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Rating: 
Summary: The best computer I have ever had
Review: I am a PC fanatic and I love to build them and I must admit that this Sony computer is the best for the buck. I purchased my computer in November 2001 and I have no problems what so ever. I have already installed a second 40 GB hard drive, a 32MB AGP video card with TV out ( the onboard video card only has 4MB ), an optical intellimouse, additional 256MB memory to max out at 512MB, Sound Blaster Live sound card, and I still stayed under my...budget limit for a new computer. Needless to say I have a very impressive unit and it hums right along. The included software is pretty much useless, so I installed AOL 7.0, Microsft Works 2002, Easy CD Creator 5.1, and a host of games which placed my total cost for everything at 1,200. I must say, for all that I placed into this computer, if I purchased the same thing anywhere else, with everything included, I would have spent at least 3,000. I am very impressed with Sony and very pleased with my PCV-RX540. Software loads easily, drivers for anything are a breeze (ensure you have Windows XP compatible drivers), and CD burning and watching DVD's is simply amazing. I have made two home videos with the VCD software included with Easy CD Creator 5.1 which I have veiwed on my DVD player. A simply great computer! Get it while it is hot. Very easy to upgrade! I know my money was well spent!
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding price for a top quality budget computer
Review: I have extensive knowledge on computers and I must say this budget computer from Sony is well worth every penny. I have had it for 3 weeks now and it has not missed a beat. The processor and memory work well together to accomodate any user - be it novice or expert. The sofware package that is included is also pretty good, but Sony could have done better by including Microsoft Works 2002 instead of Corel Word perfect. However, at this price and quality of the hardware, purchasing the software separately to add to what is already onboard should be a breeze. For you gamers out there; at first I did not think the integrated graphics card could handle such games as Free Space 2 or NBA Live 2002, but these games run seamlessly with no hick-ups in frame rate like you would notice on slower computers. Also with frontside USB ports(2), you can easily hook up your joystick, gamepad etc... and commence your gaming experience within seconds. Another thing, AOL 7.0 is highly recommend for this computer. Do not install any earlier versions becasue this will cause problems within Windows XP. Also, always use the latest drivers for Windows XP from the vendors web site when you upgrade or install second party software or hardware to avoid lock-ups or freezes in Windows XP. Anyway, I highly recommend this computer to anyone and at the rate this computer is selling, you better grab one quick. Great price for quality hardware with a great warranty....what is next Sony? I am highly pleased!
Rating: 
Summary: Great machine for the money
Review: I really like my Sony Vaio. It is very quiet and extremely fast. My only problem with is is the pittiful software that came with the computer. This machine is in the digital series but I did expect a little more productivity software. I would have given it a 5 if it came with better software. I compared Dell, Gateway and HP and couldn't find a computer comparable. Sony offers a lot for the money with this computer (...).
Rating:
Summary: Sony desktops are good too!
Review: I've had my Sony PCV-RX540 for over three years now, which is about 75 years old when translated into human years! I paid $750 for it brand new and it has proved itself to be the best investment I have made thus far in my life. With most PC's at least one component of the hardware would have failed within that period of time, but (knock on wood) she still runs almost like I just bought her yesterday. The only modifications I have made were the addition of 256 more MB of ram, bringing it to 512, which is sufficient to run AutoCAD, Photoshop, several browser windows, and a few other applications with ease, even with the 1.2GHz processor. I somehow managed to almost fill up the 60 GB hard drive, but it's only because I've backed up my entire CD collection at very high quality bit rates (196 Kbps!). In the 3 years I have owned it, I have never seen the "blue screen of death," and the only reason it froze on me at times were due to software issues, specifically with how PC-Cillin (anti-virus software) interacts with Windows XP's "built-in" file zipping service, which was easiliy remedied by disabling it. I have dealt with a lot of PC hardware, and usually build my own PC's but decided to be lazy this time around. Sony has designed an amazing case which is *very* sturdy and opens up easily, with frequently upgraded/replaced components such as the hard drive and memory in easily-accessible areas. Beware of reviews of computers that complain about compatibility issues, etc. - those reviews are off-topic since we are reviewing the computer itself, not Windows! If you are thinking of buying this PC used, GO FOR IT, unless it looks like it was kicked around or smashed with a hammer!
Rating:
Summary: Sony desktops are good too!
Review: I've had my Sony PCV-RX540 for over three years now, which is about 75 years old when translated into human years! I paid $750 for it brand new and it has proved itself to be the best investment I have made thus far in my life. With most PC's at least one component of the hardware would have failed within that period of time, but (knock on wood) she still runs almost like I just bought her yesterday. The only modifications I have made were the addition of 256 more MB of ram, bringing it to 512, which is sufficient to run AutoCAD, Photoshop, several browser windows, and a few other applications with ease, even with the 1.2GHz processor. I somehow managed to almost fill up the 60 GB hard drive, but it's only because I've backed up my entire CD collection at very high quality bit rates (196 Kbps!). In the 3 years I have owned it, I have never seen the "blue screen of death," and the only reason it froze on me at times were due to software issues, specifically with how PC-Cillin (anti-virus software) interacts with Windows XP's "built-in" file zipping service, which was easiliy remedied by disabling it. I have dealt with a lot of PC hardware, and usually build my own PC's but decided to be lazy this time around. Sony has designed an amazing case which is *very* sturdy and opens up easily, with frequently upgraded/replaced components such as the hard drive and memory in easily-accessible areas. Beware of reviews of computers that complain about compatibility issues, etc. - those reviews are off-topic since we are reviewing the computer itself, not Windows! If you are thinking of buying this PC used, GO FOR IT, unless it looks like it was kicked around or smashed with a hammer!
