Customer Reviews

Sony VAIO VGN-N250E/W 15.4" Laptop (Intel Core Duo T2250, 1 GB RAM, 120 GB Hard Drive, DVD RW Drive, Vista Premium) White

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

 

 

WARNING: Do not buy a new Sony Vaio of any kind with Vista if you want to record any audio off of your sound card - meaning the internet. Sony has permanently disabled the "wave" or "stereo out" abilities of they're new computers. On all other major brands there is a simple two click solution, but Sony has deemed it in their best interests to make it impossible to reverse. This is a serious and deliberate flaw that they've built into their computers with bigger "corporate interests" in mind, not the usefulness of their computers to the average consumer. And they're customer service (what a joke) could care less! Be warned. See this forum for more information.
http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/showpost.aspx?postid=1816948&siteid=1

I originally planned to buy this laptop to upgrade my obselete Sony pentium 4 laptop. I was shopping at Frys and they were out of stock, but they had the HP 6225 laptop for the same price. The HP had a better processor (Amd 64 x2 tl50), it was in stock, and I really needed a new laptop so I pulled the trigger and bought it. Unfortunately, although it was great while it lasted, the HP had all kinds of problems and eventually crapped out (during my college finals) after only 6 days. I returned the HP and got the Sony N250e and am very happy with it.

If you are someone that values quality and durability over technological statistics, then this model is for you. It's sleek, durable, and easy to use. I've had absolutely no problems with it. You can probably get another laptop with a faster processor for the price, but if you are like me, and a new laptop is a major purchase, buying a Sony and not having to worry about quality and reliability is worth it. Like I said, it may not be the fasted, but it's fast enough, it works, and it gets does job done nicely. I'd rather have a slower computer that performs great consistently, than a faster computer that doesn't.

I've owned this laptop for about eight months, and its battery life has dwindled to about 45 minutes, from a high of about two hours.

I assumed that a Sony product would, at a minimum, have decent audio quality, but the speakers are so quiet-- even at full volume-- that headphones are a necessity.

As a desktop replacement, this computer works fine. For basic internet browsing, email, word processing, iTunes playlist management, etc., it works fine. Still, away from the charger, this computer is basically useless, it's often slow, and shut-down takes an eternity.

People compliment its sleek look, but I wouldn't buy this system again. The battery life is inexcusable, and SONY customer support was quick to tell me that they cannot and do not warrant battery performance.

The sleek aesthetic comes at the expense of performance.

I bought this Sony after owning a Dell Inspiron laptop with XP loaded for 5 years. The Dell had been quite reliable, came with instructions, software, and one year free guarantee, but I dropped it and the lid was hanging by a thread so time to look for something else. I researched between another Dell and the VAIO and it seemed I was getting a better deal with the Sony (VAIO's good reputation and on sale at Circuit City for about $850) so I bought it in March 07. My experience thus far is mixed: Positives: It is a reliable computer, boots fast, downloads fast, has a nice big very clear screen, and 4 hour battery. My mp3 player seems to work fine and the downloads were fairly fast. Problems: My biggest problem is not so much with the computer as with the operating system, Vista. I HATE VISTA!(my wife hears me yell that about every day). There was no choice or I would have chosen XP. I use XP at work and Vista is so different that I get really confused going between the two. I have setup my Vista to look as much like "Classic XP" as possible, but it doesn't help much. Woe be it if the working world switches fully to Vista. If your seller gives a choice, go with XP. There are several of my programs that do not work with Vista even after I downloaded fixes. Other issues: it came with absolutely no documentation or backup software--just the computer and the box. The power cord is shorter than most laptops so you may need an extension cord. There are only two USB slots and they are on the right side. I plug in a 4-way to give me extra slots (one is a wireless mouse) and it totally gets in the way of the mouse in small spaces like a lap table. I have had no techical problems to this point so have no experience with Sony help desk or repairs. Just take a close look at your USB needs and your desire/ability to learn a new operating system.

This is a great laptop. I have a two year old desk top hp and since I got the sony laptop I do not use my hp desktop which I always hated.

