I have had my SZ-160 since Monday and have had a week to play around with it. Following are some comments. I have owned several laptops over a number of years including HP, IBM Thinkpads and Sony.
-The screen is nice. It is extremely bright and there are no problems with lack of color uniformity. I have the thinner carbon fiber model and it seems at least as sturdy if not more so than the standard model (which I played with at CompUsa).
-The keyboard is OK. Not great - it can be gotten used to. It has some flex and the travel is 3mm which is deep for a laptop and feels different. In general it doesn't really have a solid feel, but it is not a deal breaker. The FE model seems to have a better keyboard so I must surmise that the differences are due to weight reduction. It is not cramped at all. IBM Thinkpads have much better keyboards.
-The machine is quite light and reasonably well built. It seems sturdy - certainly not as well built as IBM or HP, but I have no serious complaints. I expected a comprimise given the weight. The battery does jiggle on the back as reported. It's not a Thinkpad or a HP - so get the warranty coverage. Sony has a (well deserved) reputation for failures and bad service. I bought this machine for the features despite this.
-Styling is nice. It is sleek - latching mechanism is nice.
-Battery life is not what is advertised. I am consistently getting 3-3.5 hours with the standard battery and a little over 5 with the extended battery. I am not doing anything special - mostly surfing with wireless on right now. I don't know if this is the USB bug - but the bottom line is that this machine doesn't live up to the hype with battery life. I have the LED backlight which should increase the life by an hour -> NOT.
-The fan noise is loud. I have read through these forums and I see many people saying how quiet this machine is and I cannot understand this. In a cafe or in a store - you cannot hear the fan at all. At home with minimal ambient noise - the fan is very noticeable and it oscillates between speeds. I have changed the settings to the "Quiet" setting to no avail. All of my IBM Thinkpads are essentially silent in comparison to this machine at its lowest fan setting. I am considering returning it for this reason alone. If you are used to working and concentrating in a quiet environment - this is a big distraction. If anyone has any tips on this - I would appreciate it!
-Webcam as a feature is nice, but this one is lousy. It points too high and performs poorly under low light conditions. This is not a nitpick as I have a lot of experience with webcams and it is far worse than ANY of the various webcams I have - even those costing very little.
-The ExpressCard/34 media reader is a nice addition but has flaws. It doesn't read newer 4G SD cards. It would have been nice if they just made the Memory Stick port a multireader. Also note that the ExpressCard port won't work with the ExpressCard/54 format which is where the video tuners cards that are not simple ports will come.
-Wireless reception is mediocre. Most access points that read as medium or higher with my Thinkpad come up low on the Vaio.
-Bluetooth works nicely. Mouse and headset so far without a hitch.
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All in all this is the lightest, fastest machine in it's class right now. As far as an overall experience it's a bit dissapointing. For such an expensive machine you would expect Sony to get all the i's dotted and t's crossed and leave you with an overall satisfied feeling. This machine is not that. It's a matter of deciding if the noise, mediocre keyboard, moderate battery life, and other issues are worth having a light, fast, stylish machine.
