My family banded together to get me what I really wanted for Christmas: a new laptop. When the budget was set, I went hunting for the machine for me. My plan was to replace two desktops (at work and at home) and a crummy laptop with one machine. To make a long story short, I got sucked in by the idea of a 16.1" UXGA display and purchased the GRT270.
My machine has XP Home, 512Mb RAM, P4 2.66Ghz, 60Gb disk, and DVD+-RW drive. This configuration is a compromise between what I really wanted and what my budget allowed. I'd have maxed out RAM, CPU and disk along with XP Pro if I didn't have to worry about things like a mortgage payment. I still went $150 over the "absolute maximum" agreed to with my wife
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Before I give you my impressions, let me give you a few caveats. This is my first new (as in not badly used) laptop. This is my first Sony PC, although I love my Clie NX70V.
Case: Solid. Feels rugged and well built. The hinge for the monitor is so strong that it's hard to move it without using a hand to hold the keyboard-side down. Heavy as heck, but I knew that going in.
Monitor: Brilliant. It's almost TOO bright. Razor sharp. I'm running at max resolution with tiny font sizes and suffering no eyestrain so far. I have more effective screen real estate than with my 5 year old 19" Trinitron. I love this monitor even more than I was prepared to, and I bought the machine primarily for the monitor.
Touchpad: Still getting used to it. I don't hate it any more, but I still prefer a real mouse. As touchpads go, it seems just fine to me, but I haven't used them much before and wasn't planning to use this one extensively. I much prefer the touchpoint eraser-head gizmo, which this machine doesn't have.
I have been unable to get a PS/2 mouse working with the machine. I didn't buy the docking station and the unit doesn't come with a PS/2 port. I purchased a USB > PS/2 keyboard/mouse adapter, one that works with Win2K desktops, my Win2K laptop, and a WinXP desktop without any difficulty. The GRT270 doesn't recognize it. Sony technical support verified with me that the USB ports were working and told me I was on my own. My guess is that the Alps touchpad driver is incompatible with the adapter. I'll mess with it more extensively next week.
Keyboard: A bit loud and clacky, but with a good feel. I'm a touch-typist, and this keyboard is comfy for me. Doesn't feel like I'll have any carpal tunnel issues with it. I'm still learning where all the non-alphanumeric keys are by feel, but other than the noise it's an excellent keyboard.
Speed: Excellent. I'm biased because all three of the machines I'm replacing are absolute crap in comparison.
Stability: No problems at all.
Operating system: I know XP Pro well, and I'm not missing too much about it. I have yet to decide whether to get my employer to buy me a copy of XP Pro to rebuild the computer with.
Wireless: Works perfectly. Better reception than with my Aironet 350 card. Love the switch to turn it off. I was worried that the switch would be easy to flip by accident, but it isn't.
DVD Burner: Wonderful! No problems with data or audio CD's, video or data DVD's, CD-RW's or DVD+RWs. My toddler wants me to play Finding Nemo on my laptop instead of my 27" TV. The software shipping with it is Drag'n Drop CD+DVD. It's totally idiot-proof. One thing it doesn't do is make DVD+-RW discs accessible for read and write operations like a 4Gb floppy disk. According to Sony tech support, the software to do this with CD-RW is built in to XP, but you need the Roxio software to do it with DVD+-RW. I can still erase and reuse the DVD+-RW media succesfully.
Battery life: An hour, ninety minutes with the brightness turned down and the wireless and DVD drive turned off. I'm rarely working without AC power, so this shouldn't be a big deal for me.
Other bits: Love the Memory stick drive. I won't be installing the MS Import software on this machine that turns my Clie into a MS drive. Having volume buttons on the front is great, as is the brightness and magnifier buttons.
Support: One of the things that led me to buying a Vaio was my experience getting service for my PlayStation 2. It stopped working out of warranty. I called Sony on a Sunday night. I was on hold for just a minute, and worked with the tech for only a few minutes before he agreed that I had a hardware problem. We determined that my PS2 was out of warranty, and he asked me a few questions: Did I install a mod chip? Did I get liquid in it? Has it been infested by animals? Have I broken the warranty seals? After hearing "no" to all of these questions, Sony agreed to fix it for free even though it was out of warranty. I had it back in a week!
Vaio support has been good, but not great. Hold times are minimal, and they are professional, polite and knowledgeable. But there's no way that the USB > PS/2 keyboard and mouse adapter shouldn't work with this unit, as the drivers are built in to XP. It would have been nice if they'd owned the problem and told me it was an issue with the driver.
