Customer Reviews

Sony VAIO VGN-FS660/W 15.4" Laptop (Intel Pentium M Processor 740, 1 GB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, DVD+R Dbl Layer/DVD+/-RW Drive)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

There are a few major drawbacks in this notebook:

1. The battery lasts for only 1.5 hour configured with the highest battery
saving option (Lowest Screen Brightness etc.) while using only internet (no heavy apps) !!!
I have tested it with many options but you don't go above 1.5 hours.
The life span for these type of batteries are 500 cycles charge/dishcharge.

2. The Intel 2200BG Wireless Card which comes with this laptop and also other laptops
such as DELL, have a major problem of a "Lost connection" where you get disconnected
every 1 minute for a 10-30 seconds. You can search for this problem on GOOGLE and see
that lots of people have this unsolved issue !!!
Sony support was unable to solve this issue, Intel and Sony blame each other.
I managed somehow to solve this problem after 3 Days, non-stop sitting with the laptop.
The only way is to uninsatll the 9.0 version and download the 8.0 version from Intel
and install both Software and Drivers from Intel and let Intel's software manage your
Wireless instead of Windows XP.

3. The maximum RAM which can be installed is up to 1GB.

The bottom line, we are paying a lot of money for Mobile computing when we don't
actually get it in this notebook (both battery life and wireless).

Although I like very much the Design and the Display I have decided
I am returning this notebook !!!

This laptop is a good laptop for gamers like myself and for business purposes. The Wireless reception on this laptop is great.I own a linksys wireless access point and the signal from the laptop is strong even if i am outside the house. The only problem i have with this laptop is that the burning the recovery cds for the laptop was not successful. The burning process failed twice for me when i attempted create backp cds. This is serious since the laptop does not come with cds but all the software is backed up on 5 gigs of your harddrive.What good is it if it cant be burn on to DVDs. But other than that the laptop is GREAT!!!!!!!!!!

PS. Sony's tech support is excellent

Great laptop. Very pricy, obviously intended for people willing to shell out a few extra hundred dollars for a good looking brand name laptop. It has shortcomings such as no built in mic, no external volume control, and lack of S-Video out.

However, I need this laptop for school, and those features mean little to me. Battery life (I have the X-brite ECO technology, not X-brite) is 2.5-2.75 hours on full brightness, with wireless on, doing word processing and internet browsing. I'd assume with wireless off and low brightness the battery goes beyond 3 hours easily. I have the standard battery.

I'd attribute the extended battery life to the X-brite ECO v. the X-brite technology, it prob drains less battery life, and the screen is just beautiful, very vivid. The laptop also looks great, why not get something that is pleasing to the eye when shellin out so many hard earned dollars?

I have 512 X 1 stick of Ram, so can easily upgrade to 1 Gb for smooth performance...you shouldn't need more than that.

Keyboard is phenomenal, no bounce, low depth of keystroke...trackpad is simple and responsive. External USB mouse is a must...any good old USB mouse will do, nothing fancy needed. I like the position of the three USB slots (good for right handed persons), they are on the right hand side...great for that USB mouse.

Speakers...not sure how they mach up to Toshiba's Harmon-Kardons...but they reproduce sound failry well, not hollow...but not too loud either.

Should be noted the FS series at the back has a gap between the screen and the base to make it looks nicer...I doubt this will break..but just be forewarned...it does add to its looks though.

I would recommend this product. Try to get the X-brite ECO screen for the sake of battery life.

Compared to the other Sony series, it is unbeatable. It has the perfect screen, keyboard, and weight. The S Series has too many cons including heat dissipation and the fan noise. If you want to buy a Sony laptop for a student or home use, get the FS660. The T Series is perfect for business but PLEASE stay away from the Sony S460. The S360 is better for heat reasons but lacks essential features such as dual-layer dvd burner.

