Sony VAIO VGN-FE770G 15.4" Laptop Review
Sony VAIO VGN-FE770G 15.4" Laptop Review from Adam L Safianow Kiddo. Impressive Specs, but true lack of potential and integrated graphics hurt the final product, The FE series is one of Sony’s consumer line. This is meant for the causal user, not really into the whole gaming scene, and only uses basic to casual media. People that buy this computer are people that use this just as a means to get work done when not at their home desktop.
PROS:
Processor – although not the fastest of the new Core 2 Duo line, it is offered. At 1.83GHz and running at fast bus speeds, the processor is a maniac.
Screen – Sony always does good here. Bright, good resolution, but plagued by a bad graphics card, restricting it from its true potential.
RAM – there isn’t much room to expand, but with 1GB of RAM already in the device, you many not really need to go more than that. The maximum capacity is only 2GB, however, with a machine using an Integrated Graphics Card, there is not really a need to go for 4GB of RAM anyways. Unimpressive was Sony’s decission to use RAM at 533MHz instead of 667MHz.
Hard Drive – 120GB is PLENTY for a notebook. For those that are picky or fret, they do make 160GB and 200GB now, and portable hard drives are becoming cheaper in price as the sizes get larger.
DVD Burner – always great to have, even for the casual user. Dual-layer burning makes it possible to burn data DVDs of 8.5GB, which is enough to carry about 2500 songs (unless we’re talking about Pink Floyd or Rush).
Expansion Slots – good amount. Multi-card reader, Express Slot, USB, Firewire. Good assortment.
Size – good form factor, I’ve always like the thin, sleek look of Sony.
Webcam – very sleekly hidden. Decent resolution, but not the best. Enough to be able to hold good video conferences.
CONS:
Integrated Graphics – I’ve been hating on this since the beginning of the review. Let me explain what it is. Basically, it is a graphics card integrated onto your graphics card. It says it has 128MB of virtual memory, but what you don’t know is that it is using that memory from your RAM. So really, this machine has 768MB of RAM when the virtual memory is depleted. What is also bad about this, is the fact that you can’t install a PCI-Express card to play games, and makes this machine not fully Vista compatible. Vista Premium will require a 128MB PCI-Express card to run.
Battery – not impressive. I got an average 2.8 hours (168 minutes) from the device. My recommendation if you purchase this is to swing for Sony’s large capacity battery. You’ll get at least an hour more. Dell running with its larger capacity battery gets over 5 hours of battery, just to compare.
Weight – heavier than it looks. For such a thin notebook, it is actually heavier than the MacBook Pro by Apple, but lighter than the Dell E1505, both of which have graphics cards not integrated into the system.
Price – priced really high. With similar specs, the Dell is 300 dollars cheaper. With that 300 dollars, you can upgrade the RAM, the graphics card, the hard drive, the wireless options, and buy a flash drive, with enough money to get a Big Mac and fries.
BOTTOM LINE: Priced out of it’s intended market. With no bluetooth, high price, integrated graphics, and weak battery life, the only thing machine really offers is great parts and a pretty screen. This machine at the core is a cheaper product than it should have been.
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