Buying a Sony laptop -- software on CD?

I am considering buying a Sony S5MS laptop. Does it normally come with
backup Windows CD(s), or do I have to create my own?

--
Ian

news wrote:
I am considering buying a Sony S5MS laptop. Does it normally come with
backup Windows CD(s), or do I have to create my own?

If it's the same as my Wife's Vaio, you end up sitting in front of the
damn thing for an hour or so with a pile of blank CDs or DVDs, burning
the night away.

"Linker3000" wrote in message
...

news wrote:
I am considering buying a Sony S5MS laptop. Does it normally come with
backup Windows CD(s), or do I have to create my own?

If it's the same as my Wife's Vaio, you end up sitting in front of the
damn thing for an hour or so with a pile of blank CDs or DVDs, burning the
night away.

It's normally only 2 standard dvd's for the last 2 vaios I have purchased
(or one double sided disc), and I don't remember it taking an hour.

In message , Adrian Boliston
writes
"Linker3000" wrote in message
...

news wrote:
I am considering buying a Sony S5MS laptop. Does it normally come with
backup Windows CD(s), or do I have to create my own?

If it's the same as my Wife's Vaio, you end up sitting in front of the
damn thing for an hour or so with a pile of blank CDs or DVDs, burning the
night away.

It's normally only 2 standard dvd's for the last 2 vaios I have purchased
(or one double sided disc), and I don't remember it taking an hour.



That's all very well, but what do you do if your machine dies, you
attempt to rebuild it with the disks you created, and only then discover
that the disks are bad? Does Sony say anything about this?

(I am used to buying Dells, which come with all the restore disks).

--
Ian

news wrote:

That's all very well, but what do you do if your machine dies, you
attempt to rebuild it with the disks you created, and only then discover
that the disks are bad? Does Sony say anything about this?

After the hassle I had with Sony's support a few years back (I had
s/ware problems with a camcorder firewire interface) I'd not rely on
Sony supporting anything. I'm afraid the Sony Centre where I'd bought
the kit was /way/ out of its depth, and yet Sony insisted the problem
was the shop's to solve. Not helpful. Between that and the rotten
design of the Sony minidisk player I bought last year and the foul-up
that constitutes SonicStage, I'd never, ever trust Sony again. They
/used/ to be good - 30 years ago :-)

Caveat emptor.

--
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Mike Scott Harlow Essex England.(unet -a-t- scottsonline.org.uk)

On Fri, 24 Feb 2006 16:40:44 -0000, news wrote:

I am considering buying a Sony S5MS laptop. Does it normally come with
backup Windows CD(s), or do I have to create my own?


I would never buy a Vaio again, after their revcovery disk shambles. The
Vaio's are not cheap, and you have to burn your own Windows DVD (2x), your
machine is loaded to the brim with useless crap software, including Norton
GoSlow and trial versions of Adobe HangUp, all of which (natrually, due
to Sony bundling tie-ins) fails to un-install, and all of which is
included in your recovery disk forever. Not a pleasant experience :-(

My Dell it replaced had a Windows CD, Sony refuse to provide me with one
for my laptop. It's not the Genuine CD that bothers me, it's the fact I
am forced to take the lashed up excuse Sony call their XP, with all the
bundled crap that makes the machine crawl.

(Rant over).


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http:\\www.rockhangouts.com
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In message op.s5o8qvcvmmxwtf@xpdesktop64, Black Shuck
writes
On Fri, 24 Feb 2006 16:40:44 -0000, news wrote:

I am considering buying a Sony S5MS laptop. Does it normally come
with backup Windows CD(s), or do I have to create my own?


I would never buy a Vaio again, after their revcovery disk shambles.
The Vaio's are not cheap, and you have to burn your own Windows DVD
(2x), your machine is loaded to the brim with useless crap software,
including Norton GoSlow and trial versions of Adobe HangUp, all of
which (natrually, due to Sony bundling tie-ins) fails to un-install,
and all of which is included in your recovery disk forever. Not a
pleasant experience :-(

My Dell it replaced had a Windows CD, Sony refuse to provide me with
one for my laptop. It's not the Genuine CD that bothers me, it's the
fact I am forced to take the lashed up excuse Sony call their XP, with
all the bundled crap that makes the machine crawl.

(Rant over).



OP here. I called the vendor, who confirmed that I had to burn my own
backup DVDs. He also said that you can only do it once -- if for some
reason the burn fails (e.g. through faulty DVD media), you are
completely stuffed. He also claimed (somewhat half-heartedly) you could
get recovery disks direct from Sony, but when I pressed him, he wasn't
sure how.

I told him I was going to buy a Dell instead. He seemed quite relieved!

--
Ian