Kinda like a KMart Prom Dress!
Written: Sep 10 '02 (Updated Sep 10 '02)
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Pros: Extremely nice price / performance!
Has all the basic items you need.
Cons: No MS Office.
Anti Virus Stinks!
The Bottom Line: There are better constructed machines out there. If you are looking for a lack of software and hardware glitches, DO NOT buy this machine if you are a novice.
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| rickdude2002's Full Review: Sony PCG-RX650 P4 1.6GHz 512MB 80GB Win XP Home Ed... |
Ok, so here is another computer review. This time it is on my desktop unit. I normally like to write about travel related things but I was bored and decided to enlighten those of you out there on this particular unit. So, before I bore you to sleep let me tell you about my credentials and what I think of this unit.
I have owned a VAIO laptop on two occasions. This is my first and last VAIO desktop.
My Background
I have been using computers since 286SX machines with fixed hard drives and no floppies were out there (now I am REALLY carbon dating myself, huh?) I am NOT a geek, I actually do WORK on these things and I like getting my money's worth. My last computer finally died last year after 10 years (yes, you are seeing it right) of service. I am not a brand loyalty fan at all. I like things that work and last a long time (you kinda guessed that, huh?) I also own a IBM ThinkPad which I did a review on.
I tend to use computers for word processing, internet surfing, occasional spreadsheet use and some digital photo work from time to time. I am not a gamer but basically use a computer a lot for work and email, but not much else. I know, it's nothing special and probably most people looking at this type of computer would not want the latest and greatest either. Face it, you are looking for a GOOD DEAL and this may be it, but then again, it may not be. Read on.
The computer and why I picked it
While I could buy the components and assemble my computer like most people I know do in Silicon Valley I compared prices and functionality and decided this had a nice price performance sweet spot compared to the "latest and greatest" of computers out there. Face it, unless you are cracking atoms or discovering the next generation genome sequence for the world a 1.0Ghz machine or higher is more than enough for you.
The fact is, we now have a new limitation no one thinks about, which is that the processor is working less hard than the hard drive which is slaving away to keep up with feeding the processor with valid information. The quickest way to speed up performance is really adding RAM to your machine and having a fast hard drive.
Most new machines do NOT have 10K RPM drives as stock installed items in their units so you look for good components inside the computer (no generic junk) with a processor that is one or two generations behind the latest and greatest. This falls into that category. I bought this machine about 3 months ago from Circuit City after checking out 30 or so different vendors, from online sites to major retail chains. It was on special and I got a mail in rebate so the overall price is like $800 after rebates, which is not bad!
You get a 1.6Ghz Pentium IV processor, which is more than adequate for most use including video editing, an 80GB ATA (means fast access times for your data) hard drive, 512 MB or DDR RAM (which means it accesses and stores data at double the rate of other types of RAM) which at the time of manufacture was latest generation RAM performance. It also has not only a DVD CD/ROM drive, but a CD/ROM burner drive too. As most all machines still do, it has a 3.5 inch floppy drive (manufacturers are discussing eliminating thes soon.. by the way).
It has 4 USB ports and 2 Sony propriatary ILink ports for their digital cameras and other digital download devices. The ports are located under a front panel and more USB ports in the back. As for the operating system, it is running on a Windows XP home platform and comes with a built in 100MB Network Card as well as a built in 56kb modem. Like I said, all the basics are there.
What I like
It is stable and reliable. The processor is more than most humans could possibly use. I benchmarked the processor under load formatting a website to Adobe Acrobat Portable Document File (pdf) format and it ran at 90% plus for over an hour cataloging a site it was gobbling off of the internet that contained over 16,000 pages. The secondary fan in the unit has only came on at boot cycle. It never required it during this operation. This demonstrates it has great airflow in its chassis and works as advertised as far as I am concerned.
The Hard Drive is sectored in a C and D drive volume configuration. This means you can keep your precious data files in a different volume on your machine and not get things spread across your operating system storage area, which is very good for novices that tend to store and then lose things on their computer. If you need to replace the operating system it is much easier to do also without inadvertently destroying your saved files.
While I am not a big XP fan I put up with it. I find it has bugs that pop up frequently, especially when it doesn't like to play with Internet Explorer and updates well. This comes standard with XP but some units come with Windows 2000. I recommend going with the Windows 2000 approach because it is more stable.
What I don't like
While Sony has bundled some great music, photo editing and the lite version of Photoshop (LE) on their machines you have to be very careful when first using it because as we all know, Microsoft will attempt to get you to use their products first. An example is when you go to create a music CD. Windows XP will attempt to direct you to their default settings (Media Player) and if you make the mistake of clicking on this option when it presents itself you will have a hard time going to the Sony Open MG music system to use their tools. Lots of people have made this initial mistake, beware. Just when you go to do it the first time, beware of what you are agreeing to and read your owners manual thoroughly. If you ignore the microsoft prompts you will be ok. The same goes for the CD burning software. I pick my files, then burn them.
You can't output video for a DVD via an aftermarket cable to a TV. The Sony software precludes you from doing this. What do you expect from a company that also has a film collection? They are afraid that you are going to output the digital image to another computer and make a copy I presume. Oh well, you get to watch it on your computer monitor, just what I wanted to buy a computer for!
The anti virus that comes with the machine is Trend Micro's 90 day license copy of their anti virus. I found that it locked my Internet Explorer browser often when doing it's real time Active X / Java scanning. Also, I would get insert a disk in my floppy drive messages regularly that I had to ignore while it was scanning my machine.
If you upgrade to their full license version the problem goes away. Yes, I downloaded all the updates from Trend and went to their tech support on several occasions, but got a sales pitch to buy a full license copy. I recommend uninstalling this and installing Norton Anti Virus or some other reputable product. If your browser hangs, do a control alt delete and look for a process called PNTIOMON.exe and end the process. The problem of hanging browser will go away.
Sony does not include a pack of CD/ROMS with the computer. You should think that if they market it with CD burning capability they would at least give you a couple of CD/ROMS to back up on.
It is just these type of cheap shortcuts I find with this that makes a VAIO a second tier product. Poor anti virus setup, lack of CD/ROMs, limited tech support, poor documentation. Yes, it is livable for general work but it could be packaged much better to make this a very appealing machine. Compared to how IBM does the same things, there is not comparison, IBM wins hands down!
The product support manual is thin and poor written. Don't expect a lot of help out of it. Support via Support.com connection is bundled with the VAIO for free. It will come up and bug you with update messages that make no sense too. I used to be a VP of Customer Support and I read some of their reminders. Not one of them concerned a critical update from Microsoft, they were more concerning SONY specific production glitches that they were trying to release a bug fix to get some of their units to work with their software.
Yes, there is a link to their support via Support.com but I don't want exposing my computer to the internet to get the answer nor do I want to look off site for answers concerning basic functionality! Put an online manual on the machine such as IBM has done on their machines.
Summary
Nice price, great performance, poor anti virus and configuration, poor technical support documentation, poor support strategy. A beginner user could be very very confused very quickly if problems occur. Not rock solid from this perspective. Recommended with reservations
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 800
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Other
Processor speed: over 1000
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): Over 50
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Epinions.com ID:
rickdude2002
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Reviews written: 11
Trusted by: 2 members
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