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Entered CNET Catalog: 02/20/2004
SKU: 0027242642560
Manufacturer: Sony Electronics, Inc.
Manufacturer description
The PCG-K15 has it all: Sony Quality, Sony Performance, Sony Style, and an affordable price. Burn DVD movies, connect wirelessly, watch videos or DVDs on an amazingly vivid XBrite screen, and store huge amounts of data and media. The PCG-K15 is the latest in style and usability, and priced for any budget.Product summary
The good: Big 15-inch display; multiformat DVD+RW/-RW drive; 802.11b/g wireless.
The bad: Slow performance; giant AC adapter.
The bottom line: Other mainstream notebooks, such as the Toshiba Satellite A45, offer more bang for the buck than the Sony VAIO K series does.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 User Rating: 
7/10
The Cindy Crawford of Laptops!
Pros: Super Fast, Feature-Rich, and Solid
Cons: GIGANTIC AC Adapter, Low Battery Life
User Rating: 
2/10
Totally Disappointed!
Pros: Great Screen size and brightness, 60Gb hard drive, with wireless. Geat paper weight.
Cons: Heavy, power adapter way too big, restore disk is useless
But the thing just WON'T WORK! It has to go back for service 3 times in year. In the amount of time that I have been out on the road; and the computer had to wait until I could return to ship it off (of which I had to pay) and unable to really use the computer. I would generously say that I have used the K15 a total of...3 months.
That really is unacceptable! I even bought a Sony digital camera, so I could take pictures and just move the duo stick from camera to Vaio. But I am unable to use it now.
What's more when I asked about all the repairs (all three are documented with Sony and me)and suggested that I reallt want to return it it I was sent to Sonystyle, who in turn said no because I didn't buy it from them, but from a store. Well, you can imageine what the store said? They too said no. But offered to send it in for repair.
I didn't buy an extended warrenty to actually have a relationship with the repair department...it was more like 'just in case'.
I am totally disappointed about this product. I have always purchased Sony, from my younger days with VHS tapes and machines and digital 8mm video and CD and DVD players (studio qulaity). Now? Once bitten, twice shy. If anyone has advice on how it get this computer refunde...I am all ears.
User Rating: 
1/10
Embarrassing Battery Life
Pros: Screen, packed with extras
Cons: I get 30 mins on a full battery charge
michael_d_rees@yahoo.com
User Rating: 1/10
K17 - Worst computer I've ever owned
Pros: Nice screen
Cons: Unreliable, power problems, poor customer service, nightmare voice recognition system on the support line
The next service took another 7-10 days and this time they wiped out my hard drive.
The machine worked for another month or two and then died again with the same problem.
This time I asked for a new machine. They sent a refurbished machine after about another 7-10 days and would only give me 6 months warranty on it (and initially only offered 3.)
The AC adapter looked dusty and dirty. When I plugged it in, it was broken. The computer had no way to be charged.
They offered to ship another adapter, but I don't think this is acceptable. They seem to have quality control problems.
Getting to support was difficult because it instructs you to get the model number from the bottom. The bottom has a model number, but it doesn't match the model that's on the inside. If you give the one on the bottom, the voice system will tell you the machine is out of warranty and leave you no way to reach a human.
I've sent snail mail to the CEO of Sony but had no response.
This is the worst piece of electronic equipment I've ever bought. Not recommended.
User Rating: 7/10
Heavy, Low Battery, but what a screen!!!
Pros: Love the screen (15.4 in of perfect color), great for movies, games, surfing. The DVD RW works great. Roomy HD, and I really like the PictureGear software, great photo organizer
Cons: Yes, it is heavy, battery life is poor. I travel the world and have alway been able to find a plug to get juice in airports, and who really works on a plane these days. Click to DVD software poor.
User Rating: 
5/10
Starting to Crap itself...
