PCG-FR (Intel)

Overview

The Sony VAIO PCG-FR (Intel) was a series of high-end, desktop replacement laptop computers introduced by Sony in 2003, aimed at power and business users, that needed a powerful, yet not extremely expensive device.

They were highly praised for their excellent keyboard, and their superb Sony Ultrabright displays, they were bright, and the colors were vibrant, however the resolution was lacking. Another criticality of this series of laptops was battery life, which, clocking at around 1.5h, was below average at the time, and even worse than the 2h found on AMD variants.

PCG-FR JP

They featured Desktop Intel Pentium 4 CPUs (lower-end models featured Mobile and Desktop Celerons), and they were highly criticized for their poor graphics performance, which even then, wasn't able to run games properly.

They had a super nice blue finish, that looks better in person than in pictures. Build quality was excellent, as is VAIO's tradition.

They can be easily differentiated from the AMD variant by the little opening marked "Memory Stick" on the bottom left of the keyboard. AMD variants do not have that.

Detailed Specs

Processor: 2.4, 2.66, 2.8GHz Desktop Intel Pentium 4, or 2.2GHz Mobile Intel Pentium 4, or 2.4, 2.6GHz Desktop Intel Celeron, or 2.0, 2.2GHz Mobile Intel Celeron

Graphics: 183MHz ATI Radeon IGP 345M

VRAM: 64MB DDR (Up to 128MB)

Memory: DDR PC-2100 SDRAM

Storage: 2.5" IDE HDD

Ports: 3x USB 2.0; 2x Type II PCcard slots; 1x Sony i.Link S400 (Apple FireWire 400 4-pin/ IEEE1394); 1x VGA-Out; 1x A/V-Out (3.5mm to RCA cable needed), 1x parallel "Centronics" printer port; 2x 3.5mm audio jack (audio-in and audio-out)

Additional Devices: 1x 3.5", 1.44MB floppy drive; 1x DVD-R/CD-RW optical drive; 1x Memory Stick slot (works with MS, MS Pro and MagicGate MS)

Connectivity: 10/100 Mbps Ethernet; 56k Fax/Modem Combo; IEEE1394 net adapter

Display: 15" 1024x768 (XGA), Ultrabright (Onyx Black), 4:3 TFT panel

Weight: 3.6kg (over 7.94 lb)

Battery life: 1.5h

Daily Usage Today

These machines can be used for light modern office tasks, like text editing. Web browsing is doable on a browser like MyPal on XP, or on light Linux. Any sort of gaming cannot be done. Typing on these machines is a pleasure, with their excellent keyboard.