Others say...

"Hard drive issue"
Well, mine shows only one hard drive; a total of 141GB under my computer even though it shows both hard drives in BIOS. When I called the customer support numerous times, they all said different things but nothing they said resolved the issue. One guy said that the other hard drive is mirrored thats why it is not showing up and suggested me to perform the system recovery. I did that too, but it didn't work. Anybody else has/had the same issue? Or know how to resolve this issue? Other than this hard drive issue, everything is excellent.

"Sony wins again"
Im a SONY fan so this review will be a little bias. I traded my old SONY 15' in for this moblie desktop. The Blu-ray upgrade was very well priced, I believe the same model without it was $200 less.

Pro-
The Xbrite screen is clear and crisp. It makes me feel like im watching a plasma. Na, thats a push.
The factory 2 GB of RAM installed. Its good for gaming right out of the box.
The Blu-ray drive. If youve seen a Blu-ray movie, you already know its beautiful, if not, go buy one. Also, almost 70% of the movie industry is Blu-ray exclusive. HDDVD is going the way of ZIP drives.
Battery Life. I bought a extended battery and ive had it last aboout two and ahalf hours after a full charge. I did not buy the SONY version though, the compatable off factory one works and fits just the same for about $150 less.
The quick keys. You can control music and movies right from the keyboard, no need to click with the mouse. There are two "S" buttons on the keyboard also that you can use to control almost any program or app without having to go to the start menu.
The Motion Camera. Its intergrated on the laptop and its really clear for 1.3 MP. I use it to chat on Yahoo with no issues.

CONS

The mouse buttons. The weirdly placed on the end of the laptop. They feel like they will break off if you click them too hard.
The USB ports. There on the right side and for right handed people using a external mouse, you have to reach a lil to use it.
The Keyboard. Its placed a lil farther back then I like. My hands are small for a guy.
The battery life. This is why I bought the extended battery. The factory battery holds up for about 45-1 hour at the max. This is a beast of a laptop and you cant expect a regular battery to be able to handle a lot of work for a long time anyway.
Weight. Its heavy but its expected for this size.


I just bought my laptop a month ago and ive traveled to New Zealand and back without any major issue so far. Ill update this review later.

"A tale of two computers...."
I am in love with my Sony Vaio VGN-AR630E. It is fast, provides great graphis, and has just about any feature that you could possibly want it to have. I would definitley reccomend everyone to buy this computer based on its merit, functionality, and enjoyability.

HOWEVER, I have hit a couple of snags with it so far, that I think are more attributable to Windows than to the actual Vaio itself. For example, one of the main reasons why I bought this computer is because of the ability to play Blu-Ray DVD's. Well, low and behold, I am unable to play Blu-Ray DVD's on my computer. When I input the DVD, the software stays in "loading" mode and never plays the movie.

I called Sony Support and while they were very helpful, they didn't have a patch available to fix my problem. SO, I had to pay over $30 for a cd with the patch that is needed, which had to be ordered for me. Given that one of the main reasons why I bought the computer was to play Blu-Ray DVD's, I paid up. Needless to say though, I am not happy about it.

If you want to have a great computer, and don't mind messing with it and/or calling support once or twice, then this is a great computer for you to buy. On the other hand, if you believe that a $2, 000 computer shouldn't create any hassle for you, then you may want to pass this one up.

"Excellent Overall Value"
I bought this for a combination of work and media player. Excellent screen, quiet and runs much faster than previous laptops. Not much heavier despite the oversize 17" screen.

On the plus side, I was able to create a DVD from a mixture of PC video files in various formats (.avi, .mpg, .wmv) with absolute minimal learning curve.

Some niggles:
- the DVD opens to the side, which means the PC cannot be stored in a stereo rack hooked to an HDTV and used with a remote keyboard.
- the VGA port output is not recognized by the PC port on my Samsung HDTV so I need to diagnose or acquire an HDMI to DVI cable and try that.
- the keyboard is set towards the base of the screen back far from the edge of the PC, which means I rest my hands on the PC - not a very natural position for me. And, the mouse buttons are right on the front edge, far from the keyboard, and prone to being pressed by accident.
- Windows Vista seems to have compatibility issues with some XP software. I am adjusting to some replacement file managers, etc. Aside from being able to create DVD's I have not seen any benefits from Vista - so far I prefer XP and Vista has just been a nuisance - maybe I will learn to love it.
- no manual and it took me a while to find the diagram of the system showing all the ports. Yes, I still like books.
- laptop speaker volume and quality is poor.

Have not tried the Blu-Ray player yet.

"Sony VAIO VGN-AR650U 17" Laptop"
I received the Sony Laptop for my Christmas present. I love it. It replaced a very old laptop. The operating system -- Windows Vista Premium-- has worked without any problems. I turned it on, and it found the wireless connection right away. If you check around you will have a hard time finding another laptop for this price that offers the hard drive size and accessories this one offers. I love the HDMI connection; I can connect it to our TV and watch the items I have selected on my laptop on the TV. It's great for any TV shows you are downloading from the internet. You can also watch movies on your TV that you are playing from the DVD Drive.