Pros: Nice Screen. Decent Keyboard Feel. Looks nice. Mem Stick port
Cons: My Wirless Card is starting to "hang up" randomly. My batt charger already took a crap. Best Buy replaced it just because they happened to have one form a return in the back{thanks Geek Squad}. They want two weeks to send out to get WiFi card looked at af
User Rating: 
6/10
Very good Machine
Pros: Screen, performance, desing, color
Cons: Mouse make a terrible noise when you press it. Battery life is weak
User Rating: 
9/10
Best 15+" widescreen LCD! laptop
Pros: Great 15" Sony XBrite LCD Pretty fast vs. 3.0 desktop Plenty of ports Good DVD+/-RW Reasonable weight (except pow brick)
Cons: Haven't found many yet--surprised DVD+/-RW is slow Power brick is huge
User Rating: 7/10
Replacement Desktop
Pros: Extremly powerful PC with all the bells and wistles. Would recommend as a replacement PC
Cons: Battery is terrible, they say 2.5 hours, but it is more like 55 minutes. Also 8 pounds may not seem like a lot for first time notebook buyers, but it is really heavy.
User Rating: 9/10
K-37 Has What I need
Pros: Excellent display, sleek design and overallperformance make this an excellent machine. Desktop replacement not made for extreme battery life. Fast and reliable,
Cons: None so far
User Rating: 7/10
perfect for school
Pros: is powerful and fast,large screen with a great picture, full keybored, cd and dvd burner although I havent figured out how to burn a dvd from another dvd yet its a great deal for the price
Cons: heavy, short battery life, and sometimes the touchpad doesnt work, but not for very long I bought a mouse that works great this is not for someone that wants to bring it with them everywhere
User Rating: 1/10
Stay Away! There are better laptops out there!
Pros: Decent Screen Decent build quality Looks OK
Cons: Overpriced Poor performance for desktop replacement Heavy for performance you get Extreemly unstable after only 7 months
User Rating: 9/10
Great desktop replacement, Xbrite is unbelievable
Pros: The screen is awesome and it's a very powerful machine as well. I've used to give several presentations and never had any problems at all (my Mac friends are envious). I've even had several computer techs amazed at the screen's quality. Wireless and DVD-R
Cons: None that shouldn't be expected - weight and battery life can't be avoided in a powerful desktop replacement - that's what centrino is for.
User Rating: 
8/10
Great All Purpose Notebook
Pros: DVD-RW, 512MB RAM, XBRITE, WI-FI. This is a great notebook for someone who doesn't have alot of money to spend on a computer and still needs a machine that can perform well. The graphics card is very good for this machine. I can play just about any game w
Cons: Battery life isn't that good. But then again, it has a P4 and XBrite. Speakers are not that good. I was expecting better sound since it is Sony we are talking about here.
User Rating: 
4/10
All show no go!!
Pros: Its a got the sony brandname.
Cons: I had a sony laptop. in the very first week the left speaker inexplicably conked out. then after some time i started to have problems with the DVD drive. It would not read discs and even when it did it was impossible to do anything with it. I constantlt t
User Rating: 8/10
SONY Notebooks are great
Pros: Beautiful styling and high quality assembly. Right features, beautiful screen, fast processor, DVD burning, 512mb memory, big hard disk, great sony bundled software.
Cons: Short battery life.
User Rating: 8/10
A powerful desktop replacement.
Pros: K23 Fast processing with an incredible screen. Excellent WiFi range, and solid locking on the wireless signal. Plenty of warning given in battery is about to run out.
Cons: None so far.
User Rating: 5/10
Great looking, bad battery life, not portable
Pros: I love My Vaio despite all its flaws... I bought it primarily because of its display. I love the screen...its like watching tv...
Cons: The battery life really REALLY sucks...i'd say after an hour, i'll need to plug it in. This for sure a desktop replacement, absolutely not mobile because of battery life + size.
User Rating: 9/10
Fantastic notebook
Pros: Wow ! Xbrite rocks ! This is one of the best notebooks around in style, brightness and features along with some great software. I compared several notebooks. Sure centrino has a longer battery life but the quality on this notebook is like driving a BMW. B
Cons: battery life, when compared to centrino's. Nothing surprising.
User Rating: 8/10
well worth it an some
Pros: p4 280hz is excellent! I debated and tried another brand w/ the centrino and found the P4 to be much faster especially on PhotoShop applications and anything and everything to do with digital photography. Sure, the centrino may save in battery life but i
Cons: A bit weighty, but thats expected for a full option all-in-one laptop anyways.
