a random vaio s260 review.

The weight is good, the screen is good.

the keyboard has no flex.. but..

i have had it less then two weeks and the space bar is already getting the "shiny" feel to it.. 7 hrs of use a day.

The fan now comes on more then it did before.. and is a little annoying (coming from a powerbook) but it is not loud compared to MANY laptops out there.

windows sucks ui wise.. and linux is a whore on notebooks. - both subjective

microdimms.. bah

trackpad buttons are to thin.. not a huge deal..
keyboard is a little strange on the layout.. still adjusting.

case could be a bit more solid feeling.. tradeoff for weight i suppose. but the top and bottom seem solid as does the rigidity of the chassis.

comes with f-all software. and a lot of preloaded sony specific crap that needs to go.

speakers are HORRIBLE even by laptop standards. very tinny and they distort at full volume.. which they should not be able to do, barring of course overamplifying them through an eq.

price was higher then average.. sony - to be expected.

big plus is there is really nothing else that can directly compete with this machine.. resolution to screen size.. weight, etc.

lack of a dvd burner standard.. especially given the price is weak. it doesn't ahve to be dual layer.. but throw us at least a 4x single layer..

additional buttons for convenience are worthless.. why even bother. you want to hibernate.. close the lid.. you want to suspend.. it will time out.. i have them set to externam monitor and full brightness.. i dont foresee a lot of use.

seems liek this machine will scratch easily, like the apple titanium powerbook. just be careful.

if the screen wasn't so great , this may have been returned already.. i do see it as a problem tha ti am still unsure after 2 weeks of use.. and wondering if i will find myself returning it tomorrow.

case design is nice.. but i am not sure i am in love with the covers over all the plugs.. it's just an extra step.. and i don't have nails and i do have big hands.. so it's a bit of a pain.

no bluetooth - again.. given the price = weak.

the screen is beautiful
the screen is sexy
the screen has very tru color and is awesome
9200 32 meg card.. fine now.. but what about a couple of years.. will probably be dated fast - custom a 9700 and remedy the issue.

i do have concerns about how this machine will wear.

ANyway some completely piece meal thoughts on the machine.. i also realize that oming from an aluminum powerbook (very rigid, relatively scratch proof, and quiet as all hell, with imho a better os) this is quite a bit harsher on the sony then normally would be..

fwiw i use a t40 at work.. this is a bit faster.. t42 is a *bit more solid* this is a better form factor for me.

oh yah, the screen is amazing.



afterthought, very small amount of flex when lifted with one hand open from the front corner.. as has every laptop i have owned cept the 12"powerbook and thinkpads.. in fact, less then most.

well i still ahve the choice.. i still have the powerbook and the sony can be returned through tomorrow, although i will eat like 3 bills if i do return it.

The sony is faster, lighter, better screen, larger screen/better res, better battery life,

The powerbook is better build quality (mostly rigidity due to aluminum being used), lower noise -> the sony is not LOUD, runs a better OS imho, and takes standard so dimms (mildly cheaper and i happen to have a 1 gig so dimm which i now have to sell with that machine.

Out of the box the 4200 rom drive is much more noticable in the powerbook, i saw more of a gain swapping it.. neither machine consideres the hd a user replacable item.. butit's easier to do on the sony.

The sony has better wireless, the screen really is THAT much better, as the 12" pb screen is weak even compared to the larger siblings.

i don't find windows to be less stable then mac os.. PROVIDING you don't run IE or outlook express, but then again i don't run any av or spyware software just the basic tool called a brain.

the mac is about 300 cheaper then the sony. I had pretty much decided tonight i am keeping the sony as it's probably a more up to date and better overall system for ME.

a little info on me and who i am. I'm a technology manager for vibe and spin magazines. Been doing this since 15 professionally, i'm 28 now. I use linux servers at work, I am an MCSE, CCNA, and run os x server at work as well. The work environment is 2/3 mac and 1/3 pc. Now is the wrong time to buy a pb IMHO. I will go back to apple when they get a dual core g4 or g5 in the powerbooks (may be in january) and they get a better screen on the 12". as I stated above, i consider OS X to be a better OS then windows. that is the only thing that gave me pause between the machines.. so if you are not particularly tied to either, or you know your way around windows.. you'll probably prefer the sony.

steve is right.. however, thatis a very cosmetic change, and not spot on.. not to mention eats a ton of resources and slows things down.. at the point of running all that stuff the mac is then faster