Sony - VAIO Laptop / Intel® Core™ i7 Processor / 16.4" Display / 6GB Memory / 640GB Hard Drive - Black

I wasl looking a computer to fill all my needs, teaching, gaming, everyday internet, developing software and this computer was great. My desicion was between thisone, a toshiba with 3D ready nVida Graphics card and a Macbook Pro. Im very happy about it because the Macbook Pro does not have so mucho graphics. And with de 3D stuff, I really dont care because this little demon is great. 8 Cores working perfectly in Games (with ultra texture quality), great sound. Im super happy!

This Vaio is fine. Performances are very good, but I expected more "perspective". I've always desired a Vaio, and now I'm realizing it's nothing that special. I mean, it works great for all applications I run, but few details are terrible, such as the webcam (guess 10 years ago webcams had better resolution) and the cheaply made plastic case. It sounds like a loaf of fresh crisp bread when you open the lid. You'd better leave it on your desktop and occasionally use it as a laptop. I'm not complaining at all, but I had a 800 bucks HP before this one and for many aspects (including a sweet webcam) was way better than the Vaio. Anyway, my next laptop won't be a Vaio. Obviously, no expectations for long battery life, I mean it's an i7 with 8gbyte. Keyboard is very cool and useful. Wi-max is very good and works great. I'm attaching a picture of it - taken with a Logitech webcam - shame on Sony for their "Motion Eye". A little bit noisy CPU fan. Have a good day!

I have looked around and checked out other systems and I knew what I was looking for when I came into Best Buy and saw this Sony Vaio and knew this was what I wanted and the price was fantastic. I am extremely happy with this purchase and feel this laptop will be with me a long while and able to handle the things I like to do.

I'm a gamer and a graphic designer and needed a lap that handled both software well. Power AND portability is what you get with this lap. BB had only one better lap and that was a fat-in-the-rear Asus that was both ugly and way too heavy. The salesman was also trying to get me to get a Toshiba that came with 3D glasses, lol. The Sony is better. I'm happy with this lap aside from a small list of quirks: First off 5400 rpm is all BB sells in their laps. I immediately pulled out the 650 gig and put in a 500 + 4gig SSD 7200 rpm drive. Creating Win 7 restore disks to then install back on the new HD was easy. You should create some anyway, as this lap doesn't come with any. The 650gig will be going in an eSata external enclosure I'll buy online (BB doesn't sell em with eSata only USB) The screen on this lap has a TON of give at the bottom. Be careful carrying it not to press it in with your fingers. A shame because the hinges are fluid and tight, and the rest of the screen is sturdy. The keys hardly ever light up so yes you have to cover the sensor with tape as others have mentioned. There's no way to turn the key lights on permanently in settings. The trackpad is ok. The buttons are unnecessarily loud. Note it's moved left more due to the number pad and your left hand WILL touch it. There is no button anywhere to turn off the trackpad, you have to do it in the control center. One big gripe is there are only TWO USB slots. Yes there is a eSata/USB on the left, but you can't plug a USB into it. It's for providing USB power to an eSata drive. So two USB is just not enough. My last lap had 4 and I sometimes used them all. Guess I have to buy a USB hub, lame. This lap also shows fingerprints pretty well on both the case AND the keys... Though they keys are fantastic. Just like a Mac laptop's. It stays very cool, even when gaming, though expect the fan to ramp up like a jet engine when playing. One final gripe. The camera is just OK. I've seen worse, I've seen better. Why is Mac the only one out there putting decent cams in their computers?

I was using a laptop from circa 2005 still and needed something that could handle what I was doing now. I needed something with a very good to great graphics card and only nvidia. I had been looking at Asus' gaming machine with a Nvidia GTX 460M with 1.5GB of DDR5 RAM and also the Toshiba's Qosmio with the same card. The Asus being a 17" model and the Toshiba being an 18" monster. After coming across the Sony I figured it might be worth the small sacrifice in graphics cards for a more portable size and an un-assuming outside, as I don't really want to go around advertising expensive gaming laptop to everyone. For the most part I believe the sacrifice was worth it. The Sony cost a little less, saved about $300, and has some added features depending on which models you compare to such as USB 3.0 and a Blue-ray player, which is a Sony product so they might as well through it in. I like the keyboard, it is really nice for typing on. It's nice to have a full keypad as well included with the keyboard. The computer has great performance with the i-7 740QM processor and the Nvidia GT 425M graphics card with 1GB dedicated RAM. Good storage space with the 640GB HDD. The 6GB of RAM is good, I'll probably bump it up to 8GB to get the max performance I can. What could be better. I feel they skimped big time on the speakers. They sound ok, but as soon as you compare them to something else you realize how airy they are. They sound a little hollow and with pretty much every major computer brand teaming up with some speaker specific company you'd think that sound quality wouldn't be an issue any more, but it is here. I actually played the exact same song on this new laptop and on my 5 year old dell and the dell had better depth and sounded a lot better, which really is just sad. Dedicated speaker volume buttons would be nice. I miss that about my dell too. To turn the volume up you use function F4 and to turn down function F3. I hate fumbling for these buttons to just make a simple volume change. They could have put in 3 more buttons with the other media controls for volume up/down and mute. They cut back on the monitor as well. With a blue-ray player installed you'd think 1080p would be the minimum requirement but they cut back to 1600x900 instead of 1920x1080. I've owned this laptop for a few weeks now and love everything about it except the poor sound quality and the downgraded resolution. These are two places where for basically no extra money they could have, in my opinion, built a machine that would have totally demolished everything in that price range and even upwards to the $2000 range. I feel this may have been a best buy request to cut price just a few dollars in order to increase profit just that little bit more. I could be wrong.

