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$799.99
30.43% pricedrop
Avg. Price: $1,149.99
13 customer reviews
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- The VAIO(R) AR notebook has a spacious 17" widescreen display featuring XBRITE-ECO LCD technology and with NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GT graphics card you get a stunning visual experience. This beautifully designed notebook boasts embedded A/V controls for one-touch access to your entertainment and a built-in 1.3 megapixel camera and microphone so you can video chat with friends, family and co-workers. Enjoy the convenience of a CD/DVD burner and the spectacular new look, instant search and automated security features of the Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium operating system. Backed by Intel Pentium Dual-Core processor technology, this notebook will be your ultimate desktop replacement. 17 WXGA+ (1440 x 900) XBRITE-ECO Display Built-in Webcamera and Microphone NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GT with 256MB Dedicated Video Memory with up to 1023MB shared DVD+-R/RW Drive with Double Layer Intel PRO/Wireless 4965 802.11A/B/G/N 10/100/1000Base-T Ethernet Built-in Memory Stick/Memory Stick Duo with MagicGate(TM) Card Reader Built-in Secure Digital (SD) media slot ExpressCard 54 Slot PCMCIA Slot 3 USB 2.0, Headphone out; Microphone-in, S/PDIF, VGA, S-Video, HDMI, IEEE 1394, RJ-11 (Modem), RJ-45 Approximate Unit Dimensions - 16.4 (W) x 11.8 (D) x 1.32(H) Approximate Unit Weight - 8.3lbs
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- I Love the Sony VAIO VGN-AR760U/B I used to have a Dell Inspiron 6400 and I start to have problems when I played my games, so I decide to buy this computer after reading all the reviews, I choose one day shipping and the next day I have my new laptop, it came very well packaged don't have recovery disc but I don't think is important I have almos 2 years with my dell and never used the recovery programs, but I made my recovery disc after removing all the programs I didn't want.
I turn on the Laptop and I noticed The screen is too bright to my eyes I have sensible eyes, but when you are out in the sun is perfect, The only thing I don't like is that when I adjust the display brightness to lower a noise appear and I call the VAIO support but they told me that this is normal because of the good quality of the display so i will buy a privacy filter soon to not heard that noice and my eyes not suffer.
The quality of the colors of the display are fantastic nothing compare with my Dell also is fast, fast very fast, I install all my games the Monopoly, Zuma Deluxe, Chuzzle Deluxe, Cradle Of Rome, Dairy Dash, Ranch Rush, Cake Mania2, Chocolatier 1 & 2,Cooking Academy, Hoyle Puzzle & Board Games, Solitaire City, Slingo Supree, Age of empires and all work great I liked to play lots of games, I transfer all my videos, Music and picture and I'm only used 177 GB so I still have lot of free space.
I have a program to conver the format of my videos but with the VAIO Video and Photo Suite and with the "click to disc" option I don't need nothing more. I'm not use all the programs that this machine have already, but it will take some time to used them all.
I removed some installed programs that came and I don't need and of corse I remove the Norton 360 antivirus because I use it before with my Dell for a year and didn't liked because slows my computer a lot and if you need to do a sistem restore always meke problems it take a lot of time to installed and more time to uninstaled, so I install the ESET Smart Security is better and you don't even notice that is there and it's very secure.
I bought the Targus CVR217 Neoprene Slip Case for 17" Notebooks (Black/Blue) and it's perfect for this Laptop and nice looking, but you can only put the laptop and the AC adapter, don't have to much space, so I bougth also the Targus TXL617 17 XL Notebook Backpack is large very large and you can put lots of stuff there also the Neoprene slip case fits.
I higly recomend the Sony VAIO VGN-AR760U/B is great..!!!
- Very good.Sony VAIO VGN-AR760U/B-Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 / 2.1 GHz (Dual-Core), 400 GB SATA HD, 2GB DDR2 SDRAM, Blu-rayE Disc read/write (as well as DVD and CD burning) BD-Writer BD-R/RE- integrated, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GT,Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n), Ethernet, Fast Et...