User Rating: 1/10
Poor performance, too many problems
Pros: Screen
Cons: Slow, even after reformatting. Technical faults after only 4 months.
User Rating: 9/10
All "fluff" no performance!
Pros: If worked as advertised, it would be ideal.
Cons: Does not live up to its own advertising. Rotten, short of criminal negligence, technical support. Sony is lucky that Columbia Pictures makes up for the Vaio (Vile?) laptop lost profits.
User Rating: 9/10
Great buy... Great Monitor.. Great Machine
Pros: Powerful, very user friendly, the screen is the best EVER!, software is great, sound is excellent, DVD playback is great, for a monster of a machine the power available is top-notch, Never gets warm on the top of the laptop, Doesn't come with junk program
Cons: Heavy (as mentioned with ALL desktop replacements); Warms up quite a bit when using as a "laptop". Power Cord really is too darn big so it makes buying a case a little difficult.
User Rating: 8/10
Great College Laptop
Pros: awesome in-screen picture, powerful at 2.8 Ghz, good keyboard, good plug and play features (just plugged in and used wireless mouse), built in wireless, wired ethernet network ports very useful!
Cons: a bit heavy at 7.3 lbs, lithium ion battery lasts 1-1.5 hours max!
User Rating: 8/10
Best Bang For The Bucks
Pros: I'm so happy with the first one I bought a second one for my wife. The x-brite screen is the best on the market hands down! 3 usb 2.0 ports, i-link, dvd burner, what more could you ask for? The Click To DVD worked perfect with my Sony TRV 350 camcorder. T
Cons: None. This is a desktop replacement. So yes, it is larger and heavier than a notebook and the battery life is shorter. About 1 hr 45 mins. If you're going to be working out in the field away from an electical oulet get another battery or look elswhere.
User Rating: 7/10
Excellent notebook, purchase an extra battery
Pros: Processor, Xbrite screen, memory stick
Cons: Battery life sucks
User Rating: 8/10
Buy It For the Display
Pros: As everyone indicates the xbrite screen with "blow you away". I bought for that single reason and would buy it again for the same reason.
Cons: Battery life and weight are not optimal but that isn't why I choose this model.
User Rating: 
3/10
Unless you just want movies and email, stay away
Pros: DVD+/-Rw combo drive, quiet, the Xbriet screen is nice
Cons: Low battery life, pathetic performance for anything demanding graphics(Can't even run Warcraft 3 at 800x600x16 very well), comes bloated with programs(AoHell anyone?)
User Rating: 7/10
Very sturdy & complete labtop
Pros: It is my first 3Ghz labtop, and boy it is fast! It serves me for everything. Does DVD burning without problems, the pioneer cd burner drive works excellent with DVD X Copy! I'm not much into games, but it is able to handle Quake3 arena, and Half-life 3d e
Cons: Obviously the size is big, and battery sucks. My integrated wireless card seems to hang after a while of use. I don't know why, i'd have to turn it off and then back on. Maybe needs some warranty repair. Anyone need advise or help on the K series, I'm an
User Rating: 5/10
Average Product - There are better Alternatives
Pros: Bright Screen OK Performance DVD Burner
Cons: Size/Weight vs Performance Battery Life (~1 hour) Screen Contrast
User Rating: 2/10
Nice to be able to see :)
Pros: The screen, it's great. I can see it clearly in broad daylight with polorized sunglasses on ! Fast P4. I really like it, dispite all cons.
Cons: Battery life. it's not like you can go out a buy a heavy duty or extra life battery, the battery it comes with is already hitting the edge. The power pack is huge. Owner's manual and "Help" useless. Case is Blah. it would have been simple to put WiFi in
User Rating: 7/10
Great Display but energy hungry
Pros: The 15 inch display on the K13 is the feature that attracted me. The brightness and clarity is really exceptional. The large keyboard is more ergonomical than most. Sony practically provides too much A/V software with this laptop. It took me a while to fi
Cons: Nothing unexpected here...Low battery life will definitely limit the usefulness if you are one that plans to be away from AC for long. That combined with its bulkiness does not suit the K series for true mobility. I dinged Sony on the support side due to
User Rating: 8/10
Two words: Xbrite Display!
