My New Shitty Laptop

[Mutt]

I HATE WINDOWS VISTA, I HATE MY SONY VAIO
AND WILL NEVER SHOP AT BEST BUY AGAIN

For years I've worked on SFN from a brick of a laptop. It's a 10lb 17" widescreen monster that I've loved. It's made working on the site from a hotel easy and never done me wrong. The only thing wrong with it was it was too big. too big to use on the plane, too heavy to lug back & forth to Manhattan, hell, it was just too big for doing anything but sitting on my desk at home.

After a month of comparison shopping and discussions here on SFN, I picked up what i though was the perfect replacement. I grabbed a Sony Vaio VGN-SZ430 from Best Buy. It was the fastest lightest, most featured packed thing I could find. I got it home and immediately realized I hated Windows Vista. None of my software works with it and when I looked for updated software that's compatible, I didn't have much luck. On top of that, even though I've set myself up as the admin and told it to always give me admin privileges, I still get bombarded constantly with popups asking me if I really want to do the crap I just told the computer to do. it's like every step is now 5 steps. Worse yet, I think my old laptop was faster. Everything seems to take sooo long.

I searched the web and found out that it's nearly impossible to uninstall Vista and put XP on it, especially on these Sonys. I don't understand why. I seems like I should just be able to wipe the drive and install it but every writeup I've found has said don't do it because I'll have all kinds of driver issues. I shopped online and found an IBM Lenovo with the same specs that I could buy with Windows XP Pro. I went in to Best Buy less than 24hrs after purchasing it and they wouldn't take it back. They just kept insisting that there's nothing wrong with it. I told them "I don't want it. I hate it. Your sales person told me that all of my Vista concerns were not valid and that I'd be happy with this one. Well, I'm not happy with it and I want to return it." They finally agreed but said there would be a 10% restocking fee. I've had the thing for less than a day but they wanted a $190 restocking fee. After going back and forth, I finally spoke to the manager. He explained that there would be a 15% restocking fee. We're up to $285 now!! He explained that their policy is posted but when I asked him to show me where, he pointed over to the registers on the opposite side of the building and said it's by the registers. the registers where you can't possibly buy a laptop. they bring it right to customer service and have you pay for it there and the wall is blank at that desk. there's no return policy posted.

They put me on the phone with cooperate where a person just repeated the policy over and over and said there's nothing I can do. I explained how the policy is not posted at the registers where you purchase a laptop and the sales person never said anything about it even though I made it very clear that I was leery about buying a laptop with Vista and he explained how it's in the fine print on the back of the receipt. back the receipt?!!?! I've already bought the thing by the time I have the receipt. What good is telling me about it after I already purchased it? When I asked to speak to his supervisor, he hung up on me.

I told the manager to install Windows XP on it. Buying XP & having the geek squad install it had to be cheaper than the $280 they were going to charge me to return it. They wouldn't do it. They just kept telling me that there's no reason to do that because Vista is better. I told them I didn't care, I want to pay you to install Windows XP. Even though they had the software and a rate listed in their book to install the OS, they said they couldn't do it because that's not for new PCs. it's for PCs that are damaged and need a OS install. This laptop does not need one.

By this time, I'm pulling the few hairs that I have left out of my head. This is all going down Wednesday night and I'm flying to Tampa in the morning. I don't have time to stand here dealing with all of this. The geek squad guy tells me that I should have had them optimize the laptop when I bought it. It's a $25 service they do to uninstall all the junk and set custom settings so the laptop runs smooth. I said fine do that. He took the laptop and essentially did nothing to it. Vista is so new, he didn't know what needed to be done. They usually run some software that changes settings but he didn't have one for Vista. He used the add/remove applet to uninstall 3 things. He was clear he had never been on a Sony with Vista and there was nothing he was going to be able to do to help me. When I asked him to uninstall Windows Defender, he did some crap to stop it from loading on startup. FYI, that doesn't work. All that did was give me errors every time I boot the computer. I've since found out that you can't uninstall it but you can turn it off. just start it up and change the options so nothing is automatic.

