$ Sony VAIO VGN FW510F B 16.4 Inch Black Laptop Windows 7 Home Premium

After using an extremely noisy desktop PC with the bazillion cables they have, I wanted to simplify my PC setup and decided a notebook was it. After seeing many laptops in person at the store and reading several reviews, I decided to go for this Sony Vaio. I was almost sold on an HP until I looked up their reliability scores! They're the worst (25.6% malfunction rate!) I've owned the Vaio 2 months now and am impressed daily with its performance and style.



Battery- I am getting somewhere near 3 hours of battery life with wireless running and full brightness on the LCD. For the size and power of this machine, that is wonderful.



Performance- It's speedy enough for me and I am more of a power user than anything else. I have many programs, files, and internet tabs open at once. I do image editing as well. Windows 7 Home is just featured-packed and perfect for my needs. The Vaio's video card runs the Sims 3 flawlessly (and I came from a 1GB video card on my desktop). Minimizing games is near instant too. Roomy hard drive, ample memory. This laptop won out against others because it can be maxed out to 8gb (once the price comes down).



Style- A++. No other laptop in this price range beat the Sony Vaio in style. It's gorgeous. I have the gray. It looks similar to a Macbook in it's minimalism and beauty. I love the "VAIO" abstract design on the top of the notebook in metal, beautiful.



Extra features- The green light near the hinge is simply a huge bonus. Not only is it eye-candy, but when you get low on battery it'll pulsate green. If you get very low, it'll pulsate orange. After a few days of using it, this becomes extremely handy! Webcam works well.



Keyboard- Roomy keyboard is extremely pleasant to type on; doesn't feel like a laptop keyboard in compactness. Very large printed letters on the keys, good for those hard-of-seeing; other laptops had extremely small letters. Volume buttons are well placed and I enjoy the "S1" special button - I use it for mute! Could have illuminated keyboard but I can live without that as my eyes hurt looking at a screen in a dark room. Touchpad is nice and buttons are easy to use.



Screen- Large, spacious, glossy screen. A lot of things look good on paper until you see them in real life. I noticed the 17-18" LCD's just got cumbersome and didn't give much more screen but sure added to the bulk and weight of the units. The Sony Vaio has the sweet spot of screens in my opinion. Brightness is good, not perfect. The glossy screen pops all the colors and I would probably never go back to matte.



Heat- Other laptops (at least the HP's and Compaqs I've owned) of the world get extremely hot - like boil your hands and lap hot! Not this laptop. The hand rest area stays cool, very impressive. The only hot spot is the fan exhaust on the left, which is understandable. I never knew laptops could be cool without a chill mat, thanks to the Sony engineers, it can be!



Speakers- Placed on top front of laptop, not under your palms like some manufacturers. Good placement but speakers could be better, kind of tinny. But you can always hook up externals. I didn't expect perfection here.



Size/Weight- Surprisingly portable and not too heavy. You can't have everything so I am happy with it.



Durability- I have only owned it two months but so far, so good. I will update any issues I have with it. But given Sony's reliability compared to HP's, Sony has a much better chance of being reliable. Asus/Toshiba/Sony have the least chance of malfunctions. See here:



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USB placement- I am happy with having the 3 USB on the right, probably because I am left-handed. But imagine a world where everything is meant for right-handed people and you see my lack of sympathy, sorry. :/ I personally like all the USB in one spot. I like the headphones jack on the front of the laptop for accessibility. I suggest not buying a laptop `blind' - see it in the store first is my opinion, then buy it online if you desire to do it that way.



Card reader etc- I would have preferred the card reader on the top versus the MagicGate (which I don't use) on the top. To put an SD card in I have to tilt the laptop up - small complaint. I like the physical "wireless on/off" button.



Crapware- I only had to uninstall 1 program that was bundled with the machine: I believe it was a trial version of Norton Antivirus that was annoying.


(28 customers reviews)
Customers Rating=4.0 / 5.0

More Detail For Sony VAIO VGN FW510F B 16.4 Inch Black Laptop Windows 7 Home Premium

• 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 Processor
• 4GB DDR2 800MHz Memory
• 500GB Serial ATA 5400RPM Hard Drive, DVD±R/RW Optical Drive
• 16.4" (1600x900) Widescreen LCD Display, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650
• Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)