+ the built-in hardware is very fast + big softwarer bundle included + looks nice (case & and gaps in between the parts) + keeps easily up with gaming-grade laptops + lots of RAM (6 Gb) + doesn't get as hot as most other laptops (performance mode "high performance" / you can hear the fan) + Blu-Ray drive / not recorder! +/- if anyone complains 'bout the fan noise, set the performance mode to balanced +/- the mac-like gestures work, but not as easy as on a mac +/- Sony Media gallery is similar to iTunes (i don't like it) +/- backlit keyboard only works right if the screen brightness isn't too high +/- display isn't full HD but much better then other laptops (1600x900 resolution!!!) +/- Trackpad is off center / shifted to the left - no improvement in camera quality to previous VAIO generations - no recovery discs included - only 3 USB ports - short battery life ( my max was ~ 2h 45m

I am the right guy to review this because I had 2 other computers in the last couple of months that I returned because they couldnt perform and had problems. I had the Asus G73JH-BST7 and it was useless. I had to defrag it constantly. The CPU's were not managed by the computer properly. It was a beast. Not portable at all. I do VIDEO Editing and I kept dropping frames all the time with this laptop. No good. Then, I got a better laptop. The Toshiba Quosmio X505-Q887 laptop. Another i7. It performed much better, but I had problems with the USB Ports failing constantly. It was a hardware problem. I had much better luck with dropping less frames and performing more consistantly than the Asus. It was faster than the Asus. But, I had problems transporting it and it was a beast too. Over 10 lbs. Huge case to carry it in too. Its a desktop replacement. I found it was still weak with editing and graphics at times. Now, after I said goodbye to these I found the holy grail for the right buck! This SONY, which I never thought ha laptop from them could perform as well as a sony, certainly burned up the competition! Im so impressed. The video editing is fast, efficient, I dont have to wait long for the hard drive to slow down to capture footage. I can even capture video in the car without dropping frames as I drive. The bumps dont cause the laptop to drop frames. Its solid. Sony really wanted graphic work and video work to be easy and fast and consistant. Gaming must be fabulous. Keys are easy to use. Great number pad as well. Backlight isnt bad as some say. Its efficient and can be adjusted. The left USB is integrated with a SATA port. You use it like any USB. It fits in and can be used for multiple purposes. The right side has two USB 3.0's which are positioned greatly. In the front so you can access them quickly and easily. The Firewire (which many computers dont have anymore, is positioned in the front left corner so it too is easy to access it. This computer looks bright and display is HD. No probs. Its very nice. PORTABILITY is AWESOME! I can carry this 6 pounder anywhere. I love it. I was afraid it would be non-durable, but it is strong and portable alright! It boots up quick and you can easily get started working or playing. SONY got it right with this laptop! Im a believer now. I have had no problems so far. Its a blessing of a computer. YOU GOT TO BUY IT! For an i7 with the RAM and all the otherstuff included! YUP! Its the ONE! Get rid of the other headache computers!

So I finally bought this computer and I wasn't surprised. Perfection for the price! (I sell computers and have seen what many different manufactures have to offer as far as reliability and getting the most for your money) Pros: - 8 Core Processing! (Fast) - 6 GB of Ram (Great for Multitasking) - 1GB Dedicated Graphics Card (Hard to find in this price range) - USB 3.0 (10x faster then 2.0; Never see this!) - Backlit Keyboard (Perfect in low lighting) - Blu-ray Player (Great added feature) - Number Pad - Display on/off button (Helps save battery life) - Wimax Capable (No need to buy extra device) - Sleek Design - 16" Display (Light weight for this size) - Sony Added Programs - 640 GB Hard Drive (Great amount of storage!) - SD Reader (Convenient) - Wireless G/N - HDMI Output (Perfect as a Blu-ray Player for my HDTV) - Backlit Keyboard Cons: - 2 to 4 hour battery life (To be expected for an i-7; go for an i-5 if you want more power efficiency) - 5400 RPM Hard drive (Wish it was a 7200; but had to cut back somewhere) -Thats it as of now .. haven't ran into any other problems! This computer is worth the $1,200 price tag .. I've done my research and couldn't find anything that stands up to it other then the Asus G73JH-BST7 for $1,200 as well. The reason why I didn't go with this is because that was a 17" display which was cool but that meant HEAVY and BULKY .. which typically comes with a larger size screen but on top of that It looks like a tank .. which for some people is nice but not for me .. I'd rather take a sleek design like this Sony. Also It didnt have the 3.0 USB ports, no blu-ray player and a slightly slower hard drive speed. Overall great computer and worth every penny! Very satisfied! As for the other people that have left the bad reviews for this product need to do more research and understand that you can't get everything possible for only $1,200 and that you are going to have to sacrifice in different areas. As for this Sony they've sacrificed in the right areas in my opinion.