- computer is top notch but i think that it was opened by someone before ..it does look new but some items were opened...for example manual with some items..plastic bag was opened and that white sticker that sony has on boxes was not on. i hope it was amazon checking if all items were inside
- Best Display and FAST FAST FAST
- I decided to get rid of my 2 towers and consolidate to a single laptop a couple of months ago and never looked back. I needed something that could still churn through the Adobe Suite that I use for generating creative and other graphic and memory intensive applications. I simply love this laptop. It does everything it says it will and more! I have used the Blue Ray a few times and found it easy enough to hook it up via the HDMI port to my Sony HD receiver. The 320GB hard drive is more than enough to use for storage and comes partitioned out as 2 drives. I use another portable 500GB drive as my scratch drive for creative and compiling. Having 3GB of RAM also helps BIG TIME when rendering. You can max it out to 4GB, but I don't think Vista will recognize the additional memory. The only downside that I see for this laptop is the battery life is pretty dismal when running at full tilt. You can choose a balanced or max battery setting to improve the overall time. But then again, with a 17" display and being a powerhouse, it's to be expected to be a battery hog. In a nutshell, I'm extremely happy with this laptop and use it for all of its strengths. If you a NOT a power user, I suggest that you save your money and with a more affordable laptop. Microsoft Office doesn't exactly tax any laptops currently on the market.
- I have had a preference for Sony computers for a long time. They are generally a little more expensive, but you seem to get more. The all-in-one configuration eliminates wires and cords running in all directions. Sony support is above average. All-in-all a purchase worth the extra money!
- Very Fast Very Large laptop
- [Review of "Sony VAIO VGN-AR750E/B 17" Digital Studio Laptop (Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 Processor, 4 GB RAM, 320 GB Hard Drive, Vista Premium)"]
This is my 6th laptop and my 2nd Sony VAIO. I've had zero problems with it other than learning VISTA's unique characteristics. It is capable of running graphics-intense PC games as well as a desktop (examples include City of Heroes and Neverwinter Nights 2) with most graphics features turned on, though a high-end desktop will probably be cheaper and have a larger screen than this. 320 MB is a ton of disk space (two 160 MB drives in a RAID array), and I've only managed to use up a third of that so far.
The LCD screen is large, high-quality and bright, and lacks that washed-out appearance that is common in others. Both Blu-Ray and normal DVDs look great, and of course the same applies to the games.
It's also more than capable of handling work-related tasks, including a full Visual Studio .NET development environment, and has more than enough memory to load and unload applications quickly. Yes, only 3 MB of the 4 MB of RAM is available to the 32-bit OS, but the other 1 MB is available to the NVidia video card - 512 MB on the card itself, with 1279 MB available system memory, for a total of 1791 MB.
Overall, I was looking for a notebook with a large, bright screen, plenty of horsepower and memory, that would be both a portable multimedia box and have the power of a desktop. This product fits those expectations.
As for flaws, there are but a few, and those flaws are perhaps better regarded as trade-offs than as flaws, per se. The primary trade-off is that this is a big, heavy machine, and runs moderately hot. A lighter machine that runs cooler would have a 13-14" screen and be significantly slower. You'll think twice before packing it to travel by air (doable, but most business travelers would choose a smaller, lighter, slower PC than this). Another trade-off is that if you're still on Windows XP, Windows VISTA will feel very different, and since VISTA is newer, there are more bugs to iron out. Personally, I've run into very few VISTA issues, mainly dealing with having to "Run as Administrator" to get things done. Finally, given the large amount of space available, the keyboard is of a normal, small laptop size - it would have been nice to have a larger keyboard, or perhaps a keypad given the extra space.
I'd recommend this machine to anyone else. I've owned it since 2/26/2008, and I'm using it to write this review.
[Note that Amazon groups reviews for products such as these. This review is for the model I specify at the beginning. Other reviews may be for slightly different models/configurations.]
- After seeing no reviews for this laptop when I bought it, I promised myself to leave one of my own. I am happy to say that this laptop was everything that I expected. The screen is crisp and clear, it's fast, the screen is big, and its very quiet. The mouse pad and keyboard are slightly different and may take some time to get used to, but it is worth it for a laptop this good at this price.
- A solid desktop replacement.