I really had purchased my laptop just for my business when I am at the hosital at work or on the road, however I am using it a lot at home.

My sister told me to buy this product. She got a cheaper computer and she is a computer geek however she is a cheapo.
I am not a computer geek and I am glad that I listen to her.

I am loving it and spending hours on it and learning every detail on it.
Buy it and you will enjoy.
I have had the laptop for a month and very happy.

I bought it from Best Buy for $802.00 on sale and that includes taxes. I feel that I got a great deal.

Great notebook, very well built with nice materials, very light and with a great screen.
The only thing is if you like shortcut buttons on the keyboard and close 2 it, don't buy this notebook, the keyboard is simple and clean there is no quick buttons for DVD play and sound control other then the function keyboard regular commands, so if you like just hitting 1 button to play your DVD or sliding your finger over a button to adjust sound volume, this is not for you, but, if you like clean, simple and very clean stylish looking, then buy this one.
This notebook is very well built with no flaws to be noted.
My overall is 5 out of 5, but that's because I rather have a clean working area with just the precise keyboard without a lot of buttons around it.

Wireless (or switch) sucks horribly. Tons of issues with it dropping connection. Driver for wireless incredibly limited. Charger died out in months and Sony refused any warranty repairs on unit unless I provided my original receipt, credit card statement and other documentation (and I purchased this on an air force post). I would not buy this system again. When it works it works fine. But if I could do it again I would have waited and bought a Dell, HP, emachines - anything but this. Heard Sony made decent systems and had good support, boy was that a lie. I'll stick with Dell.

Let's start this off by saying I received this laptop from a relative for free so my review might be biased a little. I couldn't say I'd pay the price asked for an older computer like this. I found everything to run perfect in this laptop, with one little exception... it has Windows Vista on it. I found the majority of other users' complaints could be easily corrected by installing the latest version of Ubuntu. Ever since I did that, everything has worked on this computer flawlessly. Just thought I'd throw that out there for anyone who thinks their laptop isn't working the way it should.

I thought I'd put my 2 cents in here since there's kind of a wide variety of reviews here.

We have 3 laptops in our house- this Sony, a small Asus eeePC (linux) for the kids, and whatever I get for work. I have had a Dell D600, 610, 620, 820 (currently), and an HP dv7-1245dx.

First, the most obvious issue is weight. The Sony and HP are pigs. It's really too heavy to use for much other than as a desktop replacement most of the time. Next is battery life. We keep this Sony plugged in most of the time, but after a couple years, the battery life is ONLY ABOUT 15 MINUTES. The third issue is the wireless connectivity. The Sony drops out regularly. There is an updated wireless driver specifically mentioned to fix this, but it hardly helped. Neither my Dell or the Asus computers drop the signal like the Sony.

It's fine for email and regular stationary work that doesn't require a reliable connection to upload/download streams. When my wife is sending picture files to be processed, it frequently drops the wireless connection and requires her to restart the process.

The final beef I have with the Sony VAIO VGN-N series computers is the keyboard. It's a lousy keyboard compared to any others I've used. The keys don't depress well enough with the same effort I use on the Dells, HP or Asus laptops. We spend a lot of time backing up and re-typing. It's ridiculous and unnecessary.

Bottom line- would I buy it again? No. I run Sony audio and video components, but this low budget laptop should have a minimum threshold of performance that it doesn't meet. It is less than satisfactory at any price. I'd buy another Dell D820 used for $400.

Bought this laptop in April of 2007. As other reviewers commented it does look very sleek, however there are many issues with it. First of all after using it for almost 2 years I have 4 minutes of battery life. 4 minutes. It is ridiculous that I am a slave to my power cord. Second of all, it is so slow. I do not have many additional programs loaded onto this computer but it takes forever to load up a program. The internet frequently crashes as does Windows Media Player. Recently I've had to restart my computer several times a day because of the crashes. I thought it might be a virus so I swept it using an anti-virus program but nothing was wrong. I wish I had chosen a different laptop, this one is very disappointing.