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The hardware has many issues from bad screens, system shutdowns, battery life, etc. I researched and read endless reviews on many laptops before making my decision and overall I am very satisified with my purchase of the sony Z530N. I am happy to be a PC and look forward to future sony purchases. Apple is great at promoting thier product however, they need to invest more time in quality control. It does everything I need and more. Apple although popular because of all the advertising is not that reliable.
But there is a lot to be desired. While SONY claims to be working on a fix, be advised SONY has not produced a fix for their SONY VAIO Control Center which appears to be malfunctioning since February when I first contacted SONY for tech support.Moreover, SONY blamed this on Microsoft Window's XP operating system. VISTA is a terrible opporating system. SONY has a very slow loading website and SONY does not allow users much in the way of options when configuring a notebook. I bought this machine after a lot of research & consideration.
If I didn't need this fast processor with its huge L2 cache for voice recognition, I would have bought something at half the price with more standard warranty coverage, better support and a lot less crapware. I wish SONY would not load up all that software by default. SONY needs to listen to its customers and give us what we want rather than dictate to us, especially when they want so much money for on of these.UPDATE & WARNING April 18, 2009:While this machine is advertised as having DDR3 RAM that operates at 1066 MHz, the truth is it ONLY operates at a paltry 800 MHz under WindowsXP Professional. Heck, shouldn't SONY test & know these things in advance since they design & build them.[.]. For one, the default SONY settings don;t even set up the software to address and take advantage of that huge 6 MB of L2 cache. Also, I find the instructions, guidelines and recommendations for battery charging & care to be confusing.
Mine came with he option to "roll back" to WindowsXP Professional AND the two DVDs to roll it back were included. However, the machine is very complicated and I like that SONY had the critical drivers on those XP roll back DVDs. Otherwise I would give this machine a 5-star rating. I would not have bought this machine without that option. For another, by default, the DDR3 RAM is set to run at a lower speed. There is a lot to this little machine and it is FAST, at least with XP.
But, still I had tons of crapware loaed up from SONY on their roll back DVDs to get rid of. Had a better equipped machine been available for XP I would have bought it.
For the keyboard, I don't know if its my hand or what, but I tend to miss a few letters when typing which may come annoying but it happens rarely and most typing program catches typos for you. The battery takes forever to charge from 80% to 100% and loses charge quickly from 100% to 80%. Although my laptop arrived with the express card slot flap messed up, it did not ruin my love for this lovely laptop. For such a small laptop, all the necessary ports are there (vga, 2 usb, ethernet, modem, express slot, wireless, sound i/o). Unlike other brands of laptop that just heats up like a stove, sony did a surprisingly incredible job on heat control and truly deserves your attention. Excellent build quality and great design. The monitor is super bright if you turn it all the way up, which I doubt you will. It switches really fast and smooth.
I have yet to really get the battery to over 5 hours. When I first saw this laptop at local electronics store, I immediately knew that this is the laptop that I will be getting. My main complaint would be that Sony's crapware really clogs up the system. However as per the power that is saved. It sounds like a clump of non matching stuff, but they fit and the design is flawless. The hybrid graphic switch system is really great. For the more adventurous souls out there, if you have a stand alone copy of windows vista, WIPE THE SYSTEM AND REINSTALL. Solid build, great look, light and powerful for such a small notebook.
My biggest gripe on this laptop will be on the battery however. 80% charge. Dont' know how they adjusted it but I've only managed about 4 hours with bluetooth wireless dvd drive off, and screen to lowest. I would say it only differs by about 30 to 50 minutes of work. Sony's driver website provides all the important drivers in which one should have no problem when reinstalling.
Regardless, it is an excellent laptop. So somehow, the battery likes to stay below. It is incredible. It took me 5 hours just to get from 90% to 100% one time, and while off, it lost 18% in 15 hours. The monitor is super thin and covered in one material, the keyboard area is covered in a slippery albeit comfy metal feeling material, the bottom is composed of another kind of material and the battery is in its own kind.
The laptop under prolonged use does not get hot. Windows 7 users might have some problems as I have yet to be able to get the fn adjust brightness keys to work. It is clean and sharp, however it doesn't glare as bad as some other types of monitor. I guarantee you this beast will kill your average desktop.
The screen is bright with exceptional definition. (How do they do that).
The photos are on the screen are outstanding and much better than my printed photos. I even use the high output in my power management.
I have had his unit for one month. I read that the battery life was extended but, I didn't suspect it would be as long as it is.
Now I must buy another printer. It has performed superbly.
This is my first 2+ GHz machine and I am very pleased with the speed of operations.
This computer has all of that.The screen display is very sharp as well as scratch-resistant. I purchased this Z Series laptop about 5 months ago, its my first Sony laptop, Im a Mac fan, but not any more I guess. (once you bought it you wont regreat it)I also own a macbookpro that I bought here in Amazon (15 inch,2.53 processor,4gb ram) that I loved untill I found this one, now I found my Macbook heavier and slower compared to this pice of heaven. Keyboard is very comfortable and not loud; similar to my new Macbook.Price is MORE than fare. I gave my sister my macbook pro, and the change has been great. I was looking for fast performance and reliability, as well as light with strong battery life (6 hours in speed mode).
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