- This is a pretty hefty system meaning it's large and heavy. The upside is that it's very powerful and comparable with a mid-range pc capable of playing modern games.
It sports 4GB of RAM however since it has the 32-bit version of Windows Vista, the system only recognizes a max of 3GB of RAM. I do not know why they put 4GB of RAM in the system but installed an OS that can only recognize 3GB. Seems like a waste that we the consumers must pay for.
Also if you try to install a 64-bit version of Windows Vista or XP, Sony will provide you no support because they only support 32bit driver versions for this system. You can find 64-bit versions of the video card drivers but you need to tweak the .inf file so that Vista matches the drivers with your hardware other wise it will say you have no valid hardware. The rest of the hardware you're pretty much on your own, some of the drivers can be mixed and matches but other wise cannot. So if you get this system realize that if you decide to install another OS on here, you may run into some issues with drivers. Also the system comes with no discs so backup the drive if you decide to format.
Other than that it's a great system, it's very fast and powerful. Great for everything. I'd recommend for someone who needs a powerful laptop that can be taken on the go. I would not recommend it to someone who travels a great deal as the system is very large and heavy.
- I bought the Sony VAIO VGN-AR760U/B, this computer is good, it's not the usual laptop size it's a desktop replacement. It comes loaded with windows ultimate and some trial software, this computer it's NOT a 64-bit computer instead it's a 32-bit. I haven't had any display flickering or technical issue so far, I have use the Recovery Center and everything goes back to the factory install software even WINDVD. This computer doesn't have no backup CD's or any CDs you have to burn them with your computer. The only uncomfortable feeling about this computer is that it gets somewhat warm, other than that this computer is alright.
- Very good desktop replacement system
- I decided to purchase a new laptop after my old laptop was taken over by the family for a variety of tasks. I was mostly happy with the system I had, a nice HP Pavilion system with a decent feature set, but considering that it is 2-3 years old and does not run everything I want to run anymore I wanted to make my upgrade to a new system worthwhile. In researching I found this particular system and I pounced on it, as I found it at a steal of a price. It is not perfect, but there is an awful lot in this notebook.
My very first notebook was a Sony Vaio, so I imagined that this would be familiar territory. I was greatly mistaken, as things have changed dramatically since then, mostly for the better.
First off, this is a fast system with lots of expansion room. This is very important to me because I do a little bit of everything - I do some gaming, I write software, I write short stories, I hang out online. I am not considered a power user in that regard so an AlienWare ultra-high-powered expensive gaming rig is not really what I need, but I don't need an entry-level system that is good for little more than checking email either. My needs are for a well-rounded machine that can do most things well. This notebook fits that need.
I am especially impressed with the bright, large screen. I do occasionally toss a movie DVD into the system and treat myself to a private showing of whatever movie I have chosen, and all of that screen real estate makes for an enjoyable experience.
As for DVDs... With Blu-ray built into this system, watching new media movies is not a concern. That's a very nice plus.
I like the fact that this system has two individual hard drives instead of one large one, as I want to create a dual-boot system and not wipe out the whole thing. I was unaware of this when I purchased the system, thinking I had a unified drive, though that was an oversight - the labeling and documentation are clear.
The system comes with 3 GB RAM, expandable to 4. Up to this point things seem to be comfortable in that amount of room.
My first task was to strip off the trial software I don't want or need, which includes MS Office 2007, Webroot SpySweeper and Norton 360. Some people will appreciate these applications but for me they are in the way and clutter the hard drive with unneeded stuff. If these applications were full-release apps with more than 30-90 days of use, I likely would keep them all but in my case I already have licensed software to use that meet the same needs.
The documentation states that there is a firewire port, a VGA port and an S-Video port, and it took searching the web for a manual with technical diagrams to reveal that these are hidden on the right side, under a cover. Nothing that came with the system says where to find those ports, and the cover that conceals these ports blends in well enough to truly hide them - I did not find them without help.
Even more concerning to me is the number and placement of the USB ports. There is one on the back, and two on the right side close to the front edge. I work with an external mouse but I use the built-in keyboard, and I am right-handed. So, if I plug anything at all into those two front edge USB ports, the cords interfere with my mouse use. The solution, then, is to plug a 4-port hub in the back and then plug everything in there.
