Small Screen Laptops

[archer6]

I had a Sony Picture book, a great little computer. As was my VAIO SRX with a 10.4" display.

Which brings up my pet peeve with Sony, and reason I have not purchased a VAIO of any model lately.

They simply do not seem to be able to decide what they want to build and how long it will be available and supported.

I have purchased 6 VAIO models in the last several years. Each time I recieved a questionaire in the mail asking what I would like to see in future models.

So, bedsides answering that question I also suggested they operate more like the rest of the laptop mfgs and create a model line and then stick with it. If it needs to be updated or improved fine. But do not discontinue it completely then release a new model, with a completely different form factor. Of a different material with a completely different keyboard etc.

For those who do not follow Sony in the marketplace I remember when they first brought desktop computers into the USA and they were so dreadful that just months later they were removed from the shelves of every retailer! Then there was a conspicuous absence of any Sony computer for quite some time.

Upon re-entry to the US market the only constant has been the use of VAIO in the name of the laptops that they build.

Only recently have they been leaving a few models on the market a bit longer than in the past. However one cannot count on that as a sign that they are beginning to "get it". Nor is that any indication that the computer you buy from them today will not completely disappear along with service and support.

No wonder their revenue and bottom line numbers have been so low lately.

[christopher_wolf]

Sony appears to, from all indications, assume that laptop computers = consumer electronics of all forms; they probably looked back at what they used to do, and still do, in the consumer electronics sector and thought that would apply to laptops. That was perhaps the biggest mistake.

And that is exactly how most Vaios feel to me, little media players or another Sony gadget blown up to the size of a laptop with a keyboard that has the shortest key travel possible for moving keys and a screen on most smaller models that, while glossy and XBrite, are just too small to go with the rest of the features they add on. Now there are some that have good build quality, but that becomes a moot point when something goes wrong with the hardware and one needs to do field maintenance on it. They are not friendly to such operation by the user at all, at least the ones (both big and small) that I have come across.

[RUSH2112]

Sony used to make great laptops. I have owned a handful of them, inxluding the SRX. I actually still have my first laptop - Sony F650 / P3 600 - which was a Christmas gift in 1999. It used to be that all I would buy is a Sony Vaio. Then I used someone's S150, and it was *terrible.* It seems that everything after the K Series just went straight downhill in quality.

Quite a shame, since they used to have such an amazing product, now theyre no better than HP.