Sony VAIO PCG-K13 Laptop (2.8GHz Pentium 4, 512MB RAM, 40 GB Hard Drive, CD-RW/DVD combo)

by Sony

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 11.4 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0001FSL2S
• Item model number: PCG-K13
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: January 30, 2004

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Sony's new K series of VAIO portable computers is a fine middle ground for those who can't afford the absolute fastest or smallest super-notebooks but don't want to be saddled with a bulky, sluggish bargain-basement offering either. This model, the VAIO PCG-K13, is the most attractively priced unit in the K series. Though very cost effective, it nevertheless retains many of the perks of its slightly more expensive brethren and is thusly a smart choice for school, home or light office duties.

Tastefully clad a two-tone paint scheme and reasonably diminutive at 7.3 pounds and slopes from 1.6 inches to 2.7 inches high when closed by 13 by 10.9 inches, the VAIO PCG-K13 is a stylish and comfortably portable unit. Surprisingly, this affordable system is driven by a high-end 2.8 GHz Pentium 4 processor and a capable alloent of 512 MB DDR SDRAM memory. The video card, an ATI Radeon IGP 345M, is certainly not the pinnacle of 3-D gaming or 3-D animation performance, though it does support dual displays for those times when two monitors are necessary. Furthermore, the unit's 15-inch XGA TFT display (1024 by 768 maximum resolution) features Sony's new Xbrite technology for superior brightness, contrast and viewing angles than many other notebook displays.

For your data storage needs, the VAIO PCG-K13 offers an adequate 40 GB hard disk and a DVD/CD-RW combo drive through which you can burn and play audio CDs, archive your data and watch your favorite DVD movies. DVD writing is not supported in this stock configuration.

The unit is equipped with a number of standard amenities, including an 86-key keyboard with electro-static touch pad, a Memory Stick PRO media slot for data transfers from external devices, one Type III or two Type I or Type II PC Card capability, and a pair of internal stereo speakers. Connectivity options include an IEEE 1394 FireWire port for fast interaction with external devices such as digital camcorders, three high-speed USB 2.0 ports for plug and play peripheral connections, a 56K modem for low-speed dial-up Internet and email, a high-speed RJ-45 LAN network connector, and integrated wireless LAN for cord-free network and e-communication access.

The impressive software bundle includes the Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition operating system, Microsoft's Works 7.0 productivity suite, Intuit's Quicken New User Edition financial center, and a wide range of Sony's own multimedia utilities. Estimated battery life is somewhat less than stellar at 1.0 to 2.5 hours per charge.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Affordable laptop, April 30, 2004

By 

Shailesh C. Deshpande "shailesh_asu" (Farmington Hills, MI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sony VAIO PCG-K13 Laptop (2.8GHz Pentium 4, 512MB RAM, 40 GB Hard Drive, CD-RW/DVD combo) (Personal Computers)

I think the VAIO PCG-K13 is a great product from SONY. More importantly, its affordable. Here are some of the positives and negatives that I noticed:

POSITIVES:
Fast 2.8 Ghz processor
512MB DDR RAM
533Mhz system bus.
All these make it a pretty high end laptop.

NEGATIVES: (These may be applicable to all K-series laptops)

1. 7.3lbs heavy

2. The AC power adapter is exteremly big and bulky. To make the laptop lighter and more attractive, SONY probably transferred some power supply components to the AC adapter.

3. 1024x768 is the maximum available screen resolution (I really wanted to be able to get 1280x1024 after paying $1350)

4. The XBRITE technology makes things worse in fluorescent/white light (like in the libraries) because the screen is very glossy. There's a huge amount of reflection from the LCD screen which reduces screen visibility.

5. NO PS/2 or SERIAL port. (only 3 USB ports. I would love to have a PS/2 port for an external mouse/keybd)

6. NO Floppy drive (I personally care less about this though)

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent buy with a superior lcd screen., March 30, 2004

By 

Ron Dalpiaz (Dover, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sony VAIO PCG-K13 Laptop (2.8GHz Pentium 4, 512MB RAM, 40 GB Hard Drive, CD-RW/DVD combo) (Personal Computers)

I have found the Sony Vaio PCG-K13 to be an excellent compromise between a desktop replacement and a laptop. Weighing in at 7.3 pounds, it is fairly portable, and sports an excellent 15" screen. Sony engineers developed the X-Brite LCD technology which allows for a very sharp, bright display that rivals other displays employing SXGA technology. The 64 Mb. ATI Radeon 1GP video adapter provides the graphics quality. On display at a national computer store, the PCG-K13 stood out among the other laptops for brightness and clarity.

