The VAIO PCG-K45 notebook is beautifully designed and equipped with a 15.4" wide screen, XBRITE technology, integrated wireless capabilities and CD burning features. It's a totally versatile notebook that combines the technology you need for workday survival, plus the essential features to keep you entertained wherever you go.The VAIO PCG-K45 is a full-sized, portable notebook that comes loaded with features essential for everyday computing. Featuring Sony exclusive entertainment software like PictureGear Studio for your digital photos and SonicStage for your digital music.
Sleekly styled and comfortably ergonomic, Sony's K Series notebooks offer affordable, all-purpose portability for home computing, home office needs, and students. The PCG-K45 balances your productivity and entertainment needs, with an integrated 54G wireless LAN to keep you connected inside and outside your home and a suite of preloaded Sony multimedia applications for managing your digital audio and photo collections. Other features include a 15.4-inch XBRITE screen, 80 GB hard drive, 512 MB of installed RAM, a combo DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive, and a Memory Stick slot.
The Basics
- Hard Drive: The 80 GB hard drive is larger than the average notebook's, enabling road warriors more than enough capacity for storing documents, digital media files, and productivity software.
- Processor: The 3.2 GHz Mobile Intel Pentium 4 is a powerful processor that was designed to be used with notebooks used as a desktop replacement PC. It includes Intel's Enhanced SpeedStep technology, which helps cut the power used by the chip and conserves battery power. It has a front-side bus (FSB) of 533 MHz and a 1 MB L2 cache. (An L2, or secondary, cache temporarily stores data; and a larger L2 cache can help speed up your system's performance.)
- Memory: The 512 MB of installed RAM (2 x 256 MB, PC2100, 266 MHz DDR SDRAM) has become standard with notebooks, and it's a good start. But you'll want to take advantage of the 1 GB expandability to get the most out of this computer.
- CD/DVD Drive: The combo CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive can read CDs at 24x, write at 24x, and rewrite at 24x speeds. It can read DVDs at 8x.
- Keyboard & Mouse: This notebook has a standard 86-key keyboard with electrostatic touchpad.
Screen, Graphics and Sound The included ATI Radeon IGP 345M video/graphics card provides competent, but not overpowering, 3D graphics. It features 64 MB of shared video memory. This is taken from the main system memory, so you'll want to increase your RAM from the installed 512 MB if you plan on doing much gaming or video work. The enhanced widescreen format function (1280 x 800 pixels) lets you watch DVDs in full cinema mode as well as easily view spreadsheets and Web browsers side-by-side. It also offers an integrated audio card, built-in speakers, A/V connection out, and the ability to drive an external monitor.
Connectivity and Expansion Slots
This PCG-K45 model has an integrated 802.11g wireless LAN (which is compatible with the more widespread 802.11b and offers faster data transmission rates). You get a standard offering of connectivity options, including both high-speed USB 2.0 and FireWire:
- 3 USB 2.0 ports for connecting a wide range of peripherals--from digital cameras to MP3 players
- 1 FireWire (also known as IEEE 1394 or i.Link) port for connecting digital video camcorders and other peripherals
- 1 VGA monitor port
- 1 PCMCIA (or PC Card) slot (Type I/II)
- 1 headphone jack and 1 microphone jack
- 1 Memory Stick slot (Memory Stick Pro compatible)
It also has an integrated 56K modem (V.90) and an RJ-45 LAN network port (for a 10/100 Ethernet connection to networks and DSL/cable modems).
Preloaded System and Software
This system comes with the Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 operating system with Advanced Security Technologies, which helps to reduce unwanted downloads and pop-ups while surfing the Web. It also comes loaded with a bevy of Sony multimedia software: Vaio Zone with WinDVD (for watching DVD movies), PictureGear Studio (digital photo), SonicStage (digital music), Vaio Media (network file sharing), and DVgate Plus (digital video). Other preloaded software includes Quicken 2005 New User Edition, Microsoft Works 8.0 (with word processing, spreadsheet, and calendar), Norton Internet Security (with 90-day subscription), and SpySubtract.