Pros: The Xbrite display must be seen to appreciate. In my opinion it beats other laptops hands down. This laptop comes with 512 MB RAM, 60 GB hard drive, and a dual format DVD burner, which works flawlessly. Also, has two special key combos for controling v
Cons: A bit heavy at 7.3lbs. Battery life short at 2.5 hours but average for laptops with a P4 2.80 processor. AC/DC converter not available for the K series, nor recommended by SONY. It's an extra battery or AC charges where ever you can find an outlet. Bus
User Rating: 8/10
Great looking, and workds well
Pros: First, this xbrite screen is the best I have seen on a laptop. The speed is nice, and love the integrated wireless. Kensington wireless mouse works great, burner works great too.
Cons: Like everyone else, battery life is weak. People have to be computer stupid to not be able to hook up a wireless mouse. Buy a descent one. I don't like all the sony junk that it came with but, if you are looking for a all around laptop get this one!
User Rating: 8/10
Superb Cost/Benefit Ratio
Pros: I have found the Sony Vaio PCG-K13 to be an excellent compromise between a desktop replacement and a laptop. Weighing in at 7.3 pounds, it is fairly portable, and sports an excellent 15" screen. Sony engineers developed the X-Brite LCD technology which al
Cons: The negatives? One is short battery life, understandable when feeding a 2.8 Ghz. Pentium 4 processor. Squeezing two hours from the battery would be the most you can expect from this unit. For me, however, this is not a problem - I am rarely away from an A
User Rating: 4/10
Took it Back
Pros: Great screen size and resolution. Wireless mode worked excellent.
Cons: Low Battery Life (1.5 to 2 hrs) System would not recognize the wireless mouse, Digital camera when I plugged them into the 3 usb ports from shutdown. Support really sucked. No phone # in owners manual and I typed in my problem with online support 3 times
User Rating: 7/10
Great desktop replacement fab screen!
Pros: XBrite screen has to be seen to be believed, it blows away the competition. Built-in wireless and TV-out. Very quiet operation. Nice touchpad. 3 USB 2.0 ports and firewire. DVD player is awesome, nice audio too. Battery lasts 3 hours in regular use.
Cons: None - I love this notebook!
User Rating: 
10/10
If your hard disk crashes, it's trash.
Pros: I was fairly impressed with this notebook - untill...
Cons: When I opened the brand new box, there was only an AOL CD in it. No Windows XP disk, no hardware drivers, no "Recovery Disk"(which Sony says is available for purchase. So basically, if the hard disk fails for some reason, or you simply want to re-instal
User Rating: 7/10
A good "Electronic Appliance"
Pros: It is a good electronic appliance and an average computer. Extremely good screen quality: play a DVD with this XBrite screen then with a normal LCD, and you'll notice a HUGE difference in color as well as contrast. You are sacrifacing some computer perfo
Cons: There appears to be a performace "bottle neck". There are "lags" during the playback of compressed music files during multitasking, and during playback of compressed video in full screen mode. The CPU and memory were not overloaded; I suspect the "memory
User Rating: 8/10
Very powerful but had downsides
Pros: Powerful, excellent display (you need to see it to beleive it), DVD-RW is always good, very fast 533KHz front end bus meaning your processing is much much faster. Wireless and VGA out to TV are excellent features which makes this stand out. 3 USB ports /
Cons: A bit heavy at 7.3 lbs (but this model is a targetted desktop replacment and not an ultra-portable) and is lighter than a lot of desktop replcement models around. Is a bit huge in construction but is very neat and modern to look at (silver coloured). Sony
User Rating: 2/10
not worth $1400
Pros: none
Cons: Pentium 4 chip kills battery life. Go with an IBM R50 - much better performance, and support in the USA, unlike Sony.
User Rating: 5/10
Nice features
Pros: Nice features for the price..15inch screen..DVD-rewritable drive on a $1400 computer.
Cons: "7.3 pounds, it's easier to lug around than some huge desktop replacements," No need for this weight. The 17inch Powerbook is lighter than this. May as well include a ball and chain. Oh yea, it comes with windows....the worst, most proprietary OS on the m
