Customer Ratings & Reviews

I haven't completely loaded it and used it on a regular basis yet but so far I like it a lot. I love the touch screen and I know I will love that it has a larger hard drive and more memory than my old laptop. I admit I am nervous that it is refurbished but am hopeful it was nothing serious that was wrong. I also love the back lighting of the keyboard. Have to get use to Windows '08.

This is the first product I have ever purchased that was not new and factory sealed. It will most certainly be the last. I decided to purchase this device since it was an older model and has essential features that are missing in more modern ultrabooks (removable battery - easy access to HDD for SSD upgrades, etc). All PC purchases come preloaded with bloatware - this was no exception. But because I purchased this item as "certified refurbished" I decided that before I upgraded the supplied HDD to an SSD and performed a clean OS install, I would run a few tests. I am glad I did. Firstly, the device is clearly just plain "used". There is significant cosmetic damage to the casing which was marketed as being machined from aluminum, but is in fact just cheaply made plastic that has been dyed. There are scratch marks covering the entirety of the device - all the keys, and side ports, and especially the surface area around the keyboard. If I were to try and "trade in" this item to a local store I would be lucky to get "poor" quality price for it given just the body damage. In addition to the terrible condition of the body, the screen is showing heavy ware. It wobbles constantly if you touch the screen at all - is if it were reattached but not done correctly. The brightness is off and the colors are not as sharp as even much older laptops - which leads to think that the screen was probably the reason this item was originally returned. And to top it all off, there are SIX dead pixel on the screen in various places. I find it hard to believe that a device with 6 dead pixels would pass a quality assurance test for a manufacturer like Sony, but to then be returned to Best Buy and sold again as being "certified" refurbished speaks volumes to me. I have rated the product poorly but I would like to stress that this is not a reflection of the device itself - since I would not be so upset if I had receive a product in "working" condition.

Constantly updating, restarting, freezing. Essentially I can only use the computer about 50 percent of the time, because the rest of the time it's restarting from the million updates. It literally took me 10 minutes to get to the home screen today. I've had a number of laptops and this is BY FAR the worst one I've ever had. I thought it was going to be a great purchase, but it has been nothing but problems. Every day if seems like it will be the last day it will work. I'm not sure if the problem is the laptop or if it's Windows 8. Either way, I am confident that I will NEVER purchase another Sony Vaio product.

I bought this as an open-item and am very pleased with the results thus far. I always want a 1080p screen. But I was having difficulty finding a corei5 laptop that had a 1080p screen that was not over $800. I got this one for around $650 after taxes instead of the 824 someone else wanted. I did have to reset it myself but it worked. I also did have to install all the Vaio, and Windows updates but as of now it's working fine. The screen, once you calibrate the saturation, contrast, gamma, brightness - is very beatufiul. It does NOT seem LED backlit to me eventhough they say it is. I have to have it at the right angle for it to look perfect. All in all this is a powerful laptop but be prepared to have a geek help you set it up. i had some issues with getting it updated in order for it to perform right. Sony would be best advised to make these as "ready" as possible for buyers with ALL UPDATES INSTALLED AND THE SYSTEM TESTED for novice users. Lot of these reviews have little to do with the actual laptop but rather how it was sold to the customer.

I bought 2 of these computers to find out that the imaging was incorrect. I tried to get it fixed and was told it would be another $50 charge for the correct software. I did return both of them.

customer service is a sh** This was the worst lap top i had in my life, very bad customer service I am not gonna buy any Sony products in the future. expensive for no added value.