Amazon.com: Sony VAIO VGN-SZ430N/B 13.3" Laptop (Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 2 GHz Processor, 2 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, DVD RW Drive, Vista Business): Electronics

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Anke

review after one month

April 6, 2007

Verified Purchase

This is my fourth Vaio in a row and I really like them. This one is no exception, the design is nice as usual, is is light (4 pounds)and still has a nice 13 inch screen - great computer for travelling and being mobile.

However, even in the battery-conserving Stamina mode I do not get more than 2 hours internet surfing or 1.5 hours DVD out of the new battery. So don't be fooled by the battery specs (2.5 - 4 hours). I also had one dead pixel. The fan is not exceptionally quiet but okay.

Overall I am happy with the purchase.

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José G. Rodriguez

excellent product although expensive but computer life was 1 year

May 19, 2015

Verified Purchase

excellent product although expensive but computer life was 1 year. Mother board was damaged one year later. Last time i buy Vaio through this way due to warranties etc

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AKA

Disppointed by Sony

March 23, 2007

Verified Purchase

I bought this Sony Notebook on Amazon.com after lot of online study of different makes and models. The specifications for Sony VGN-SZ430 N/B appeared great on paper / online. Amazon delivered it on time. But I am totally disappointed by ony after using it for about a month. Following are main drawbacks:

1. The laptop becomes hot very quickly and you can not keep it in your lap for long.

2. It is very slow though it boasts a Dual Core 2 Intel processor T7200. I think it is due to lots of pre-installed programs on trial basis (for 60 days)

3. The Windows Vista Business, pre-installed on the laptop crashes often. I would say it is an unstable operating system.

4. The battery life is just about 1.5 hours.

5. The built-in-camera picture quality is poor.

6. The cooling fan is very noisy. I have owned other laptops with practicaly no noise.

7. The customer support is poor. It takes about 40 minutes of waiting to reach a level 2 support

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A. Barkaloff

best laptop out there--period

March 24, 2007

I wanted to buy a Vista laptop, so I tried a number of diffKensington 72414 PilotMouse Bluetooth Mini Mouse (PC/Mac)

First, there's design. VAIOs have always been stylish. So much in fact that they make a statement. When I go into an office and everyone has those boring black laptops they look at me and get jealous when I pull out the SZ VAIO. For traveling around, you can't get a four pound laptop with a 13.3" widescreen LCD anywhere. You can get a smaller laptop or a much heaver one (6 pounds) that may a bit bulky. But if you want to travel around and not have your laptop crushed on a aircraft due to a reclining seat in front of you--or hurt your eyes from those 10" screens--this is the best form factor.

In terms of performance, I have been working on a 10Mb Powerpoint, Adobe Photoshop with a number of picture documents, and Visio, along with Outlook and listening to music on Rhapsody--and this little, powerful machine was not bogged down at all. My previous laptops would have choked. This Intel Duo Core with 2Gb of RAM makes the portable mobile office much more of a reality. 160Gb of storage means desktop power.

Wifi, WWAN (Cingular), Bluetooth--superb. I don't use the WWAN part (nor am I going to pay Cingular $80/month--but maybe this will come down in price) but the Wifi works very well (as it should) and Bluetooth is great with this (get the Kensignton Bluetooth mouse--you will love it with this laptop)

In terms of battery life, this part is maybe not a full five stars. I am getting three hours, here and there, on a standard battery. You really must order the extended life battery. But the other laptops that I tried didn't do any better.

As far as anyone writing that Windows Vista is unstable, I did experience some very unstable situations with the following software: Corel Paint Shop Pro X (version XI fixed the problems) and most importantly DO NOT install Paperport 11 or any version before that. IT WILL RUIN VISTA. Make sure the software you installed was made for Vista or is Vista-certified or Google the name of the software and Vista before you install. Without the bugs introduced by the above software, you will have a fantastic computing experience that will blow away XP and get you into Mac experience territory.

If there is any gripe (and Sony, you should be reading this) is that the AC adapter is bordering on being brick-like. In the past, Sony laptops always used to have the slim adapters and this was a perfectly light package to travel with. Now they sell the super-slim "stick" adapters aftermarket (but you can't get them yet--backordered for a month or two) or you lug the brick around. This is similar to Mercedes selling a super-slicked car and bald tires, not Pirellis. You are buying a high class device here, so Sony should make the nice accessories standard.

Taking the Mercedes analogy further, imagine if you bought the car and you had to peel off all the Coke and Pepsi and Samsonite and whatever other advertising stickers. You opened the hood of the car and there are samples of oil and air filers and other stuff you have to remove before the car can run--and it takes you an hour. No, Mercedes automobiles are sleek and minimalist. The problem is with the PC industry in general. They want us to use all this junk and instead they give us a frustrating time of having to remove the software and stickers and peel away and get oils and varnishes just to get the clean, streamlined look that should come out of the box. Everyone is guilty, and Sony is not better or worse, but as "elite" equipment they should know better. They should give you the option to selectively install at the beginning since some of the software is really very nice (Paint Shop Pro XI) and others (AOL, Norton Internet Security--I use other antivirus, firewall software that is more efficient, battery conservative and faster). But hey, it took me a total of 30-45 minutes to get the software I didn't want out of the system--while I was doing other stuff.

But getting back to likes, this space-age looking equipment is really worth the extra bucks. Get it, clean it, customize it and avoid software that will wreck Vista.

All in all, however, I am very happy with the laptop and would definitely recommend.

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J. Key

Disappointed.

January 3, 2009

I purchased the Sony VAIO VGN-SZ430N in the summer of 2007. It was one of the very few ultraportable 13.3" laptops that boasted such high specs, such as the Core 2 Duo T7200 processor, accommodating hard drive, adequate RAM, and separate video accelerator. I expected my investment to last at the very least, two years. After one year, the fragile 2.5" hard drive failed me (during finals week no less). I hadn't put the machine through any particular rigors, but I had bought it with it's small footprint and light weight in mind to use in class to take notes with. Apparently simply picking up and setting down a notebook intended and marketed as being "thin & light/ultraportable" was way too much for it to handle.

Not only that, but the 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo processor and video processor severely underwhelmed in terms of stability, lack of crashes, and power. I wouldn't be at all surprised to open up the case and see a barebones budget processor and lackluster video card under the hood. Battery life is pretty poor (it didn't last even 1h 30m many times from a full charge), and the screen could have been better. Sony's tech support was tepid; I received feedback relatively quickly, but by no means at all did they attempt to vouch for their (at the time of purchase) flagship portable notebook. Since the hard drive broke after 12 months of purchase, even by a few weeks, it was out of warranty and I was charged for a new hard drive and repair work.

At the time of writing, the hard drive (replaced by Sony at their California repair station) has broke AGAIN. Extremely disappointed by their product, service, and marketing. The past year, the laptop has left it's desk approximately two dozen times, barely any travel at all. Despite this, it's a very loud notebook and as others have said, it runs very, very hot at times. Considering using this machine's last days as a hot plate for frying eggs and warming breakfast. Other possibilities: ultraportable hand warmer during those chillier winter evenings. Perhaps Sony should take a hint from some of their competitors on how to properly manufacture a laptop, instead of focusing on extraneous bonuses like fingerprint readers, WWAN, and eye-catching designs. All show, no go.

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