SONY VAIO AW Series VGN-AW290JAH Intel Core 2 Duo T9550 (2.66GHz) 4GB Memory 320GB HDD 18.4" NoteBook Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit

Pros: The Screen is GREAT and the specs are spectacular! You cant get better bang for your buck! This is incredible the only gribe is no Blue-Ray but its great!!!!

Cons: None so far.

Other Thoughts: Sony Tech Support is GREAT!!! They helped me fix my problem only con is it took a while!

Pros: Huge HD Screen. Fast. Full Keyboard. Looks Great.

Cons: No Bluray. USB ports in bad area. Had some issues with wireless but easy fix with updated driver.

Pros: Truly fantastic screen, I bought this lap top for only one purpose: to run R/C flight simulator. I am not a computer savy person and in fact I loath them, but I am really into all forms or R/C hobbies and I wanted to learn to fly planes and helis. This computer doesn't get bogged down even with all setting at maximum, color, shadow and 3-D detaits are great. I read from other reviews that it doesn't come with any discs and was a bit intimidated at first but when time came for me to set it up I followd the on line instruction and found this not only was actually fun but educational for me. I created 3 recovery discs and was set. I am saying these things because I like to share the fact if I can do it anybody can do it if not better. Newegg was great in its service . I am one easily pleased customer.

Cons: With the flight sim. performing at max. settings this thing gets very warm on its left side where the ventilation is located. Make sure nothing is blocking and the computer is on flat surface. I am not surprised that battery life is somewhat low. I expected such condition when I bought this big toy.

Other Thoughts: I would definitely recommand this product, Sony products are reliable as my desk top is 6 years old and still runs great.

Pros: The best screen you can buy, but it is truly huge. Blue Ray, DVD/CD burner, and fast processing makes this a very good buy. Also has full keyboard, fingerprint login that actually works, and pretty good speakers.

Cons: I wish it had a better data port than USB, also only has like 4 USB which isn't really a problem, but I know others have more. For some reason it sometimes takes forever to load a certain program on my computer and it will lag for around a minute and then work perfectly. 99% of the time it works perfectly and I would recommend it at the price I got it at.

Other Thoughts: This a very nice computer, if you need a computer to last you 2-3 years dont you want a good one for your money. If you can spend the money do the research.

Pros: Awesome Display. Large, Sharp Crisp Bright.. Better than the 24"ers on my desk. Took my 5 minutes to really adjust to the keyboard, now I really like it Fast. Good Video Card. WiFi and Ethernet and Display works under Linux as well as WinVista.

Cons: Size. But that's also a feature!

Other Thoughts: I'd call it "fetish grade". I work with a MacBook Pro user (who runs Linux on it) who said it well: "I could have bought 2 of these instead?!?"

Pros: I purchased this laptop after several failed attempts at another brand that was a little cheaper. This laptop is exactly what I wanted.

1080p rez
7200 RPM (very underrated spec)
4GB
Decent vid (9600m GT)
Solid Intel chipset

As usual the Sony screen is spectacular (very bright, but easy to turn it down), Sony has the best screens outside of Apple, IMO. This machine is a portable desktop (I use a backpack case myself).

I don't game a lot, but to test it a little I ran 4 instances of WoW simultaneously and it handled it without a problem.

They keyboard is very nice to type on and the multiple card readers are nice (my DSLR uses CF and my reg camera uses SD).

I've never got why people get so upset at having to make their own recovery CDs. It took 3 dvds, but finished in about 45 min (not bad for 12g data). Everyone does this.

Built in BT is very nice, more PCs should have this.

The Win 7 score:

Proc: 6.3
RAM: 6.3
Graphics: 5.9
Gaming Graphics: 5.3
HD: 5.9

Cons: I agree, the short AC power cord is a bit odd (though the 'short side' of the cable is a standard power cord and it's easy to get a longer one at any electronics store) and battery performance could be better and quicker to charge. There is about 15-20 Vaio titles on the machine (not suprising for Sony), some are useful and some slow the machine down (though switching to Win 7 got rid of all of them).

No Blueray is a bit of a 'con', especially since it's a Sony product, but I can understand it at the price.

No disable touchpad hotkey (great when using an external mouse).

