Customer Reviews

Sony VAIO VGN-NR280E/S 15.4-inch Laptop (Intel Core 2 Duo T5450 Processor, 1 GB RAM, 200 GB Hard Drive, Vista Premium) Granite

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Shoppers should note that this page is home to a variety of Sony notebooks, accessed by the pull-down menu at the top of the page. The description and prices change as you select a model, but the reviews do not.

I researched extensively for user reviews on this model and other low-end Sony VAIO laptops. Results showed above average satisfaction. So I bought one!

I have had the VGN-NR220E/S model for only a short time. I am initially impressed by this notebook. After you uninstall/delete all the bloatware Sony loaded this thing with, the 1GB of memory handles Vista without much problem. Yet, benefits are assured with a RAM upgrade, and I plan on one soon.

The screen is pleasantly large and refreshingly crisp with vivid colors, Sony really knows how to produce a superior display. Although all plastic, the build quality is solid for a low-end PC which can be had for less than 600 dollars.

Cons: Vista - oh well, I never thought I'd miss using XP. No bluetooth, built in camera or built in mic. There is no line level audio input, and it utilizes the older/smaller Express Card 34 slot. None of these were deal breakers for me. Note also that Sony does not include ANY install disks. You can order them for about 18, or apparently you can burn your own.

Other than that, lots of inputs, including firewire and wireless networking are included here. Also the the optical drive will write dual layer DVD's.

This Sony won't have me giving up my G5 tower or either of our sleek Powerbooks, but it will be very effective when one must use a PC, and it didn't cost thousands.

If you are not a gamer or a power user, and you want a laptop with a fair sized, brilliant screen, then you could do a lot worse than this VAIO. Just be prepared for the shock-of-Vista.

I bought this notebook at best buy for a great price at 577. I do not have complex computer needs as I basically only use it for writing, internet use, music downloads and dvds. I would highly recomend this so far. I have heard terrible things about vista but so far so good as far as I am concerned. It is fast and performs well in picking up wireless signals. I was very suprised with the quality of the screen and how colorful and clear it is. so in conclusion, if you are not looking to spend a lot of money, and you have basic computer needs, I would definetely urge you to look into the sony NR-220e

In my humble personal opinion I think that this is a very nice "middle-of-the-road" laptop.

My laptop has the following configuration: 2GB DDR2-667 SDram, 200 GB SATA (5400rpm) drive, Vista Home Prem., Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T5450 (1.66Gz, 2MB L2 Cache, 667MHz FSB), DVD-RW, 15.4" WXGA TFT with XBrite-ECO screen, various memory stick and USB ports/slots.

It has worked well and reliably. It is a nice size with 15" screen, and a laptop that doesn't weight that much. I am primarily running Office 2007, Turbo Tax Business, Quickbook Pro, and other business related software on it.

It does play DVD's smoothly and with good clarity although that (and games) was not the criteria for purchase.

Battery life is about 3-4 hours with regular battery. Various upgrades and options are available.

I'm totally satisfied with it.

This Vaio has the potential to be a good notebook however my experience with it was horrible. Bought the machine for my wife thinking that the Sony / Vaio name gave me a better chance of finding something reliable.

#1 Sony load an incredible amount of bloatware, you probably need a couple of days to clear it all out before you load what you want on the machine. Uninstalls seem really slow on Vista.

#2 After doing #1 and setting up my wireless connection everything looks good. However whenever the Vaio goes into standby or hibernate on coming out of this mode I only have local network access and no internet access. Vista displays this by showing your home network as "Unidentified Network" Reboot and it works fine. Spent two to three days working on this, type "Vista Unidentified Network" into Google and you will see many similiar issues with Vista. Probably a bad driver, however I could not fix it.

From much reading on the web; Vaio and this problem are mentioned many times.

I just want something that works out of the box.

Still need a notebook for my wife not sure which way to go (XP?)

I set up this laptop for my in-laws. It is a nice, peppy laptop for the price w/ a good industrial design. It does the basics well with a gorgeous screen (but so-so graphics card), decent battery, and decent keyboard. Sony provides some decent software to go along w/ Windows Vista and this includes a Sony movie making application, DVD viewing software, etc.

