<p>From what I’ve heard (never owned a Sony. Only Dell and Toshiba) Sony’s a good brand. Superficially, they look nice too.</p>
<p>I have a Vaio F, which I purchased last April; While it is very sturdy, I did have to pull the fan off a few months ago to clean the fan. Still, it creaks less when I pick it up from a front corner than my MacBook did when it was this age. This is a 16" laptop and most of the weight is towards the hinge, so that’s an even more impressive thing to me.</p>
<p>However, the paint has not held up very well at all. The palm rest has faded out where I usually have my hands. Sony also throws a few crappy programs in by default (which are easy to uninstall) - one will eventually advertise their accessories as a systray popup o_O ***?!</p>
<p>The trackpads are also low quality for the cost of these machines - even the $3500 Z series (from last year, anyway) came with an Alps Electric model that wasn’t so great. </p>
<p>However, the screens are pretty decent.</p>
<p>The SONY I got is a lemon. It doesn’t work. The screen won’t go on. Now we have to wait for a technician to come out which takes 24 hours then another 5 days for the laptop part. We really just need a new laptop, it doesn’t work.</p>
<p>In that case, don’t bother with them, return it to the store? Even if you ordered it through SonyStyle you can strong arm them into replacing it if it was DOA.</p>
<p>Sorry to hear that man!</p>
<p>They won’t let me return it, since it was a “custom” laptop we bought online.</p>
<p>If it’s defective you should be able to return it “custom” or not. Don’t put up with that. If they refuse to return it, and if it was purchased with a credit card, call the credit card company, tell them what happened and dispute the charge.</p>
<p>I would not want to keep a computer that needed immediate repair.</p>
<p>College! Get a mac during august, apple always has some pretty cool discount thing or “free” thing. Like they gave you an ipod for buying a macbook or $100 giftcard.</p>
<p>I come to find out my father bought me a refurbished laptop for $615. I could have just gotten a new HP for that price. So, they are willing to replace it with the same laptop but in orange but it’s still refurbished. It’s an older model, but it has a lot more upgrades then the basic one.</p>
<p>Yow! Try to return it.</p>
<p>Do some research online and show your dad what you can find new.</p>
<p>They won’t let us get the orange one unless we pay for it first and then they will reimburse us once they get the other one, but we don’t have another $600 to lay out. They said most of the time when laptops are refurbished, they were bought but then canceled and never opened. So, now it may take 2 weeks just to get the orange refurbished one -___-</p>
<p>I could get a Lenovo: [Lenovo</a> - Laptops - IdeaPad - S Series - S205 (US)](<a href=“Lenovo Official US Site | Laptops, PCs, Tablets & Data Center | Lenovo US”>Lenovo Official US Site | Laptops, PCs, Tablets & Data Center | Lenovo US)</p>
<p>Or HP: [HP</a> Pavilion g4 and g4t series | HP Official Store](<a href=“http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_can_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=notebooks&a1=Category&v1=Everyday+computing&series_name=g4t_series&jumpid=in_R329_prodexp/hhoslp/psg/notebooks/Everyday_computing/g4t_series]HP”>http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_can_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=notebooks&a1=Category&v1=Everyday+computing&series_name=g4t_series&jumpid=in_R329_prodexp/hhoslp/psg/notebooks/Everyday_computing/g4t_series)</p>
<p>Or get the refurbished SONY which has a lot of upgrades… It’s not the newest model, but they said it’s better then the newer models b/c of the upgrades.</p>
<p>Ugh. Damn! Yea, this is where Sony falls hella short compared to say, Apple. </p>
<p>Apple would’ve swapped that for another. If it wasn’t new, the turn around with them is 1-2 days max (90% of the time).</p>
<p>Sony OTOH, quoted me 2 weeks when I complained about the paint fading on mine. o<em>O I ended up just living with that because 2 weeks is too much. -</em>-</p>
<p>Yep, it stinks. The laptop I may get in stock may not be available when they get my old one back…</p>
<p>If you want some advise on what to do, you may want to post your question in the parent forum. You may get some good tips from some experts.</p>
<p>I had an HP that died on me about a week after owning. O called and my mom raised all holy Hell to the customer service rep and manager who refused to refund the purchase even after I’d had it for 6 days max. After speaking to the manager they arranged for a full refund and we sent it back and got the money deposited into the bank not even a week later (and then I go and pick out a freaking Dell). If they are resistant to give you back your money for a faulty product, fight it. If you don’t come out with cash you may be able to at least get a better model.</p>
<p>I don’t think I’d ever buy another computer straight from the company. There’s less headache if you go to say, Best Buy, and present the receipt you’d have the $$$ refunded then and there without worrying about shipping things back to TIIC.</p>
<p>Just return the darned thing and get a new one somewhere else. You don’t have to repurchase another Sony.
Return the laptop and have the refund put right back onto the credit card that was used for the initial purchase.
I would not purchase a refurbished Sony. The only refurbished laptop I’d consider buying is a refurbished Mac.</p>
<p>IIRC, HP has an 18 day policy. 1 week in you SHOULD have no issues.</p>
<p>From whom did your father purchase the laptop? Most places have a parts and labor warranty for anywhere from 90 days to a year, and this includes refurbs. Go on the website of the company from whom he bought it and read their policy.</p>
<p>We already returned it and shipped it back. We bought it from SONY on their online store.</p>
<p>There should be other laptops with what you need that you can buy new, for less.</p>