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Comment by kenver | Hacker News Reader

No I was definitely thinking of the PlayStation. The first playstation during the 90s was often found in nightclubs and places you would never previously have seen a console. They made it look cool to ordinary people.

The playstation 2 is still the most successful console with 150million units sold ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_game_conso... ). I'd say to get figures like that you need to have had mainstream success.

I can't speak for all of their products, I only have a couple, but I've never had a reason to complain.

I'm not apologising for them, they really have screwed up with this security thing, but I think it's disingenuous to claim they've only made crap for the past 20 years when there are some very obvious exceptions.

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You are correct -- there are a few exceptions, and the Playstation was definitely one. Therein lies the difference:

1960-1985: Sony is the gold standard for quality

1995-2010: Sony makes crap, with a few exceptions

Out of context, this may seem like a small difference, but the difference is huge. In the late 50s and early 60s, Sony did not ship a color TV for over a decade because they weren't convinced they could get the quality good enough. When they finally shipped in 1966, Trinitron had brighter pictures than the competition, and the TV sets never broke. The things were expensive, but they were built like a tank. Until the mid-90s or so, every Sony CRT had a full metal cage. You paid a premium, but you got quality.

Today, the majority of Sony products shipped are overpriced lemons. The Sony of yesteryear would never have shipped them.

I think you are going a bit overboard, sure Sony may not be the Sony they were in the 80s or 90s, but they do still make quality hardware.

The Playstation 3 is probably the most reliable console (hardware wise) out of the current generation consoles, I have not had any issues with mine and neither has anyone that I know personally, I can't say the same for the Xbox 360.

I bought a Sony Vaio Z 13" a few years ago and it has stood up to a lot without any issues, sure it may be very light and feel a bit "plasticy" but it is surprisingly tough.

Both of my brothers bought Sony LCD's a few years ago and they have not had any issues.

A friend of mine works in the geek squad as a home theater installer and by far the least reliable name brand TV's are made by Samsung, Sony is one of the more reliable brands.

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