Thanks to one of my consulting gigs, I received a new toy on November 25, 2006 which I’ve been meaning to post about.
I did however update my computers page, so for my geek friends who look at that page on a daily basis, you had advance notice 
To sum it up, I basically received an early Christmas present thanks to being a consultant. Yay.
My Toshiba laptop is still perfectly fine but the company doesn’t want me using my “personal” machine for business, so they gave me a budget to find a desirable machine and I picked the Sony VAIO SZ330P/B.
Here are the basic specifications:
- Sony VAIO SZ330P/B
- Intel Core 2 Duo (2.0 GHz) Processor T7200
- 2048 MB PC2-4200 533MHz DDR2
- 13.3″ WXGA with XBRITE Display
- 120 GB 5400 RPM HDD
- Dual Layer DVD+RW
- 10BASE-T/100BASE-TX Ethernet
- Integrated Wireless (802.11a/b/g)
- Weight: 4.1 lb
- OS: Windows XP Pro
Here is a picture of it just out of the box before the first boot up:
There was a lot of bloat ware loaded on it from all the advertisers who paid Sony but after about an hour of tweaking and removing all that junk, this machine is smoking fast!
It’s even got a dedicated NVIDIA GeForce Go 7400 video card with 128 MB RAM.
Another upgrade from my Toshiba laptop is the Intel Core 2 Duo, that’s right, not one Core Duo but two of them installed, this machine is the fastest that I own to date.
The only draw back is the hard drive is 5200 RPM but I plan on replacing it with a 7200 RPM hard drive like I did with my Toshiba.
I did notice that this machine doesn’t have an S-Video out port, but that’s ok because I’ve never had a need for an S-Video out port on a laptop, however the Toshiba does have one.
One last thing about this laptop, it came with a free upgrade certificate for a full version of Windows Vista when it’s released.
I’m not to sure that I’ll be doing an upgrade when it first comes out. I’ll probably wait for a while like I did with Windows XP.
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I’m turning a funny shade of green!
You lucky…
As a consultant I’m lucky if I get coffee.
Hi there Ainslie.
I’ve been working with this company for close to 5 years now and since I don’t drink coffee, they needed to do something a little more special
Lucky you
Enjoy it.
Very nice! I use a Vaio S5XP/B – the older version of the S series which I got back when mine was released – and you are making me turn a shade of green with showing this new model! S series Vaio’s are gorgeous, so jealous
Hi Christopher.
I’m really enjoying this Sony. It’s good to hear others like them as well which makes me feel like I made a good choice for this one.
Toshiba’s have always been good to me but this Sony looked really sexy and it had all the features that I wanted and needed.
The only downside with a Vaio is, like you mentioned, the amount of pre-installed junk you get! For the price of the Vaio I really didn’t expect to be laundered with as much as their was…
Christopher, indeed, at $2,000.00 USD you’d think Sony would give high end users a break with the bloat ware but they assume people who will buy a $2,000.00 machine will also use or buy the stuff on the ads… not me
Mine was £1600 at the time, which works out to be roughly $3,167 (USD)… and yes, at that price I expected a perfectly fine tuned laptop, instead I was given junk that needed removing. Was not impressed to say the least!
I like to purchase and use the software I want, not the software that Vaio burden me with! But after a few hours setting it up I must say I’ve never had a problem with it
I just got the new VAIO with the 15.4″ screen. I still need to tweak it, but its better than my Toshiba was before it died a slow death.
Hi Char, which model of VAIO did you get?
Ainslie, Sean is actually a certified SOB
Congrats Sean, looks great! Laptops are a much needed tool and a great toy to have!
Nice machine.
Hey Andre.
Indeed this is a great machine.
Everyday I find more and more I like about it and I’m getting all my settings fine tuned as well so it’s running a lot faster now.
Sean – I think the model is the FE600. Here are the specs:
* Sony VAIO FE600
* Intel Core 2 Duo (1.66 GHz) Processor T2300
* 1GB DDR2-533 SDRAM
* 15.4″ WXGA with XBRITE Display
* 120 GB 5400 RPM HDD
* Dual Layer DVD+RW
* 10BASE-T/100BASE-TX Ethernet
* Integrated Wireless (802.11a/b/g)
* Weight: 5 lb
* OS: Windows Media Center Edition
I don’t have to lug it much so the bigger screen was okay.
Hi Char.
When I first read your comment and saw FE600 I was thinking a color code… like #FE6000 hehe.. yeah, I’m a geek.
Thanks for sharing your system specifications.
From one geek to another! I really wanted the smaller one, but my husband talked me out of it. If I put up a computers page like you it would be a mile long. In my office I have a Dell, my VAIO and an iMac G5; then in the kids “office” we have 3 desktops and my old Toshiba laptop is going to turn into the programming computer for my son’s Lego Mindstorms; there is another Dell upstairs and my husband has a Toshiba laptop, too. We are a whole family of geeks.
I have one too. I bought it when someone stole my old one… but can I get a free upgrade to Windows Vista too when it comes out? I bought mine in October. By the way, I LOVE this Sony …
Hi Jack.
I’m not sure if you can get the free upgrade to Windows Vista.
You’ll need to check with the place you purchased your machine.
Hi mate i’m going to shortly get a Sony VAIO SZ330P/B AND I’M SO excited and can’t wait i hope its as stunning as u describe