Cons: Sony does NOT support Windows XP on this laptop, so those who want to to downgrade from Vista to XP will have to work for it. Sony also loads the laptop with loads of bloat ware, to include trial versions of Adobe Acrobat, AOL, Corel Draw, MS Office 2007, Norton 360 (90 day trial), and SpySweeper (1 year). It took a long time to uninstall these apps. With 2GB RAM, the laptop ran sluggish at times, but for the most part was fairly responsive.

This laptop is not appropriate for power-users or serious gamers, but is well suited to surfing the Internet and watching movies. If you do not mind Vista, I would recommend it for those purposes.

The Sony VAIO VGN-NR270N/S does not come with many of the fancy things laptops bring today (no integrated camera, bluetooth, etc), so it won't be appealing to many. But it is the only way to have an incredible Intel Core 2 Duo Processor if you only have 600$. If you install 4 gb ram for another 100$, you have right there a top pc for the years to come without spending a fortune.
A big plus: wow, sony screens are the best
A big minus: It really has an awful amount of crapware loaded, as other reviews say. So do not hope to be enjoying the first day, you will spend it with the remove programs utility.

This is for the Sony VAIO NR220E/S (bought at BestBuy for US$ 599,99).

PROS:
0- Price. :)
1- LCD (this XBRITE-ECO stuff looks really nice).
2- Speakers (ARE AWESOME!).
3- Brand (c'mon.. it's a VAIO).
4- Firewire.
5- Card Reader (Memory Stick Pro Duo and another one with SD).

CONS/MISS:
1- Missing Native Bluetooth Connectivity (it's a mess to have to use cables to my Phones and Headsets). How COME?!?!?!
2- Windows XP OEM (Vista sucks). I'm not sure if the problem is the the Processor, the amount of Memory (and its speed) or the Hard Disk Drive speed... but this notebook was the slowest thing in a long time (been working since IBM PC XT). My gess is that VISTA is killing this laptop. Please, upgrade the memory or install Windows XP immediately after purchasing it.
3- Missing Camera (an integrated webcam would be really nice and wouldn't even cost US$20). It would add a lot of extra power and appeal to the NR220E/S
4- Missing regular PCMCIA/PC CARD (instead of the XPRESS CARD 34 Sony's put). It would be nice to keep my old Bluetooth, 3G/GSM and GPS PCMCIA Cards.
5- 1 card of 1GB RAM (instead of the cheap 2x512MB Sony's put). This is not a major problem since the BIOS allows up to 4GB (don't trust the Sony Ad).
6- Silver Keyboard. It would be just perfect... even if Sony decided to keep the bottom of the laptop in the same color (BLACK).
7- Multimedia Keyboard keys (funcion keys would do the trick).
8- Battery Life.

Conclusion:

I'd buy this laptop again, and I'd upgrade immediatelly to XP and to 4GB RAM.
The next step would be to get a new (extended) battery and a faster HDD.

Unreasonably slow. Turns out all the "trial" stuff put on made it run like mud. Spent 3 hours uninstalling all the BLOAT. Then it was okay. But not worth all the time lost. There are too many good alternatives - HP, Lenovo, Dell, Toshiba, Acer. If I could I'd send Sony a bill for $300 just for the time it took to get this thing down to a NEW conditon.

I didn't expect too much from the Vaio NR as it is from the entry-level product line, but this is totally the opposite of what I experienced! This is a great notebook for basic~intermediate tasks. The only thing people should be aware is the RAM amount. 1 gb seems to be insufficient for the main Vista features. The use of the ReadyBoost function comes handy in such situations (í'm using a 4gb SD card).

I got this laptop for my sister because she's entering college, and so far she loves it. Of course like every other review, you have to play with it first. I took a lot of the bloatware out (about 3 hours of work), and installed my own software in. Then defrag the comp. For a 1.6 duo core with 1G of ram, it's surprising fast enough to do what my sister needed to do.

The wireless issue that some reviews are commenting on, she has not experienced. There's wireless internet at home, her friends house, and school, and she's able to connect to all of them with ease. It evens saves the password from the router and when the laptop picks up the signal it automatically logs her in. She loves the wireless on/off button. When she knows there's no internet available she just clicks it off and saves battery life.

This is good general everyday use laptop. It's been great for a college student. My recommendation is to upgrade the ram. 1G of ram is sufficent by all means, but you can never have enough ram. Battery life is a little short. I'm probably gonna upgrade her laptop to 2G of ram, and an extended battery. Other than that she loves it, and we highly recommmend it to anyone.