Customer Reviews

Sony VAIO VGN-FS840/W 15.4" Laptop (Intel Pentium M Processor 740, 512 MB RAM, 100 GB Hard Drive, DVD+R Dbl Layer/DVD+/-RW Drive)

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

 

 

Okay, there are some great pros about this laptop, but there is also a lot that Sony could've done better. The FS series has always been their consumer laptop, with low cost in mind, and it shows. Because of this, the FS series has always seemed to dampen Sony's quality as a computer manufacturer. Sony is most notable for their S and SZ series notebooks (13.3" Screen), or their ultraportable T and TX series, so the FS series kind of has a lack of flare in comparison.

PROS:

-VERY CRISP screen with 1280x800 native resolution

-Great number of ports on connections, including memory card reader

-Very portable

-Great pricing

-Pentium M

-Dual Layer DVD Burner

-Battery Life is better than Toshiba's (I got 2.13hours... manufacturer claims 3 hours, but I had it with max brightness and Wi-Fi, so that's pretty good... 25% more battery)

-100GB Hard Drive

CONS:

-Outdated processor, as well as not even top of the line

-Only 512MB of RAM, and not even the fastest (only 533MHz... they make 667MHz)

-Graphics Media Accelerator - uncommon in Sony notebooks, but not good for anything more than causal use nonetheless - GMA's use shared memory for its virtual memory, so you could get as low was 384MB of RAM remaining if the GMA kicks in.

-Useless Sony programs - Sony has terrible program interfaces, erase them once you set up everything else on your computer

-XP Home - You don't have much RAM, and now you'll have lots of spyware filling it up

-Heavier than it looks - I weights roughly 6lbs, but judging by how thin it is, I would've guessed closer to 5lbs.

BOTTOM LINE: A step up from some of Dell and HP's buttom of the line notebooks with 40GB hard drives and 256MB or RAM, but not enough to justify a purchase, unless you want the mobile experience with the Sony name.

At first I was kind of doubting on purchasing this product because of a bad review I read. At last this notebook was just what I expected for my home business, great screen, great performance, excellent interaction with digital photo and video cameras. Nothing more to ask from a notebook.

it was great laptop, its display is very good-bright,vibrant, and rich colours, but the battery back up is not too great,

At first I was also dubious of the purchase. However, once I installed a few software and deleted the many useless softwares that it came with I was very much satisfied.

Although it came with only 512mb of memory, I installed Adobe CS2, the full 7 or 8 programs for graphics professionals and it works fine. Of course, the best feature, and I have searched around for this, is the incredible bright and crisp screen. It does not even compare with the HP Xbrite, Toshiba Trubrite, and Gateway Ultrabrite.

The negative aspects are the standard battery that comes with the machine that only lasts about 2 hours and the weak graphic card and integrated speakers (but, if you use earphones you get a better experience).

The best reason I like this computer personally is because I got a great deal at Office Depot for less than $699 on a weekly special.