Hey, Sony! Get Real!

Posted on: August 13th, 2008

I just can’t get over my suprise on Sony’s business practices in regards to its VAIO laptop line (there might be other areas, but I know only about this one)

Here’s the story:

A guy contacted me asking to help fix his Sony Vaio PCG-GRT 390ZP laptop, the CD/DVD drive was not working on it. So I went online and started looking. I found 2 places that claimed to have the right part (factory direct). First place had it for “only”: ~$730. Second place had a “sale” for ~$450. Unfortunatey there wasn’t any on Ebay for sale.

Now, if I didn’t know much about how laptops are built I might have bought the idea that’s just how it is. But I do know that laptops have a standardized interface for CD and DVD and even the form factor of the drive is standardized (so called slimline). The only difference that makes a CD/DVD drive specific to a machine is the face plate. Each one has a slightly different curve and shape so that it is nicely follow the lines of the laptop and don’t stick out somewhere.

So I went on my favorite online hardware store (newegg.com ) , and looked up how much a slimline DVD ROM/CD Burner combo drive would cost. Ironically the one I found was a Sony, but this one was sold for around $60.

I just keep thinking how, in the hell, a drive that costs about $30 to make becomes $730, or even $450. It must have its faceplate, or some parts made out of pure gold or platinum. No other reasonable explanation I can think at the moment. The “unreasonable” explanation is that Sony is trying to make some real big bucks on the customers.

I also noticed that Sony does not provide parts directly from its website. Previously I’ve spent some time trying to find a motherboard for a Sony VAIO – without luck I must say. Dell on the other hand gives a very user friendly parts store, which has almost everything needed to fix a computer and at very reasonable prices too. Sony must be using a dealership network that jacks the prices up incredibly.

Even though I really like the VAIO laptops’ design and performance. I just can’t recommend anyone to buy one because something eventually will break and fixing it would might easily cost just as much as a new computer.

Go with a Dell. I have a 95% positive experience with them. A lot higher than any other computer manufacturer. (They are not paying me anything to say this. It’s an unsolicited recommendation).

Laszlo

Did you find this information useful?
Please consider donating.

You can leave a comment for the above article. Comments will not show up automatically but will be reviewed and incorporated into the article if they contain useful information.

cforms contact form by delicious:days