Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony VAIO PCG-FRV26 Laptop (2.8 GHz Pentium 4, 512 MB DDR RAM, 40 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD-RW Drive)

Sony has always made quirky computers, not bad mind you but their products remind me of Saabs. Anyway, this one is certainly a powerhouse, with a bigger processor than most home systems today, coupled with a mediocre sized hard drive (especially when one considers this PC is designed to be a media center, with its very good graphics and CD & DVD player) and a very crisp display.
The drawbacks here are important:
1) The 2.8 P4 processor is not ideal for mobile use. It throws off a lot of heat and it uses batteries recklessly.
2) The addition of another battery is a pretty steep investment, and in true Sony style, it's proprietary, so make that check out to S O N Y.
3) The weight of this machine is a killer if you're traveling, especially through huge airports where your flight is almost guaranteed to land at the gate farthest from civilization.
4) The absence of an integrated wireless modem these days is unforgivable. Wireless is commonplace, especially for travelers & students (airports, hotels, convention centers, schools, libraries, etc.), and in the next few years it will be virtually ubiquitous.
Anyway, it's not a bad computer, but I think it firmly meets the needs of no particular market segment. I have no doubt that today's buyer can do better at Dell or Gateway, or, for the traveler on a budget, at Averatec.

I was more than a bit disappointed in my new Vaio FRV26, but not for the reasons stated by the other reviewer.

My biggest beef is the misrepresentation of the size of the hard drive. It is supposed to be 40GB (give or take). I can understand a little leeway for the operating system, the preinstalled apps and a recovery partition (after all, this is my first non-Compaq computer ever). But my C drive has 13GB (9GB available) and my D drive has 18GB (18GB available, although there is an empty "Images" folder on the drive).

Second of all, the combo CD-RW/DVD drive seems flimsy. As much use as a peripheral like that would get, I would have thought it would have been made a bit more sturdy. I don't abuse my equipment, but constant repetitive motion of the door popping slightly ajar, and me having to pull it out the rest of the way with my fingers, and then press the CD into the spindle is a recipe for disaster IMHO.

The sound from the onboard speakers is anemic at best, so unless I'm using headphones, I won't be able to enjoy my CDs or MP3s (and with that skimpy hard drive space I doubt I'll be collecting very many and storing them on the computer).

The packaging was sound, the laptop arrived safely with all parts intact, not a mark on it. It fired up right away, and began charging its very expensive ($229 at sony.com; $130 give or take at ebay.com) battery.

I immediately went to Add/Remove programs and got rid of the hoggy Microsoft Works, Microsoft Money and a few other items of no use to me.

The placement of the arrow, Home, End and Delete keys was haphazard, and not in any pattern that I have ever seen or been used to. The keyboard itself will take some getting used to. (I upgraded from a -- don't laugh -- Compaq Armada 4160T, 166MHz.) The keys are so far back; the "wrist rest" or space between the keyboard and the front of the laptop is so deep that it's difficult -- awkward -- to type for any length of time.

I am impressed with the power underneath the Vaio's hood, however. It's got a nice fast chip. It will run all my apps (Dreamweaver MX, Photoshop, Nero Burning ROM, Word 2K, Wordperfect 8, Topstyle Pro 3, Links 2001) with ease.

At over 8 pounds of carrying weight, this Vaio is not ideal as a traveling laptop. Instead, it's designed to be a desktop replacement. Witness the 2.8Ghz P4 processor (not the mobile version), which is screaming fast especially for gaming and video/audio editing, as well as 512MB of fast RAM and large screen. BTW, the screen is beautiful and has terrific viewing angles.

This particular configuration is a good value; what you won't get is built-in DVD burner. Otherwise Sony, in its usual way, throws in a lot of add-on software. Performance seems pretty good, as the system is responsive at all times. The internal fan does kick in a lot, to cool down the system. In this regard, I highly recommend a cooling pad with built-in fans, such as the "Bytecc cooling pad" I'm currently using. It plugs into the USB port and the fans keep the air flowing under the laptop.

A beautiful screen, admirably fast performance, and general good looks make this Vaio a good choice for anyone except those needing a constant traveling companion.

After buying a Sony Desktop 3-4 years ago I thought I would buy another Sony for school.Lets start with the negetive.The hard drive are suppose to be 40 gigs but only about 32 gigs is able to be used. The second complaint is the battery life is almost nil for the lenth I need to use this computer for school. The battery life is between 2 hour to 2.5 hours it just depends on what kind of usage you are using it for (more powerful programs will use more battery life)The third complaint is that the recovery "Disk" is accaully on the hard drive there is not an extra cd recovery disk included.In contrast,Sony makes some of the best computers for what is being payed. I enjoy the fact it does come with 512 megs of memory(Half A gig). It makes a pentium 4 go pretty fast and (not to mention the bus size for the rest of the computer geeks out there)This is a stable system I have had it for pretty close to a month and not one crash(due to system flaws)and has been very dependable for school. The dvd drive is a excellent feature and more of a added bonus but the cd burner is an awsome little burner and usful for on the spot recording (I'm a broadcast student).The bundle software I am never a big fan of but it does include some very handy software such as money 2003,Intervideo 2004 and Works those are just a few but the ones I use the most.The techincal support is the best support team out there they will speak english to you instead of computer lingo and will accaully be nice when the custumer is getting upset.I have use Sony's tech support on and off for the last three years and they truely know how to treat their custumers with kindness.I would say comparing to the computers I have used in my life (Hewitt Packard,Dell and Gateway) you are getting more for the money when you purchase a Sony Vaio and you are buying quality.

this laptop is great except for a few things-
Good: The 512mb allows you to run many things at once.
2.8ghz is really fast
very bright screen..and clear
and many more things
Bad: no integrated wireless internet
battery life is very low; not very portable
kinda heavy

but there are definetly more good things than bad things about this laptop, and if it is mostly going to be used at home or around the house..its a very smart buy...but if your going to be mobile..going from place to place, the weight and the battery will keep you from doing what you want..
but overall..a very good laptop..and the price is amazing.