Everything you need, some you don't
Written: Feb 01 '02 (Updated Feb 01 '02)
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Pros: Nice display, light weight, low-price, many features.
Cons: Lack of RAM, smaller hard drive, too much pre-installed software.
The Bottom Line: This notebook offers a lot of features for a low cost.
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| jumperless's Full Review: Sony VAIO FX340 PC Notebook |
I’ve always liked Sony VAIO laptops, even though I could never pronounce the name. The small picture book was a big advancement for Sony, a laptop that could fit in your palm and had a built in digital camera was awesome. Most of the VAIO series were known for slick looks, nice displays and high prices while I was working in computer sales. I think the VAIO FX340 still fits these standards, but the prices are better. This it the newest purchase for a sales rep always on the road and I was very intrigued with it’s many features. Here’s my impression of it and what I found while setting it up.
CPU:
The FX340 has a Mobile Pentium III at 900 MHz with Intel’s Speedstep Technology. A good, well-rounded CPU for uses ranging from word processing all the way up to gaming and graphics. I would choose this over a Celeron based notebook because the price is fair and performance is more versatile. Which is important because you can’t upgrade the CPU in most notebooks.
RAM:
Comes standard with 128MB. Not great, considering you can get an identical notebook with 256MB for the same price. With RAM prices going back up, it would be costly to upgrade, but you can upgrade to a max of 512MB.
Storage:
The FX340 only has a 15GB hard drive. I say only because many of the competition models at the price have 20+GB hard drives. 15GB is still a good size drive, it will probably be plenty of space for most users. I’m a little wary of the reliability of notebook hard drives, they have gotten a lot better, but still not as good as a desktop hard drive because of smaller size and less cooling. Having a large drive in a notebook is hard to back up if a lot of important data is kept on it, which you should back up notebook data regularly. Working in support, I’ve seen too many people not back them up and loose data.
This makes up for the hard drive, the FX340 has a CD-RW/DVD combo drive. Of course this is also a standard CD-ROM drive and will read CD-ROMs. The CD-RW drive is great for backing up data and makes it easy! This gives you more storage flexibility for storing files, such as MP3s. For a new notebook, a DVD-ROM drive is a must for me. It’s cheap and turns your notebook into a portable theater for traveling or anything that involves long waits by allowing you to watch DVD movies. Plus some software now comes on DVD disks instead of CD-ROMs, with this, you can still read them.
It also comes with a 1.44 MB floppy drive, still very important for laptops to have for backwards compatibility, or if you have a digital camera that uses floppy disks.
Operating System:
The newer models (FX340) will come with Windows XP Home Edition and the older ones (FX340K) will come with Windows 2000 Professional. There is also a version that will come with Windows XP Professional (FX340P), but I was not able to locate it from most of the major vendors.
Size:
The FX340 is 1.9” high, 12.8” wide and 10.5” deep and weighs 6.7 lbs. It sports the default Sony look with gray and dark purple plastic on the outside.
Display:
The display is a 14.1” XGA TFT screen. It looks great, crisp, easy to view from different angles. The frame around it is thin, giving the notebook a clean, non-clunky look and makes the consumer feel that Sony put the largest screen possible in a notebook this size.
For any new notebook purchase, I recommend getting at least a 14” display because manufacturers can do this cheaply now and still keep the overall size and weight of the notebook down.
Warranty:
This only has a 1-year parts and labor warranty, like most notebooks. Because you can get usually around 4 years of use from a laptop like this and would want to because of the price, I recommend buying an extended warranty for it, which will give you a 3 or 4 year warranty. I used to work in a repair center and saw how much notebook components can cost. A motherboard can cost around $1,500, not worth replacing if it’s not under warranty.
Because an extended warranty is usually sold through the retailer, this can affect where you purchase it. Retailers like CompUSA, Circuit City and Best Buy sell and service there own warranties. It would be worth while to do a little research into who delivers the best service. From personal experience, I would go with CompUSA because of faster turn around times on repairs. Yes, an extended warranty will add between $250 to $400 dollars to the purchase price. But think of it this way, notebooks are a lot cheaper then they were even 2 years ago and if the manufacturer were to put a warranty on the notebook that long, they would be charging a lot more for it. And I don’t think Hyundai will be manufacturing notebooks anytime soon.
Sound:
The FX340 has built in stereo speakers that are okay. But in my experience, notebook speakers aren’t great because of size and lack of power to save battery life. The speakers are not loud enough to hear over airplane or road noise. You’ll need earphones, or some people use laptops in cars for GPS units, in that case you would have to hook it up to the stereo speakers in the car.
Video:
The FX340 has an Intel 815EM graphics chip with 11MB of RAM shared with the system RAM. It’s a 2D/3D card, but not for high-end gaming or graphics. It’s fine for playing DVDs and some games and graphics though.
Communications:
The FX340 has an integrated V.90 56K modem, meaning it’s built into the motherboard and not removable. This is okay on notebooks because the motherboard is proprietary anyway and it saves an expansion slot.
It also has an integrated 10-BASE-T/100-BASE-TX network card. Great for connecting to networks and/or broadband internet connections.
Connections:
This has an IEEE 1394 (firewire) port, which can be used for external drives or some digital camcorders. It also has a serial, parallel (printer), VGA (for external monitor), microphone, speaker and headphone ports.
Input:
Of course it has a keyboard, an 86-key. It also has three Programmable Power Keys (PPK). You can configure these to launch applications.
It also has an electro-static touchpad. Among all notebook pointing devices I have used, I prefer the touchpad, it’s easier to adjust to and it’s close to the buttons for faster navigation.
Battery life:
The FX340 has a lithium-ion battery that with last up to 2 hours. You can also use a second battery that will last up to 6 hours, but add weight.
Software:
AHHHH! Where to start, there is so much software installed on this notebook. I suppose this is nice of Sony to pre-install so much software, but I don’t think most users will need all this and just have to remove it. Anyway, here’s the list: Acrobat Reader, Photoshop Elements (low-end image editing), PhotoPrinter, MS Work 2002, Norton AntiVirus, PC-Cillin 2000, Quicken, Quicktime, Real JukeBox and Player, WinDVD and a bunch of Sony software. It also comes with AOL and a bunch of other ISP software that will have to be removed if not used.
Accessories:
The FX340 comes with a lithium-ion battery and AC adapter. A strange accessory is the weight saver fake bay filler to put in place of the floppy drive to make the notebook lighter. This seems useless because the overall weight is 6.7 lbs. with the floppy drive and 6.2 lbs. with the weight saver fake bay filler Not much of a weight savings, I’d probably never use it. It also comes with a video cable to connect to a monitor or projector.
Getting Support:
I do not have a lot of experience calling Sony’s support lines, but I have read some negative reviews from other users. Mainly complaints of long wait times (30 to 45 minutes) and less than impressive solutions. This is a problem with many large computer manufacturers, just too many products to support and a complex infrastructure. If you have a hardware problem with the FX340, it would probably be less time consuming and stressful to take it directly to a service center, like CompUSA. If you have a software problem, like driver issues, it would be faster to look it up at Sony’s support site at:
http://www.sonystyle.com/home/support.jsp
Chances are, Sony’s technical support may tell you to do that anyway.
Overall:
This is a great notebook for just about anyone from business users to home users, packed with features and a great buy at around $1,300. My only complaints are the smaller hard drive, which is very minor, and the lack of RAM, it should have 256MB. So I think it deserves a four star rating.
Thanks for reading!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1300
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium III
Processor speed: 801-900
Screen Size: 14
RAM: 128
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 13-20
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