The built-in speakers are all right, though nothing special. If you want better speakers plug them in and all is well. That said, the built-ins are quite acceptable for most use. You would not want to use them for listening to symphony music, of course, but they're just fine for gaming and general music.
I am very pleased with the graphics. My litmus test for gaming is Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2, and both of these play quite smoothly. I have not loaded up Unreal Tournament 3 yet - that's next - but it should have no difficulty at all with that game.
I did run into one problem that required a call to Sony technical support. Because Sony does not include recovery media with their systems, it is up to the owner to create them and Sony makes it easy with included utilities. There are two options for creating the media - 1 dual-layer DVD or 2 single-layer DVDs. I chose the single dual-layer and after an hour of writing and grinding, the DVD ejected and the system said the creation failed. Assuming it was the target medium, I tried again with the same result. I called Sony thinking I needed to request the recovery DVDs and the technician told me that the single-layer DVD creation would work but that a glitch with this specific model prevents the dual-layer media creation from working. When I used two single-layer DVDs, everything created without a hitch.
This brings up a good point. Some places provide horrible service with operators that no one can understand. I got through in a reasonable amount of time (it was 5am but I still had a brief wait) and I got a very pleasant fellow who was very easy to understand (he did have and accent, though I could not place it) and was very helpful.
This is my desktop replacement system. It does everything I need it to do, it works well and it has a good feature set. It is certainly not perfect, but even at full price it is a good deal for what you get. It is NOT a top-of-the-line gaming rig but it's not marketed as such. If you want a good well-rounded machine, give this one some consideration.
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- A Dissappointment from Sony
- This is my third Sony and probably my 10th laptop. It is by far my biggest dissappointment in a Laptop and a Sony (especially for the price).If I didnt have to suffer a 15% restocking fee it would be on it way back and I would be buying the comparable HP model Circuit City put on sale this weeek for $434 less, even accounting for no tax and free shipping. The only difference on this model is faster processor speed. Here are my issues! First the computer has problems with all the drop down menus. It wont scroll properly; the only way you can get it to accept a selection is by holding down the control key and hitting enter. This includes opening up the screensaver menu and the sound menu. The screensaver menu will keep defaulting to Windows Logo and the sound menu keeps defaulting to a volume of 0.Speaking of speakers excuse the pun, compared to my Toshiba which this unit is supposed to be replacing the sound level is extremely low and very hard to hear.External speakers are going to have to be a must, even with headphones it is hard to hear movie playback. Although this computer is setup with 4MB of Ram it only reads 3MB because it is configured for 32-bit operation instead of 64, a waste of 1MB of installed memory.These are the issues I have found after 4 days of use. I'm afraid to see what else is in store. If it gets any worse I may decide to return it in any case and absorb the $$270.00 loss. I mainly purchased this unit for the Blue-Ray player which works fine and for the 17" display which works fine unlike the results encountered by another reviewer. Stay from this unit, you can find comparable features at a cheaper price from other manufacturers such as HP. I have never owned an HP but I would certainly consider it after this experience.
- Display problmes and no software
- This was my first Sony laptop purchase after buying from Toshiba and Dell in the past. My first impression was very positive but shortly after I noticed flickering in the display. After a couple of days the display got worse, with the flickering increasing in frequency. I then spent the better part of a day trying to work out the problems with Sony tech support. After trying everything they suggested I now have to send it for repairs.
This is also the first time I've purchased a computer and didn't receive software re-install CD/DVD's.
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- A solid desktop replacement.
- This is a pretty hefty system meaning it's large and heavy. The upside is that it's very powerful and comparable with a mid-range pc capable of playing modern games.
It sports 4GB of RAM however since it has the 32-bit version of Windows Vista, the system only recognizes a max of 3GB of RAM. I do not know why they put 4GB of RAM in the system but installed an OS that can only recognize 3GB. Seems like a waste that we the consumers must pay for.
