Sony Vaio VPC-S111FM Laptop/Notebook

I purchased this item used. I was a little skeptical because of all the negative reviews, but I prepared to have to buy a new one if this didn't work out. However, I have no complaints. It's still under warranty so it's not very old.

I wanted a laptop that was upgradable, fast, and had a backlit keyboard. I got all that. It's small enough to carry around and surprisingly light to have an optical drive. I don't see the complaint about it being cheap. I'm not planning on throwing it around so I don't see why a plastic case would matter. My last laptop was plastic and I passed it on to a friend after 4 years, just because I wanted newer features. I believe this one will last me as long or longer.

Cons: I guess the backlit keyboard. I wish it would stay on until I turned it off. The illumination goes off pretty quickly so I have to find a button that will not cause the curser to move. I'm hoping to find a way to adjust this feature. I haven't spend much time looking yet.

For a small package, I'm happy with the performance compared to a larger screen laptop. I came down from a 15.6" laptop and I use a 19" monitor with my desktop and the size of this screen is not irritating or frustrating like I thought it would be. Other than the short illumination time for the keyboard, I think it's perfect for my needs as a full-time student and small business owner. It goes where I want it and does what I ask of it.

I bought this product to replace a 5+ year old VAIO that was beginning to overheat. I wanted the speed of an i5 and a decent price, but also relatively light. After a month of heavy use, this computer has satisfied my needs very well. The only thing I don't like about it is that the touchpad is very sensitive, both to the touch itself as well as the area touched. I've done a few accidental moves and selections that I've had to go back and undo.

Overall, an excellent computer at a very reasonable price.

The computer has plenty of pep due to the i5 processor coupled with the 4GB of RAM. On top of that, it supports the Netgear Push2TV adapter, which is nice, because you can toss it into any laptop bag without issue. Heat management is quite good.