Sony - VAIO Laptop with Intel® Core™ i5 Processor - Jet Black
Model: VPCCW27FX/B
SKU: 9723951
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Customers are positive about the price, resolution, processor, keyboard, graphics, performance, display, and portability of the VAIO Laptop with Intel® Core™ i5 Processor. They appreciate the great value for the price, high-resolution display, upgraded processor and graphics, comfortable keyboard, impressive graphics, great performance, beautiful display, and convenient portability. However, customers are negative about the speakers and battery life, with complaints about poor sound quality and short battery life. Some customers have also reported issues with the hard disk drive.
I want to start with something that I was looking for when I was reading laptop reviews as this allows at-least me to compare apples-to-apples when shopping for laptops i.e. Windows Experience Index score.. see below Windows Experience Index: 5.9 (determined by lowest sub-score) Processor: Calculations per second sub-score: 6.8 Memory (RAM): Memory Operations per second sub-score: 5.9 Graphics: Desktop performance for Windows Aero sub-score: 6.4 Gaming graphics: 3D business and gaming graphics performance sub-score: 6.4 Primary hard Disk: disk data transfer rate sub-score: 5.9 This is actually some of the best numbers I have seen for a laptop with this configuration under 5.5 lbs. I have been using this for over a month now and I am yet to be disappointed. In-fact just the opposite, I am loving it!! This laptop has everything I need a light weight laptop that will let me do my daily work like web-surfing, logging into work via VPN and watching HD videos online. I usually have multiple applications open at once and wanted a laptop that will not stall if I do so and this vaio does it for me. The build quality is pretty good and the additional Blu-Ray player although not a requirement for me comes in handy once in a while. The Mic and webcam that come installed are very handy as-well. All in-all, I could not have asked for a better deal. Please do note that I purchased an HP ENVY prior to this and returned that back to get this VAIO which I am very happy with now. The finger print magnet issue is not that bad as the finger prints are not that visible after-all and thus it does not bother me at all. The 14 inch screen is just the right size for me as I have noticed that with wider screen laptops a lot of the screen is unused anyways. So my money has obviously been put on this machine and I am keeping it for as long as this promises to last.
Posted by EnJee
I researched laptops for months before settling with the Vaio CW. I'm glad I waited for the new i5 chip from Intel, it's smokin' fast running Windows 7. It took me no time to set up the laptop, make my recovery disks, and loaded it up with my 100GB of music! What took me a while was turning off/uninstalling all the Vaio software that really drags the performance of this machine. I also removed Norton which is a HOG! Go for the Trend Micro Virus software you can buy for $20 here on Bestbuy.com. It's much less memory intensive...and cheap! The speakers are good for a laptop....Use Bose headphones or speakers if you want a better sound people! My only grip is the glossy black is prone to fingerprints, but that's not a deal breaker for this great machine! Bottomline, this is a great machine for the money. I even called Sony directly and you can't get the 1600x900 screen and NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M GPU with 512MB dedicated video memory from Sony! Bestbuy did a great job configuring this one! Go for it!
Posted by NHRLL
This was the first laptop I have purchased since I have always had a laptop through my work. I had considered the red case version but in the end settled on black - which hasn't been a disappointment. The glossy black finish and slender design makes a very attractive and elegant pc. I chose this model because I wanted a laptop with a (relatively) small footprint and the 1600 x 900 display. Another key selling point for me was the nVidia graphics card as I wanted to view movies and play games as well as browsing the internet. Considering the widescreen format the Vaio is a slender and relatively lightweight laptop. The graphics have not disappointed - I have used the Vaio with an HDMI cable to watch TV programs from HULU on an LCD TV which delivered video that was as good or better than cable programs on the same tv. The Intel i5 processor was another key feature in my decision - although the performance has been a bit disappointing. The laptop comes with Win7 Home Premium - which failed to impress - so I upgraded to Win7 Ultimate (64bit). There really wasn't any discernible improvement in performance. From talking to BB staff I believe that most of the performance hits are due to bloatware and Norton 360 - which is seems to be designed to run almost continual background system scans. Win7 also has - as most probably already realize - difficulty running older applications. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to this as some of the oldest programs work while others won't even install. With Win7 Ultimate I also installed Windows Virtual PC which provides an XP environment - but it's a real dog regarding performance - with 4gb of system memory. The only other niggles I have had are more related to the fact that I have been using Thinkpad pc's for years. Thinkpads are built like a tank - and although their performance was nothing spectacular they were reliable and could take the knocks that invariably come when you are carrying a laptop around. The Sony doesn't have that same robust feeling - in fact on the CW if you grasp the base along the DVD bay the case will flex quite noticeably - it feels as if a slight knock would crack the casing. Although the other 3 sides of the case feel much more solid. I also prefer the keyboard layout on the Thinkpad - but with so many years of use on them I suppose that is not surprising. In summary the main reasons I chose the Vaio over the Thinkpad models was - performance (graphics and processor), seperate graphics card and styling. Judged on that criteria the Sony wins hands down. The only other laptop that I would consider if I had to chose again would be the Apple Mackbook Pro. - which probably beats the Vaio on some of the above criteria - and with it's aluminum case has a very solid feel. In the end I didn't go for that model as I didn't want to re-learn the O/S interface - and because you have to crack the case to get at the battery,
Posted by Glepperd