VAIO laptops-where are they now?

[bazzitron]

So Sony sold off its VAIO brand and it is now a stand-alone company.  I've owned 2 Sony VAIO laptops, purchased back in 2009 and 2013.  I always liked how "stylish" the brand was compared to other laptops at the time, even though I eventually realized how cheaply made they were once all the plastic bezels, cheap hinges and lousy screens started to break after 2 years of use.

 

Now that the company has been restructured and revamped, has anyone tried any of the newest models?  

 

Despite my pretty lousy experience with the laptops, I was pretty fond of the way they looked and felt.

[Radium_Angel]

I had, briefly, one from a few years ago, now that you mention it, I did notice the lack of "Sony" logos, but figured the VAIO was enough.

It was well built, didn't flex and kind of a shimmering pearl colour. It got noticed at work pretty quickly and I sold it for top dollar. It's still kicking, no issues

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

10 minutes ago, bazzitron said:

So Sony sold off its VAIO brand and it is now a stand-alone company.  I've owned 2 Sony VAIO laptops, purchased back in 2009 and 2013.  I always liked how "stylish" the brand was compared to other laptops at the time, even though I eventually realized how cheaply made they were once all the plastic bezels, cheap hinges and lousy screens started to break after 2 years of use.

 

Now that the company has been restructured and revamped, has anyone tried any of the newest models?  

 

Despite my pretty lousy experience with the laptops, I was pretty fond of the way they looked and felt.

Oh man... I remember how much I wanted a bright blue or pink 14" VAIO E series as a replacement laptop to my crummy Travelmate (it was good, but just too old) at the time. The flip really caught my attention too. Unfortunately VAIOs were just way to pricey... ended up getting an IdeaPad.   

Spoiler

 

[NumLock21]

They stopped making them. Only thing you can get from them are tablets.

https://www.sonymobile.com/us/products/tablets/

[bazzitron]

5 minutes ago, NumLock21 said:

They stopped making them. Only thing you can get from them are tablets.

https://www.sonymobile.com/us/products/tablets/

https://us.vaio.com/?gclid=Cj0KEQjw1JbPBRCr05aKy7HnmJsBEiQA4qPY-d_xWwtrUBBm62ly8pWUzg3SvPDG6ol7U55bXTJNOR0aAgRX8P8HAQ

 

I'm pretty sure they're still being made.

[bazzitron]

10 minutes ago, Alexsolo said:

Pump the 2013 one up with some more RAM and an SSD, should run better.

Honestly, the hardware inside was fine.  It ran really well but the problem with it was that the hinge broke which led to the monitor panel giving distorted images.  The chassis for the laptop was plastic and it broke really easily.  Even smaller things like the plastic that covered the DVD drive fell off randomly and I lost it so the whole laptop just looks like it went through a war.

[NumLock21]

9 minutes ago, bazzitron said:

https://us.vaio.com/?gclid=Cj0KEQjw1JbPBRCr05aKy7HnmJsBEiQA4qPY-d_xWwtrUBBm62ly8pWUzg3SvPDG6ol7U55bXTJNOR0aAgRX8P8HAQ

 

I'm pretty sure they're still being made.

So their announcement of they're going to stop making laptops was a lie.

[bazzitron]

8 minutes ago, NumLock21 said:

So their announcement of they're going to stop making laptops was a lie.

Sony SOLD the VAIO brand.  You're confusing VAIO with Sony.  VAIO are still being made, independently of Sony, so yes Sony stopped making laptops but they did so by selling off the VAIO laptop business.  I was just asking if anyone has used any of the new VAIO laptops that were released last year like the VAIO S.

[NumLock21]

1 minute ago, bazzitron said:

Sony SOLD the VAIO brand.  You're confusing VAIO with Sony.  VAIO are still being made, independently of Sony, so yes Sony stopped making laptops but they did so by selling off the VAIO laptop business.  I was just asking if anyone has used any of the new VAIO laptops that were released last year like the VAIO S.

Let's see, Sony is the company also a brand, VAIO is the brand they used for their desktop and laptops. If Dell did the same thing, it would be like for them to selll off their Inspiron and then announce they "stop" making laptops, while in reality they still are just under a "independent" name call Inspiron. The ones who's confusing is Sony themselves. The consumer recognizes the brand Sony or Sony VAIO, not just VAIO.

Anyway their model S isn't new either, came out almost 7 years ago, new one probably has a slight redesign and update specs. They used to have a sheet battery for them, gives like 2 to 3x the battery life when combine with the included battery. Sony laptops are eye catching, but their driver support is crap. They love to do silent installs with them, where you can't see what the heck is going on.

[bazzitron]

2 minutes ago, NumLock21 said:

Let's see, Sony is the company also a brand, VAIO is the brand they used for their desktop and laptops. If Dell did the same thing, it would be like for them to selll off their Inspiron and then announce they "stop" making laptops, while in reality they still are just under a "independent" name call Inspiron. The ones who's confusing is Sony themselves. The consumer recognizes the brand Sony or Sony VAIO, not just VAIO.

Anyway their model S isn't new either, came out almost 7 years ago, new one probably has a slight redesign and update specs. They used to have a sheet battery for them, gives like 2 to 3x the battery life when combine with the included battery. Sony laptops are eye catching, but their driver support is crap. They love to do silent installs with them, where you can't see what the heck is going on.

I think it's a little different since Dell ONLY makes computers and computer peripherals whereas Sony makes TVs, motion pictures, music labels, game consoles, tablets, phones and a whole variety of both hardware and entertainment IPs.  They just sold off their computer division.  If Dell did that, that would be selling their entire company.

[NumLock21]

4 minutes ago, bazzitron said:

I think it's a little different since Dell ONLY makes computers and computer peripherals whereas Sony makes TVs, motion pictures, music labels, game consoles, tablets, phones and a whole variety of both hardware and entertainment IPs.  They just sold off their computer division.  If Dell did that, that would be selling their entire company.

Too bad they made that decision cause a lot of consumers knows about Sony and their laptops are pretty decent. Last one I saw was 4-5 years ago at Costco for $500, they had it in those different colors, blue, pink, white, etc.

[Cysero]

VAIO are going quite well in their home market of Japan where they offer their full range of products.

 

https://vaio.com/

 

I own a 2011 VAIO VPCEH1L8E which I upgraded and it is still very capable for a 6 year old low end laptop. I'm very fond of it and I'm glad the independent VAIO have kept the style of the Sony devices. It is a shame no one outside of Japan pays them much attention. I imagine they sell very few units in the US.

 

If you find the right used Sony VAIO with a reasonable graphics card you will most likely be able to upgrade the CPU, RAM, wireless bt card, install an SSD and you will have a stylish relatively high performance laptop which can game as well.