I called my credit card company and told them to stop the payment. Since I use a debit visa, it was too late. I left Best Buy with the laptop feeling completely disgusted with their company and my purchase. I figured, I see if I could get used to it. After all, it was good looking and I like the keyboard. I charged it all night, loaded my software and SFN stuff on it and left for Tampa. Sitting in the airport, I started installing some of the software. About 45 minutes into it, I noticed the little battery icon the the try was getting low. It said I only had 1 hour 45 minutes left of battery time. I'm not even on the plane yet!! I felt like throwing it across the airport. It just gets worse and worse. I picked it up and carried it over to a table near a receptacle. When I sat it down, it was off. When I started it back up, I got a black screen with white letters telling me there was an error and I didn't shut down correctly. I assumed I must have bumped the power button or something and ignored it. On the plane, I got that black screen 5 more times. Every time I'd pick it up or tilt it a little the thing crashed and shut down. What good is a laptop that you can't move? Worse yet, it's got a finger print reader so when I'd go to log back in, I had to tilt the laptop to get my finger in the right position to swipe it and that would be enough to turn it off again.

When I got the hotel, i plugged it in and turned it on. I got a message saying the hard drive had errors and it would take over and hour to fix it. I don't know if that fixed the problem with it shutting off or not because I'm afraid to move the laptop to see. I'm trying to upload the pics from last nights Killers of Comedy Show with Bubba & the crew and I'm having nothing but trouble. The WinXP image resizer power toy is not compatible with Vista. I tired using Paint Shop Pro but it's having issues too. I can resize the pics but saving them with the web optimizer fails. I'm very slowly getting some ready. oh, did I mention that Vista will corrupt your ipod too? Yep, when you go to disconnect it. Unfortunately, I didn't read about it until after I plugged my ipod in to the laptop to charge it. I felt like one of those bomb squad guys working on diffusing the bomb knowing that at any moment it could blow. After not finding any solutions that would work, I shut the laptop off and crossed my fingers. Once the computer was off, the ipod lit up and I was able to disconnect it without hurting it. FYI, you need to install the newest itunes and ALWAYS us itunes to eject the ipod. NEVER use windows to do it. Also, when I first plugged it in, Vista gave me an option to play the music with media player which I thought was very cool. meanwhile when it opened, none of the music was there. Just album art. What a mess.

Bottom line, I'm going to try and return it again when I get home. I may even take the $280 hit if it's my only option but it's complete bullshit. this thing is broken. It's not supposed to crash every time you tilt it 10 degrees. I'll probably order the Lenovo. Jaeger says I should grab an Alienware. who knows. As long as it's not this. I may even resort to a Mac. I mean if I already have a laptop that completely incompatible with all my current software so what's the difference? The mac will at least let me install WinXP which ironically is something this Vista laptop won't.

UPDATE 04-02: I'm trying to live with this thing but it's getting clearer and clearer that I need to toss it. I'm now getting errors telling me the battery is not compatible with this laptop. yeah, the one that came with the laptop is not compatible!! I've also gotten that shut down / black screen telling me I didn't shut down correctly a couple more times when moving from the kitchen table to the couch or from my lap to the coffee table. DAMMIT!!!!

Also, it came with Paint Shop Pro which is perfect becasue it's what I use. problem is, Vista is so weird, it's almost unusable. it's amazingly slow and the things hangs. matter of fact, almost everything hangs. I'm always getting "not responding" notices. doing something as simple as zooming in on a pic takes forever. click, wait wait, click, wait wait wait, click. it's unbearable. i can't draw shit becasue of the lag. I finally gave up on saturday, shut the laptop down and went into my office to use my desktop.

Here's my shopping thread where i researched laptops before making the purchase.

[KingOfAllMedia]

I've been shopping for laptops too, and that's the one thing that's prevented me from getting a new one, is that fucking Windows Vista. Nothings compatable with it yet.

[Jay Z]

come on mutt the internet guy you are with all this information from your site and you go to best buy

[P-B]

I'm not reading all that, but why would you have shopped at Best Buy in the first place? They suck donkey balls.

