I have been using Sony VGN NR160E for last two years and is very Satisfied about its performance.
Its a 15”, 1 GB, I.5 GHz Core 2 Duo processor, with Vista Home Premium Installed. Battery used to give 3 Hrs backup initially and recently(after 18 Months) suddenly it has been dropped to one hour backup.
Before reviewing the system let me brief about my usage and knowledge about computers.
I started using computers in 1999 and is familiar with the basic hardware and software of computers.( Reads Digit and CNet on a regular basis and likes to fiddle with the hardware/software). I have a Broadband connection and a USB TV tuner connected to this Laptop.
The system came with preloaded Vista Home premium and a lot of free/trial softwares. In addition to that there were a lot of unnecessary Sony softwares which a normal user never even tries once.
I has just 1GB Ram and that’s the one and only bad thing about this system. With the Fully loaded Vista and Sony softwares this 1GB is just not enough. I upgraded it to 2 GB – bought 2 Rams from the outside market as Sony charges are high.
I know many people doesn’t like Vista operating system. I was using XP till I bought this and I didn’t find anything wrong with Vista.(I if feel switch off the Aero settings it behaves like an updated XP).
In any case having Vista is the only choice left for us as MS doesn’t give any other OS right now.
The 15” screen is good. It doesn’t give any issues of clarity or brightness etc. I found the key pad also good. As its 15” its slightly heavy. The charger is the old type big one. I don’t know about the latest releases.
It has a wireless switch in front and a Sony as well as SD card reader slots. Two USBs on both sides. Mic, Speaker, Fire wire, Serial port on one side and a DVD writer on the other side. Charger and network connections on the backside. The LCD display is clean with out any projecting metallic locks like in HP models.
For a basic User(who generally use mail/MS office/Chatting/minor photo editing/Music/Videos) this is a really good model. Even after 2 years I didn’t face any hardware issues.(the system looks neat and good, the Hinges, LCD, keyboard are still as good as it was earlier.
Sony gives a hidden recovery partition on almost all its laptops, but hides this from everybody. We cannot find any detail about this from their website or manuals.
If the OS crashes, all you have to do is to press F10 button while restarting. It gives options to repair the OS and in worst case it replaces everything and gets the system to the factory settings.
Good things:
A simple and beautiful basic laptop. Value for Money. The Sony Quality.
Bad things
Just 1 GB RAM
Loaded with a lot of Unnecessary and useless softwares. We will have to uninstall most of them to enjoy using the system with its available 1GB RAM.
No Blue-tooth