Rating: 
Summary: new grx-570
Review: Anyone who is looking for a smoking laptop, this is the one. If you look around you will see that you can not get anything that this laptop comes with for the price of this unit. Sony has really out done them selves this time. The all new 16.1 inch screen is unreal. Bottom line is for your money this is where its at.
Rating: 
Summary: Missed the boat by a mile
Review: I bought this computer due to the size of the screen which I needed. But after using it for a while, I found quite a few faults.Here they are : * The most obnoxious hard disk that ever consigned to a computer. It is loud, clunky, crackly. Considering that this is the newest and the greatest laptop from Sony, I wonder how in the world the R&D folks could ever decide on configuring this drive to the computer. * Max out at 512m memory is just NOT good enough. Considering that this notebook is targetted for the audio/video presentation, quite often users memory intensive programs like "Photoshop" and the latest software for digital scanning, the performance would likely be better with more memory allocated. * The "home" key is just to the right of the backspace and is a ergonomic disaster when quite often backspacing with activate the "home" key that will put your cursor a mile away from when you want. * The jog pad is again a brain-dead feature that's useless. * Considering the obnoxious hard-disk, one could have configured an external drive to be used....but again a problem....NO FIREWIRE port. * Adding additional drive is a big problem and again SOOONNNY flunked in the design department because of additional storage needed for digital imaging. PROS : Other than the big screen, the new laptop offers very little functional features. Suggestion : Bypass the GRX series and wait at least for improvements.
Rating:
Summary: Missed the boat by a mile
Review: I bought this computer due to the size of the screen which I needed. But after using it for a while, I found quite a few faults. Here they are : * The most obnoxious hard disk that ever consigned to a computer. It is loud, clunky, crackly. Considering that this is the newest and the greatest laptop from Sony, I wonder how in the world the R&D folks could ever decide on configuring this drive to the computer. * Max out at 512m memory is just NOT good enough. Considering that this notebook is targetted for the audio/video presentation, quite often users memory intensive programs like "Photoshop" and the latest software for digital scanning, the performance would likely be better with more memory allocated. * The "home" key is just to the right of the backspace and is a ergonomic disaster when quite often backspacing with activate the "home" key that will put your cursor a mile away from when you want. * The jog pad is again a brain-dead feature that's useless. * Considering the obnoxious hard-disk, one could have configured an external drive to be used....but again a problem....NO FIREWIRE port. * Adding additional drive is a big problem and again SOOONNNY flunked in the design department because of additional storage needed for digital imaging. PROS : Other than the big screen, the new laptop offers very little functional features. Suggestion : Bypass the GRX series and wait at least for improvements.
Rating:
Summary: Best desk top replacement currently available
Review: I have had this notebook for two weeks now and it is by far the best desktop replacement currently available. The 16" screen is unbelievable -- how could I ever go back to those tiny little screens on other laptops now! If you are looking for a desktop replacement this is the notebook for you.
Rating:
Summary: Best desk top replacement currently available
Review: I have had this notebook for two weeks now and it is by far the best desktop replacement currently available. The 16" screen is unbelievable -- how could I ever go back to those tiny little screens on other laptops now! If you are looking for a desktop replacement this is the notebook for you.
Rating:
Summary: A notebook you can game on!
Review: I just want to comment on one aspect of this machine: You can play new games on this thing! Now if you have never owned a notebook you might be saying "big deal", but if you have ever tried to play a game (esp 3-d games) on an older notebook you know what I mean - they are slow and the grapics [do not function well]. Not so with this baby. A 1.6 GHZ P4 + ATI 7500 Chipset w/32 MB of ram = play anything out there. I have played Aliens vs. Predator 2 on this machine (get a USB joystick!) Now I wouldn't buy this just to play games, but if you are on the road there is no better way to pass those boring hours stuck in your hotel room (and much cheaper than the wet bar).
Rating:
Summary: Impractical laptop, poor harddisk
Review: I was impressed with the nice big screen. However after using for a few weeks I realized some of the impracticalities of this machine that some of you prospective buyers may want to know about. The laptop is obviously good as per the features and the other reviews. However my experience will help some of the users to put the features in perspective and so I will focus on the negatives for this review. Please refer to other reviews for positive remarks. Combined you will have a good idea if you need this machine. CONS:
1. Laptop is quite wide because of the big screen, so in domestic flights it was a pain to use it. Privacy is out of question as well!
