Rating: 
Summary: best bang for buck
Review: I was looking for the cheapest laptop out there, I ended up spending 1500., which wasn't too bad. Of course after having a computer you can actually realize what every thing means, and this computer, the FRV 37, really has everything you need. I saved about 900 cd's on this thing no problem. and the software package is great. The FRV 37 is really a computer you can grow with and into.
Rating: 
Summary: Yep, no recovery DVD's and no way to make
Review: I've had my SONY VAIO FRV37 for 2 days, and it is going back. I keep getting a write error when making recovery DVD's, ruined 4 of them already. They were going to suggest I do the 10 CD method but before it was out of the mouth, I said nope. Then they wanted to send me recovery DVDs for free, but why does the DVD writer keep having a write-error from the get go. Reminds me of a Toshiba I once owned that I could not make recovery work after making floppies for recovery (24 of THEM!) that was junk from Day 1 and eventually had a class action suit against them that Toshiba lost, but the settlement was puny considering the grief that thing gave me. Now, Sony has to go back. CSR said he would take it back rather than take the free recovery DVDs, too. That's good enough for me. Do I give them another chance, or do I buy something else?
Rating:
Summary: Yep, no recovery DVD's and no way to make
Review: I've had my SONY VAIO FRV37 for 2 days, and it is going back. I keep getting a write error when making recovery DVD's, ruined 4 of them already. They were going to suggest I do the 10 CD method but before it was out of the mouth, I said nope. Then they wanted to send me recovery DVDs for free, but why does the DVD writer keep having a write-error from the get go. Reminds me of a Toshiba I once owned that I could not make recovery work after making floppies for recovery (24 of THEM!) that was junk from Day 1 and eventually had a class action suit against them that Toshiba lost, but the settlement was puny considering the grief that thing gave me. Now, Sony has to go back. CSR said he would take it back rather than take the free recovery DVDs, too. That's good enough for me. Do I give them another chance, or do I buy something else?
Rating: 
Summary: Good value notebook
Review: I've had this machine just over a week now. So far I like it. I took off one star because it doesn't have built in wireless. I chose this machine because it had the best display of the machines I looked at under $1500.00 (I paid $ 1350.00) at Circuit City. The keyboard and display are both very nice. The sound is not great but it was better than two Toshiba machines I was looking at. It has USB 2.0 and Firewire. It also has an ATI Radeon chip with 64mb of shared RAM. I was able to make restore disks using two DVD-R and one CD-R with no trouble and free up the restore partition on the hard drive. I benchmarked my machine using SiSoft Sandra 2003 and came up with performance expected of a 2.8 Ghz Pentium 4. I should point out that I am technically experienced. I had my own business repairing and upgrading computers. Maybe the process of creating the restore disks is more challenging for others. All in all I think I got good value for my money and would recommend someone looking for a laptop in the $ 1500.00 at least take a look at the Vaio FRV37.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome Perfomance, Heavy, A Desktop Replacement
Review: If you are looking for a portable computer this SONY is simply awesome. A notebook or laptop it is not; its big and heavy by todays standards but the performance is fantastic! The Gateway desktop died (will never buy from them again) and couldn't be brought back to life so I decided to pick up a "notebook". The FRV37 is blazing fast, the screen is large, bright and clear & its got plenty of HD space (if you need more consider getting an external USB hard drive). With a CD and a DVD burner you really don't need a desktop machine anymore. It comes with a nice software bundle. Its got firewire built in and is great for capturing video from digital video cameras. If you go on vacation, take this computer, a Sony or Canon Digitial video cam and an Olympus digital camera and everyone on the trip can go home with CDs or DVDs of the trip. Buy this machine if you want to replace your desktop, you don't need long bettery life (it gets about 2 hours max), and you want something portable but not light weight. The only thing missing is built in wireless but for about $50.00 you can get a wireless card that will do the trick. This computer has NEVER crashed unlike all previous computers (desktops from Gateway) that crashed frequently. Only 4 stars because its heavy, has short battery life and missing built in wireless.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome Perfomance, Heavy, A Desktop Replacement
Review: If you are looking for a portable computer this SONY is simply awesome. A notebook or laptop it is not; its big and heavy by todays standards but the performance is fantastic! The Gateway desktop died (will never buy from them again) and couldn't be brought back to life so I decided to pick up a "notebook". The FRV37 is blazing fast, the screen is large, bright and clear & its got plenty of HD space (if you need more consider getting an external USB hard drive). With a CD and a DVD burner you really don't need a desktop machine anymore. It comes with a nice software bundle. Its got firewire built in and is great for capturing video from digital video cameras. If you go on vacation, take this computer, a Sony or Canon Digitial video cam and an Olympus digital camera and everyone on the trip can go home with CDs or DVDs of the trip. Buy this machine if you want to replace your desktop, you don't need long bettery life (it gets about 2 hours max), and you want something portable but not light weight. The only thing missing is built in wireless but for about $50.00 you can get a wireless card that will do the trick. This computer has NEVER crashed unlike all previous computers (desktops from Gateway) that crashed frequently. Only 4 stars because its heavy, has short battery life and missing built in wireless.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best BUT
Review: Ok, I just got a new VAIO PCG-FRV37 and it has been great in every aspect but I dont understand why Sony doesnt include a backup recovery CD along with the computer. I never knew until I actually bought one, if i did, i would have never bought a Sony. Oh, I will never buy a Sony ever again. The fact that they want to sell me a recovery CD for a laptop I paid $1500 for pisses me off. Anyhow, great machine but not so great company.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Price / Value Point
Review: Recently purchased the PCG-FRV37 to replace an aging PCG-F360(and an aging OS). The processor speed was among my primary draws and the PC seems very fast when applied toward its intended application: heavy duty spreadsheet crunching. Excellent 15" screen. RAM expandable to 1 GB. Recovery disks not provided, but may be created using a recovery application and 3 optical disks (I think one DVD and two CDs), OR 10 optical disks (I don't recall the precise requirements for this option). The dial up modem provides me with much faster connections (52 kb every time so far) than my old machine. 3 USB ports + Firewire. Operating system seems extremely stable relative to my older device - cool. Relative to the above-referenced portable, I somewhat miss the programmable power keys. Maybe I haven't found the application to activiate a similar function yet, but either way I'm sure I won't miss that feature all too much - even though the PPK's were convenient. Also, (from an old timer's perspective) I kind of miss the 3.5" floppy - but the new USB storage device I recently purchased makes those seem really dated. I had my old Sony VAIO for about five years, and only had to deal with Sony service once regarding an easily replaced broken "port flap." Their customer service was excellent. I got the piece shortly after dealing with them, and it was readily installed. I bought this to work from my desktop, hotel room, or other geographically stable locale - not Starbux or waiting in an airport terminal :) So far, it is exactly what I was expecting and needed. The PCG-FRV37 sits at an excellent price / value point relative to many other alternatives. Five stars for happily meeting my expectations.
Rating: 
Summary: Weak contender
Review: Steer clear from the FRV series from SONY. Sony makes great products but this is not the one. Go with the GRT series for any multimedia graphics needs. I owned this laptop for 12 days and had numerous issues including the DVD-R was DOA. Pinnacle studio 8 crashed every time. Benchamrk scores compared this 2.8 p4 to 1.8 p4's .... not good. On a positive note the LCD is beautifull, great keyboard and design, Nice Sony software package. This is not a desktop replacement though. And with the inability to do any multimedia with the limited IGP, it renders the DVD-R useless anyway.
Rating:
Summary: this is a ecxellent laptop very fast works good
Review: this is a ecxellent laptop very fast works good
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