Dimensions and Weight
Measuring 1.6-2.2 x 14.1 x 10.9 inches (H x W x D) and weighing 8.2 pounds, the PCG-K45 is bit larger than other notebooks in its range. It's best used as a desktop replacement while offering portability when you need it.
Power
The included rechargeable lithium-ion battery (PCGA-BP2NY) offers an average battery life range of 1.5 hours (depending on usage).
What's in the Box
This package contains the Sony Vaio PCG-K45 notebook PC, rechargeable lithium-ion battery, AC adapter, and operating instructions. It's backed by a 1-year warranty for parts and labor, and 1 year of toll-free phone support.
1 Good for home computing
I bought this computer as a desktop replacement. The major factor for choosing this computer is the extremely beautiful LCD display with it's XBrite Technology. Movies look great and pictures too. Major drawbacks for this notebook are it's bulkiness and very (and I mean very!) noisy fan. You need to play music while working so you could minimize the distraction that the fan could cause. This notebook is not meant for those seeking portable computing solution, you'll only be disappointed with the size, weight and the battery life. Otherwise, this notebook is great if you let it stay indoors and just keep it there plugged on your wall.
2 Sony Vaio Laptops, loud but good.
I'm very pleased with my Sony VAIO laptop. However, the fan noise is very loud. It sounds like a vacuum cleaner as many others have pointed out. On the other hand, it has been my experience (especially with HP) that Pentium 4 based laptops are normally loud, as the Pentium 4 chip heats up far more than Intel's other chip brands. If you want a quieter laptop, then I suggest a Centrino. They're lighter, quieter, cooler, and... slower.
If the fan noise bothers you while working at home, try this: put the laptop inside a duffle bag, leaving plenty of room inside for ventilation. Leave the top open slightly for heat to escape. Then, with the help of a cordless keyboard, mouse, and monitor extension cable, you can locate the laptop several feet away from you and still enjoy Pentium 4 speed on your desk top. This is obviously NOT a portable solution and defeats the point of a laptop, but it's for those who can't afford to buy 2 computers and still want peace & quiet away from the workplace.
3 laptop out of fashion
The laptop indeed has a good LCD monitor compared with HP laptop I owned before. But for sure it has several very obviously shortcomings:
1. too big battery, however, with a very short lifetime. That is really ridiculous. It looks like time past by at least twice faster as the one indicated on your screen.
2. A little bit noisy. You can not easily fall asleep with the laptop on overnight.
3. Too heavy laptop with very big size. I highly recommend ladies never use it.
4. my speaker was damaged by a little shock and never worked well after that. Possibly it has a poor protection on that connection.
4 Went back today!
Firstly, let me say this laptop has a great bright display and very fast processor. But it's VERY LOUD - sounded like a vacuum cleaner. Battery power was barely over 1 hour, it's very heavy and the AC adapter was way too short...
Too bad i had to pay a 15% restocking fee to find all this out.
5 Excellent Notebook
Reinstall original configuration, I don't know why it does not work well the first time, next erase all garbage software and you have and excellent, fast and incredible notebook.
I'm and developer and my wife is architect and we love it.
Cons:
-You need to burn the recovery Cds.
-A little noisy.
-Could be a nightmare if you try to change the OS.
6 Great!
I own this computer, and I don't have any complaints besides the fact that the battery life is kind of short. Besides that, it is a great item!
7 best value around
If the video quality won't blow you away, maybe the onboard goodies will. I bought mine out the door for $1399.00. Memory Stick slot is a plus since I have Sony PDA and digital camera. One downside though: battery life only lasts 1.5 hours approx. Only if it came with Intel Centrino which only uses a fraction of power that Pentium 4 uses. Overall, it's the best value around.
8 Too loud for quiet home use
I initially purchased the K45 to replace my home desktop. It was purchased for its brand, style and performance. However, I noticed the fan noise was too intrusive. Noise level was loud enough to make other people notice. The bulky design was also disappointing.
The store had no problem exchanging K45 because it had a defective pixel in the screen as well.
K45 was exchanged for FS550 which I am very happy with.
