My brother is looking for a new computer and asked me about Sony. I'm not aware of any problems with their PC's but thought I'd check here and see if anyone has a history with Sony's desktop pcs.
Things a re bit different down here. Sales of Brand Name PCs are much less than the generics and the Roll Your Own ones. Guess it goes with our history.
I have a Sony VAIO that I'm now using as my Capture machine. Works a treat and never had an issue with it. But desktops are a different beast as you normally want to add bits yourself and some brands make that very difficult.
To be quite honest until I read your post I didn't realise they even made a desktop PC. Seems they don't sell them 'down under' so I cannot really comment.
I've never seen any advantage in buying a brand name desktop, well maybe apart from say the Boxx stuff that comes as a part of a turnkey NLE system, at least if it don't work you're not caught in some finger pointing exercise.
Problem I see with the brand name stuff it's aimed at one of two demographics, office users or home users and neither of those quite mesh with what I'd want in a system for either video or audio editing and ringing their tech support trying to resolve an issue with say firewire connectivity to an external video monitor, well you might as well ask the kid next door anyway.
If you're not happy rolling your own you can always spec out what you want and get a reputable business to put one together for you.
My wife uses a VAIO notebook and it has been nothing but trouble from day one. Bought an extended warranty with it and have now sent it back in for repair for the fifth time in two years and the problem has been the same (random shut downs and then not able to power up for 2-3 days after the shutdown).... The warranty people cannot (or maybe will not?) solve the problem. I wouldn't buy another VAIO if it was the only game in town.....
It's a problem with the soldering on the RAM slots. Tom, this could well be the problem you're stuck with. Best bet would be to send it to JoeK in New York state. Go through that thread to find his details.
That thread describes exactly what is happening to my VAIO. I've sent it out to the "extended warranty" place (MicroMedics) and they have replaced the MB, HD, and who know what else but the problems still persist. In fact, they have had the machine for just about two weeks now and they are still scratching their heads. I have asked for a replacment. We'll see......