Sony VAIO FS550 Notebook

(1.6GHz Intel Pentium M, 512MB, 80GB, CDRW/DL DVD±RW, Windows XP, 15.4" TFT - MPN: VGNFS550)

Description: The VAIO FS Notebook delivers powerful performance for your everyday essential computing needs and growing multimedia entertainment demands. Slim and lightweight, it's your ideal mobile companion. Easily create, manage and enjoy your digita.... Read More

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(5 Reviews)

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Date Reviewed: 05/14/2005
jhaurani from MI Member Since: May 2005 View Member's: Reviews Product Experience: 8 Weeks	This laptop has many faults to it that people have ... Strengths: It is pretty to look at Weaknesses: Poor quality of manufacturing Summary: This laptop has many faults to it that people have discussed in other review such as low RPM speed of the hard drive, or using DDR instead of DDR2 with the new Intel chip sets, and so on. These features are all insignificant when compared to the most important feature of all, the on button. I have owned this computer for a short time now, and it has already broken twice. The customer servic e department at Sony has been unhelpful in resolving the problems. They use stretagies such as patrionizing the cutomer and pretending to transfer your call to a more qualified representative, all with the same end point, "someone will call you back in 48-72 hours with an answer". To have a computer that costs as much as this one did and to have first the LCD not work properly with flickering and inability to adjust the brightness above the most dim setting requiring a replacement of the mother board followed by the computer now not doing anything more than flashing its caps and number lock keys has been frustrating. The Sony solution for assuring me that the problem was going to be solved was to not return calls as promised, not offfer reasonable explinations for the problems, not have even estimates of when the computer may be fixed, and leaving me on hold for at least 45 minutes each time I have to call. Oh, and one more thing, the latch on the monitor also is cheap and has broken on mine as well as many others' Sony computers. 88% of People (29/33) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you? Report this as inappropriate. There are no comments for this review. Post a comment.

Date Reviewed: 05/22/2005
Pastimus from NC Member Since: May 2005 View Member's: Reviews Product Experience: 2 Months	I bought this notebook with the understanding that ... Strengths: Very Stylish, sleek, and portable Weaknesses: Didn't work right out of the box... Summary: I bought this notebook with the understanding that if you buy cheap, you get cheap. I paid nearly $2,000 for this model direct from Sony. Since I'm currently here in Afghanistan, I couldnt have it sent here directly. I had to have a friend mail it here. When it got here, the box and everything was perfectly intact and there was no damage. As soon as I turned it on (without loading ANY software or connecting to the internet) and attempted to loaded some photos from my Sony cameras memory stick, windows explorer had to close due to errors, later everything else would have to close for the same reason. I'm not really computer savvy, but Sony support, Microsoft support, as well as an exhaustive search online for a solution has yielded NOTHING. I've even had a lot of the computer techs that work in my squadron look at it and they cant help me out. Now I have to send the notebook to a Sony repair shop which might end up costing me $600 or more since it seems to be a motherboard problem. I have to admit that on several occasions, I wanted to bash the hell out of this thing. If everything keeps closing due to errors... its basically a $2,000 paperweight. 85% of People (11/13) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you? Report this as inappropriate. There are 1 comment for this review. Read all comments. Post a comment.

Date Reviewed: 06/12/2005
sm_middha from IN Member Since: Jun 2005 View Member's: Reviews Product Experience: 3 Months	I saw this laptop and thought this is my dream lap ... Strengths: big beautifull screen along with light weight Sony brand name Weaknesses: Heats up badly keys make absurd noise power Adaptor is bigger than usual Summary: I saw this laptop and thought this is my dream laptop. Big screen, full sized keyboard and light weight at the same time. However, things dont look that way now. Though these things hold, I discovered many other cons. Why would Sony make a bigger than usual power adaptor !! I never took note of this, but this one seems really big. Moreover it heats up bad with continuous usage. Even the laptop itself heats up really badly. I mean I cant use it on my lap for sure. I specially bought the cooling fan for this. But its disproportionately wider body (compared to other 15.4) doesnt allow much usage of the cooling pad ! Next thing is the recovery CDs. I wanted to re-install windows after partitioning and needed to make recovery CDs (they dont send any CDs with the laptop). But I was not able to. It always ended in error, and I wasted 25 CDs in my 3 attempts. Then gave up. The sound from its speakers is not really loud. I expected the Sony Vaio sound to be something of an experience. But, even with 50% volume, you sometimes miss the music ! The battery life is not good either. Wierdly, it NEVER tells how much battery life remains. Just a % !!!! but percentage of WHAT ?? So I cannot be exact, but dont think it exceeds 3 hrs. I did not look at most of these points before purchasing the laptop, thinking Sony will atleast match the standards, if not beat them. Disappointed. 82% of People (9/11) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you? Report this as inappropriate. There are no comments for this review. Post a comment.

