Question about Vaio notebooks.

My gf wants to buy one but is wondering when she needs to use the docking station. Can you be on the Internet without the docking station? What's the exact purpose of the docking station?

 

[ieee]

you dont need the docking station..

its pretty much useless.

 

[kimagurealex]

the battery life is really not that impressive with VAIO laptop. even the one with 12.1 screen PIIi 750, it is still 2 hrs max battery life. If u ever get the ALL IN WONDER version VAIO laptop, it will be less than 1 hrs 20 mins for sure.
Alex

 

[Slugbait]

If the laptop comes with a built-in NIC and/or modem, you don't need a docking station to connect to the 'net. You can also connect using 802.11 (need a wireless card and network for this). Don't count on Bluetooth...it was supposed to be built into laptops in the near-future, but it's essentially dead tech now.

The docking station, depending on the model of laptop, provides several conveniences. For example, you may have only an internal modem on the laptop, while the docking station has a NIC. Or the station can have a static setup with a regular keyboard, mouse and monitor, so it can simulate a regular desktop PC when you're at your desk. If you have hot-swap drives with only one bay, you can leave the floppy drive in the laptop while the CD or DVD is in the docking station. The docking station would also provide non-battery power, and/or serve as a recharging station.

Another thing to note is that current VAIOs don't appear to support IR...a co-worker of mine can't find his port, anyway...if this is needed (such as for phones, PDA's, etc) you might consider a different brand.

 

[joohang]

You mean the SlimDock for R505?

I didn't get it. It just provides me a DVD drive and I already have one on my Duron rig any ways. 🙂 Other than that, it is only a matter of convenience to plug things in easily when you come home. For $300 or so, though, I'd rather just plug in the keyboard, mouse and Ethernet cable manually. 🙂

 

[joohang]

And if you got the budget, I suggest a second double-capacity battery. Or at least just upgrade the existing one.

I suggest getting a second battery though. Just put it in the laptop case and you'll have at least 6 hours of battery life on the road.

 

[Dufusyte]

They have a modem in the regular unit, so you do not need the docking station to be online.

However, if you need an ethernet port (like for dsl), then you need the docking station. (at least on the model that has the docking station; Sony has other VAIO's without a docking station (the FX series) which have ethernet built into the base unit).

 

[joohang]

R505 does have an Ethernet port without the SlimDock.

It's integrated with i815EM chipset.

 

[zlooop]

Go with the IBM x21 or X20 ... those are the coolest and most reliable portables...

 

[vetteguy]

<< the battery life is really not that impressive with VAIO laptop. even the one with 12.1 screen PIIi 750, it is still 2 hrs max battery life. If u ever get the ALL IN WONDER version VAIO laptop, it will be less than 1 hrs 20 mins for sure.
Alex >>



What model are you talking about? I have an SR-17 and with the processor throttled back to 550MHz I can get over 4 hours out of it. New VAIOs have very good battery life, maybe you're thinking of some of the older models, which had pretty lousy battery life.

 

[joohang]

12.1" screen likely refers to R505.

SR is much better with battery life because it uses a lower voltage Intel CPUs and has 10.4" screen. The SuperSlim Pro series are probably the worst ones in the VAIO series in terms of battery life.