Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony Vaio PCG-V505EX Laptop (1.50-GHz Pentium M (Centrino), 512 MB RAM, 60 GB, CDRW & DVD Combo Drive)

I bought my SONY VAIO V505EX to write my disertation.

The good news: It is FAST and reliable. I can easily sync with my home and work computers using Briefcase so my data on all three computers is always up to date. As mentioned in other reviews, downloads from sites such as iTunes are speedy and accurate. I love that the connections are on the sides instead of the back. This allows me to keep my "baby" in a zippered sleeve that I don't have to remove to plug it in or use the USB ports. Most other brands have their connections on the back and it is awkward to hook up if you prefer to keep a cover or sleeve on the machine. The screen resolution is brilliant if tilted at just the right angle. I have never been a fan of touch pads, and in fact purchased a small portable USB mouse when I purchsed the computer. The touch pad is so "true" and easy to use, that the mouse now stays in my briefcase unused.

The "not so good" news: My machine came with a multimedia package that included a partitioned hard drive. This was NOT workable for me as my data and research (including a library of PDF files) needed to be easily accessbile. I did not like having to switch drives or go to special lengths to make sure I was not overloading the smaller partition (20 GB). When I contacted Sony, they told me that if I remove the partitions, I could no longer use their support. I stewed over this for awhile and then opted to reformat the entire drive and take the risk. I am much happier with one 60GB hard drive. The only other problem I have is with the keyboard. I have read in other reviews that the keyboard is great so I am not sure if this is just "me" or if others have this problem. They keys are nice and tight, but have edges that help you make sure you are not "drifting" to a neighboring key...however, the shift key is only one key instead of a double key. Thus I am constantly hitting "Page Up" when I mean to shift and typing in the wrong place. Additionally, if I accidentally touch the key pad when this happens (a sleeve brushes it, etc.), I end up selecting (and often deleting) a whole page of data. I have caught this each time and am able to use the "undo" function to retrieve my info, but it is annoying. I have been trying to review and revise my own keyboarding habits to overcome this problem, but so far without much luck. For now, I make sure I glance at the screen (not as easy when taking notes in a class or meeting) to make sure I am in the right place.

Overall, I couldn't be happier (with minor exceptions) with this tiny, light, and efficient machine. I recommend it to anyone who needs portability, speed and reliability. Perhaps an external keyboard when not on the road would make it almost perfect!

I HAD THIS FOR ABOUT 2 MONTHS NOW. I AM IMPRESS WITH THE ATI RADEON GRAPHICS CARD AS IT PLAYS VARIOUS 3D GAMES. SO FAR I LOADED NEED 4 SPEED UNDERGROUND, AND FREEDOM FIGHTERS, AND IT PLAYS GREAT. BE FOREWARN; RUNNING A GAME ON CD REQUIRES LOTS OF POWER SO DONT EXPECT THE SAME PERFORMANCE ON BATTERIES.

I HAD PROBLEMS WITH ERROR MESSAGES POPPING UP REGARDING THE SONY MEDIA SERVER. TECH SUPPORT HELP CORRECT THOSE PROBLEMS

OVERALL, ITS A GREAT CENTRINO MULTIMEDIA/BUSINESS LAPTOP, ALL PROGRAMS WORK FAST AND THE SYSTEM SEEMS VERY STABLE.

SO AFTER TWO MONTHS.. NOTHINS CRASHED YET!!! GREAT LIL MACHINE.. ENOUGH KEYBOARD SPACE.. AND VERY FAST! ONLY NEGATIVE... IS THE 2 X 256MB MEMORY THAT IT COMES WITH INSTEAD OF JUST 1 512MB! THOSE SONY EXECS ALWAYS TRYING TO MAKE MONEY FROM US!

This is my third Vaio laptop since 1999 and my wife has one also, plus two Vaio desktops, so you can tell we like this brand. I like my PCG-V505 for several things, like the speed and the built in DVD writer, which seems very fast. It is great to use data DVDs for backup and ripping music CDs into iTunes is very swift.

But the PCG-V505 series has two minor issues for me--the keyboard keys have tight edges that can catch on fingernails and the case scrathes easily as one other reviewer indicated--and a major problem for anyone with XP and anything over 512MB of RAM. There is a known bug in XP that can prevent hibernation in machines with 1 gigabyte or more of RAM.

Hibernation is essential for a laptop because the hard drives in laptops are susceptible to heat damage. The longer they run in a high temeprature laptopn case, the sooner they die (I think I have replaced enough hard drives in laptops, including Vaois to make this claim, and if you read the tech lit, this is a well-documented phenomemon). So if the laptop won't hibernate you either have to shutdown as you travel between locations or it is liable to come on, in your bag, during travel, resulting in damaging 'hot briefcase' syndrome.

I treated myself to 2 gigabytes of factory-installed RAM in my machine and boy am I regretting it. Performance is great, I can run a ton of apps at once, which is how I like to work, but no hibernation. Sony support told me XP SP 2 would fix this (it is listed on the fixes that Microsoft claimed). But SP2 did not fix it and the thing that bothers me is Sony knew of the problem when they sold me the machine. Tech support at Sony was not at all helpful -- "rebuild the machine from scratch then add one app at a time, test, and then add another." Since the problem only appears after about 24 hours of use, and I can't go without some apps for several days, this was not a good fix.

Microsoft support was more helpful and is still working with me on it. But I am now inclined to take out the extra RAM and sell it (at a loss) defaulting back to the standard 512MB. My advice to buyers, test the keyboard yourself, and skip the extra RAM.

Stephen

This laptop by Sony has been good to me for a while now and I recommend it for people who are on the go but yet do not need the very latest and greatest in technology. The Intel Centrino processor works fine. I have no complaints although, of course, at 1.5 GHz it's not the fastest processor out there. It works fine for me, though. The RAM I added to have the laptop be able to use a full gigabyte of RAM has not interfered with hibernation, as another reviewer experienced.

The case DOES scratch easily; and the sound is fair. I use earphones that let me increase the sound beyond what the computer is capable of producing; and that's an obvious plus. The keyboard is much tighter and smaller than a desktop keyboard and this took some getting used to. I wound up buying a mouse to avoid that pad upon which you slide your finger to control the cursor and mouse pointer on the screen.

You will need a special cleaner to wash the screen--this screen is not made of glass but fortunately the cleaning products are relatively affordable.

In addition, I really like that this comes with a combination CDRW--DVD drive. I have often used this to watch movies while I travel or lie in bed just lazing around on a Sunday afternoon. The drive works very well and there are no software issues so far for me.

As Amazon notes, you get Norton anti-virus software and Microsoft Works with this and all this and more runs on the Windows XP Home Edition operating system, which is fine with me. There are ports and more to make this laptop exactly the way you personally want it to be. Excellent!

Overall, this laptop is very solid. Sure, the smaller keyboard took some getting used to; but that came in time. This little computer's got a lot of life in it; and I think you'll be able to make good use of it. If you still have any questions, you can download the product manual from this website or you can also read the product description above. The other reviews are well done, too.

I got my vaio about a year back to replace an aging desktop. In about 6 months, a couple of keys came off but sony support replaced those immediately.

I'e had some problems wiht the operating system- for instance, internet explorer will not show some images on websites. Its irritating (is it SP2? I dont know). ALso, the beautiful case gets scratched easily adn the screen seems very delicate- I dont carry it around too much and I am afraid to.

But otherwise it is a great little machine which I can take around and use anywhere in the house. Very pretty, very smart only thing is needs more strength.