Are Sony Vaios worth the money

So I am in the look out for a new laptop.
My laptop at the moment does me alright, but I feel an upgrade is needed.
Unraring takes a bit of time due to the 5400RPM HD.
I wouldnt mind a bluray player\writer and generally a new laptop!

So I have a vaio at the moment which has done me proud, bought it on Hong Kong 3-4 years ago. I can't help but feel Sony is the way to go with kit, but Vaios... they are expensive for roughly the same specs.

Anyone else stick by the brand Vaio?
Why do they cost more than the Dell, HP, Acer, Asus out there?

i only use vaio now m8
worth that bit extra.

over priced, you pay for the name. if u need to replace any parts, expect mega high price for them.

they are nice and almost got one last year but i do agree better value out there, its a balance though i would stick with a decent brand for me dell give good value for money and are decent kit... others like HP while others may like ive had problems with ..

You pay a hefty premium for the brand name and the cosmetics.

If you want value for money, look elsewhere.

Got a Sony Vaio myself

you get what you pay for some say there over priced, especially Acer seem to have uped there game and have starting producing some quality stuff

i have a sony vaio too, a well built machine that has always done what i have asked but as others have said they are pricey.

i suspect if you ask any of the others they have had very few problems and all the bits are still there and fixed properly.

you do get what you pay for, if you have the dosh then i would go for the best spec sony rather than the all singing and all dancing machine with less of a pedigree.

I'm different to the general consensus. I think they are very overpriced due to the name abd build quality doesn't reflect the price.
Dell are decent build and probably best value for money. In terms of quality and style I found asus to be second to none. Acer were rubbish but improved greatly. toshibas were excellent but their sattelite and portege models have too many design faults. I don't know about ibm that much that's why I ordered myself a t61 tonight and waiting for delivery on that.
I do like hp but they are ugly. You do get some really nice ones tho. Best thing is to find out first what spec you need realistically and don't just go for a 2grand i7 sony vaio if you will only browse dw.

I had a Vaio for a long time and I loved it, I now have a packard Bell and I love it even more !

I am not one of those that just bulls up whatever I happen to have I am just saying that yes they are good but don't exclude looing elsewhere.

I built my choice purely on magazine/user reviews matched to what I absolutely wanted (hardware volume controls, good battery life etc) and I think I got it 98% right.

there usually well built as said above, however, if they do break good luck with that stupid repairs routes

we used hp laptops at work and that prompted me to buy one for home use, it was promptly battered for 5 years by 4 of us at home and was replaced by an all in one hp at christmas which we are more than happy with
at work we have switched to lenovo (IBM) t410 and they seem the dogs dangles!

Love my new Sony Vaio. Looks sexy, but it's all just in the name. Over priced, you can get a decent HP for less with even better specs

I have looked at the Dells but couldnt find the specs I was after.

I will check out the HP stuff and see whats what!

Cheers for the comments and replies!