Other Thoughts: After about two weeks use I saw that Microsoft had released Windows 7 RC1, so I put it on the machine and it worked almost flawlessly (only one driver missing and the BIOS download off Sony's site fixed that), 24 minutes to uninstall Vista and install 7. I downloaded the updates off of Sony's website and now almost everything works perfectly (haven't got the 'dimmer' hotkeys working yet).

Completely shutoff to logged-in Windows 7 is about 20 seconds. Amazingly fast. I work in IT, so I'll get the full version of Windows 7 the day it comes out, but I'm really impressed so far (be wary that if you use it, it will stop working at some point next year and you'll have to install the full version or use your recovery DVDs).

Overall I'm VERY satisfied with the purchase and would buy it again.

Pros: Elegant powerhouse.
The best screen there is in a laptop.
Unbeaten as a portable graphics workstation/presenter.

Cons: Not for everybody. Acer makes some gaming machines that are in the same size/power range and cost less.

Other Thoughts: I don't care about the BlueRay (which this does not have), and the solid state raid arrays (in the super expensive versions of this line), are beyond my needs.

I'll be using this primarily as a portable, and occasionally attached to my core NAS. Those wanting a full time desktop replacement or dorm computer may do better elsewhere because of the number and placement of its USB ports and smallish hard drive.

Pros: The screen is bright and clear but at 1920x1080 in an 18" screen it feels too small. It's okay for a few hours but if you work all day on it get a larger screen. Your eyes will thank you.

Cons: -- No OS Disc which means you have to make a backup of the OS as soon as you get it on a super slow writing DVD drive. Plus Sony makes you go their site for drivers that you will need when the drive fails. It took 90 minutes to find the drivers and create backups.

-- Vista is a drag. After about an hour of turning off and disabling all the Vista nonsense, I have a usable system but be prepared to spend time uninstalling and turning off useless items like DEP and User Protection.

-- Tons and I do mean TONS of useless Sony Bloatware. I'm still uninstalling stuff that shouldn't even be there to begin with.

-- Incredibly stupid design. 3 USB ports are not enough, once you connect a mouse, KB and USB Drive you're done, and to make it worse, they place them to the front of the machine which means the USB connectors are right where you would place your mouse or trackball.

-- Nowadays 320GB is nothing. Plan on getting an eSata card to connect an external drive.

Other Thoughts: I would have returned it if I could but Newegg doesn't allow returns on Laptops. Next time I'll buy a laptop in a store where I can take it back if needed.

When I consider the hours I spent just to make this usable and money to add stuff like a USB Hub and an eSata card it essentially cost me a lot more.

I gave it one egg because of the bad design and the fact that it comes with no OS disc and no manual. I will not waste my money on another Sony that's for sure.

I'll be watching for the i7 Laptops if they ever come out. Although this could have been a great desktop replacement, the bad design make it suitable only as a portable computing solution. This was not worth the aggravation nor the money.

Pros: This is a desktop level laptop. If you are looking to replace your desktop, or need a workplace proxy for your desktop, this machine can do it. This machine is surprisingly faster than my quad core 2.4 HP desktop. I may just have too much software on my desktop, but this laptop is faster for sure.

Cons: Vista is definitely eye candy - lots of fades and transparent borders etc., but despite the silly pretty look of Vista I am again surprised at how fast the machine is. Adobe software is very fast, and 3D software is smooth and fluid. Biggest CON is how heavy and bulky the machine is. But hey, what do you really expect for an 18+ inch screen?

Other Thoughts: I think this machine islikely my main laptop for the next 3-4 years. Good price given that.

Pros: Good hardware setup for the price.

Cons: Horrible support in terms of drivers, and it's very difficult to upgrade or change the OS.

Other Thoughts: I'm currently embroiled in a week-long battle to replace the lousy Vista Home Premium that comes default with XP x64. Sony doesn't release any drivers for the AW for XP, so you have to track down your own from each hardware manufacturer's site, then use nLite to build your own XP installer package.

It's really a royal pain. I haven't tried going to Vista Ultimate, but from the guides I've read there are similar pains and problems.

So if you can deal with Vista Home, this is a great deal - if you want anything else, be prepared for a fight. And the hardware IS good for the money, but decide if it's worth it to you.