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A year on, Sony finally owns up to using dodgy NVIDIA GPUs

Summary: Last summer it emerged that a large number of NVIDIA GPUs were failing due to thermal issues. Most OEMs, after a littler persuasion, handled the issue in a civil and dignified manner. However it's taken Sony over a year to admit that some of its notebooks were affected.

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

By for Hardware 2.0 |

Last summer it emerged that a large number of NVIDIA GPUs were failing due to thermal issues. Most OEMs, after a little persuasion, handled the issue in a civil and dignified manner. However it's taken Sony over a year to admit that some of its notebooks were affected.

It seems that a "small percentage" on notebooks from the FZ, AR, C, LM and LT model lines are affected. Sony's solution is to offer everyone a 4 year warranty to cover this issue.

This doesn't really help people who have seen their notebooks die because of this issue already and who have bought a new one, and the solution comes very late in the day, stirring up memories that NVIDIA would rather remain forgotten.

Like I said in an earlier post, I've lost faith in Sony to deliver a professional-grade product. This latest development just confirms what I already knew.

(via SemiAccurate)

Topics: Laptops, Hardware, Mobility, Processors

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5 comments
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  • I don't think Sony has ever ...

    I don't think Sony has ever recovered from the CD "rook kit" copy protection debacle.
    wkulecz
    Reply Vote

  • Awsome job of giving credit!

    Well done coming up with this story!

    http://www.semiaccurate.com/2009/08/10/sony-admits-14-defective-nvidia-notebooks/

    Care to explain?

    -Charlie
    Groo The Wanderer
    Reply Vote

    • really?

      Dude, seriously? Why are you calling him out? Everyone does it so why make a big deal about it. I don't think you have to always point out your source and honestly, sometimes you don't know that it's already been published elsewhere. Had this article been a "copy and paste", then there should be some explaining!
      SteelTrepid
      Reply Vote

      • The issue here ...

        ... is that a reader sent me a link to the Sony post pointing out the news and left Charlie's post out of the chain, and I posted about it not knowing who to credit because I didn't know who had uncovered the link. I've talked to Charlie about this and I think we're both cool about it. Had I known that it was him who had uncovered the link, I'd have been more than happy to have given him credit for the find (and I've updated the post to reflect that).

        These things happen, but the noce thing is they can usually be resolved without needing to resort to pistols at dawn as long as everyone is cool! If I wrong someone, inadvertantly or not, I like to do right by them.
        Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
        Reply Vote

  • RE: A year on, Sony finally owns up to using dodgy NVIDIA GPUs

    Sony products are bad! They fail as soon as the warranty expires. My Sony CR laptop's lcd controller failed. I got it repaired from Sony for 4133 INR. There is no warranty on the part. If it fails the next day I will have to part with 4133 again. There is a service warranty of a month, meaning if the part fails in one month then they wont charge me for the service which is around 1000 INR. After a month and 10 days there is a white band on the top of the LCD. I am writing this on the same laptop with an external monitor attached to it. I am never ever going to buy any Sony product. They used to be good 10-15 years ago. Their QC is the pits now.

    Please dont buy Sony!
    Sudeep Mukherjee
    Kolkata, India
    smdeep
    Reply Vote
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