Sony moved into laptops with the VAIO brand in 1997

Sony was started in the aftermath of World War II, during the rapid reconstruction of Japan that gave birth to its world-leading electronics industry.


Sony was started in the aftermath of World War II, during the rapid reconstruction of Japan that gave birth to its world-leading electronics industry. The company originally had a Japanese name, Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo (TKT), but the founder changed this feeling that a short, catchy name using the Western alphabet would work better if the company wanted international success (this was a rare practice at the time, and was considered a controversial practice in Japan).

The company immediately started innovating, building Japan’s first tape players and the first successful transistor radios in the world – they specialised in taking American inventions and making them smaller and better, and then exporting them all over the world. As Sony made transistor radios smaller and smaller until they were easily portable, sales boomed, all the way through to the end of the ‘50s. This got Sony enough money to invest heavily in diversifying and building more and more new products, and the rest is history.

Since then, Sony has had many notable products: the Walkman and Discman portable music players, the Minidisc music format, the Playstation video game consoles and even a robotic pet dog, AIBO. Today, Sony is a giant not only in electronics, but also in entertainment, with a movie studio (Sony Pictures), a record label (Sony Music), a video game division (Sony Computer Entertainment) and far more besides. Overall, the Sony Group of companies is one of the largest in Japan, and is also up there with the biggest companies in the world.

Sony moved into laptops with the VAIO brand in 1997, and again found instant success. Originally, VAIO was a brand of desktop and laptop computers, but Sony stopped making the desktop models after the laptops became a runaway success. They built a reputation for high-quality components, good bundled software, low weight and long battery life, making it the laptop of choice among many high-end Windows users.

Sony Laptops - Are they value for money?

It used to be the case that Sony laptops were very much better than others – they had much better build quality, better components and so on

It used to be the case that Sony laptops were very much better than others – they had much better build quality, better components and so on. Lately, though, Sony has been cutting a few corners to try to maximise its profitability, believing that once the Sony label is on something, their reputation will win through and they will be able to sell mediocre laptops at high prices.

To a certain extent, this is true. There are still plenty of buyers who remember Sony’s glory days and have stuck with them out of loyalty and genuine conviction that their Sony really is better than the competition. And while it might be better than the very cheapest laptop out there, a Sony laptop is really no longer any match for the best, and certainly not the laptop of choice for running Windows as it used to be.

Of course, all this doesn’t so much apply if you buy only from the very top of Sony’s range, where the laptops are generally just as good as they ever were, but even more expensive. Sony’s strategy has been to try to make normal laptops and top-end luxury ones at the same time, which basically results in the Sony laptops people want being the ones that are priced for people who’ll pay anything – Apple have a similar strategy for their iBooks and MacBooks.

However, if you can get your hands on a top-end Sony laptop, you will notice a genuine difference in quality. The components are very, very good, the case is high quality, it’s small and rugged and everything fits together well. It’s just a shame that they can’t make all their laptops like that. So, beware: while Sony do make good laptops, the Sony name itself is no longer a universal badge of quality, and you need to do more research and read reviews before you buy anything that today’s Sony produces.