006LHF0
• Item model number: PCG-FXA63
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 13, 2002

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

If you’re an aspiring filmmaker on a budget looking for a high-performance mobile computer that doubles as a portable digital video-editing system, the Sony Vaio FXA63 notebook PC will deliver the goods on location or in your home office.

The notebook PC’s all-in-one design includes an i.Link interface that serves as a high-speed FireWire conduit for connecting with devices such as camcorders. The FXA63 includes software for creating full-motion digital movies complete with a full complement of visual effects and audio.

The FXA63’s 1.4 GHz Mobile AMD Athlon XP 1600+ processor cranks out plentiful power for propelling multimedia and productivity software. Its ATI Rage Mobility M1 graphics card, combined with 8 MB of video RAM and a 14.1-inch XGA active-matrix TFT display, enable you to view sharp, clear images. A built-in DVD-ROM/CD-RW combination drive makes it easy and convenient to watch DVD movies, listen to and make CDs, and rapidly back up data.

A 30 GB hard drive offers abundant space for storing data and multimedia files, and the FXA63’s 256 MB of SDRAM--expandable to 512 MB--lets you run multiple applications smoothly. An integrated 10/100Base-T Ethernet LAN connector makes networking easy. The FXA63 supports two Type I PC Cards or one Type II or III card. It also includes a parallel and serial port, an NTSC-out interface, and two USB ports.

The 6.7-pound, 12.8-by-10.5-by-1.5-inch FXA63 includes a built-in V.90 modem, and its floppy drive can be swapped out for a second battery that doubles the system’s estimated three-hour battery life.

Installed software includes Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, Corel WordPerfect Office 2002, Quicken 2002, and Trend Micro PC-cillin. Also included are Sony DVgate and MovieShaker software for capturing and editing full-motion digital video footage and creating movies that use transitions and other effects.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars There are better laptops at this price, avoid this one, December 8, 2002

By 

Dave (Portland) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Sony VAIO PCG-FXA63 Laptop (1.4 GHz Athlon XP 1600+, 256 MB SDRAM, 20 GB hard drive (Personal Computers)

At (less than) this price the HP Pavilion xt125 is a better choice. The 1.4 GHz Athlon XP "1600+" isn't a bad CPU but it lacks SSE2, and important feature for future software currently only found in Intel CPUs (AMD is adding it into their CPUs next year).

The main problems are:
The ATI Rage graphics are weak and out of date (don't even try to run a new game on it). The ATI MOBILITY RADEON 7500C is much faster and will even run 3D games smoothly.

The SDRAM is being run a 200MHz. This memory is not very stable at that speed and gets very hot. You are better off with faster and more efficient DDRAM which runs at a slower speed but sends more data so it drains less power from the battery, runs cooler, and pumps more data to your CPU. Sony is just cutting cost here at the consumer's expense.

I used to like Sony laptops but they are just trading on their name these days.

21 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Looking for an alrounder laptop? Get this, November 18, 2002

By 

Iwan van der Schoor (California United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sony VAIO PCG-FXA63 Laptop (1.4 GHz Athlon XP 1600+, 256 MB SDRAM, 20 GB hard drive (Personal Computers)

I just bought this laptop a couple of days ago, and I can't say anything else but I love it!!
It is extremely quiet (hardly any HD noise) and all the multimedia features on it were just what I was looking for.

I've been working with IBM laptops before this, and I must say that this is more of a home laptop than the IBM's just because you can do anything you want with it because of the multimedia options.
The only "bad" thing in the package is WP office, as the whole world is using MS Office, but that's just a matter of getting MS Office.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Amazing display but very poor hardware and support., February 14, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Sony VAIO PCG-FXA63 Laptop (1.4 GHz Athlon XP 1600+, 256 MB SDRAM, 20 GB hard drive (Personal Computers)

I purchase Sony Vaio and had high opinion regarding Sony products. But, I was very disappointed with this product. My hard disk was very noisy and I had to send it for repair, they replaced my hardware with refurbished parts and sent it back. When I received the Laptop, the keyboard was out of place and body had scratches on it and I had to send it back again. The technical support people at times are extremely rude that it is unbelievable, after request to call before they ship the item back they sent it right back without calling us. The letter it came back with had no clear explanation of what was fixed.

Even when I called back, after 35 mins of hold a very rude person replied my phone and this was not the first time I had experienced this with their technical support. I have spent lot of hours just rebuilding this laptop, waiting on phone and downtime when I had to ship for repair. I feel sorry for buying this product.

The display is amazing but that is about it, rest of the hardware is okay and you will have many incompatibly issues with this laptop. I would rather buy a Dell or Toshiba but never again another Sony Laptop

.