uRater.info

A WONDERFUL LAPTOP AT A GREAT PRICE!

Revised on 11/16

When you purchase this laptop in comes with Vista, and regardless of whether or not the seller states it, Sony offers a free upgrade for Windows 7. It must be done by 1/31/10. You need to register your computer with Sony online and also email a copy of your sales receipt to Sony. Mine was shipped as soon as the program was released.

I installed Windows 7, (2 weeks ago) via a Windows 7 disk as well as a seperate disk specifically from Sony for Vaio, both were shipped to me.

It went seamlessly. Everything I had on the machine in Vista was retained with the only issue being, the fact that the email program has to be downloaded and is “Windows Live Mail”, which is part of a suite of “Windows Live”. I deleted the rest of the “Live” stuff and only use the email. Since it is a 64 bit machine, in the Vista Version it came with ” Windows Mail” which does not work in Windows 7. Neither Vista nor Windows 7 support Outlook Express…well at least not in a 64 bit version. That’s all I know. Windows Mail and Windows Live are both fine. Basicly a combnation of Outlook Express and Thunderbird, but better than Thunderbird.

I like Windows 7 a lot. It has its own little quirks but they are not problems, just quirks that require getting used to. I think I can say it is the best version of Windows yet and I go back to the very first version of Windows, so I am an “expert”.

I have been using this laptop about 6 weeks and I can safely say that it is my all time favorite laptop. I previously owned 2 Dells and an Hitachi. All three were more than twice the price of the Sony and two Dells were Factory Refurbished from Dell…and still twice the price of the Sony.

I am so glad that I bought it when I did as I see it is now at least $100 more than I paid for it at Tiger Direct..(Purchased directly from their website for $771 shipping included.)

I really love the white color. Also, the silver, for no aparent reason, was selling for about $200 more from other sellers.

I adore the display, which makes it so much easier for me to enlarge the print on web sites that I read and I do spend a lot of my time online reading. I have some vision problems…astgimatism for one.. and I can easily read things wthout them being cut off due to the wide screen. The display is phenominal. I watched an entire hour of “House” on it and can honestly say it was every bit as good, if not better than watching it on my Sony Bravia HD TV!!!!!! How great is that????

All of my peripherals work fine with no need to download new drivers. I use an external mouse so I can only say that my limited experience with the touchpad was not bad..but I don’t like to use a touch pad.

I like the fact that the keyboard is wider since it is a wider than average laptop . The keys are very responsive and easy to use. I have hand function issues and it is not very tiring to use at all. In fact all of the buttons are very easy to push. Also, the fact that the keys are sealed means no crud will fall into the keyboard. Another plus.

My only complaint is that all of the ports are loacted on the sides and front. As I said previously, I use an external mouse and keep the laptop and mouse with a small mouse sized wrist rest all on a special laptop tray and 2 of the USB ports are on the right front side. Fortunately I have a Logitec cordless mouse with a miniscule sized dongle that barely protrudes out. I keep my flash drive in the single left side USB port…however, if I wanted to use the 3rd USB port on the right side..I would have a problem of it jutting out too far into my hand as I used my mouse.

I may also be adding a voice recognition program soon and am also concerned about the same problem, as the external jacks for headphone and external microphone are even further in the way of my mouse…..I think it must have been designed by a left handed person or someone who never uses an external mouse! I will deal with that later and see.

The laptop itself deserves extremly high marks for asthetics…it is simply beautiful looking. The entire laptop is slim and stunning looking.

I use nothing but a laptop now and have it on most of the time…so…I really depend on it.

I needed to call Sony a few times to get rid of a few Vaio and Vista quirks that were annoying prior to my receiving Windows 7. The people were fairly informed…but when it came to installing Windows 7, that was another story. I was mildly confused by something in the minimal instructions that seemed to be contradictory. So I called Sony. I got a man who knew absolutely nothing about Windows 7. He wasted my time and eventually said he would have a product specialist call me back… 4 days later, I got a call back!!!!! I had already taken my chances 4 days earlier after the first useless call….and my install had gone perfectly… Maybe by now they have had a training course for first level support people!!!!

The computer is fast and boots up quickly!

They save money by shipping it with no disks for Vista or manuals…it is all “do it yourself”. You have to download the manual as a PDF file and create your own rescue disk of Vista… but as stated above, Windows 7 is shipped as a disk and I did a complete back up on DVD, before installing Windows 7

Do I love and recommend this laptop? ABSOLUTELY!!!!!! If you can still get one…DO!!!! I am sure that they won’t be around much longer. Sony has already deleted them from their web site. The same laptop will or already does exist with Windows 7 preloaded, at a higher price, but I don’t know the model number….you will need to research that if you care to.

It is a mid range laptop, pricewise, but jam packed with many top of the line features!!!!!!!

Update (5/19/2012): This item is currently on sale here for the lowest price I’ve seen.

The featured review for this product, Sony VAIO NW Series VGN-NW130J/W - Core 2 Duo T6500 / 2.1 GHz - Centrino - RAM 4 GB - HDD 320 GB - DVD?RW ?R DL / DVD-RAM - Mobility Radeon HD 4570 - Gigabit Ethernet - WLAN : 802.11 a/b/g/n draft - Vista Home Premium 64-bit - 15.5″ Widescreen TFT 1366 x 768 WXGA - camera - white birch Electronics, was written by L. Phillips.

The average rating for this item is 4.7 out of 5 stars, according to 3 reviews.