Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony VAIO PCG-TR1A Laptop (900-MHz Pentium-M (Centrino), 512 MB RAM, 30 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD-RW Drive)

I bought these computer just before starting law school, hoping to ease the strain on my back with a lighter computer than the others on the market. I won't be buying another Sony Vaio anytime soon.

In the last year, I've had to have the hard drive replaced TWICE, (along with the keyboard, video card and CD/DVD drive last February - not that anyone told me WHY) and it takes FOREVER for Sony to get the parts to their authorized service centers (in my case, a CompUSA where I, thankfully, bought an extended warranty). I've lost files BOTH times, because I apparently should be backing up my system every day "just in case" (an unrealistic ideal to hold us every day users to, and frustrating that we should expect catastrophe at the drop of a hat). I've also had to replace the power cord, which took 6 weeks.

My friend at school also bought this computer for portability, and has had the same trouble: our hard drives mysteriously go on the fritz and the "Operating System not found" message pops up.

Overall, I wish it were a better system, because the portability is fantastic, the screen is sharp and colorful, and if it didn't randomly die on me it'd be the perfect laptop.

I bought this and absolutely loved it. But 4 months later I found the left corner mysteriously cracked, and a whole piece of the case fell out! I did nothing to get there. But Sony said that this was damage due to misuse somehow and refused to repair it. CompUSA charged $500 for extended warranty but then say sorry, they don't cover plastic parts and any kind of damage. I now have a gaping hole in a brand new computer without misuse, and facing a huge bill without recourse!
This machine is too sensitive for normal use.

I just bought PCG-TR2A last week. I am very satisfied with the product, but unfortunately the customer service is very bad.

I failed to upgrade the pre installed XP Home to XP Pro. The network smart capture software just can not work. And there is no clue on how to reinstall this application. So I called Hong Kong Customer Service and send them many emails without any solution. They only responded my email suggesting me not to upgrade the O/S. So, I should stay with XP Home forever???

I have 3 laptops now, an alienware 51m 3.06HT monster, a HP ze5185 medium and the TR1A , i love the TR1A, its very small yes, if you have bad eyesight, i wouldn't recommend it.

large hands migh thave trouble with the smaller than usual keyboard.

my only real complaint is that it doesn't have built in IR, but thats only because i need it, and i'd prefer not to use up a usb slot or have a dongle hanging off it.

Display is fantastic, speed is great, seems to be about equivalent to a celeron 1.4 or 1.6.

its a little flimsy in some ways, but also really well built in others.

hard disk performance is great, i run developer studio 6 on it mainly and it copes no problem, which i was suprised at just how perky it is compared to the tablets or transmetas.

Battery life is simply phenomenal, its hard to achieve close to 7 hours as claimed, but i've made 4 easily.

very very happy with it.

This notebook is great, the keys are much larger than previous 3lb micro notebooks. It is a very usable keyboard. The display is the most vibrant, beautiful display I have seen yet. The built in 802.11B has great range. The battery life is excellent, I still can't believe you can get 6-7 hrs on a standard battery.
I love this notebook.