The PCG-K13 employs the Fujitsu MHT2040AT 40 Gb. hard drive which is whisper quiet. I have to press my ear to the computer to hear any rotational or seek activity. Likewise for the system fan, which is equally whisper quiet and keeps the computer case cooled nicely. These two factors help provide a very calming computing experience.

Ergonomically, the keyboard and electrostatic touch pad couldn't be better. The large keyboard incorporates full size Enter, Shift, Control (2), Tab and Backspace keys. Keytouch is quiet with good tactile feedback. The touchpad requires very minimal pressure to operate, and the left and right control buttons are large and well placed.

Three USB ports, one Firewire port, a parallel port, external monitor port, PCMCIA slots (2), and standard audio ports are provided. No serial port - USB replaces that.

The negatives? One is short battery life, understandable when feeding a 2.8 Ghz. Pentium 4 processor. Squeezing two hours from the battery would be the most you can expect from this unit. For me, however, this is not a problem - I am rarely away from an AC outlet, and having Pentium 2.8 Ghz. speed makes up for the battery life.

Secondly, nearly 5 Gb. of hard drive space is used by the recovery partition. Rather that supply a recovery CD-Rom, Sony forces you to burn nine disks to provide the recovery set, or purchase a DVD recovery disk from them. You can then recover the 5 Gb. partition for your own use.

Lastly, the 512 Mb. Ram is shared with the ATI adapter, leaving 448 Mb. for system use. Still, system performance is more than adequate.

I would highly recommend this computer for someone wanting an above average mainstream laptop for general computing and perhaps some moderate graphics (Photoshop) work. For gaming or highly detailed design work, you would need to look elsewhere.

At $1399.00 US, with promotions occasionally offering it at $1249.00, this is one laptop well worth considering.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Sony sucksssssssssss..., January 26, 2006

By 

Balaji (CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sony VAIO PCG-K13 Laptop (2.8GHz Pentium 4, 512MB RAM, 40 GB Hard Drive, CD-RW/DVD combo) (Personal Computers)

I own this laptop for around 2 years. Though I was happy during first few months, this laptop started giving me lot of problems...Here are the pros and cons of it:

Pros:

1) Awesome screen clarity (Xbrite technology)
2) Keyboard and Touchpad are really nice.
3) Good Performance...no need to wonder as it's pentium 4 2.8 ghz, 512 MB RAM.
4) It has memorystick slot, nice to have if you have a sony digital camera.

Cons:

1) It's heavy, heavy, too heavy for a laptop.
2) It comes with a large size brick i.e) the power adaptor...aweful even a B grade brands are giving very small adaptors...
3) The sound quality is terrible.
4) No external control of volume/brightness etc. You need to have the Sony special software to enable the special keys to do that. Once you format and reinstall your windows, you are lost. You need to purchase those software/windows xp home CD seperately. Sony doesn't give them for you along with the laptop.
5) Known Problem with the Wireless connection. It goes disconnected every 5 or 10 minutes.
6) A very known problem with this model. There are several forums yelling at Sony for this issue. There are websites trying to form a group to legally fight with Sony on this. It's a manufacturing defect. The Ram Slot is poorly manufactured so the Ram easily breaks out of the slot over the time. It freezes the system completely. Only if you have some idea of hardware or if you have gone through all crying forums, you are safe. Otherwise see the next Con.
7) It will cost around half of the laptop price to do a service on the laptop. You need to send it to some place via post (all postal cost will be yours)
8) After my warrenty period, I was asked to pay 19.99 $ to talk to a Custumer Support Rep to discuss about the same RAM issue I got with my laptop (See previous Con). Luckily, I saw those forums and fixed it by myself.
9) Aweful battery life. Initially it gave me around 1.5 hr and now it's giving around 35 minutes...
10) It's too costly...You may save around 500 $ if you buy a better laptop (like Dell).

I bought this only for the brand name Sony. But I am sure I won't buy a sony laptop again. I would recommend Dell or HP.