SONY VAIO SVS15113FXB Notebook Intel Core i5 3210M (2.50GHz) 6GB Memory 640GB HDD NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M LE 15.5" Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit

Pros: I love this laptop, using it for personal reasons, mainly internet, video, games and hobbyist software dev projects. I believe this was one of the last Windows 7 PCs that Sony offered, that and the fact the display resolution is 1920x1080, which is apparently rare for most of the other major brands. I didn't want to have anything to do with Windows 8. I've never had any noticeable performance issues despite just the Core i5 processor and only 6 GB memory. It is helped by the nVidia GeForce graphics chip, I've had no trouble playing my old favorite FPS games and newer indie games.

Found that overall it runs very quiet, fast to boot up and shut down. The feel of the alloy case is light years away from the cheap plastic of most PC laptops these days.

Support through Sony website was so far alright for the few software issues I've had.

Cons: Built in speakers are sort of weak, not great volume. Ok with head phones or external speakers. The CD/DVD slot drive makes a horrible loading sounds when reading for any inserted disc, whether or not one is there, it tends to do this on opening the laptop.

Other Thoughts: I know that other reviewers mentioned bloat ware. I have removed a fair share of the included software, however I did keep most of the Sony VAIO specific software and utilities which include some useful software updaters, performance and system diagnostic utilities, which connect to the Sony support site. They also have some actually useful content creation software that is bundled with the PC, for instance I have used their Sound Forge Audio editing tools for some projects(allowed me to convert some recordings made in Windows Media Audio files to MP3). They also include a Video editor, a DVD creator and Music Studio. I think these all could be useful for the right person and a nice bonus.

Pros: Excellent specs, excellent build quality, the keyboard is very slick and responsive, If you've never owned a 15" laptop before typing with the big trackpad will take some getting used to, but my previous laptop was a 15" as well so I'm already adjusted to it! The multitouch trackpad is so amazing, can't live without it. Excellent battery life, the backlight automatically adjusts brightness based on ambient lighting! The backlit keyboard is a big plus. Has an optical drive but doesn't need it--can be disabled in BIOS. The body is made of magnesium alloy so it's very lightweight and has a great feel to it! Easy access to replace the HDD and RAM if necessary (I replaced the HDD with a Vertex 3 SSD--see cons for more info). Runs very cool and quiet (once formatted and has an SSD). The screen is beautiful!

Cons: Needs a fresh format out the the box--there's a lot of preinstalled bloatware and trial software that cripples the laptop. Also, I put an OCZ Vertex 3 in it, (I looked everywhere online to find out if this laptop has SATA 3 or SATA 2, but couldn't find anything, so upon replacing the 5400RPM 640GB HHD with the Vertex 3, I was sad to find it's SATA 2 :/) Nonetheless, with the money you're saving from not buying a Macbook Air or Pro, you can definitely justify ordering an SSD to replace the HDD with. Lastly, I read everywhere that the speakers are really weak--I thought I wouldn't have minded or noticed since I always wear a headset when working on my laptops, but I was actually very surprised at how weak the built in speakers are, my samsung galaxy s 3 can produce more noise ha!

Other Thoughts: Some people have a preference of where the Fn (function key) is placed in conjunction with the control key (Ctrl), my previous laptop had the same layout of Ctrl then Fn, so I'm happy with that, also, people tend to forget that getting a 15" means you're probably going to get a Num pad as well, which is something I love.

Pros: Dont know. looks nice.

Cons: slot load DVD\CDROM does not work.
sony support couldnt help and I am still waiting on them to send a replacment

Other Thoughts: couldn't be more dissapointed, going back to Dell

Pros: This computer has pretty much everything thing I'll ever need and more for school. It's really fast, has an amazing display, and on top of that it's really pretty. Another thing I love about this is that it came with Sony's creative software, like Sony Vegas Platinum 11. This thing also seems to run fairly cool for such a fast, thin laptop.

Cons: This is only a little con, bloatware. It's to be expected with every laptop you buy these days and it's not too bad to remove.

Other Thoughts: I'm not at all an Apple fan, but I do really like the touch pad on the MacBook Pro. The touch pad on this laptop is almost identical to an Apple touch pad and it's awesome!