Rating: 
Summary: A luke warm vaio owner
Review: All in all I like my vaio. Given the range of options and the amount of money I had to spend and also considering my needs for a laptop the fxa47 was the correct solution. I must say that the vaio runs Maple 7 (a symbolic math program) rather well. A 1 GHZ processor definately helps for numerical simulations (lots of number crunching). However ever since day one I've had to deal with lots of random anoying computer quirks such as: spontainous crashing from being left on too long, crashing intermintently when running windows media player, and problems with xp and the dvd/cd-rom/cdr. All this within two weeks of owning the laptop. The only reason why I haven't returned it is that it still does what I really need it to do: crunch numbers that is run numerical simmulations. ...
Rating: 
Summary: Lock-up central!!
Review: Cons:
a)Bad Hard Drive Partition,which makes the hard drive feel even smaller.
b)Bad Battery Life.
c)Locks-up frequently.
d)A lot of useless software.
e)So so customer service.
f)Modem problems.
Pros:
a)When it works, is a pretty decent, basic computer.
Next time I will go with pentium or centrino, with a bigger hard drive and DVD-R.
Rating: 
Summary: It's not very good
Review: I bought it thinking that Sony was a good brand, but they clearly have no clue when it comes to making computers.The first problem is the battery life. At first, it could last 20 minutes of websurfing, but now it doesn't last five minutes of sitting still with nothing going on. It immediately powers down without shutting down of hibernating. The second problem is the default hard drive configuration. Basically, they split it up which causes more problems since so many programs install to the C: drive by default anyway, plus Windows XP is bloated and takes up the majority of the space anyway, then PC-Cillin tries to take up a lot of space too and you've almost lost all of your C: drive space from these two programs alone. The third problem is the graphics card. It's integrated with the normal memory and has horrible performance. While I don't expect to be playing the latest games on this machine, it's not even capable of playing games that are ten years old with a decent speed. The fourth problem that I have is the LCD itself. It's not very bright, and with any sunlight at all it's unreadable. Other than those, it's a pretty standard machine. I managed to avoid some of the software problems others have by uninstalling one of the hotfixes of XP and upgrading the mouse drivers.
Rating:
Summary: It's not very good
Review: I bought it thinking that Sony was a good brand, but they clearly have no clue when it comes to making computers. The first problem is the battery life. At first, it could last 20 minutes of websurfing, but now it doesn't last five minutes of sitting still with nothing going on. It immediately powers down without shutting down of hibernating. The second problem is the default hard drive configuration. Basically, they split it up which causes more problems since so many programs install to the C: drive by default anyway, plus Windows XP is bloated and takes up the majority of the space anyway, then PC-Cillin tries to take up a lot of space too and you've almost lost all of your C: drive space from these two programs alone. The third problem is the graphics card. It's integrated with the normal memory and has horrible performance. While I don't expect to be playing the latest games on this machine, it's not even capable of playing games that are ten years old with a decent speed. The fourth problem that I have is the LCD itself. It's not very bright, and with any sunlight at all it's unreadable. Other than those, it's a pretty standard machine. I managed to avoid some of the software problems others have by uninstalling one of the hotfixes of XP and upgrading the mouse drivers.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent
Review: I think the FXA47 is a great buy. I am currently a college student at Devry University and I'm always useing my sony for programming, english, and many other classes. I have never had a problem with it. I'm even running 2 operated systems and haven't had one glitch after a month. Plus I run my computer constantly and I've gone 3 weeks and it hasn't froze yet. So I would have to say the FXA47 is a great buy.
Rating:
Summary: Sony VAIO PCG-FXA47 Notebook (1-GHz Athlon, 256 MB RAM, 20 G
Review: I will agree on HD space & battery. The lockup issue can be fixed by a BIOS update, I had the same problem. It took to 18 months before I updated the BIOS, I did not know there a fix.
