Sony Outsourcing Vaio Laptop Design to Others

[Marcus Yam]

Sony's letting other companies make laptops in the Vaio name. What do you think this will do to the prestige of the Sony line?

Sony Outsourcing Vaio Laptop Design to Others : Read more

 

[cabose369]

Ok so I still don't understand what this means....

Does this mean that other factories that aren't owned by Sony in China will manufacturer them (ex. HP, Acer, Asus, Toshiba, etc.)?

Or does this mean that say HP or Asus will make them for sony?

Or does this mean that they are having a sub-brand that will compete against Compaq, Gateway/EMachines, etc.?

If it is option 3 then the title is very misleading!

 

[gekko668]

If Sony wants to directly competes with HP, Dell then Sony should make it cheaper and not more expensive. I have always enjoy sony laptop but I'm probably not going to purchase my next laptop with sony anymore.

 

[Guest]

it means that sony will make a cheaper second division laptops, with the same brand vaio, so it can compete with the low cost laptops

well thats is what i think

 

[killerclick]

[citation][nom]cabose369[/nom]Does this mean that other factories that aren't owned by Sony in China will manufacturer them (ex. HP, Acer, Asus, Toshiba, etc.)?[/citation]

Actually, Quanta Computer Inc. from Taiwan already manufactures laptops for many big names including Apple, Acer, Alienware, Toshiba, HP, Sony, Dell, Fujitsu and others.

This scheme by Sony is to let people believe they're buying top-of-the-line (Vaio name) when in fact they're buying an entry-level or budget machine. And most buyers will see a Sony Vaio for $500 and think that it's a great deal when in fact it'll be no better than budget machines from Asus or Acer.

 

[anamaniac]

I do like some of the VAIO laptops, but I've spent enough in my desktop already, thank you.

 

[Guest]

Well it's good that I read this. At least now I can make future recommendations to all of my good friends that are vaio enthusiasts... Perhaps they'll reconsider after this debacle. Also I'm not too fond of things being outsourced to extremely poor third world countries- which always leads to exploiting human-beings.

 

[mycpumelted]

[citation][nom]__-_-_-__[/nom]the only part of a sony notebook that was made by sony was the design and the lcd. not even that anymore.[/citation]

I find it really interesting that the blu-ray drive in some Vaio notebooks are made by Samsung.

 

[leon2006]

vaio -> Expensive and Fragile PC

 

[foxalopex]

Uh oh... I hope this doesn't affect quality too much. IBM outsourced out to China years ago and became Lenovo. While the built is still mostly there the quality's been gradually getting worse I think for ThinkPads. Sony (at least for their high end Z laptops) mostly assembles the Canadian sold ones in the US and Japan which might account for it's high cost and quality. I think a lot of folks assume Sony is expensive for no reason at all but from what I've seen some of their technology is impressive and far ahead of others. Sadly, most folks prefer cheap as dirt and made just as poorly. After all why else is Wal-Mart doing so well?

 

[warezme]

The Vaio brand used to mean something. I had to recover files off a failed new Vaio laptop and needed to remove the HD to slave it up to transfer the files. First, the HD is not really user removable as the entire bottom shell of the laptop has to be removed (many screws) and once removed the quality or lack of quality in the design and parts inside is apparent. So now you have the Sony tax on a Vaio name that doesn't mean anything. Dell quality is so much better now when compared.

 

[RazberyBandit]

[citation][nom]leon2006[/nom]vaio -> Expensive and Fragile PC[/citation]
Apparently, not anymore...