SONY VPCL118FG TOUCHSCREEN ALL IN ONE DESKTOP REVIEW March 2010
I looked for reviews before I bought this and couldn't find many negatives but as it was still very new, that's expected. Basically I knew before buying
1.There's no HDMI out for connecting a 2nd monitor, 2.Only 500 gig memory and 3.An annoying shiny screen but I thought those are not such a big deal to me. Despite the high price tag, there were few competitors in this "touchscreen all in one" area.
I bought this machine just before Christmas 2009 with the purpose of upgrading my business machine & a good tax incentive. After loading software I sadly watched it crash before restoring, recovering and reloading again then realizing there was a fault that wasn't going away. Sony replaced it due to its faulty drive. Sony Australia gave me the wrong number for their tech repair to have the machine checked (someone who used to do their work). Luckily he knew their latest contractor and politely passed on the correct number.
Preloaded software has no back up discs so you have to make a back-up yourself early in the set-up process. That's pretty normal these days. The quality of the preloaded software was poor and I'll explain why.
The Adobe video software included could not read the Sony video Cam codec. I thought "that's disappointing to give me useless software." I wrote to Sony " Sony computer can't read Sony camera codec" (no response.) If you expect good support from Sony Australia in my experience you won't get it.
Adobe Premiere Elements v7 pre installed video software completely stopped working and I used Adobe's on line help. (They weren't any help after a lot of communication). The v7 software was an old version which isn't available for download and Adobe wouldn't simply supply a registration code to download the current version. I gave up. I use my paid for version of Pinnacle Studio and I love it.
When you buy this machine you don't get any discs. If your original install has faults, the recovery discs you make will not be useful.
Both Sony and Windows troubleshooter wizards are pretty useless. When things go wrong, they fail to indicate why, what or how to fix it in any understandable way.
You waste time going through their process and end up with the same question. I always cancel them when they come up now. Saves time.
When I got my replacement machine about 10 days later, the mouse and keyboard weren't in sync to the new machine. As the manual is in the machine, it is not always convenient to work out a good solution. You don't even get a page with a picture with the ins and out bits labeled. When I typed in "synchronize mouse and keyboard ", I got " no results." I called Sony's tech help. The staffer who answered the call was clueless. Just didn't know the machine. (There is simply a button on the back to look for and hold in.) She told me my case would be escalated to her superior and that might take 4 or 5 days. Never got a call back.
Harvey Norman gave me excellent service and good advice, so I was on track for my second run through of loading up software again. They also gave me a choice of changing to any other product. Really pleasant service experience.
If they had a touchscreen Mac I would have made the switch as Macs include some good everyday features and software (such as Website preparation and upload), Garage Band basic music software but useful. I would certainly use it. Sony comes with nothing for web publishers as far as I know. The busiest shop in my local mall is you guessed it, the Mac Shop.
As a touchscreen, (sometimes) a bug attracted to the light of a screen opened one of my programs or moved the cursor to a different point in the screen. If we could train our bugs to do HTML it would be like the Christmas elves. If there is a sensitivity setting which might cure its touchiness I can't find it. It gives new meaning to the bug in the system thing.
I made recovery discs very early on & the new machine crashed on cue fairly early. Once more I started the restore/ loading software cycle again. Skype program may have caused some issue.
I have been very careful to back-up frequently & check restore points before I load anything new. I have used the restore feature often with this machine.
It will manage some of my old software including Print Shop, Pinnacle Studio and Cakewalk. My Brother Printer had a great download for Windows 7 so all the wireless LAN operation and its great software functions well. So I didn't have to replace all my programs.
With a beautiful great and annoying shiny screen, you must control light sources in the room or you'll be blinded. You can watch the reflection of your furniture, particularly visible in video or TV applications.
If you touch the screen you notice fingerprints everywhere so I do think that turning the gloss down a bit would in fact make it more user friendly.
Windows 7 seems a substantial improvement on earlier versions. I heard nothing good about Vista so I've been with XP for a long time waiting for Windows to get something right..
Loading some programs caused it to crash. A bad copy of Adobe Acrobat Pro stalled the machine as I tried to load it. I used system restore to get back on track.
The Vaio has some usable software, including the TV recorder, pause live TV function and webcam movement activated recording. 2 tuners to watch something and record would be better. Sony didn't give you that. I'd like to be able to play with recorded TV in the video programs but the files are in a form I can't readily use. Vaio Movie Story program supplied won't load an .mpg file even though these load straight up and play in the Windows Media Player. Stuff like that annoys me because you waste time with junk software without a range of CODECS. Windows Media Center program at times mysteriously lost its audio and I had to spend time fishing around menus for a mixer control to turn sound back on. Perhaps a bug, no I literally mean a bug has been turning things on and off. ??
I tend to turn off auto updates because they've caused me too many problems.
If all you ever do is email and type in Word, that won't bother you but my machine is there for work.
I prefer they give you something on the machine that you might use every day like "Office" and forget all about the other stuff which wastes time because it doesn't work properly anyway. Or simply give the basic machine at a cheaper price.
