OK, it's true, people who are new to computers are what every vendor is only too happy to sell whatever to. You gotta do the homework. But the ones who complain about how a vendor won't take a system back with just a few insignificant chihuahua bites on it are the same ones who complain when they get a system that has been repackaged after being "ripped to shreds by some vicious beast". But back to the Sony. There are fundamentally 4 types of portables these days: desktop replacements (DR), notebooks, tablets and phones. The DRs are 17" machines that are perfect if you need a real computer with you that "only" weighs like 10 lbs. The phones and tablets are pretty self-evident. The Notebook genre are what we're dealing with here. They're streamlined computers with 13-15" screens, no hot hardware graphics support and light weight, around 5 lbs. These days you can get those down to the four hundred dollar range. But things get pretty minimal at that price.The Sony is IMHO a very reasonable compromise in that it's got some serious chops for a notebook. It's not one of the $2K+ micro-Ferraris, that sport a 14" screen but a uranium case and all the goodies you can imagine. The i5 is an appropriately fast CPU w/ 2 cores (4 threads) running up to 3 Ghz, an appropriate 640 GB drive, 4 USB2 ports, an "8 hour" battery and a CD/DVD burner. The 4GB RAM is of course too little, and they should have used a single 4GB stick to make it cheaper to upgrade to the more appropriate 6-8GB (on a 64 bit OS, especially with shared RAM video). The extras are nice. Decent Camera, HDMI out, SD etc card slots, gigabit ethernet, WiFi. The "goodies" you might miss if you want a serious DR aren't there: Accelerated graphics, USB3, Bluetooth, Blu-Ray, Firewire, expansion card slot. And so? The trade-off is you can carry this with you everywhere, it's thin and light, it's a fast processor, and it runs for many hours on a charge (not 8, come on, unless you're into watching the screen-saver or nodding out and typing with your forehead in Notepad).
I got ours on sale for like five fifty, and added forty bucks in RAM and twenty for a mouse. Would have gotten the white, but it was over a hundred more. It's sort of a Macbook for the rest of us in that it's well-made, not ugly, it has everything we need, not too expensive, and it's very very handy. The keyboard and trackpad are not luxurious, but fine. The fourteen inch 1366x768 screen is nice, the image/color is clean, it plays back 720p HD native, and 1080 just fine. Again, you are not getting accelerated gamer graphics, or a 1080p native screen. You just have to decide if you need a Notebook or a DR. I have an older HP 17" DR that almost killed several stewardesses coming out of the overheads, and I swore the next laptop was not going to be a back-breaker. The one shortcoming on the Sony that's hard to understand is the really low volume on the speakers I haven't found a way yet to boost it, say by tweaking the EQ. That irritating detail and the "toss 2 sticks" RAM upgrade path cost it a star. And don't pay list! Other than that it's a primo little Notebook.
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I really enjoy this laptop, SONY has been doing great now by lowering prices of certain models without decreasing the quality of its computer.Read Best Reviews of Sony VAIO EG2 Series VPCEG25FX/B 14-Inch Laptop (Charcoal Black) Here
This was my daughters christmas gift but I'm thinking about getting another for myself.. everything that describes this laptop was just that and more!!!Want Sony VAIO EG2 Series VPCEG25FX/B 14-Inch Laptop (Charcoal Black) Discount?
Alright, I bought this Sony Vaio through PCNation for about 690 dollars with factory sealed packaging and warranty. I could of have got a better deal with other sellers for around 650 dollars. I was originally suppose to receive it in 1-3 days but the delivery delayed until the following week. PCNation shipping and handling really sucked. The charge to return the laptop was very pricey for me, about a $110 dollar out-of-pocket expense because I opened the package. Also, about $100 dollar battery adapter replacement because my sister's stupid chihuahua chewed on a little bit of the wire, and they couldn't accept a damaged battery adapter. The adapter works brand new and they couldn't accept it because of that small portion of the wire that was chewed on so I decided just to keep the laptop instead of paying all that money just to return it. I'm a freshman in college and I use this laptop for school. So far, I like almost everything about the laptop; the performance, the 8-hour battery life,the keyboard, and it's weight. So the price of this laptop is probably reasonable because of the specs.What I really hate about is the small display and the graphics card. The screen is too small, and when I'm using the laptop I would have to scoot up closer to read what's on the screen, and I would have to slouch down in order to see everything on the screen so a 15 inch laptop would've been more suitable for me. The graphics card is an Intel HD 3000 and it's decent but it's not that great when watching 360p+ youtube videos and video editing. Also, 640 GB, I doubt I would need that much, 500 GB would've probably been okay for me and the price could've been lower.
My regret is that I could have got a better deal with an 15 inch ASUS or an HP Laptop for the same specs and for a price around $500 dollars with a 1-year norton anti-virus program and Microsoft Office 2010 amounting about to the same price of how much I purchased this Sony Vaio. This Sony Vaio is my first laptop and prior to purchasing it I wasn't very knowledgeable of laptop values. I went to bestbuy, I checked out numerous sites and reviews on laptops and the bad reviews usually swayed me from not selecting that laptop. I couldn't find any reviews for this Sony Vaio so there were no bad reviews to sway me from not buying it.
For any first time laptop buyer, I recommend buying from a store like best buy and check out the laptop first-hand to see if you really wanted instead of ordering online.
I asked numerous people of advice on buying a laptop. And at least now I have a better understanding of laptops and I will know what laptop I would buy on my own next time without the help of other people.
Overall, I wouldn't recommend anyone getting this laptop, it's too overpriced for it's specs.
