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- 2.13GHz Intel Core i3-330M Processor
- 4GB Memory
- 500GB Hard Drive
- 14.1″ (1366×768) Widescreen LCD
- Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
Product Description
A strong and powerful 14 inch (diag.) notebook that meets your computing needs and lets you enjoy web surfing and multimedia entertainment in style.Amazon.com Product Description
Sony VAIO CW: A Portable Expression of Yourself A perfect mix of performance and style, the slim, lightweight Sony VAIO CW laptop in black (model VPCCW21FX/R) shows off your passion for fashion while still offering impressive mobile computing power. The glossy finish is splashed … More >>
Sony VAIO VPC-CW21FX/R 14-Inch Laptop
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“Let me start by saying that I use my computer for much more than average daily use. I record multi track audio (i.e. home studio), as well as average daily tasks. I also work in a place that is very much pro Mac/anti PC. That’s okay, I’m not biased either way, you just get more horsepower for your money with PC.
I downsized from my desktop system which was a Core 2 Duo with 2GB RAM on XP Pro. It was working, but I needed more horsepower (i.e. faster processor and more RAM), and I also figured a laptop that could suit my home studio needs would be perfect because I could then be mobile as well.
A lot of research went into purchasing a laptop. I left no stone unturned, and looked at ALL the models, up to a certain price range (under $1000), even models with lesser specs in certain areas than this one.
After much research, I decided this has everything I need. I’ve had it about three weeks now, and it’s a great machine. Even some of my coworkers who prefer Macs said it’s a nice laptop, and we all know computers where I work. After seeing the specs and the pricetag on this, they agreed that I did well.
My only gripe about it is that because it’s a Vaio, it comes with TONS of extra Vaio software (as well as other trial software, and other programs that I have no use for). Three weeks later, I’m still experimenting with which Vaio software I should and should not uninstall. Some Vaio programs are necessary to operate things like the function keys, where others are not necessary. I will not post a list here, but search out the individual programs and make your own decision. Other than that, this thing ROCKS!!! Nice clear graphics, fast processor, good RAM (I plan to expand mine up to the allowable 8GB though), and totally KILLS my old Core 2 Duo machine. I was able to pull up sessions from my external hard drive after installing my recording software, and sessions that would nearly max out my Core 2 Duo machine barely had this computer running at 50% system resources. Beautiful, just what I needed. The hyper threading on the new Core i series is amazing.
I bought an e-SATA express card to use with the card slot to stream my external hard drive, I run an audio interface off the firewire port, and an iLok. I’m also going to purchase a firewire express card with a Texas Instrument chipset in it to see which transfer rate is better between the e-SATA card and the FW card (it ‘should’ be the e-SATA, but I’m still going to try it). I also plan on purchasing a wireless mouse, full size keyboard, and 22″ monitor, so basically this laptop will sit off to the side as I record, mix, and edit audio. This is everything I need at the moment, and is working out as an audio computer as good or better than I thought. I highly recommend it. Oh, and regarding the Vaio software – for the average user, most of it is actually pretty cool, I just like to run my machine as clean and lean as possible so that most of it’s resources are available when it comes time to lay down audio tracks.”
Rating: 5 / 5
Its just a beautiful laptop but iam very dissapointed of it because came with a hardware or system defect and sony service couldnt help to solve it so i had to return it. The problem consist that every time i tryed to connect to wifi windows said it couldnt and just after that present a blue screen with IRQL LESS OR EQUAL ERROR and reboot my pc. I tryed hard to find a cause with sony custumer care and technical service but nothing worked.
Hope to be more lucky next time..
Rating: 4 / 5
Something to remember when reading any review, most people who are happy with their product don’t write reviews. People who like to leave reviews write reviews and people who are VERY VERY unhappy write reviews, so just always be aware of the biased.
I love this computer with every bit of my heart. I’m not a gamer so I dont have issues with it not being us to gaming snuff. I mostly use the internet to surf and microsoft office and countless chatting programs. Someone at one point said the screen was so shinny that any light source makes it completely useless, I don’t seem to have this problem because I’ve been using it everyday and have never been blinded by light. The unit is lighter weight than my 15.5inch dell insipron (disaster computer) that is currently being replaced with this model. Someone else bitched about getting a blue screen of death, which I have yet to see after two weeks (they claimed it happened within the first hour). Another person said there was difficulty connecting a Bluetooth mouse, which I agreed with, as I just connected my mouse after about 30 minutes of struggling with it. However, it was finally connected after a 5 minute chat with Sony technical support, so it was more user error than computer. There not web button on mine, instead there is an assist button. When I clicked it I was prompted to start up in safe mode, so I am assuming that the assist button would be useful if you computer crashes. The i3 processor is crazy fast, as is windows 7. I really had no problem with vista and decided that everyone hated it because they were told to hate it, but windows 7 is quite amazing. It runs faster, extremely user/idiot friendly. The keyboard is really nice too, I was kind of nervous about this because the keys are all spaced out, unlike normal keyboards where all the buttons are tapered and adjacent to one another, but its actually really comfortable to type on. One draw back is that earlier models (before the i3 processor came out) were bluray players as well, which they took away probably because it was just too good of a computer for the $800 price tag. The speakers are a little lame, but its a laptop and I wouldn’t expect a whole lot of them to begin with as long as they make noise that I can hear when I need to hear it I’m happy. Something else I like is that it has an optical drive. I know this seems like a trival thing but some of the other computer is the same class as this one have removed CD/DVD drives all together which a major deal breaker for me! Someone else complained that there are no shortcut buttons for volume control…really? How lazy are you that you can’t hit “fn” F2 for mute? It one extra button, and the shortcut buttons on the dell never really worked well for me anyway.
For those of you looking at dells at well let me tell you that I built this EXACT same computer on Dells website and it was going to cost at least $100 bucks more which seems like highway robbery to me.
Something to be aware of, apparently new computers do not come with recovery disks anymore. So they highly encourage you to go out, buy a blank DVD, and create a recovery disk pretty much RIGHT out of the box.
Hope this review helps!!!
Rating: 5 / 5
My wife have always had VAIO laptops, last year we decided to give a Dell netbook a try, we thought smaller will be better, oh boy! we were so wrong, we totally missed the fact that even tough she does not do any very power demanding computing, she grew used to the performance of an actual computer not a toy (Dell).
She didn’t want to say anything but I know she wasn’t happy with a netbook, so I had to find her a nice PINK SONY VAIO and the only I could find was a flowery version of this one on sonystyle, well my wife likes girly stuff of course but that thing from sonystyle was too much, until I came accross this one on amazon, I’m saved!
Performance out of the box is amazing thanks to Windows 7 and SONY deciding not to fill it up with crapware, It is so good that I skipped my regular formatting/OS clean install that I have performed on each and every computer I (and wife) have ever owned (I switch computers about 6-8 times a year), yes is that good!
Sony’s craftsmanship is exquisite and you are paying for it! The finishing is awesome, it is light pink very classy and glossy, keyboard feels great, well arranged and almost silent, mousepad works as expected, the screen resolution is not great but is not bad either, battery life and speakers are … let say, above average.
Stop thinking about it, BUY IT, you are going to like it. (Amazon’s return policy is very accommodating tough… just in case)
Have seen those ads on tv for products that will “make you larger” ? this one will make you 14.1″ larger and your wife very ‘pleased’. (I know, I’m gross)
Rating: 5 / 5
I have met some really neat people through the comments, I certainly want to encourage more me to comment. Thanks for the tips!