Also if you try to install a 64-bit version of Windows Vista or XP, Sony will provide you no support because they only support 32bit driver versions for this system. You can find 64-bit versions of the video card drivers but you need to tweak the .inf file so that Vista matches the drivers with your hardware other wise it will say you have no valid hardware. The rest of the hardware you're pretty much on your own, some of the drivers can be mixed and matches but other wise cannot. So if you get this system realize that if you decide to install another OS on here, you may run into some issues with drivers. Also the system comes with no discs so backup the drive if you decide to format.
Other than that it's a great system, it's very fast and powerful. Great for everything. I'd recommend for someone who needs a powerful laptop that can be taken on the go. I would not recommend it to someone who travels a great deal as the system is very large and heavy.
- I Love the Sony VAIO VGN-AR760U/B I used to have a Dell Inspiron 6400 and I start to have problems when I played my games, so I decide to buy this computer after reading all the reviews, I choose one day shipping and the next day I have my new laptop, it came very well packaged don't have recovery disc but I don't think is important I have almos 2 years with my dell and never used the recovery programs, but I made my recovery disc after removing all the programs I didn't want.
I turn on the Laptop and I noticed The screen is too bright to my eyes I have sensible eyes, but when you are out in the sun is perfect, The only thing I don't like is that when I adjust the display brightness to lower a noise appear and I call the VAIO support but they told me that this is normal because of the good quality of the display so i will buy a privacy filter soon to not heard that noice and my eyes not suffer.
The quality of the colors of the display are fantastic nothing compare with my Dell also is fast, fast very fast, I install all my games the Monopoly, Zuma Deluxe, Chuzzle Deluxe, Cradle Of Rome, Dairy Dash, Ranch Rush, Cake Mania2, Chocolatier 1 & 2,Cooking Academy, Hoyle Puzzle & Board Games, Solitaire City, Slingo Supree, Age of empires and all work great I liked to play lots of games, I transfer all my videos, Music and picture and I'm only used 177 GB so I still have lot of free space.
I have a program to conver the format of my videos but with the VAIO Video and Photo Suite and with the "click to disc" option I don't need nothing more. I'm not use all the programs that this machine have already, but it will take some time to used them all.
I removed some installed programs that came and I don't need and of corse I remove the Norton 360 antivirus because I use it before with my Dell for a year and didn't liked because slows my computer a lot and if you need to do a sistem restore always meke problems it take a lot of time to installed and more time to uninstaled, so I install the ESET Smart Security is better and you don't even notice that is there and it's very secure.
I bought the Targus CVR217 Neoprene Slip Case for 17" Notebooks (Black/Blue) and it's perfect for this Laptop and nice looking, but you can only put the laptop and the AC adapter, don't have to much space, so I bougth also the Targus TXL617 17 XL Notebook Backpack is large very large and you can put lots of stuff there also the Neoprene slip case fits.
I higly recomend the Sony VAIO VGN-AR760U/B is great..!!!
- Very good.Sony VAIO VGN-AR760U/B-Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 / 2.1 GHz (Dual-Core), 400 GB SATA HD, 2GB DDR2 SDRAM, Blu-rayE Disc read/write (as well as DVD and CD burning) BD-Writer BD-R/RE- integrated, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GT,Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n), Ethernet, Fast Et...
- computer is top notch but i think that it was opened by someone before ..it does look new but some items were opened...for example manual with some items..plastic bag was opened and that white sticker that sony has on boxes was not on. i hope it was amazon checking if all items were inside
- I bought the Sony VAIO VGN-AR760U/B, this computer is good, it's not the usual laptop size it's a desktop replacement. It comes loaded with windows ultimate and some trial software, this computer it's NOT a 64-bit computer instead it's a 32-bit. I haven't had any display flickering or technical issue so far, I have use the Recovery Center and everything goes back to the factory install software even WINDVD. This computer doesn't have no backup CD's or any CDs you have to burn them with your computer. The only uncomfortable feeling about this computer is that it gets somewhat warm, other than that this computer is alright.
