Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony VAIO AR51SU Laptop, 17" widescreen X-black LCD with double lamp, Platform Intel Centrino Duo processor, T7700 (2.40 GHz and 800 MHz FSB), 500 GB Serial ATA, 2 GB DDR2-667 SDRAM (2 x 1024 MB), max 4 GB DDR2-667 SDRAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics, Bluetooth, Genuine Windows Vista Ultimate,

This is a really nice laptop. It's a little larger than I was expecting, but is delightfully slim for a machine of it's capabilities. Bonuses on this model are the Blu-Ray burner, built-in TV (including Freeview) tuner, ultra fast Raid 0 harddrives and top spec graphics card. One thing that I'm a little disappointed by is the keyboard. It feels a bit cheap and plastic - it reminds me of an old Sinclair QL keyboard - and I would have expected something with better quality on a Sony top-of-the-range laptop. My only other criticism is something that is common with all laptops these days and that is the amount of software that is already installed on it. I spent the first day removing what I didn't want and installing what I did. Depending on your circumstances, this is either a good thing or a bad thing.
It's a decent piece of kit though. I played World of Warcraft on it with all the video options set at max, running full screen at 1920x1200 and it runs totally smoothly.

I have had many Sony's but this will be my last. The hard-disk when down - they repaired it ok, but put back the original software - that meant 96MB of Windows and Sony upgrades needed downloading and here I only have telephone connection ! Horrific. THEN,the keyboard layout is horrid and somehow I cant type decently - the machine is virtually silent which is nice, and the screen is lovely - but only 3 USB ports!! you must be joking - the 2 at the front are too close together to get 2 flash drives in, so I have has to buy a 4 port usb hub. The mouse pad keep getting hit when I type, and I have to avoid it - somehow it just doesnt work. My husband wont even use it - uses the old PCG or TX2 ! Next time its Apple !