[Pendulus Frenulum]

Vista sucks donkey nuts. I'll be sticking with XP for as long as possible.

[Apoc13]

crap...i hope we don't feel the same way when the new site is up

[Apoc13]

Originally Posted by Pendulus Frenulum

Vista sucks donkey nuts. I'll be sticking with XP for as long as possible.

or at least until it's been around a while and the solutions are easy to find

[Mutt]

I just picked up the laptop and there are two tabs on the battery. I assumed they were both release buttons. turns out one says release and the other says lock. I just locked it. Maybe the tilting problem was caused by the battery coming loose and the laptop loosing power. who knows though because I could recreate the problem now. Perfect. just like anything else, when I go to bring it in it will work fine.

[Ginge]

Mutt, instead of returning it, I'm sure one of us computer tech guys would happily install XP Pro for you. It sounds like your laptop is pretty solid on the hardware end, and Vista is your main problem. I suggest whiping the drive clean, install in XP Pro and then the programs you need. If you need any help, feel free to pm me. I have tried Vista and certainly feel your pain.

[Pendulus Frenulum]

Why couldn't you re-format and put XP on?? That doesn't make any sense at all.

[steve7968]

Originally Posted by Mutt

I HATE WINDOWS VISTA, I HATE MY SONY VAIO
AND WILL NEVER SHOP AT BEST BUY AGAIN

For years I've worked on SFN from a brick of a laptop. It's a 10lb 17" widescreen monster that I've loved. It's made working on the site from a hotel easy and never done me wrong. The only thing wrong with it was it was too big. too big to use on the plane, too heavy to lug back & forth to Manhattan, hell, it was just too big for doing anything but sitting on my desk at home.

After a month of comparison shopping and discussions here on SFN, I picked up what i though was the perfect replacement. I grabbed a Sony Vaio VGN-SZ430 from Best Buy. It was the fastest lightest, most featured packed thing I could find. I got it home and immediately realized I hated Windows Vista. None of my software works with it and when I looked for updated software that's compatible, I didn't have much luck. On top of that, even though I've set myself up as the admin and told it to always give me admin privileges, I get bombarded constantly with popups asking me if I really want to do the crap I just told the computer to do. it's like every step is now 5 steps. Worse yet, I think my old laptop was faster. Everything seems to take sooo long.

I searched the web and found out that it's nearly impossible to uninstall Vista and put XP on it, especially on these Sonys. I don't understand why. I seems like I should just be able to wipe the drive and install it but every writeup I've found has said don't do it because I'll have all kinds of driver issues. I shopped online and found an IBM Lenovo with the same specs that I could buy with Windows XP Pro. I went in to Best Buy less than 24hrs after purchasing it and they wouldn't take it back. They just kept insisting that there's nothing wrong with it. I told them "I don't want it. I hate it. Your sales persons told me that all of my Vista concerns were not valid and that I will be happy with this one. Well, I'm not happy with it and I want to return it." They finally agreed but said there would be a 10% restocking fee. I've had the thing for less than a day but they wanted a $190 restocking fee. After going back and forth, I finally spoke ot the manager. He explained that there would be a 15% restocking fee. We're up to $285 now!! He explained that their policy is posted but when I asked he to show me where, it pointed over to the registers on the opposite side of the building and said it's by the registers. the registers where you can't possibly buy a laptop. they bring it right to customer service and have you pay for it there and the wall is blank at that desk. there's not return policy posted.

They put me on the phone with cooperate when a person just repeated the policy over and over and said there's nothing I can do. I explained how the policy is not posted at the registers where you purchase a laptop and the sales person never said anything about it even though I made it very clear that I was leery about buying a laptop with Vista and he explained how it's in the fine print on the back of the receipt. back the receipt?!!?! I've already bought the thing by the time I have the receipt. What good is telling me about it after I already purchased it? When I asked to speak to his supervisor, he hung up on me.

