TECH GEEK AND VALUE-HOLIC'S REVIEWI must admit that I spend half of my salary on latest gadgets though I do make sure that I don't overpay for anything (meaning I never waste money on overpriced products from a fruit named company and the likes).
When I saw this laptop at 550 dollars at amazon, I knew i just had to buy it because the valueholic living inside me would never forgive me
I am quite happy that I did pull the trigger (till now...I will keep on updating this article). This is an extremely high end looking and feeling laptop made of magnesium alloy and for this money you won't find a core i5 laptop, let alone one which is as light as this one (3.8 pounds), has a slot loading optical drive, made of magnesium alloy and carries an expensive brand name (sony) instead of acer or asus.
However keeping aside what a great value this laptop is, here is what I think of this laptop during my two week's acquaintance with the product.
PRO'S
Excellent (I mean EXCELLENT) Keyboard and Touch Pad.
Very Fashionable (everyone thinks i bought if for at least a 1000 dollars)
Scratch Resistant Magnesium alloy Casing.
Quite Fast with Core I5.
Windows 8 is what Windows Vista should have been, an OS for the 21st century (see below as well)
CON'S
Windows 8 (can be daunting at first for technically challenged people)
The Screen has quite bad Viewing Angles (and i mean QUITE bad). Come on Sony i know this is a cheap laptop but my 5 year old hp netbook has better viewing angle than this one.
Sony product have proven unreliable for me in last 2 years. Let's see how this one holds out.
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UPDATE 1:
1. I updated the touchpad software (synaptics) and upon restart the touchpad reverted to default windows drivers. I had to manually go to website and download and install the synaptic touchpad driver.
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UPDATE 2:
1. The pc hanged and upon restart a message appeared "No Operating System installed". I went to bios and saw that internal hard drive is not detected. Thinking that the connection may have become loose i gave laptop a slight shake and Eureka the laptop started working.
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UPDATE 3:
I absolutely adore the keyboard of this machine. Very Very comfortable to type on.
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UPDATE 4:
The screen viewing angles have really started to annoy me. Come on Sony i know this is a cheap laptop but my 5 year old hp netbook has better viewing angle than this one.
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Update 5:
I have gotten use to the screen bad viewing angles. The colours on the screen are quite good actually. The laptop did show "No operating system found" a couple of times after the incident, but for last two weeks it is working like a charm.
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Update 6: (After Three Months)
Three months on, I have changed the review to 5 stars from four. That rarely happens with me as i grow tired of tech products but this laptop absolutely deserves it. The reason for change are:
1. Amazing battery life,
2. Very light and user friendly weight and dimensions
3. Very good speakers
4. Very reliable, after initial hiccups not a single problem
5. Absolutely excellent keyboard
6. And above all, three months of rough use and not a single scratch on magnesium body
An absolute must buy for its price specially if you want an optical drive.
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Thankfully my son, who's been singing the praises of Windows 8 since his beta version, informed me that I probably needed my drivers updated. He told me to use my other laptop to access Sony's website to get to the software/drivers needed for this model. I simply downloaded the update for the Wireless LAN, moved the file to a usb flash drive so I could install it on this laptop. After the update was installed, I restarted just to be sure everything was set, and like magic I had speedy internet service.
My husband and daughter have different models of the S Series, only with Windows 7. I knew what to expect concerning the larger mouse pad, as it takes some getting used to, and can get in the way a little while typing. I like the lighted keyboard, and how thin this laptop is. I also chose this model because I'm not ready to give up my CD/DVD drive yet. This laptop has everything I wanted, except I plan to add more memory. I think it is at a reasonable price too.
Anyway, everything is working great. Now I have only to learn my way around Windows 8.
Wanted to add: Don't make the mistake I did an order 2x8 GB memory kit. My fault that I didn't notice that the 4 GB was fixed. I should have ordered just the one 8 GB of notebook memory to get the maximum 12 GB.
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I disagree with other buyers who have said it is a bad product. Not true! I'm testing it and I can say that all the specifications are correct. It's a fast laptop, very convenient to work, as far as appearance is great, nothing to envy to other similar, but has a superior finish to many! It is elegant, has very good resolution, pleasant to the touch, probably with more RAM will be perfect. I will buy more, remember that you can add up to 12GB. I love this laptop! I recommend it!Read Best Reviews of Sony VAIO S Series SVS1312ACXW 13.3-Inch Laptop (White) Here
Very fast laptop with a good price! It's great to work, good appearance and light!PRO'S
Fantastic Keyboard and Touch Pad.
Great price
Great processor
Windows 8
CON'S
Screen resolution.
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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program This is a very small, 13 inch screen computer and very thin when you look at the side. I plugged it in and started the setup. I did a basic personalization since I am not that computer savvy. I basically selected whatever was quick and got me out of that mess fast.I tried to connect to my wireless internet but had to hunt a little to find where I enter the password to access the internet. But I didn't have any connection issues. I did have to download about 12 automatic updates and 2 manual updates. This did take a while because the computer kept going into a sleep mode and I have to keep waking it up to keep downloading.
I admit that I will have to get a separate mouse to use because I was having a heck of a time trying to work the mouse pad. During downloading updates, you constantly have to select your country. This meant that I had to click and drag to the United States all the time. That was a pain but I slowly get the idea for what needed to be done.
This does have Windows 8 on it. There are a bunch of pins to the computer so you can just jump to one place or another. I have never worked with that before so I admit that I was very confused. I got the basics of it but I have to say that I would rather stick with Windows 7, at least I can understand that.
Finally, I just surf the internet or such. I don't do gaming or watching videos so I don't know how this performed in those areas. But I will say that it seemed to take a little bit to load some of the pages that I was browsing. Not horrible slow but more of a nuisance. Also, because the computer is smaller, there is no keypad off the side of the keyboard. I can't seem to find the keys that I need so it will take a while for me to get used to that.
Beyond that, this is a nice little computer. You are spending $700 (as of 3/18/13). I think that if you have all ready been using Windows 8 you will get along with it easier than I have. There are some minor irritations but once I use it more I think this will be a good little computer. I wouldn't want to get rid of my Toshiba but as a back up computer, I would have one of these.
Shawn Kovacich
Author and Creator of numerous books and DVD's.
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