Sony VAIO PCG-FX101

The CD Rom on the Sony Vaio PCG-FX101 is cheap and nasty and most of the time won't open without some form of help. The USB ports have become loose and don't work. I have taken the graetest care with this machine and I have asked others who have had the same problem. I am having another Vaio so I live in hope that this one will be better.

Poor build quality on the SODIMM sockets (2nd one especially) means

Sony Vaio PCG-FX101 machines stop working after 18 months or so. Have a look on Google for Vaio boot problems. Sony deny there is a problem and you will have to fix this at your own expense or take the retailer to small claims court to get back your money. Don't buy a Sony Vaio!

When I first bought my machine I loved it, but as the weeks went on I realised that the FX101 wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Insufficient memory puts the hard drive under a lot of strain and the constant drive activity becomes annoying making an upgrade a must. The lack of a flopy drive not only makes getting files on and off the machine a problem but makes upgrading to Win XP difficult as the BIOS flash from SONY needs to be run from Floppy. The battery (the least said the better) is only useful for moving between power sockets in the home. I have had an average of 45 mins use of the battery and as little as 25 mins on a full charge.

Upgrading is a must with this machine, souring the sweet low price you may have paid.

You get what you pay for

BE WARNED (TIMBLEWEE)

Sony very unhelpful///I live in the uk now and bought my Sony Vaio PCG-FX101 Laptop in the usa.....must be returned to usa to be repaired.

prices are falling now but i would still buy a sony viao.

First thoughts were that the lack of floppy drive would not really be a problem. That was until the PCMCIA Network card drivers came on a floppy.

Tried to install Windows 2000 - The drivers do not function with Windows 2000 and sony have no plans to provide them (there are hacks around however)

Battery Life - tosh, 45 minutes, PLEASEEEEEEE.

Best thing that happened - PCMCIA slot died so got replacement machine!

In response to the the comments made by pierre with regards to my raving review of the SONY PCG-C1VE. The machine is once again my pick of the bunch for many reasons. Trialing the kit in a retail store for 10 mins does not give you the total picture as to how precise this machine is for the size. Yes, the seperate accessories that can be purchased with the sony are a bit off putting however, just like any other major player in the electronics field. They would like to influence the user into rolling with their whole product line. THIS IS NOT NECESSARY to enable the running out of the box scenario.

You have an option to either receive the 56k modem in your package or else the all in one card which covers all of the following: ISDN CARD / NETWORK CARD / MODEM !

Purrfect, this is how I got all of my software and files onto my Sony Vaio without buying expensive add on accessories.

It takes just a little creativity as to how you get data on & off your system. If you have a desktop at home, a network card to insert into PCI slot will cost about £10, a single CAT5 cable £5(if that) direct connect amongst both Sony vaio & desktop....wallah ! 100mb data transfer, much faster than a cd rom.

If you really wanna get funky, you can perform a direct connect USB port 2 USB port ..... all this costs is the price of a USB cable + locating software on net (freeware)

I may be wrong about this but USB data transfer should be around 400mb data transfer.

So at the end of the day, my opinion of the CIVE is unchanged, it is still the bee's knees.

The Sony Vaio FX101 is excellent through & through. digital cam properties are absolutely excellent. Processing power and memory features are exceptional for the size & weight of the machine. If you want to be mobile with a lite weight machine that has still got the disk space and processing power then choose the Sony PCG-C1VE.

Crusoe 600 processor, 12GB drive, 128 MB ram.

I bought this on 21/5/2001 from PC world in the UK for £798 including vat. which is an excellent price. Perhaps not the best choice for a mobile worker due to it's fairly large size, it is ideal if you are to be sat in the same place all day before moving on to a different site.

The 13.3 inch screen is sharp and very welcome after using a smaller screen for the past year or so. The printed documentation is not wonderful, the only thing approaching a proper user manual is on CD.

I don't think there is anything to touch it at the £800 mark in the UK at the moment.

I could only fault the Sony Vaio FX101 on the floppy drive being left off, presumably to hold down the price... After purchasing it I was installing a LAN using USB which had floppy drive installation. I then had to go and buy the floppy drive to install the LAN adapters, but not before trying to cheat the laptop into accepting the installation by various methods other than floppy drive, and failing... Otherwise I give it a BIG 9/10... Attractive appearance, light, nice screen and grafix.......... Erm what do the footballers say "Over the moon"..