I told the manager to install Windows XP on it. Buying XP & having the meek squad install it had to be cheaper than the $280 they were going to charge me to return it. They wouldn't do it. They just kept telling me that there's no reason to do that because Vista is better. I told them I didn't care, I want to pay you to install Windows XP. Even though they had the software and a rate listed in their book to install the OS, they said they couldn't do it because that's not for new PCs. it's for PCs that are damaged and need a OS install. This laptop does not need one.

By this time, I'm pulling the few hair that I have left out of my head. This is all going down Wednesday night and I'm flying to Tampa in the morning. I don't have time to stand here dealing with all of this. The geek squad guy tells me that I should have had them optimize the laptop when I bought it. It's a $25 service they do to uninstall all the junk and set custom settings so the laptop runs smooth. I said fine do that. He took the laptop and essentially did nothing to it. Vista is so new, he didn't know what needed to be done. They usually run some software that changes settings but he didn't have one for Vista. He used the add/remove applet to uninstall 3 things. He was clear he had never been on a Sony with Vista and there was nothing he was going to be able to do to help me. When I asked him to uninstall Windows Defender, he did some crap to stop it from loading on startup. FYI, that doesn't work. All that did was give me errors every time I boot the computer. I've since found out that you can't uninstall it but you can turn it off. just start it up and change the options so nothing is automatic.

I called my credit card company and told them to stop the payment. Since I use a debit visa, it was too late. I left Best Buy with the laptop feeling completely disgusted with their company and my purchase. I figured, I see if I could get used to it. After all, it was good looking and I like the keyboard. I charged it all night, loaded my software and SFN stuff on it and left for Tampa. Sitting in the airport, I started installing some of the software. About 45 minutes into it, I noticed the little battery icon the the try was getting low. It said I only had 1 hour 45 minutes left of battery time. I'm not even on the plane yet!! I felt like throwing it across the airport. It just gets worse and worse. I picked it up and carried it over to a table near a receptacle. When I sat it down, it was off. When I started it back up, I got a black screen with white letters telling me there was an error and I didn't shut down correctly. I assumed I must have bumped the power button or something and ignored it. On the plane, I got that black screen 5 more times. Every time I'd pick it up or tilt it a little the thing crashed and shut down. What good is a laptop that you can't move? Worse yet, it's got a finger print reader so when I'd go to log back in, I had to tilt the laptop to get my finger in the right position to swipe it and that would be enough to turn it off again.

When I got the hotel, i plugged it in and turned it on. I got a message saying the hard drive had errors and it would take over and hour to fix it. I don't know if that fixed the problem with it shutting off or not because I'm afraid to move the laptop to see. I'm trying to upload the pics from last nights Killers of Comedy Show with Bubba & the crew and I'm having nothing but trouble. The WinXP image resizer power toy is not compatible with Vista. I tired using Paint Shop Pro but it's having issues too. I can resize the pics but saving them with the web optimizer fails. I'm very slowly getting some ready. oh, did I mention that Vista will corrupt your ipod too? Yep, when you go to disconnect it. Unfortunately, I didn't read about it until after I plugged my ipod in to the laptop to charge it. I felt like one of those bomb squad guys working on diffusing the bomb knowing that at any moment it could blow. After not finding any solutions that would work, I shut the laptop off and crossed my fingers. Once the computer was off, the ipod lit up and I was able to disconnect it without hurting it. FYI, you need to install the newest itunes and ALWAYS us itunes to eject the ipod. NEVER use windows to do it. Also, when I first plugged it in, Vista gave me an option to play the music with media player which I thought was very cool. meanwhile when it opened, none of the music was there. Just album art. What a mess.