I've had this laptop now for 2 months. Burns, cds and dvds with no problem. Comes with lots of useful software and some not so useful software. I love Sonic Stage for my music library. Plays games like EVE Online, Lineage II, City of Heroes, and a list of others just great. Nice thing is you can build your recovery disc set using cds and dvds then rebuild the laptop with just the software you want on it to relieve some of the initial clutter. I've heard some people say the battery life isn't what it claims to be but I've gotten 2.5 hours out of it, maybe longer. You must use the ultimate battery setting from the sony battery control panel to get this. The only problem I've had with this was when I tried to run Windows XP Pro on it. Everything installed just fine except the onboard sound card wouldn't run under XP Pro and I couldn't find a driver that worked for it so I went back to XP Home edition that came with it. I've had no issues whatsoever with its wireless setup. I've traveled quite a bit since I've had it and have connected to dozens of different networks with no hassle whatsoever. I'd recommend this laptop to anybody looking for great performance and flexibility.

Fantastic screen, weighs just over 6 pounds, good keyboard and fast! The usual crappy touch pad (sorry, but I prefer a mouse) but any wireless mouse makes this the perfect desktop replacement machine. The only complaint I have is that all of the connections (USB, ethernet, etc) are on the sides of the machine. I would have preferred them in the back of the machine. All in all though - an excellent laptop for people who need high performance!

Just paid $40 for the recovery CD that should have come in the box. Come on , no user makes the recovery CD. Ever. Computer companies need to create the recovery CD. Put it in the box. Print a Manual. Put it in the box. The E-machine in the corner of the office came w/ a recovery CD. An E-machine. Thats a $400 dollar computer people. This VAIO is $1000 machine. No recovery CD. But thats enough complaining. This VAIO Machine is very nice looking an the hardware is very nice.Hard drive can be removed easily for upgrade ,etc. Screen is excellent. Very thin but does not seem fragile. If you touch type, the area in front of the keyboard is a handy wristrest. Keyboard - eh, its a laptop keyboard. "B" key seems to be damaged. Sony's "download Taxi" is a decent way to get updates. Only Occasional issues w/ wireless dropping connection. Not a major issue. Sound isnt loud enough for me. It comes with XP Home. Should come with Xp Pro, upgrade it if you buy it. It is a fast laptop when set to "performance " settings. Turned off the powersave mode on the wireless. Personally I would not buy sony or toshiba. If you have this kind of money buy an IBM. INMHO , of course. The VAIO's price should come down soon and you may be able to pick it up cheap. Not a must buy but - try it at the store & you may like it.

Having used this laptop ((intensively)) for the last 6 months, I decided to write about it.

First, what the other reviewers say about the battery is absolutely correct, it's plain awful. I use it in college and there is no way I can make it last for more than 3 hours, let alone the whole school day. There is another battery offered by Sony that it claims to last longer, but it's too expensive and should be included with this laptop in the first place instead of the inferior battery.

Now to the pros: Good display, video card is not too bad (even for FPS, don't expect much though), HD is about ok if you don't plan on storing a lot of media files in it, otherwise get an external HD.

All in all, there are better laptop computers out there... keep shopping.

I bought the 675PH model direct from Sony.

Sony should attach a letter of appology to every one of these computers. While it's beautiful, elegant and the screen is superb, the wireless on these machines is a complete joke. I have applied all of the updates to eliminate dropping connections (why should I even have to do this??), and this thing still performs like a pig. Slow doesn't begin to describe it.

I have a Dell 610 with identical Centrino and it is spectacularly fast. It's ugly, poor keyboard, but it works perfectly.

This Sony runs very well on wired connection, but can't a company of this size get serious about what customers think of their products and test them before shipping?

i bought this laptop from a retailer outside of amazon for $2000+, thinking i was getting a top-of-the-line system, perfect for college! i was wrong. i've had to bring it to my tech services on campus 4 times to help me with these problems:

- wifi connection problems
- windows registry problems (with the HOME edition it came with. i actually had to buy xp pro and perform a clean install, losing all my saved data)
- my battery life, 2 years later, lasts about 20 minutes

bottom line, don't buy it. it's almost like a 50/50 with sony products; it's either great or terrible.

my laptop sucks so mnuch, my friends make fun of me!