Overall, I'm thrilled to pieces with this computer. I'd recommend it without a second thought to people who needed a desktop replacement and didn't need good battery life or a light weight.
My machine has XP Home, 512Mb RAM, P4 2.66Ghz, 60Gb disk, and DVD+-RW drive. This configuration is a compromise between what I really wanted and what my budget allowed. I'd have maxed out RAM, CPU and disk along with XP Pro if I didn't have to worry about things like a mortgage payment. I still went $150 over the "absolute maximum" agreed to with my wife
.Before I give you my impressions, let me give you a few caveats. This is my first new (as in not badly used) laptop. This is my first Sony PC, although I love my Clie NX70V.
Case: Solid. Feels rugged and well built. The hinge for the monitor is so strong that it's hard to move it without using a hand to hold the keyboard-side down. Heavy as heck, but I knew that going in.
Monitor: Brilliant. It's almost TOO bright. Razor sharp. I'm running at max resolution with tiny font sizes and suffering no eyestrain so far. I have more effective screen real estate than with my 5 year old 19" Trinitron. I love this monitor even more than I was prepared to, and I bought the machine primarily for the monitor.
Touchpad: Still getting used to it. I don't hate it any more, but I still prefer a real mouse. As touchpads go, it seems just fine to me, but I haven't used them much before and wasn't planning to use this one extensively. I much prefer the touchpoint eraser-head gizmo, which this machine doesn't have.
I have been unable to get a PS/2 mouse working with the machine. I didn't buy the docking station and the unit doesn't come with a PS/2 port. I purchased a USB > PS/2 keyboard/mouse adapter, one that works with Win2K desktops, my Win2K laptop, and a WinXP desktop without any difficulty. The GRT270 doesn't recognize it. Sony technical support verified with me that the USB ports were working and told me I was on my own. My guess is that the Alps touchpad driver is incompatible with the adapter. I'll mess with it more extensively next week.
Keyboard: A bit loud and clacky, but with a good feel. I'm a touch-typist, and this keyboard is comfy for me. Doesn't feel like I'll have any carpal tunnel issues with it. I'm still learning where all the non-alphanumeric keys are by feel, but other than the noise it's an excellent keyboard.
Speed: Excellent. I'm biased because all three of the machines I'm replacing are absolute crap in comparison.
Stability: No problems at all.
Operating system: I know XP Pro well, and I'm not missing too much about it. I have yet to decide whether to get my employer to buy me a copy of XP Pro to rebuild the computer with.
Wireless: Works perfectly. Better reception than with my Aironet 350 card. Love the switch to turn it off. I was worried that the switch would be easy to flip by accident, but it isn't.
DVD Burner: Wonderful! No problems with data or audio CD's, video or data DVD's, CD-RW's or DVD+RWs. My toddler wants me to play Finding Nemo on my laptop instead of my 27" TV. The software shipping with it is Drag'n Drop CD+DVD. It's totally idiot-proof. One thing it doesn't do is make DVD+-RW discs accessible for read and write operations like a 4Gb floppy disk. According to Sony tech support, the software to do this with CD-RW is built in to XP, but you need the Roxio software to do it with DVD+-RW. I can still erase and reuse the DVD+-RW media succesfully.
Battery life: An hour, ninety minutes with the brightness turned down and the wireless and DVD drive turned off. I'm rarely working without AC power, so this shouldn't be a big deal for me.
Other bits: Love the Memory stick drive. I won't be installing the MS Import software on this machine that turns my Clie into a MS drive. Having volume buttons on the front is great, as is the brightness and magnifier buttons.
Support: One of the things that led me to buying a Vaio was my experience getting service for my PlayStation 2. It stopped working out of warranty. I called Sony on a Sunday night. I was on hold for just a minute, and worked with the tech for only a few minutes before he agreed that I had a hardware problem. We determined that my PS2 was out of warranty, and he asked me a few questions: Did I install a mod chip? Did I get liquid in it? Has it been infested by animals? Have I broken the warranty seals? After hearing "no" to all of these questions, Sony agreed to fix it for free even though it was out of warranty. I had it back in a week!
Vaio support has been good, but not great. Hold times are minimal, and they are professional, polite and knowledgeable. But there's no way that the USB > PS/2 keyboard and mouse adapter shouldn't work with this unit, as the drivers are built in to XP. It would have been nice if they'd owned the problem and told me it was an issue with the driver.
Overall, I'm thrilled to pieces with this computer. I'd recommend it without a second thought to people who needed a desktop replacement and didn't need good battery life or a light weight.
