Sony VAIO PCG-FX109K Review

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Sony VAIO PCG-FX109K
3.5 stars
Average rating for this product is: 3.5 out of 5

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charms's Review of Sony VAIO PCG-FX109K Laptop

31st Oct 2003

Overall Rating

3.5 stars
  • Value for money
    2.5 stars
  • Quality
    4 stars
Good Points

Great Screen; Super Sharp SXGA (1400x1050)
Combo CD-Writer, DVD-ROM
Solid PC replacement
Nice bundled multimedia software (Adobe PS elements, and Premiere LE...)


Bad Points

In eariler models the motherboard seems to have adesign fault (in some, depending on the revision) The problems included; it did not recognise all available memory (512MB)
CPU overheated and the system shuts down.
Too many BIOS updates.

3yr extended warranty was a must.

You can be almost count on the I/O prot door breaking off.


General Comments

This Sony PCG-FX109K is a solid unit, and it was top of the range in 2001.

Intel 815EM Chipset (700-1000Mhz)
850Mhz - Intel PIII Mobile Speedstep Tecnology
128MB - PC100 RAM (expandable to 512MB)
CD-RW + DVD ROM (Matsushita UJDA710) - Region 2
15" SXGA - 1400 x 1050
Floppy Drive - 1.44MB
Touchpad (the best i've worked on)
2 x USB, 1 x firewaire, 1P, 1S
1 x 10/100Mb Intel network card
Video out
Speaker / Headphone out
2 x PCMCIA I/II Slots
Memory stick slot
v90 Fax/Modem
W2K Pro OS
Second battery adaptor (slots in where floppy plugs in, no second battery).

Recovery CD's

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Members' Comments oncharms's Review

  • afrocub Rank: Lance Corporal on 23rd Dec 2003

    I have a FX108, similar model without the CD rewriter, which has been used as a back up to the main PC for 2 years. One major problem was the DVD Rom suddenly stopped working and after paying Sony £12 to ring their helpline as no other outlet seems able to repair Sonys, they took it off me, told me that the hard disk needed replacing aswell as the DVD Rom and wanted over £400.

    The stand off lasted 2 months and in the end I had to give in, it was just out of warranty, and got a paltry 10% off the bill. The machine came back with an inability to recognise half its RAM and Sony have washed their hands of the problem.

    I will say nice machine, the review author is correct in saying that an extended warranty is a must but Sony are terrible and when this one needs replacing I will go to Dell. No that is not a misprint.

  • phulla on 6th Mar 2006

    I have the FX108 and fortunately had no problems with it since i bought it in 2001. It is now displaying the SMART error message at boot up and i am considering replacing the HDD if it is cheap and easy enough, otherwise just scrapping it. I also have a A497XP Vaio and it is bad. It takes forever to boot up (upgraded to 2G RAM), i mean it takes about 8 minutes before i can use it. The battery packed up within 5 months and the DVD writer packed up in 6 months (and i hardly used the DVD writer). Now i am struggling to reject the laptop and get my money back from www.TECHNOWORLD.com and Sony just won't help other than me having to send the laptop to them for repair. I will be seriously considering a machine that does not use any parts as the Sony Vaio's. I know some of the DELL's use the Sony DVD writer!!! Though the DELL was 1 machine i was considering.