Yeah the CR is indeed heavy and thick by today's standard. Never expected a 14.1" to be this bulky. One thing I find good is that it can hold a very large heatsink inside its large frame.

Yeah I think this is good. The heat dissipation is great and able to maintain the temperature around 41-44 Deg C at all conditions. The insulation is also excellent especially around the keyboard area.

Better get the Shop 1. In fact, I am pretty confident you can demand for the keyboard cover. It should be provided as standard. The VAIO USB mouse is really nice and it matches your CR laptop, whatever colors you choose. The carrying pouch is another nice item because its designed for it and available in matching colors. The protection is sufficient and its stylish. Get the shoulder bag too or you if you want a cheaper alternative with better protection, head over to All IT Hypermarket.

Yeah crazy in deed. My wife got a lot of value from there and it is something we need, not something we can live without. Anyway buying a Sony VAIO with Sony official warranty entitles you to the same Sony after sales services. I don't think you can get a VAIO from non-Sony providers. Unless you're talking about those that doesn't have a proper official warranty.

I think a little effort goes a long long way. Better deal direct with SonyStyle shops and not shops with the Sony brand. These are only Sony distributors. I think the Sony in KLCC is good.

The one in Midvalley isn't SonyStyle as far as I know. Its only an authorized dealer. Its only in Times Square and KLCC as far as I know.

Performance is acceptable although it is not the most updated in the specifications. But you get what you need for a VAIO. Some people may think VAIO products are overated because with RM3000, you could get the latest specifications from alternative brands. The VAIO spirit however remains a selling point. Also, NR is only available in 15.4" so you get a larger LCD too though the display quality is a notch below the CR series.

I would think NR is a nice product for Sony to extend its products into the lower end market.

Not bad also. It would be nice if they can offer both the carrying case and backpack. Is the mouse given a VAIO branded accessory? Also is the cleaning kit given a yellow-greenish package by Cyberclean? I would prefer the VAIO cleaning kit though. It will definitely add more value to the bundle.

Can get 24 months installment? I thought Sony only limits 12 months installment for their VAIO laptops?

Yeah I was having the same problems too few months ago when my wife was about to buy the CR series. Conflicting responses from different SonyStyle shops. The one in The Curve said it they're not allowed to offer 24 months. Then in Midvalley they say it was doable but then the supervisor corrected the staff and said it was a NO. Then in Times Square, it was ok but the next week, it was not OK again. So we postponed the purchase until the recently concluded PC Fair KL.

During the PC Fair, it was only a 12 months, but we decided to scrap it and pay cash.

I think NR is right for your general usage like documentation and programming. Games however would be like a hit or miss thing depending on your expectations. The 15.4" would be nice as a desktop replacement and occasional transportation from one place to the other. If you move around much, then you need something lighter.

My wife's CR series has an international warranty item recorded on a different statement and documentation and its not on the official receipt. After purchasing the laptop, there's an additional procedure to apply for the international warranty. They will inspect your laptop and then place an international warranty sticker on your laptop.

If you have completed this additional procedure and have the sticker, your laptop should be registered already. If you're still worried, probably you should pay a visit from the store you have purchased it.

Microsoft's gamma following the sRGB standard is typically set at 2.2. The rest however is best left at its default level. These settings should be used with software-based screen calibration. Better, use a hardware-based screen calibration like one of those spyders.

You don't need to buy the spyder2 just for your own calibration. Its not worth it. You can seek service from those who owns it. Or you're really 'cheap' hehehe you can search through the internet for spyder2 profiles that will fit your monitor. All you really need is a calibration profile.

If you require a hardware-based calibration service, I can provide a contact who is willing to provide that service at a very small fee. PM me for more information. Thanks.

Maybe it hit on something and scrap the chrome part?

Its not about expensive models getting more freebies. It depends on the time of the sale is made. Some of them was bought during the PC Fair and some of them during promotion periods. But I think your purchase is ideal at this time of the year. At this moment, the CR353 is at its lowest price (RM3988) and with a slightly updated processor and then almost max-ed out specification (HDD and RAM). So I think your purchase is quite ok.

All Vaios have a hidden partition meant for restoring the laptop to its factory default condition should your Windows installation went wrong during the course of usage. The partition contains all the component required to get your laptop running in no time (except for your personal data and application installation made after its initial condition). This is convenient as it does not require using CD/DVD which can be lost by the user. However, if your HDD become unusable, so does your hidden partition. So it is recommended that you create a set of Recovery DVD for safe keeping just in case many years later when your HDD is unusable OR if you upgrade/replace the HDD later then you can re-establish this hidden partition.

About your graphic drivers, I guess you should be using the ATI x2400. You have two choices; Sony factory drivers obtainable from its support website or straight from AMD/ATI website. However, its Radeon Mobility driver suite will not recognize your graphics core unless you hack it. This way you will be able to use the latest drivers. No guarantee if it will create any incompatibilities though, you will need to do a trial and error. You will also not get any support from Sony because it hold no liability except for its factory drivers.

Details of how to hack can be found on this website: http://www.driverheaven.net/

You may install coretemp to monitor your operating temperature. Download it here --> http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

You will soon find that the Core 2 Duo P8400 is actually very cool. In fact, its cooler than the T8400 on the CR which I thought if pretty damn good.

For sure the heat management in Sony laptops are better. I have been doing Photoshop processing for 1 hours and it only hovers around 40-46 Deg C. During normal surfing, its only 35-40 Deg C and thats without any help from the laptop cooler. When using laptop cooler, it hovers around 28-33 Deg C which is a very nice. I attribute these good performance to the Core 2 Duo P8400 which only dissipates 25W TDP. Thats 10W lower than the normal Core 2 Duos.

Yes, just put the 1st DVD into the tray during bootup. You must first make sure that the laptop will boot from CD/DVD first. When booted up, it should display some choices/instructions. Just follow it and it will restore the same content and partition to your new HDD. It should also recreate the hidden partition into the new HDD too. When you finish, your laptop will look like when it first booted up. However, your files and programs should be backed up too.

If you're lazy to re-install all your programs, files and settings there's another alternative. You can use Acronis True Image to take a snapshot image of your entire disk partition. Then save it to your external USB HDD or burnt to a DVD. When you finish setting up with the Sony Backup CD, you can proceed to install the Acronis True Image into the PC or you may boot up from the Acronis True Image Rescue DVD (which you can generate from the program). Then look for the image file from your external USB HDD or DVD and let it handle from there.

A few minutes later, it will restore everything back to how it look like before. All your settings, files and programs should stick. However, I will still recommend backing up your important files just in case.

It was shown in different SKUs from other regions of Sony Style. Some FW models have option to upgrade to a 9600M GT and also a higher resolution screen. In fact the Vaio 'SR-2' is already released in other parts of the world. It is going to be an improvement over the original still new SR-series. Improvements include addition of a HDMI port and 256MB DDR3 ATI HD3470. If you check the current SR12/13GN laptops sold here, there is a place holder for what looks like an HDMI port. The new 'SR-2' has that HDMI port. There are other improvements but not confirmed.

Yes, good decision. Welcome too! Ya, its pretty weird that other regions are getting the 256MB but Malaysia is getting 128MB. But anyway I assume you're getting 256MB DDR3 version and not DDR2. The ones sold in Malaysia is 128MB DDR3 as detected by GPU-Z. Anyway I read there are different display panels too for different regions and the resolution too. Mind sharing with us your specifications?