This laptop was an exception. Something about it is awkward and clunky. It's larger than my 3 previous Sony Vaio laptops, the edges are squared off, not rounded...in fact there's something very "square" about the entire product design!

The design is bad enough to hurt functionality, too, as there is a fan on the bottom of the computer which easily becomes obstructed if you use it outside of the docking case (where 100% of my use occurs).

Now about quality. In general, I had been really happy with Vaio quality, but this laptop is making me think twice. If you leave the computer on for a long time (a couple of weeks), the hard drive starts screaming. This is probably due to overheating. I have to turn off the computer and let it sit and cool, then turn it on again. The power cord connection was always loose in the machine so that I would have to wiggle the cord to ensure a connection. That connection would invariably disconnect from time to time during use, and I'd be on battery power without realizing it. Eventually, 1 year and 4 months after I bought the machine, the power connection failed altogether and would only connect sporadically. As I write this, the computer is at Sony for repair, and they seem to just want to send me an entire refurbished computer rather than diagnose and fix the problem. I've also found an article in today's (May 22, 2004) San Jose Mercury News (see the action line feature) in which another person ALSO had problem with the DC jack line. A reader wrote the paper to get help with Sony service because he kept seeing the problem over and over again. He says "When I plug in the AC/DC power cord, I have to hold the cord or move it around a little to get a good connection". This is exactly what happens with me, and I therefore think this is a general problem with the machine.

So, because of problems with the design, overheating, and quality, I cannot recommend that you buy this item.

To leave on a good note: the laptop IS really light. One of the lightest you'll find, with a keyboard that is large enough to actually use.

My laptop is on about 12 hours per day. It gets tossed around in the car while I drive like a maniac; sits in 100+ degree temperatures while I'm in clients' offices; and gets banged around against walls and floors in an attache not made for laptops. Then I get home and abuse it some more.

Pros:
- Great to look at.
- Light and mobile.
- Takes abuse and doesn't complain.
- Developed using alien technology.

Cons:
- You can't make love to it.
- You can't eat it.
- It doesn't dispense cash.

Bad news: The R505TL finally died last week. Her demise can be blamed on idiot designers of wireless network PCMCIA cards. Why do those things stick out so much?! I accidentally swung my attache into a wall, cramming the protruding pc card into the slot, breaking the slot and shoving it into my laptops innards.

Good news: I'm getting another one! Just won the auction on eBay. This one's faster and newer. I'm also getting a Sony Vaio 802.11G card that DOESN'T protrude; this is the only 802.11G card on the market that's almost flush with a laptop's side.

The R505 has been replaced by the V505. They must have bought some new technology from the aliens. I'm sure it's also a good product, but I'll stick to R505's until I need something faster.

1. The power management isn't. The software will not allow you disable powersave modes for anything other than your current session. Once the system is rebooted, the default scheme returns and you run the risk of the display going dark in the middle of a presentation.

2. The video card on the docking station is horrible. I like to "dock" my laptop, and bring up my display on my new LCD, then I can undock and go on my way with my documents -- the display to a flat panel screen is sorely lacking. Lack of color depth and resolution.

3. XP support is horrible -- there was no way to "export" your display out to the projector in XP by doing the "function-f7" sequence, you had to manually go through software and select that you wanted to export your display. One of the reasons I had to return to Win2K.

4. The standard install includes more junk that you'll never use -- AOL, Microsoft Network, etc. These applications would constantly pop up and ask you dumb questions. I understand that most new PCs come loaded with this kind of software, but most PCs allow you to reload the system from scratch with the bare-bones applications and build from there. If you go with Sony's build, get yourself the Autorun application from sysinternals.com and nuke these things. If you try to load your own software NOTHING will work.

5. Plugging a mouse into the docking station is less than responsive, the pointer skips around on the screen instead of smoothly moving like it's supposed to.

All in all, this laptop is junk, and at the price that Sony is selling these things it makes the insult that much worse. It's nice because it's light, but then again so is a Palm Pilot. I'd seriously get yourself something else from a company that has budgeted more money into Quality Control. I've really tried to work with this thing over the last year, it just keeps letting me down.