Customer Reviews

Sony VAIO VGN-AW220J/H 18.4-Inch Laptop (2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 Processor, 4 GB RAM, 400 GB Hard Drive, Blu-ray Drive, Vista Premium) Gray

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

 

 

I would not rate a 5-Star because the Eject button on the keyboard failed to eject the CD/DVD drive but this is relatively minor. Otherwise great laptop. I suggest the following accessories:
- Sumdex carrying case CKN-003. Although it's rated to fit up to 17", it's the slimmest, lightest an best designed case I found for the Sony AW 18.4" after a month's worth of research. The power adapter can be stored in the front compartment along with extra hardware such as an extra CD/DVD writer, and still maintains an extremely slim fit.
- Get a TV tuner. Mine was a Hauppauge 950Q but any comparable tuner would do. It is worth noting that the 950Q software interface failed to load the digital channels to Win Vista 64-bit, the tuner itself works great with Windows Vista Media center 64-bit.
I hope this balances out the review on May 19, 2009 which brought up two items which are very insignificant and misleading.

Pros:
Great display
Full size keyboard

Cons:
Vista 64bit. Many programs don't work with 64bit. You have to buy them again for 64bit or they're not even available.
No drivers for XP, so you won't be able to us XP.
Battery life is short, and the power adapter is hot.

Update:
Vista 64bit really sucks. Lot of trouble with IE 7. Then upgraded to IE8. Still problem. Freeze on many websites. I really want to use XP, but Sony doesn't have drivers for XP, not even Vista 32bit.

I bought this about a year ago and as far as the performance go it works great. I can only complain about the lack of any accessories for this laptop.

I like that it has the # pad and full 1080P screen and HDMI HD out + dolby 5.1 out. Makes it so you can hook it right into anyones home theator and play a blue ray over it. Runs both Vista and Windows 7 with no issues.

I would say its the perfect laptop except it does have 3 small issues.
1) It has vista blah...now it has windows 7 on it :)
2) It is battery hungry, but then with that screen I would expect it to be
3) The video card despite being a Nvidia 9600 gt can't use the nvidia drivers from [...], you have to get ones co-written by sony/nvidia which only seem to get updated about 1 time a year.

A long time ago, I used to have a VAIO desktop computer. It ran great, it had everything I wanted and it runs to this day ... When I want to use an older processor and motherboard. But I purchased this new VAIO laptop as a "part-time business use, part-time personal use" machine. And boy does it serve that role well!

Pros: Best screen (resolution and size), good (but not great) hardware components, Blu Ray!, very usuable - right out of the box, good quality sound (but... see the cons)

Though I do not have many complaints about this product, there are some things I wish worked better.
Cons: Speakers - while sounding good - are very quiet, short power cord from the brick compared to other laptops, Wireless NIC drivers have some problems, heavy and bulky (but no more so than other laptops in this size), doesn't come with Vista Ultimate, my preferred OS until 7 is released.

The only on going problem with this machine is that the wireless NIC drivers have trouble connecting to the VPN at my office. The built-in speakers are very quiet, though very nice sounding, during movie playback. If you don't have good headphones, you might want to consider add-on external speaker(s). Other than that, this machine runs like a champ and I hope will give me many years of good service.

I have 18.4". Very good. After this ekspiriance everithing belov is smal.
Spomenko Jockovic, Bijeljina, Republika Srpska. 25.08.2009.

The laptop arrived before it's scheduled time and was adequately packaged. It looked great for a refurbished item and I appreciated the attention to making it look new. The seller did a wonderful job and so far the product is living up to its specs.

I am a 17" VAIO user and it has not been the delight and joy that I expected it. Just yesterday my friend who also told me that "SONY just dealt the final blow to, the power cable stopped working".

In my blog i list 20 reasons why not to buy a VAIO, however it is not this same model, yet the same design flaws persist.
Example 1 - the wireless ON/OFF switch is on the front edge of the machine, it takes only to brush against it to accidentally switch it off and on. And if your online constantly, that could be reaaally annoying.

Example 2 - The power button just seems to find itself in a more awkward position each and every time VAIO comes out with a new version. This time its on the side of the machine from what I gather, imagine lifting your laptop and accidentally pressing it? no?

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