- Best Display and FAST FAST FAST
- I decided to get rid of my 2 towers and consolidate to a single laptop a couple of months ago and never looked back. I needed something that could still churn through the Adobe Suite that I use for generating creative and other graphic and memory intensive applications. I simply love this laptop. It does everything it says it will and more! I have used the Blue Ray a few times and found it easy enough to hook it up via the HDMI port to my Sony HD receiver. The 320GB hard drive is more than enough to use for storage and comes partitioned out as 2 drives. I use another portable 500GB drive as my scratch drive for creative and compiling. Having 3GB of RAM also helps BIG TIME when rendering. You can max it out to 4GB, but I don't think Vista will recognize the additional memory. The only downside that I see for this laptop is the battery life is pretty dismal when running at full tilt. You can choose a balanced or max battery setting to improve the overall time. But then again, with a 17" display and being a powerhouse, it's to be expected to be a battery hog. In a nutshell, I'm extremely happy with this laptop and use it for all of its strengths. If you a NOT a power user, I suggest that you save your money and with a more affordable laptop. Microsoft Office doesn't exactly tax any laptops currently on the market.
- Very good desktop replacement system
- I decided to purchase a new laptop after my old laptop was taken over by the family for a variety of tasks. I was mostly happy with the system I had, a nice HP Pavilion system with a decent feature set, but considering that it is 2-3 years old and does not run everything I want to run anymore I wanted to make my upgrade to a new system worthwhile. In researching I found this particular system and I pounced on it, as I found it at a steal of a price. It is not perfect, but there is an awful lot in this notebook.
My very first notebook was a Sony Vaio, so I imagined that this would be familiar territory. I was greatly mistaken, as things have changed dramatically since then, mostly for the better.
First off, this is a fast system with lots of expansion room. This is very important to me because I do a little bit of everything - I do some gaming, I write software, I write short stories, I hang out online. I am not considered a power user in that regard so an AlienWare ultra-high-powered expensive gaming rig is not really what I need, but I don't need an entry-level system that is good for little more than checking email either. My needs are for a well-rounded machine that can do most things well. This notebook fits that need.
I am especially impressed with the bright, large screen. I do occasionally toss a movie DVD into the system and treat myself to a private showing of whatever movie I have chosen, and all of that screen real estate makes for an enjoyable experience.
As for DVDs... With Blu-ray built into this system, watching new media movies is not a concern. That's a very nice plus.
I like the fact that this system has two individual hard drives instead of one large one, as I want to create a dual-boot system and not wipe out the whole thing. I was unaware of this when I purchased the system, thinking I had a unified drive, though that was an oversight - the labeling and documentation are clear.
The system comes with 3 GB RAM, expandable to 4. Up to this point things seem to be comfortable in that amount of room.
My first task was to strip off the trial software I don't want or need, which includes MS Office 2007, Webroot SpySweeper and Norton 360. Some people will appreciate these applications but for me they are in the way and clutter the hard drive with unneeded stuff. If these applications were full-release apps with more than 30-90 days of use, I likely would keep them all but in my case I already have licensed software to use that meet the same needs.
The documentation states that there is a firewire port, a VGA port and an S-Video port, and it took searching the web for a manual with technical diagrams to reveal that these are hidden on the right side, under a cover. Nothing that came with the system says where to find those ports, and the cover that conceals these ports blends in well enough to truly hide them - I did not find them without help.
Even more concerning to me is the number and placement of the USB ports. There is one on the back, and two on the right side close to the front edge. I work with an external mouse but I use the built-in keyboard, and I am right-handed. So, if I plug anything at all into those two front edge USB ports, the cords interfere with my mouse use. The solution, then, is to plug a 4-port hub in the back and then plug everything in there.
The built-in speakers are all right, though nothing special. If you want better speakers plug them in and all is well. That said, the built-ins are quite acceptable for most use. You would not want to use them for listening to symphony music, of course, but they're just fine for gaming and general music.
I am very pleased with the graphics. My litmus test for gaming is Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2, and both of these play quite smoothly. I have not loaded up Unreal Tournament 3 yet - that's next - but it should have no difficulty at all with that game.