Bottom line, I'm going to try and return it again when I get home. I may even take the $280 hit if it's my only option but it's complete bullshit. this thing is broken. It's not supposed to crash every time you tilt it 10 degrees. I'll probably order the Lenovo. Jaeger says I should grab an Alienware. who know. As long as it's not this. I may even resort to a Mac. I mean if I already have a laptop that completely incompatible with all my current software so what's the difference? The mac will at least let me install WinXP which ironically is something this Vista laptop won't.

sorry to here it man.... go with the mac....
i have the macbook pro 15.4" great!!! i hear the next version of software (due anytime now this spring) will have bootcamp which let's you run windows only if you choose (not a window in a window) boot camp is available now as a beta version, many people use...

apple also has a 13" macbook computer lighter and smaller, alittle less bells/whistles/punch but still great machine (got one for my wife, works great)....

good luck, return it take the hit, fuck them....

[VIP:TSS Taylor]

I bought a computer a few months ago about a week or two before Vista came out and have the option to put it on, but I guess it's pointless at this Juncture (bubba).

[Pendulus Frenulum]

Mutt, seriously, just F-disk the thing and wipe every remnant of Vista off of it. You should have no problem installing XP then. The processor shouldn't care what OS you have.

[KingOfAllMedia]

You could have a good case if you contact the atty. general in your area if you really want to pursue that their return policies are not clearly marked. People have done that here in CT and have won.

[Mutt]

Originally Posted by P-B

I'm not reading all that, but why would you have shopped at Best Buy in the first place? They suck donkey balls.

I know it's a long post. But I wanted to speel it all out and throw it on the homepage. I wanted it right now. it won't help me get rid of this thing but google will see it and maybe the next guy laptop shopping will give it a read.

as for why I shopped there, I was going on a trip and figured I might as well have my new toy with me. I should have just ordered it online. I usually hit Circuit City for this kind of thing but it was on sale at Best Buy.

[Jesters Angel]

Mutt did you even get a repair cd?

When I got Jesters laptop I didn't realize that there wasn't anything in the box except the laptop. I don't think he likes the Vista either, but he hasn't had the problems you are having either. Damn Best Buy.

If I were you I would just take the damn thing back and tell them to suck shit.
Best of luck.

[JamMasterJay]

Sorry to hear this, Mutt - I actually have a Sony Vaio that I bought late last year with an 11 inch screen that kicks ass, and is super reliable...but, it runs XP. From what I have read, Vista is just not worth the trouble at the moment. Bring that sucker back, and try and get one with XP - if I were you, I would just take the $280 hit, and tell Best Buy to kiss my ass on the way out with my new laptop.

[Mutt]

Originally Posted by Ginge

Mutt, instead of returning it, I'm sure one of us computer tech guys would happily install XP Pro for you. It sounds like your laptop is pretty solid on the hardware end, and Vista is your main problem. I suggest whiping the drive clean, install in XP Pro and then the programs you need. If you need any help, feel free to pm me. I have tried Vista and certainly feel your pain.

I search the net and everyone tell me that I won't be able to get winxp driver that work on this sony vaio. it's built for vista. at least that's the word on the net. I'm considering making the backup disks, formatting and giving it a shot. if it fails, i should at least be able to restore it.

[Ginge]

Originally Posted by Mutt

I search the net and everyone tell me that I won't be able to get winxp driver that work on this sony vaio. it's built for vista. at least that's the word on the net. I'm considering making the backup disks, formatting and giving it a shot. if it fails, i should at least be able to restore it.

I'm in tech support and that doesn't sound right to me, there should definitely be compatible drivers. I would check Sony's support website, find your model and check out the drivers. I would like to know what hardware drivers work with Vista only... that doesn't make sense.

[W00dYi]

VIAOs are good, but Vista SUCKS BALLS

[snake4812]

[W00dYi]

Get your PCs at Costco. You can return them for full purchase price for 90 days. You can just not like the thing!

Every non PC / TV can be returned at anytime for any reason! Can't beat that!

[havoc]

i dont get why ya jus cant delete da hard drive n install xp yo self? yo dont gotta buy XP, jus borrow the disk from one of ya homeboys. when it asks for a key you jus call microsoft and tell them your old computer broke an you installin xp on ya new computer. ive used da same copy of xp on like 6 computers.

[KingOfAllMedia]

Originally Posted by NICE

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH im on vacation and my new laptop broke WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAh

Ohhhh boy......