My 9 month old e-series Sony Vaio has a probelm with the battery.  When 
left SWITCHED OFF for 3 weeks the battery is flat.  The battery is now 
reporting a degredation in the charging ability and Sony want me to buy a 
new one for �118.  Aparently, batteries are consumables.  This laptop has 
been rarely used in 9 months, on average only a couple of times a month.  
There are other reports of Sony laptop batteries losing charge when 
switched off, but Sony won't do anything about it.
I was going to buy another laptop this month, but it won't be a Sony now.

Don't buy Sony laptops unless you are prepared to buy a battery every year.

Oh and have read that the Sony BIOS checks if it is a genuine Sony battery 
and it won't boot if it's not.  If true, you can't buy a cheap replacement 
battery.

Don't buy Sony laptops.