Date Reviewed: 10/16/2005
mega_z from OH Member Since: May 2002 View Member's: Reviews Product Experience: 3 Months	is it a real SONY? Strengths: looks good.. thin.. light weight.. SONY VAIO Weaknesses: low quality structure.. faulty components.. SONY VAIO Summary: after a quick search, I've found that this model is manufactured by a company called FOXCON. So, it is a Vaio branded Foxcon laptops.. when you order spare parts from sony, foxcon sends out your order.. direct from factory.. so, you figure.. 75% of People (3/4) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you? Report this as inappropriate. There are no comments for this review. Post a comment.

Date Reviewed: 01/03/2007
95oRANGEcRUSH Member Since: Jan 2007 View Member's: Reviews Product Experience: 1+ Days	Do not buy!! Strengths: Large, beautiful display. Fairly light for it's size. Relatively quick processor. Weaknesses: Very poor build quality Summary: Wow, I have a lot to say about this laptop. About a year and a half ago I purchased this laptop. I did extensive online research on this model and it yielded high praise from all sorts of buyers. My girlfriend at the time had just bought a VAIO laptop, so I thought I would jump on the SONY train. This ended up being a total waste of $1,600. After 3 months(!) of ownership, my laptop went nuts on me. I came home one night from a great night out only to have the laptop crash. Re-booted and at the post screen, prior to the Windows screen, there was a constant beeping. It eventually led to an in-home service repair, requiring several components to be replaced. Mind you, the laptop was only 3 months old at this time. Rarely moved, never dropped or beaten, still like-new!! I never found out what was replaced, but I was told later by a SONY rep that it was "A lot". More on this to come. So I had a 3 month laptop that was extensively repaired. SONY was very helpful, courteous, and prompt to fix it. I thought that should I have a problem again, say maybe within a few months after the expiration of the warranty, SONY would help again given my previous issues with the laptop. NOT SO. My laptop broke again after around 14 months of use. One day the laptop started to run only on battery power, even while the charger was plugged in. I had a diagnostic done by 2 different computer repair places, both said the motherboard had died. Cost of repair: quoted as high as $700!! I contacted SONY to see if they would defray repair costs or help with the repair in some fashion and they stonewalled me at every attempt. They knew it was faulty and wouldn't back their product AT ALL!! I mentioned my repair that I had 3 months after ownership and asked what was repaired and the SONY rep said "A lot". They kept telling me it was out of warranty and without an extended warranty they wouldn't help. So much for service. I told the SONY rep I would not purchase anymore SONY products and left the issue at that. I contacted the BBB and consumer affairs and filed complaints with both. Neither were able to help me, however, it was still worth the effort to throw the issue in the face of SONY some more. What SONY fails to realize is that I am a 23-year old college student on the verge of graduation. I have just finished building my first home entertainment system, containing zero SONY components. I have years of consumer electronics purchases ahead of me and SONY failed to realize the cost of doing business here. They lost a customer for life, and perhaps many more that read and hear of my story. But it didn't have to end this way. How much would it have cost a multi-billion dollar profit per year corporation to fix their faulty product? Little to none. However, they offered no peaceful resolve. How much will they get from my wallet in the future for consumer electronics? NOTHING And you would think SONY would try to please all customers given their dire situation in their new Blu-Ray format. They should be kissing consumers feet to win them over to their side but they really don't care. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you? Report this as inappropriate. There are no comments for this review. Post a comment.