Rating:
Summary: I'm impressed...so far so good...
Review: I've had the RX540 Vaio for a couple days now. I bought it on a whim, after spending a few days looking for a new computer. My problem with computers is that I dont buy them often (every 3 years or so) and when it comes to buy, I dont know what I want since for every component there is at least a dozen options...i.e. which processor, how much memory, which hard drive, how fast of a CDRW, etc etc.
I also dont like to spend more than [dollar amount] since the fast pace of computer technology makes it "yesterdays model" an hour after you buy it!Well Sony made the decision extremenly easy with the 540 Vaio. I could not believe that it had everything I wanted...a huge 60gb HD. Lots of memory (256) out of the box. A CD writer and DVD-rom... and all for [dollar amount]?! I looked at emachines, compaq, dell and none of them offered all this for that price... let alone the little things that sony does, like four USB portS (2 front and 2 back), built in ethernet, extra HD bay ,etc.. very nice. I got home, disconneted my old PC and plugged this one in. Fired right up, and the XP immediatley detected and configured my monitor, printer, scanner. I was shocked that I didnt have to even load the software for my Kodak digital camera... I just plugged the USB wire in, and boom, XP showed all the photos and made them available for transfer... My HP840C printer used to always have fits with my old machine with WIndows 98. It would spit out extra pages, never print correctly, etc. The new Vaio and XP combo fixed all that. THe only negatives I had was with the network connection detection. I have a broadband cable modem ISP. With my work laptop (Win 2K) all I did was plug the modem to the ethernet card, and bam, it was done the machine detected and configured the TCP/IP and I was surfing. Well with XP it put me through this stupid utility where I checked "broadband" (rather than dialup or LAN) then it supposedly auto-configured my connection... wrong. So for an hour I had to get rid of all the dial-up connections it had tried to put into place. Then I had to manually config the LAN settings... anyway it seems okay now, but I am still not sure why XP made that so confusing when the win2K and even win98 had it simplified. To transfer my files and stuff from my old machine, I took the hard drive from my old machine and plugged it into the Vaio (real easy to open the vaio case, no tools needed) and bingo, without a hitch the Sony picked up the drive. anyway, I agree with the previous post that sony bundles too much [bad] software on their machines. So much so that it really makes it a problem when you want to do something as play a CD or mpeg... you get three+ applications (sony's own, Windows Media player, quick time, real player) trying to open up depending on where you activate the file... Real annoying. so plan on spending a few hours un-installing the junk you dont want. Anyway, so far this seems to be a great machine, I highly recommend it... and I actually dont see why you'd spend [dollar amount] on the next level Vaio, which is a 1.5ghz Pentium 4.
Rating:
Summary: Good buy!
Review: I've only had my vaio pcv-rx540 for one day now, but in terms of setting up and getting started with it this has been a pretty good computer. I haven't had any problems whatsoever (not that you would expect any during the first day) and have been putting it through the paces with networking it to my other computers and moving many files over; plus, customizing the system to fit my needs. It seems to be a pretty solid machine at a decent price. I especially appreciate sony's design of the box itself, and the logical placement of ports and covers for the disk drive and front usb and i.link ports. The only drawback (which is the same drawback to most computers nowadays) is the frivilous marketing oriented software they loaded up on the computer. Most of it is fluff that takes you to a website encouraging you to buy something. One item, corelplace (I think that was it) took me to a splash page saying they were out of business. I could do with out that stuff...otherwise, I'm pretty happy thus far.
Rating:
Summary: Good buy!
Review: I've only had my vaio pcv-rx540 for one day now, but in terms of setting up and getting started with it this has been a pretty good computer. I haven't had any problems whatsoever (not that you would expect any during the first day) and have been putting it through the paces with networking it to my other computers and moving many files over; plus, customizing the system to fit my needs. It seems to be a pretty solid machine at a decent price. I especially appreciate sony's design of the box itself, and the logical placement of ports and covers for the disk drive and front usb and i.link ports. The only drawback (which is the same drawback to most computers nowadays) is the frivilous marketing oriented software they loaded up on the computer. Most of it is fluff that takes you to a website encouraging you to buy something. One item, corelplace (I think that was it) took me to a splash page saying they were out of business. I could do with out that stuff...otherwise, I'm pretty happy thus far.
Rating: 
Summary: A Lemon!
Review: Purchased this computer two weeks ago and have had nothing but problems. I've owned five other desktops and have never encountered such issues with a new computer. There is some incompatibility with the pre-installed software. We've re-installed the system twice and problems continue. So far they have included the startup program, the Corel, and Outlook and some maddening and mysterious problem that seems related to the browser. It's a slick package with everything to please both mom and the teenage son, but nothing works as it should.
Rating:
Summary: A Lemon!
Review: Purchased this computer two weeks ago and have had nothing but problems. I've owned five other desktops and have never encountered such issues with a new computer. There is some incompatibility with the pre-installed software. We've re-installed the system twice and problems continue. So far they have included the startup program, the Corel, and Outlook and some maddening and mysterious problem that seems related to the browser. It's a slick package with everything to please both mom and the teenage son, but nothing works as it should.
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