Rating:
Summary: It's ok most of the time
Review: I've been mostly ok with this laptop until recently, but there are a few problems that I must mention: 1) The battery life is horrible. When you unplug it, it may tell you that it's going to last two hours, but even new, the battery only lasts about 20 minutes of just websurfing (if you are watching a DVD or anything like that, you'll be lucky to get much more than 5 minutes from the battery.) 2) It gets too hot. I've found that different programs cause it to heat differently. I tried running Seti@Home on this laptop, but that caused my lap to almost get burned. You have to be very careful with that. Also, the rubber feet on the bottom of the laptop have come off because the heat of the CPU melts the glue on the bottom. This has made a mess of the various tables I've put it on, as well as some pants when I've used it on my lap. 3) The sleep functions don't work right. Every other laptop I've used has had a function to make the laptop shut down or go to sleep automatically when the battery gets too low. This laptop doesn't appear to have this. When it feels like it, it will just shut down with no warning. This has happened at random times when I don't have it plugged into the power. 4) The drivers stink. There are various problems related to Windows hotfixes and some of the specific hardware drivers. I forget which one but there was a hotfix for XP that conflicted with the mousepad driver and caused the laptop to freeze up. As far as I know, Sony never fixed the driver so I've left the patch off. I doubt I'll ever buy a Sony laptop again, but it's not the worst I've used. I'll probably buy an IBM Thinkpad next time, because they are the best laptops you can buy.
Rating:
Summary: It's ok most of the time
Review: I've been mostly ok with this laptop until recently, but there are a few problems that I must mention: 1) The battery life is horrible. When you unplug it, it may tell you that it's going to last two hours, but even new, the battery only lasts about 20 minutes of just websurfing (if you are watching a DVD or anything like that, you'll be lucky to get much more than 5 minutes from the battery.) 2) It gets too hot. I've found that different programs cause it to heat differently. I tried running Seti@Home on this laptop, but that caused my lap to almost get burned. You have to be very careful with that. Also, the rubber feet on the bottom of the laptop have come off because the heat of the CPU melts the glue on the bottom. This has made a mess of the various tables I've put it on, as well as some pants when I've used it on my lap. 3) The sleep functions don't work right. Every other laptop I've used has had a function to make the laptop shut down or go to sleep automatically when the battery gets too low. This laptop doesn't appear to have this. When it feels like it, it will just shut down with no warning. This has happened at random times when I don't have it plugged into the power. 4) The drivers stink. There are various problems related to Windows hotfixes and some of the specific hardware drivers. I forget which one but there was a hotfix for XP that conflicted with the mousepad driver and caused the laptop to freeze up. As far as I know, Sony never fixed the driver so I've left the patch off. I doubt I'll ever buy a Sony laptop again, but it's not the worst I've used. I'll probably buy an IBM Thinkpad next time, because they are the best laptops you can buy.
Rating: 
Summary: I recommend it Strongly!
Review: If you are serious about buying a laptop and you want quality for a good price, then this is the laptop for you. I find the Sony FXA47 to be an excellent laptop from the start. The Sony software included is handy. I bought the 48-Mo. warranty extension from Circuit City, so I don't feel any need to be concerned. Most importantly, the battery lasts the full three hours as promised in the manual. This is good for travel, even though it is heavy. I find that the included weight saver makes no sense if it only saves you 0.4 lbs. Performance on this laptop was a little slow when I first started using it, but after a few days of use it seems to speed up in performance. The DVD/CD-RW is a bit noisy and makes the laptop shake, so that might not be a convenience for business travelers on planes. Overall, a good laptop, w/a few glitches here and there. Definitely good for home/office users, but travelers might certainly want to look at something else less heavy and w/o a noisy cd player.
Rating:
Summary: Worst computer ever
Review: If your are looking for a good used laptop..........look elsehwere. The FXA47 is loaded with software and problems and VERY POOR customer support. In the 2 years we have had it, it has stayed in the case most of the time because of lockups. I have restored it several times to original configurations with no help. Sony is clueless and wants to charge for phone supoport and has only responded to 1 of my e-mails. It seems that everytime we install software the computer wants to lock up. My Compaq 2715US works great with out any problems. I will never by another Sony product.
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