About 2 years ago is when I noticed the Sony Desktops vanishing from the store shelves. I think when they came out with their new "BLACK" desktop models people like myself probably thought what an awful color for a desktop, and why is is so freaking large?
My Apple printer went bye-bye a long, long time ago, and I replaced it with a Canon, didn't like it much, then with a brother, not too keen on it either, but I now have a HP Laserjet (B&W) 3050 model. I got it off of eBay for 149.99 + 39.99 shipping, and no tax. However, in the stores out here in Long Beach, CA. The same HP 3050 model sells frome 239.99 - 299.99.
I wanted a color one, then I noticed just how large and bulky looking they were so I just went with the HP 3050 Laserjet.
I'm surprised that Apple hasn't put out any printers on the market, but why should they? They have the market place on iPods, soon the iPhone, and they also have picked up big time in the computer market place too when they switched over to iNtel processors on their computers. I know a lot of people at school that switched to Apple and running Windoze on them, but also dabbling in OS X as well.
Sony laptops are overpriced, and I don't see a lot of people buying them at the stores when I am there. With Sony laptop battery recalls, it certainly did do a lot of damage to the company and the computer market place.
I have a sont DVD+-RW recorder/tuner, but I won't buy another one when this one bites the dust. Had it for about a year, it squeaks, sometimes it records, othertimes it don't.
I still have my trustworthy VCR in hand, but it too is about go to a burial someday soon. I think I will stick with RCA and smaller companies that actually put effort into their products. My Vizio is awsome, great one year inhome warranty, and an additional 5 year warranty from Costco. At a local Bestbuy, I see a lot of LG, Sharp, and Samsung LCDs and Plasmas in the return/repair section.
Just shop smart, do the research o the iNet, and do what i do in stores... talk, ask questions to people that are too shopping for LCDs, Computers, VCRs, DVDRWs, etc. I don't take the word of a sales person. Their job is to sell, so they aren't going to upfront and honest about problematic merchandise. That's why i walk over and peek inside the repair section of Electronic stores such as Bestbuy.