The Vaio control center for the Webcam sits at the top of the screen like a pop up menu but gets in the way of your windows when you want to resize a screen or restore down a screen. I often watch TV while I am working on something or keep several windows open such as internet explorer and a word file. I just had to close it as it can't seem to be minimized to the tray so now I rarely bother with it.
Windows always has issues with updates causing program conflicts that cause failures. We users don't know who to blame with so many 3rd party software providers. In fact we users don't really care, we just want to have help from people who are there to solve problems.
I had lots of trouble at one point with Windows Media Player not playing some mpeg video files. I found one support staffer from Windows who though he couldn't fix the player, recommended a 3rd party free media player that worked. I was grateful to have that kind of advice. Windows Media Player won't play flash movie files either. That's not a Sony problem but when Sony partners with Windows they need to work together & share this responsibility. Sony didn't really work it out at all when it comes to this machine. It was sold to me as a "media machine" which it is clearly not.
When burning a disc there was a conflict going on between the Windows Media and Roxio Easy Media Creator which saw me popping in discs that were spat out again as if they weren't blank. It's not a streamlined process. The company decision makers need to use their own products before they put them out there. They need to send the machines out with default settings so that 2 programs don't simultaneously launch whenever a blank disc is inserted.
The remote is just a necessity these days, so it's great it's included. I use wifi for my network and the Vaio instantly recognized it and connected to it, as it also recognized the printer.
People complain there is no HDMI output and I now see how useful to run more than one screen or a memory device but I'll live without that for now. The more I use a computer, the more I appreciate the benefits of running 2 screens. I daily wish to run 2 screens.
The speakers sound quite good, though I run an out via USB to a better set or a plug in Firewire Mixer. More memory than 500 gig would be good but external drives for storage are cheap, huge and a bit easier to move data around from anyway. You can lock up the data and if someone steals the machine it's not so critical. I used the blueray disc once and the display is nice compared to any of my previous machines.
Though I had problems with the machine, Sony Australia service, and the software they give you (or don't give you), the truth is there were few competitors for such a product and that meant I had to compare it to an Acer, a Dell 19" and a Hewlett Packard which have weak points too. None of them get a 10 from 10 score. Sony's strong point, is simply the competitors haven't really worked it out either, but it doesn't make it a strong and clear winner. It's a marginal choice at best.
Recently Aldi do a large touchscreen with TV for a much much cheaper price and with Aldi's policy of return if you are not satisfied I would have bought that one. (around $1100) Better off the shelf warranty also. Dell have improved their range too.
Save money, Sony was not worth the extra $$.
My last machine was a Toshiba Satellite Quosmio, a better heater than a laptop computer. XP still has advantages with some software not ready for Windows 7. I keep using it for some things and as quirky as it is, it still works. I wasn't happy with Toshiba service so I'd sworn off Toshiba after buying 3 machines from them. I had minor problems with the brand new machine and called their service people to be told I might have to pay for something. It makes me think these people should rename their department something like "let's screw the sucker customer" certainly not "service department." Previous machines I bought in Japan while living there, & Toshiba service was first rate. Things went wrong but they tried very hard to be helpful.
My experience with Sony is poor too. I hate to say it but the Aussie service experience is sadly lacking, no sympathy, poor response time, and not much help.
When we have a choice of a world wide market where we can get better deals on line, it's no wonder people are shopping harder and Aussie jobs will be lost unless those front line people can make us understand that they are actually interested in solving our problems. Companies need the secret shopper to spot those front line people that time and time again get it wrong. When I was a kid working for McDonaIds they were out there monitoring their staff and you had to earn your keep.Is it a matter of training or do they hire people who just don't have the smarts? This is why service departments are shipped off to Mumbai. I spoke to Aussies at Sony, Toshiba and more recently ACER and none of them have given me a service experience that I will recommend. I wish I could recommend Aussies but …..
I haven't spent much time on touch screen operations but I can see myself using it as a teaching tool similar to a smartboard. I teach guitar and as I am holding a guitar, not having to use a mouse or keyboard could be a great tool.
Regardless of the work it's taken and still taking to set up properly, I is OK but I'm sure I am one of those people who expects that computers go wrong on a regular basis.. If you get one, definitely get the longest warranty you can negotiate. Get the best deal you can because when the so-called premium product dies early in its life my faith in paying a higher price to get a better product dies with it..
And be prepared to spend more money on the software you like because they give you stuff you don't really need but ignore giving you the stuff you want.
Trial version software with on-line registration is twice the price you would pay elsewhere. You will waste time uninstalling those if you are like me and don't want to pay the inflated price for software that will be replaced in a few years.
If you really don't need or covet a touchscreen, you will get better specs and value from another machine.
I'm betting my next machine will be a Mac, though I have been through that exercise for the last 3 computer purchases.
Sony still feels like an upgrade. That's just technology moving forward though though I truthfully should have bought another cheaper (not Sony) tool.
