Absolutely Beautiful Machine, even better LCD screen
Written: Aug 28 '02
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Quality of Tech Support: |
 |
|
|
Pros: The 16" Screen!, fast, good video performance, solid, well designed case
Cons: Sony, loose case bezel, short battery life.
The Bottom Line: Awsome machine, true Desktop replacement, the 16" LCD is litterally THE FINEST LCD I have ever seen in my life.
|
|
|
| Eridani's Full Review: Sony VAIO GRX570 PC Notebook |
I purchased My Sony GRX500P (same as the Sony GRX550, just loaded for businesses. The only difference that I've found is that it has XP pro instead of XP hope).
Background:
I was looking for a machine to replace my Dell Inspiron 5000 laptop which has recently begun to bite the bullet. An unfortunate incident with Dell customer service has assured that I will *NEVER* again own another dell product in my life, nor will I ever again recommend them to anyone.
So basically, I was looking for a top of the line, desktop replacement that was anything but an Inspiron. My research ran the Gamut of makers- Micron to HP.
Sony caught my eye with its release of the GRX, mostly because of the Signature Screen... 16 inches, 1600x1200 resolution - it seemed too good to be true. I am a programmer/amateur graphic artist, so screen real-estate is a prime factor in my choice of new computers. I'm also young, so I don’t' mind looking at small text, I just want to be able to put as much on there as possible... it seemed like the GRX was perfect.
I also looked at some of the competing products. The only one that seemed to catch my eye were some of the Toshiba machines, they had similar spec sheets (albeit without the huge screen), and included their own list of cool features, like a remote wireless keyboard, and LCD touch pad -- things that techno geeks like. So - armed with an Idea of what I was looking for, I went over to my local Micro-center to actually see my prospects first hand.
The first time I saw the Sony I was amazed. Now don’t' get me wrong, it is a VERY large laptop- but that said, it doesn't FEEL big. While it has a very large footprint, it is actually thinner than my old Inspiron. The 16" screen is worked very well into the case - which extraordinarily solid (at least when compared to my rubber Inspiron case which creaked and groaned when you picked it up closed) considering the size and lack of thickness. The case is intelligently laid out, DVD on the side (as opposed to the front on my Inspiron, which made operation of the DVD players tricky at best in closed quarters) The ports are all where they should be - 3 usb (not 2.0 unfortunately), one on each side and one in the back, 1 ilink, 2 pcmcia, all on the left side, Av, monitor, parallel, power and Network all on the back, and finally headphone jacks on the right. There are a few surprising ports lacking from that list, specifically the computer does not have either a comm port, or a PS/2 port (although both are available with a docking station). I can't imagine why sony decided to keep the Parallel port and but chose to dump the more modern Ps/2 and more useful serial connectors. Out with the old and in with the new I guess. Either way this is a minor gripe, as overall the entire machine is very well packaged.
I didn't even look twice at the Toshiba... Talk about a clunker - that machine was completely un-lappable, and put out an insane amount of heat (it was built with desktop components)...
I had my next computer.
Armed with this knowledge, I decided to purchase the machine on Ebay. I finally did so in Early July for a purchase price of 2000 dollars that came to a total of 2078 with shipping. Already I was happy, at the time the machine was selling for almost 2600, I would gladly sacrifice Sony's pathetic one-year warrantee to save 600 dollars on the initial purchase costs. If it weren’t for ebay, it wouldn't have even been in my price range.
The Computer:
I've already given you a run down on the case- sturdy and well designed. The keyboard is comfortable, but it uses less of the available space that I would have expected. There is a full inch on either side of the keyboard that could have been used to make the keyboard larger and less restricted by common complaints against laptop keyboards. As someone who has typed on a laptop for the past few years, however, I found the keyboard adequate, with good key travel and feedback.
The touch pad is very vanilla; it ships with most of the options, save any ability to turn tap-click off (???). Again, an interesting decision on Sony’s part.
Jog-dial - worthless. Period.
Speakers - decent for laptop standards, get a pair of your own though.
This brings me to the screen... WOW... This is by far the most perfect LCD I have ever used or seen in my life. The pixels are sharp, the white is crisp and unyellowed. There are no dead pixels (my Dell shipped with 2), which is a feat considering the sheer number on the screen. All resolutions look sharp and well rendered (although 640x480 looks more than a bit odd on a 16" viewable). The screen is as large or larger than most 17" desktop monitors (which are usually 15.9 viewable) and it shows. 1600x1200 is almost unheard of on most 17" CRT screens, the 16" flat panel pulls it off beautifully.
I also use the multiple desktop feature constantly, and I'm pleased to report no problems whatsover running a second desktop on a 19".
Driving the Screen is a 32 meg ATI Radeon 7500 mobile. I'm not the biggest fan of ATI, and I would have far preferred an Nvidia card. That said, the Radeon doesn't disappoint - Warcraft III is smooth at 1600x1200 with full resolution turned on. There is no other laptop that can even begin to say the same. The Radeon still has issues with certain fog displayables, but ATI will forever be ATI - overall the video card is more than adequate for any present generation games, and should remain viable for at least the next few years. Its amazing how far laptops have come in the past three years (when I bought my inspirion, the ATI mobile P in it was the ONLY 3d card offered for laptop, and it left a great deal to be desired (to say the least)).
The computer is equipped with a CDRW/DVD combo.. both drives work as advertised and do so very well. The DVD playback is fantastic (mostly because of the Screen). the CDRW is faster than most, with a rated speed of 16x, and seems to work well up to 8x (16x has some problems with errors, but all high-speed burners do)
The machine ships with XP, but fortunately Sony has been nice enough to put win2k drivers on its website. I plan on switching back to win2k soon (I far prefer win2k to XP pro...)
I do have a few grumbles to go with the good-
First off, the case seems extraordinary with one crucial exception - the bezel above the keyboard. It has popped out of place, and I can't seem to get it to stay again. I have another friend who has the same model and is experiencing similar problems. Its really just a minor annoyance since it is a non-structural piece of trim, but its worth noting.
Secondly, the lack of ports has made my life difficult on a few occasions. I've found myself having to purchase a USB to PS/2 adapter to use my old mouse and other IO devices
Third, Battery life... not that I expect a battery to be able to drive this screen for very long, but lets just say its significantly below average (2 hours, tops) This doesn't bother me much, because I use it mostly as a mobile desktop.
Finally, well, Sony. Sony isn't known for their technical OR customer support... be warned.
Conclusion:
The Sony GRX series machine is a beautiful product. The case feels smaller than its dimensions suggest, the Screen is by far the most gorgeous LCD I have ever seen in my life. The performance is top notch; it will play any games currently on the market and even allow modest 3d/video composition. It is the performance of a desktop in a truly mobile laptop package. Like anything, there are a few quirks, but overall I highly recommend this machine.
If you do purchase the GRX, get the 16" screen, it makes the computer. If you dont want the large screen, purchase one of Sony's other models, it'll be cheaper for what I'm sure is similar performance.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 2078
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Other
Processor speed: over 1000
Screen Size: Greater than 15
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 31-40
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
Eridani
|
|
Member: Scott Cragg
Location: Arlington, VA
Reviews written: 7
Trusted by: 1 member
About Me:
College Student, Sports Car Lover (BMWcca, SCCA), and other wise techno-geek guy.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.