I am replacing my Vaio SA3 and I am leaning towards the duo 13. I have read all the paged in this thread and still have a few questions. I hope that someone will be kind enough to answer the following for me:
1- There has been a lot of talk about the Wi-Fi issue, is it still present in the machines that have arrived (custom build) within last few days? (whilst talking to the Sony Uk sales, I was told that they have tweaked something in the new machines, but I know that sales people have their own pressures to shift the units and to meet targets)
==> HUGE PROBLEMS AND SONY DO NOT EVER CALL BACK. THEY ARE TRYING TO IGNORE THE PROBLEM. SHAME ON SONY.
2- Does Adobe Acrobat standard comes loaded (full version, not the trial version)? If yes, which one?
==> NOPE
3- With regards to using the digitiser to take notes, would that work with the word 2010 (part of Office 2010 professional, with or without a patch) or would I have to get a more up to date version of office software?
==> NO IT DOES NOT. YOU CAN USE EITHER ONE NOTE, OR IT COMES WITH "NOTE ANYTIME FOR VAIO" WHERE YOU CAN ANNOTATE PDF DOCUMENTS WITH STYLUS. BUT THIS APPLICATION IS VERY UNSTABLE, OFTEN CRASHING AND OFTEN RFUSING TO OPEN PDF FILES CLAIMING THEY ARE CORRUPTED. WHEN IT WORKS IT IS GOOD.
==> FORGET ABOUT USING OFFICE 2010 WITH STYLUS.
4- My SA has a terrible problem with the fan going mad for no reason and making too much noise, what is the fan like on duo 13?
==> NO ISSUES SO FAR
5- My current SA is black and is terrible for finger marks, what is the black version of Duo like? (marks on the other parts apart from the screen)..
==> IT IS ALL RIGHT.
BIG WARNING: DUO 13 IS SHIPPED WITH MCAFEE ITNENRET SECURITY INSTALLED WHIHC CAN BE UPGRADED TO FULL VERSION UPON PAYMENT. IT CLAIMS TO WORK AND SHOWS UPDATES AND SECURITY. HOWEVER IT IS CONSTANTLY ASKING TO REBOOT MACHINE, AD INFINITUM.
MACAFEE CLAIM THIS IS BECAUSE WINDOWS 8 PRO IS NOT SUPPORTED, AND THE FACT THAT SONY INSTALL IT, YOU PURCHASE A SUBSCRIPTION, AND IT SEEMS TO WORK DOES NOT MEAN THAT IT WORKS AND PROTECTS YOUR COMPUTER.
IN ADDITION, NOTE THAT DUO 13 HAS HUGE PROBLEMS WITH SET UP. IT WILL MOST LIKELY STOP YOU FROM MAKING ABCKUP MEDIA AS THE VAIO SOFTWARE ON IT WILL BE OUT OF DATE, AND YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO UPDATE IT AS SONY SERVERS ARE UNABLE TO RECOGNISE NEW DUO 13 MACHINES FOR A COUPLE OF MONTHS. THIS MEANS YOU WILL HAVE TO CALL SONY AND SPEND A FEW HOURS TRYING TO RESOLVE PROBLEMS.
DUO 13 IS A GREAT IDEA LET DOWN BY SOME SERIOUS PROBLEMS LIKE ABOVE. I HAVE WASTED 2,000 POUNDS ON MINE, AND ABOUT 60 DAYS TRYING TO GET THE MACINE TO WORK - EVEN IT STAFF INDEPENDENTLY CONTRACTED HAVE SPENT A FEW WEEKS, ONLY TO SHOW ME THAT MOST OF THE ISSUES ON THE SONY DUO 13 ARE NOT PRESENT ON OTHER WINDOWS 8 PRO MACHINS. WHETHER THIS IS FROM COMPROMISED SECURITY AND SYSTEM CORRUPTION DUE TO MCAFEE ANTIVIRUS IS HARD TO SAY.
EVEN NOW I AM WAITING FOR CALL BACK FROM SONY, BUT NO NOTING. THEY ARE OVER AN HOUR LATE WTH THE PROMISED CALL BACK, PLUS PROBLEMS REPORTED ABOUT WIFI, WITH PROMISED PHONE CALLS HAVE NEVER MATERIALISED EVEN AFTER WEEKS.
The Du 13 with Windows 8 pro, 512GB SSD driver and 8GB RAM was supposed to make my life easier. It has only made it miserable and caused huge losses in terms of time and missed opportunity costs.
Thank you in advance for your replies.
