In mid August 2013 I purchased a new Sony Duo 13 with 512G SSD drive, and 8g RAM, and Windows 8 Pro. Then my problems began:
FIRST PROBLEM:
Not only would it not recognise the machine, but Sony told me that it was normal! Aapparently cause it was a new model. This meant that a lot of instructions on setting up the machine could not be followed.
Worst was that I could not make recovery media.
This was because Vaio software installed was not updated - and could not be since Sony did notrecongise the machine. Inturn this stopped backup media from being created.
Note the dependencies:
1) Serial number not recongised
==> 2) Sony installed Vaio software does not function properly
====> 3) Back up recovery media cannot be made
IT WAS AWFUL and most unexpected of Sony. I have purchased 6 Sony laptoops for the business in the last 3 years and I have done so because I expected them to take greater care in products and customer service.
Not so!
I had to spend a long time with Sony on the phone getting this issue sorted.
But there have been 100s of other problems with the machine since.
SECOND PROBLEM:
Very poor WIFI. Lots of calls logged to Sony, who promise a call back but never do. Most unlike Sony. They are shiopping a router with the product as if they expect WIFI to be solved by another router.
THIRD PROBLEM:
A lot of applications that run fine on other Windows 7 and Widnows machines crash on the Sony Duo 13. It even crashes a Codeplex diagnsotics tool for Windows applications called Snoop.exe. For the last 1 month I have been giving hell to appliocation providers saying their applications do not work. Instead we can see that there applications work fine on other brands - just not on my Sony Duo 13. The IT guys have spend weeks wodnering if the .NET frameworks etc are properly installed on the machine
FOURTH PROBLEM: Sony shipped Duo 13 with trial version of McAfee Anti-Virus. I purchased the full subcription.
McAfee anti-virus kept prompting me to purchase a full subcription. Since there is another McAfee application called Intel Anti Theft Protection (which I thought useful) and because I thought Sony must take care in choosing antivirus programs I purcahsed the full subcription (despite a a very vad experience with McAfee products on previous Sony laptops)
Now 2 months after I purchased the product, I noticed that though McAfee looks like it is properly installed and downloading updates, it seems to require reboots too many times a day. I called McAfee who said that McAfee Antivirus is not supported for Windows 8 Pro, and that I should have doen my research before agreeing to install full version after McAfee prompt. Firgure this bit bit of chicanery and cheek out.
So MCAfee claim that despite taking my money, and despite the application showing it is working properly, I should not rely on it (and that my Duo 13 cannot be considered clean).
SO WHAT THE HELL ARE SONY DOING SHIPPING DUO 13 WINDOWS 8 PRO WITH MCAFEE SOFTWARE IF MCAFEE DOES NOT SUPPORT IT?
OF COURSE MCAFEE ANTIVIRUS SHOULD NOT PROMPY FOR AND CLAIM SUCESSFUL INSTALLATION and PROTECTION EITHER...but they are McAfee.
SHOULD SONY BE SHIPPING OUT WITH MCAFEE AND SHOULD THEY NOT ADVISE THIER CLIENTS NEVER TO USE THIS AWFUL PRODUCT FROM AN UNRELIABLE COMPANY.
SHAME ON YOU SONY, SHAME ON YOU.
