A good first laptop
Written: Apr 02 '03 (Updated Apr 04 '03)
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Pros: Great features for a decent price
Cons: No Memory Stick slot
The Bottom Line: Overall, this is a great first laptop for a student, or anyone for that matter.
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| Galley's Full Review: Sony VAIO FR130 PC Notebook |
This is my first laptop (after having tried a Compaq 2105US for a few days). The FR130 is a brand new model, and features slightly different (and better) styling than last year's models. This model has 3 USB 2.0 ports, in addition to the ubiquitous Firewire port. The VAIO has a very fast processor for the money (A mobile Athlon XP 2000+), but has only 256MB of DDR RAM. The screen quality is average. Personally, I haven't seen any 14.1" screen that looks really good. DVD's look good, and they sound great through a quality set of headphones. I haven't tested the battery power much, but it should be in the three hour range. The CD-burner burns at 16x, which is faster than most laptops at this price. One reason I took back the Compaq was it's terrible keyboard. The VAIO has normal-sized navigation keys. One feature I do miss from the Compaq was the on/off button for the touchpad.
One other thing that I like is that the 40GB hard drive is partitioned into two drives. Many people may not like this, but I prefer to keep all of my documents, images, MP3's etc. on a separate partition. I would've rather the C:\ partition be the larger of the two, though. The FR130 comes with a restore disc (not a full Windows XP disc), but does come with an applications disc, so you can easily reinstall any of the included apps. Nice!
Pluses:
3 USB 2.0 ports
Firewire port
I paid only $1099.99 after rebates!
Tons of great Sony software
Comes with Corel Word Perfect Office 2002 (a $400 value)
Minuses:
Screen could be better
No Memory Stick reader
The bottom can get hot when you are using it on your lap, but that is probably true of most laptops.
Has a floppy drive (remember those?)
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1099
Operating System: Windows
Processor: AMD Athlon (K7)
Processor speed: over 1000
Screen Size: 14 inches
RAM: 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 31-40
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Epinions.com ID:
Galley
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Location: Greenville, SC
Reviews written: 5
Trusted by: 1 member
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