I'm not at all trying to defend Sony as a fanboy, I'm trying to defend it from the myriad of stupid people on the Internet who might still have a few brain cells to think about why they're a little bit misled (such as their equipment is broken and refuse to recognize the satisfied people that do exist)

Let's sum this up a little better:

1. You're comparing USED laptops on sale to ones people still have and aren't for sale--meaning that these are the people who did break their laptops and are now selling them for parts or are looking to buy a new one.
2. You're talking about Akihabara, where the average consumer may not be looking for a business laptop
3. Akihabara does not represent all of Japan. It may to you, but it doesn't. In that logic, Nipponbashi represents Osaka, and that's just a big WTF.
4. "Terrible reputation" implies far fewer sales and generally unhappy campers. That's simply not the case.

LoL? Akihabara? You do realize that's nerd central right? Ask the rest of the population of Japan, the ones that aren't ostracized and confined to their rooms and work because they're afraid of society.

Well, I even don't know if you're treating them like crap. At the lab I worked at, virtually all the laptop computers bought by the university were VAIOs, and they were all at least 3 years old in still excellent condition. What I mean by Japanese VAIO is one bought there, one for that market.

Oh, and I'm wrong? Try convincing every single satisfied Japanese Sony customer and then get back to me. I'm merely making an observation here. Besides, the only people that do complain are the ones who have their stuff broken. Nothing new.

I love how all the complaints come from SONY's markets outside Japan. USE A JAPANESE SONY LAPTOP. Those things last forever. There's a reason why universities and other institutions buy them. They're not stupid.

I wouldn't want to stick my own SD card in there if I went to a friend's place and found one there...

signal processing and communication theory*

and there should be a comma, not a period at the end. I'm too tired.

The reason analog broadcasts were good were because they were resilient, using FM. Of course, those republicans don't know the first thing about signal processing...whatever. Digital TV has had its kinks worked out and until the price of the sets drops low enough such that they are about the same price (sub-$200) for a half decent HDTV set as opposed to their old CRT counterpart. I don't see why this legislation should even be considered being passed.

The SONY VAIOs have better specs than this...and extended battery life at around 8 hours...

Logitech is Logicool in Japan. Logitec is a different company. The reason they called themselves Logicool (Logitech) is because there's no h, so the phonetic spelling is still the same.