2. Extremely noisy harddisk. May be its my machine only. But after sending twice for service, Sony support got back to me saying noise levels are normal harddisk operations. I use server side software for programming and it tends to write data to disk frequently. So get I guess I just have to get used to the constant crackling sound from the harddisk.
3. No InfraRed port for quick sync with Palm or other such devices. Ironically no serial port as well so you just cannot sync up a Palm with out additional USB device purchase.
4. 512MB is the maximum. For developers this will limit them in the future.
5. Jog Dial pretty useless with W2K.
6. Poor sound quality, CD does not operate unless system is booted, no hardware volume control so you have to struggle to reduce/increase the volume by software means.
7. No standard floppy drive.
8. The beautiful display does not work with other machines. In summary, do not confuse your need to own a 16inch LCD with your laptop needs.
My recommendation:
1. Buy a good LCD monitor for about $500.
2. Buy any small foot print laptop with similar config. If you are a Sony fan, other Vaio models would be fine. If you still want this one, consider following accessories:
1. USB 32MB flash memory as alternative to floppy drive.
2. USB InfraRed and Serial Port.
Rating:
Summary: Impractical laptop, poor harddisk
Review: I was impressed with the nice big screen. However after using for a few weeks I realized some of the impracticalities of this machine that some of you prospective buyers may want to know about. The laptop is obviously good as per the features and the other reviews. However my experience will help some of the users to put the features in perspective and so I will focus on the negatives for this review. Please refer to other reviews for positive remarks. Combined you will have a good idea if you need this machine. CONS:
1. Laptop is quite wide because of the big screen, so in domestic flights it was a pain to use it. Privacy is out of question as well!
2. Extremely noisy harddisk. May be its my machine only. But after sending twice for service, Sony support got back to me saying noise levels are normal harddisk operations. I use server side software for programming and it tends to write data to disk frequently. So get I guess I just have to get used to the constant crackling sound from the harddisk.
3. No InfraRed port for quick sync with Palm or other such devices. Ironically no serial port as well so you just cannot sync up a Palm with out additional USB device purchase.
4. 512MB is the maximum. For developers this will limit them in the future.
5. Jog Dial pretty useless with W2K.
6. Poor sound quality, CD does not operate unless system is booted, no hardware volume control so you have to struggle to reduce/increase the volume by software means.
7. No standard floppy drive.
8. The beautiful display does not work with other machines. In summary, do not confuse your need to own a 16inch LCD with your laptop needs.
My recommendation:
1. Buy a good LCD monitor for about $500.
2. Buy any small foot print laptop with similar config. If you are a Sony fan, other Vaio models would be fine. If you still want this one, consider following accessories:
1. USB 32MB flash memory as alternative to floppy drive.
2. USB InfraRed and Serial Port.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Desktop Replacement
Review: Pros
* The 16.1" screen is beautiful.
* DVD movies look incredible.
* Performance is good, especially for games.
* Has 3 USB slots and 1394 port.
* Ethernet and modem built in
* 512 MB RAM and 32 MB VRAM standard
* I never use my desktop any more Cons
* Heavy and bulky due to size of screen
* Needs wireless lan card to be built in. Currently I have to use a PC Card wirless and the antenna keeps banging into everything.
* Can't expand to 1 GB ( Ithink that this is a limitation of the Pentium 4M chipset
* Cannot upgrade the 'quick ship' GRX models to the 3 year warranty (The built to order GRX models sold through Sony have the 3 year warranty option). This is scary because both my previous Sony laptops needed repair at least once.
Rating:
Summary: Great Desktop Replacement
Review: Pros
* The 16.1" screen is beautiful.
* DVD movies look incredible.
* Performance is good, especially for games.
* Has 3 USB slots and 1394 port.
* Ethernet and modem built in
* 512 MB RAM and 32 MB VRAM standard
* I never use my desktop any more Cons
* Heavy and bulky due to size of screen
* Needs wireless lan card to be built in. Currently I have to use a PC Card wirless and the antenna keeps banging into everything.
* Can't expand to 1 GB ( Ithink that this is a limitation of the Pentium 4M chipset
* Cannot upgrade the 'quick ship' GRX models to the 3 year warranty (The built to order GRX models sold through Sony have the 3 year warranty option). This is scary because both my previous Sony laptops needed repair at least once.
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