Sony to recall half a million 'too hot to handle' VAIO laptops
By Laura June 
posted June 30th 2010 9:54AM
posted June 30th 2010 9:54AM
posted June 30th 2010 9:54AM
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Too hot to handle... too cold to hold... you call the ghostbusters and youre in control...
@andyg8180
I was thinking of the same thing!
Bobby Brown baby!
@andyg8180 If only Apple would take the same approach and recall all these overheating Macbook Pros I've bought over the years.
@andyg8180 well, atleast sony are open about it unlike apple was with their overheating problems. "overheating? nonono, its FEATURE, neat init?" yeah right
@Eli Haj That's literally what Apple said: http://www.appledefects.com/?p=15
@Eli Haj That's literally what Apple said. appledefects.com/?p=15
@andyg8180
Just a quick note in Sony's defence - Sony are not actually recalling any laptops - it's a high-priority user installable BIOS upgrade, as per their protocol they offer to take the laptop back if the user is uncomfortable performing this procedure.
@Discourse Actually, Apple purposefully disables on-chip heat monitoring as part of its Apple-only feature: Kotatsu. To use Kotatsu, just place the powered on laptop under a blanket and get under with it. Within minutes, you're entire body will be warm and you'll have a nice hard surface to eat on or do homework on.
@Discourse
If they keep overheating, why do you keep buying them? Honest question. I had a Sony MP3/CD Player, it broke, they said it would cost $40 to get an estimate, I haven't bought anything from them since.
I've been using a MacBook Pro for so long that I'd forgotten that there are laptops out there that don't double as space heaters.
@TheSpoonyBard
All you iSheep act like the mass produced electronics that we use dont come with problems. Ever hard of "Don't throw rocks if you live in a glass house" ?, you know because I've had HTC phones, and I forgot that there are phones out there that you have to hold differently or not hold at all to use. ( To list one problem ).
@TheSpoonyBard
Like sweet greggo said "At least they're doing the responsible thing by admitting the problem"
@rstoplabe14 I was defending Apple by saying that my Macbook Pro gets hotter than the sun?
@rstoplabe14
Haha, did you even read his comment?
@rstoplabe14
Wow, nice reading skills. He was COMPLAINING because his Apple laptop is too hot when used. This is what happens when you dont read the comment...
Troll different©.
@rstoplabe14
Roasted nuts, anyone? I'd heard that VAIO notebook was a hot-selling item, but now I know what they mean and it doesn't sound good at all.
@TheSpoonyBard
Is there such a thing as a cool laptop (not netbook)? My HP looks like a heater that has the added bonus of processing stuff, while a friend of mine had a Sony Vaio that literally melted on the inside
@Ericloewe
My laptop only gets warm.
@TheSpoonyBard
What you wrote could be read differently: You could have been implying that your MacBook runs so cool, and your experience has been so good regarding that aspect, that you forgot there are laptops out there that don't offer the same experience.
I wasn't clear what you meant when I initially read your post, actually. I guess rstoplabe14 wasn't either.
@Ericloewe I have a thinkpad which stays really cool. It does do a fair amount of underclocking on the CPU and switches to integrated graphics, and also speeds up the fan, but after all that, almost all my necessary tasks (except gaming and blu-ray rip playback) still work fine and the CPU temp never goes above 35 Celsius. Luckily this sort of thing is becoming a bit more popular nowadays.
@TheSpoonyBard
You think the Vaio's flame alchemy is disturbing… wait till you see mine.
That's what you get for using an Intel Mac – PowerPCs are so much better.
@Ericloewe
My VAIO Z (prev. gen) gets a little warm while working on intel graphic, and somewhere between warm and hot on nvidia
At least they're doing the responsible thing by admitting the problem and trying to resolve it, unlike another company that waives it's hand and tells you the problem doesn't exist when it clearly does.
@sweet greggo part deux
"This is not the replacement laptop you are looking for"
@sweet greggo part deux
yeah, coz iphone's antenna problem can cause PHYSICAL HARM :|
@eqc6
it can cause harm, in an emergency situation when you need an ambulance or something.. OH NOO, I just wrecked my car and I'm wedged in the front seat with my legs almost chopped off and have to worry about how to hold my phone calling 911 (now wishing you still had a Startac). That's just one example, I'm sure someone can come up with a better one.
@ruby Please think logically here for a bit.
If you're a company as big as Sony and Apple, which problem has more of a big impact to your company? Antenna problem or laptop that causes burn? Which one do you think?
Comparing the two 'problems' doesn't make sense. I'm sure that if the iphone starts to cause physical harm once you touch it, then Apple would recall them immediately.
This is the same issue with anti-apple peeps that compares Apple to Toyota...oh yeah, let's compare having an antenna problem with car defects that causes deaths. It's getting silly.
@eqc6
okay, I agree.. I just like arguing to be difficult.
@sweet greggo part deux
They're extra responsible actually. A friend of mine had his Vaio literally melt on the inside some time ago. He tells me they paid for a shipment that cost more than what he had paid for the computer.
@sweet greggo part deux
Sony makes computers now?
If it's too hot to handle, you're holding it wrong.
(Sorry, just trying to get a little more mileage out of that one.)
I once had a pair of sony short shorts that were too hot to handle
Ok this is crazy! I think for F series it has to do with Nvidia graphics the 310M and 330M and if you look closely, they don't have enough cooling. What about having two exhaust vents at the back instead of one on the side. I'm glad I read this since I was thinking about grabbing the recently released VPCF127FXB which looks sweet and is a beast and decent price for what it has under the hood! But hands off, I don't want to get burned!
Sony is setting a good example that Apple should follow with the iphone 4 antenna issue
@Delirium Trigah
What iPhone 4 antenna issue? There is no antenna issue if you hold the iPhone properly.
@MosesusedaniPad
Hope that is sarcasm
@MosesusedaniPad Thanks, I needed a good laugh...
A software fix for a warped chassis? Awesome!
Does it turn the GPU into a replicator!?
I wish Apple fixed my 100c Macbook Pro
What?! After 40 complaints then they took action? When will they learn...
All laptops have issues eventually cause they put the cheapest parts in them...apple included!
Sony Vaio are garbage products. I purchased one few years ago and it overheats so quick that after 5min I have to put something underneath it...and the heat is so hot that I can use it to heat up my room.
Purchased a macbook pro and no problems on heating but in my experience I find that Toshiba and Dell laptops are better built than sony.
@m3nphls
was this entire post a joke?
Glad to see one company not give a damn about pride.
@N900
Sony can't just keep sweeping their product defects under the rug or they'd have a "rug mountain".
@N900
What makes you think its about "pride" with Apple? Do you have any PROOF of this claim?
The answer of course is NO. You like the rest of the fandroids just want to attack Apple like theres no tomorrow over a stupid little mistake thats not even affecting the majority of iPhone owners.
More importantly its not like the iPhone "issue" that have generated such manufactured outrage from non iPhone users (oh the irony) are capable of causing PHYSICAL harm like these pos sony laptops.
@N900
Im going to have to disagree with you on that.
http://gizmodo.com/5333727/sony-laptops-have-hardware-virtualization-disabled-cant-run-windows-7s-xp-mode
Is that reasonable? I think not. There are several other instances of stupid behavior from Sony (PS3 crippling, etc.)
@TheZaccharaSyndicate Fandroid?? What?
@N900
Not surprised, it's a japanese company
@TheZaccharaSyndicate
I don't think he was speaking about the iPhone
But for this situation
http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/26/core-i7-equipped-macbook-pro-hits-100-degrees-celsius-your-lap/