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(More customer reviews)I purchased this laptop in June 2010. Initially it seemed decent, although it comes loaded with bloatware and battery life is so short that you won't be able to finish a movie without plugging in. Trackpad is occasionally erratic. On the bright side, it plays Blu Ray DVDs and has a numerical keyboard.
Three months after the purchase the hard drive started failing. The computer would occasionally freeze while hard drive is making loud clicking noises, like a clock. Sometime it would just stay like that until I force the hardware shutdown, and sometime it would reboot by itself. Either way, whatever you were working on is lost. Even worse, sometime after the boot a message "no operating system found" would show up. Note that I am a rather advanced user and take good care of my computers, including antivirus protection and regular maintenance. My computer at work and another laptop at home run identical software to what's running on this Sony, and have shown no signs of trouble whatsoever.
I did run a Seagate (manufacturer of the HDD) diagnostic utility which returned a specific error code and a message that "hard drive has failed an important diagnostic test" and that I should contact the OEM (that would be Sony) to exchange the HDD if it is still under warranty (which it is). Also, checkdisk reports more and more bad sectors over the past few months.
I contacted Sony customer care in order to get the problem fixed. After literally hours on the phone over the past months, I am still nowhere close to getting my computer fixed per warranty. I was first told that I should call them when ready and they will send me a new HDD and the return envelope for the old one. The next time I called I was told that in fact they will have the technician call me back "within three business days" to schedule a home visit and check and replace the HDD as needed. A week had passed, but no one ever called me back. I called again and now got a different story - that the technician will not be visiting me, but that they will ship a replacement drive and I will have to ship the old HDD and provide credit card number, and if Sony determines that HDD was not defective, they will charge my credit card. They would not answer my question how exactly they would determine if the HDD was defective or not. Finally, they started insisting that I run Sony VAIO diagnostic tool, and provide the error code it returns. The problem is, this tool reports that the hard drive is "OK". Note that at some point a Sony representative played a recorded sound over the phone which was exactly identical to the clockwork clicking noise I get when the computer freezes, meaning they are well aware of the problem with this kind of HDD. Also note that another diagnostic tool from Seagate does detect the drive as faulty and in need of replacement.
All in all, I am left with a computer that randomly freezes and reboots due to a faulty HDD, but so far I haven't been able to get it fixed even though it is well under warranty. I will definitely not purchase any Sony products in future, as I expect a manufacturer to promptly honor the warranty and make sure their customer is happy with the purchase.
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The new Sony VAIO(R) EB Series notebook has performance and multimedia entertainment in a colorful and affordable 15.5" widescreen notebook with an integrated number pad. The edge-to-edge isolated keyboard has a numeric pad built-in, giving you the experience of using a larger computer in a much smaller footprint. And with a pleasant-feeling textured touchpad that is integrated into the palm rest, your hands and fingers will be happy to compute. Plus, an Intel Core i3 processor gives you smart performance and amazing picture quality all in a sleek, up-market design. Beside a gracefully design notebook, Sony includes Smarter Software and Technology to help manage your digital life. A built-in Assist button launches VAIO(R) Care software, a simple do - it yourself PC maintenance tool for tune-ups, troubleshooting and more. Enjoy instant, one touch access to the web without booting up Windows using the Web button. And enjoying your media has never been more fun with the uniquely smart and easy-to-use Sony Creativity Suite. Get instantly organized with smart sorting features, create personal masterpieces with easy-to-use creative tools and rediscover forgotten music and memories with breakthrough technology that recommends content based on your unique listening and viewing habits.15.5 Widescreen LCD Display (1366 x 768) Built-in MOTION EYE camera and Microphone with face-tracking technology ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 with 512MB of dedicated RAM Intel High Definition Audio Blu-ray Reader / DVD+-R/RW Double Layer Combo Drive Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n Wireless LAN 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN Bluetooth A2DP (2.1 + EDR) Multimedia Card Reader - MS PRO (Standard/Duo) media slot with MagicGate(TM) functionality, ExpressCard / 34 media slot, SD media slot Pointing device - Electro-static touch pad Ports -3 x USB 2.0 (1 x eSATA), Headphone Output, Microphone Input, VGA, HDMI, RJ-45 Ethernet Dim
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