I did run into one problem that required a call to Sony technical support. Because Sony does not include recovery media with their systems, it is up to the owner to create them and Sony makes it easy with included utilities. There are two options for creating the media - 1 dual-layer DVD or 2 single-layer DVDs. I chose the single dual-layer and after an hour of writing and grinding, the DVD ejected and the system said the creation failed. Assuming it was the target medium, I tried again with the same result. I called Sony thinking I needed to request the recovery DVDs and the technician told me that the single-layer DVD creation would work but that a glitch with this specific model prevents the dual-layer media creation from working. When I used two single-layer DVDs, everything created without a hitch.
This brings up a good point. Some places provide horrible service with operators that no one can understand. I got through in a reasonable amount of time (it was 5am but I still had a brief wait) and I got a very pleasant fellow who was very easy to understand (he did have and accent, though I could not place it) and was very helpful.
This is my desktop replacement system. It does everything I need it to do, it works well and it has a good feature set. It is certainly not perfect, but even at full price it is a good deal for what you get. It is NOT a top-of-the-line gaming rig but it's not marketed as such. If you want a good well-rounded machine, give this one some consideration.
- I have had a preference for Sony computers for a long time. They are generally a little more expensive, but you seem to get more. The all-in-one configuration eliminates wires and cords running in all directions. Sony support is above average. All-in-all a purchase worth the extra money!
- Interesting laptop packed with features
- I really bought this machine for the blu-ray device and it's ability to use it with an HDCP compliant TV. Well it turns out that this machine has major issues with doing just that seemingly simple task. I have spent 3-4 hours a day for five days with Sony to resolve the matter only to lose WinDVD entirely. Just as an FYI the backup and recovery software from Sony does not contain the original WinDVD install. So please beware if any Sony tech person asks to uninstall it because there is no way to re-install it. They had to move mountains to get me the install back on my laptop again. And all I called about was to get it working on the TV...which is also a Sony 760p TV. So it never worked. Other than that this machine is fantastic. It does run pretty hot though so watch out and it's size and weight makes it a bit impractical for travel.
- Very Fast Very Large laptop
- [Review of "Sony VAIO VGN-AR750E/B 17" Digital Studio Laptop (Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 Processor, 4 GB RAM, 320 GB Hard Drive, Vista Premium)"]
This is my 6th laptop and my 2nd Sony VAIO. I've had zero problems with it other than learning VISTA's unique characteristics. It is capable of running graphics-intense PC games as well as a desktop (examples include City of Heroes and Neverwinter Nights 2) with most graphics features turned on, though a high-end desktop will probably be cheaper and have a larger screen than this. 320 MB is a ton of disk space (two 160 MB drives in a RAID array), and I've only managed to use up a third of that so far.
The LCD screen is large, high-quality and bright, and lacks that washed-out appearance that is common in others. Both Blu-Ray and normal DVDs look great, and of course the same applies to the games.
It's also more than capable of handling work-related tasks, including a full Visual Studio .NET development environment, and has more than enough memory to load and unload applications quickly. Yes, only 3 MB of the 4 MB of RAM is available to the 32-bit OS, but the other 1 MB is available to the NVidia video card - 512 MB on the card itself, with 1279 MB available system memory, for a total of 1791 MB.
Overall, I was looking for a notebook with a large, bright screen, plenty of horsepower and memory, that would be both a portable multimedia box and have the power of a desktop. This product fits those expectations.
As for flaws, there are but a few, and those flaws are perhaps better regarded as trade-offs than as flaws, per se. The primary trade-off is that this is a big, heavy machine, and runs moderately hot. A lighter machine that runs cooler would have a 13-14" screen and be significantly slower. You'll think twice before packing it to travel by air (doable, but most business travelers would choose a smaller, lighter, slower PC than this). Another trade-off is that if you're still on Windows XP, Windows VISTA will feel very different, and since VISTA is newer, there are more bugs to iron out. Personally, I've run into very few VISTA issues, mainly dealing with having to "Run as Administrator" to get things done. Finally, given the large amount of space available, the keyboard is of a normal, small laptop size - it would have been nice to have a larger keyboard, or perhaps a keypad given the extra space.
I'd recommend this machine to anyone else. I've owned it since 2/26/2008, and I'm using it to write this review.
[Note that Amazon groups reviews for products such as these. This review is for the model I specify at the beginning. Other reviews may be for slightly different models/configurations.]
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