Weighing a tad more than 4 pounds, Sony’s Vaio SX is the heftiest laptop in the ultraportable category. Yet despite its larger size, the Vaio isn’t the sturdiest small-size contender. That’s too bad because this little rig packs killer performance in its sexy carbon-fiber shell—it’s the only ultraportable we tested that includes discrete graphics.
The Vaio delivered great benchmark numbers—and thanks to its GeForce 8400M GS videocard, it’s the only ultraportable that even ran our gaming benchmarks. And unlike other machines we’ve tested, killer performance didn’t impact battery life; the Vaio ran our movie playback test for more than three hours.
We’re also fond of the Vaio’s Rev A Sprint EVDO card. It perfectly complements the 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, gigabit Ethernet, and Bluetooth options. The Vaio also accommodates both PCMCIA and ExpressCard/34 cards, if you’d rather use your own WAN card.
On the other hand, the Vaio’s trackpad is too damn small, and the machine feels flimsy and poorly constructed. We suspect that its extra pound of heft is made up entirely of crapware—the Vaio ships with a ludicrous number of useless preinstalled applications. We understand the economic necessities of subsidizing inexpensive PCs with third-party crapware, but there’s no excuse for whoring out a notebook of this price. The first thing we’d do after buying this Vaio is reinstall Windows.
Sexy carbon-fiber shell; decent battery life; powerful graphics (for an ultraportable)
So. Much. Crapware. Case is kinda flimsy; too-small trackpad. Expensive.
| Sony Vaio SZ Premium | |
|---|---|
| CPU | Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 (2.50GHz) |
| RAM | 4GB DDR2/667 |
| Hard Drive | 250GB, 5,400rpm |
| Screen | 13.3-inch LED-backlit LCD (1280x800) |
| Lap/Carry Weight | 4 lbs. / 4lbs. 13 oz. |
| Apple MacBook Air | Sony Vaio SZ Premium | Lenovo ThinkPad X300 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Premiere Pro CS3 (min:sec) | 59:21 | 47:22 | 59:01 |
| Photoshop CS3 (min:sec) | 6:07 | 3:08 | 5:36 |
| ProShow (min:sec) | 95:11 | 35:44 | 63:25 |
| MainConcept (min:sec) | 174:11 | 59:52 | 119:36 |
| Fear (fps) | WNR | WNR | WNR |
| Quake 4 (fps) | WNR | WNR | WNR |
| Battery Rundown (hrs:min) | 2:39 | 3:02 | 3:01 |
wk
July 05, 2008 at 8:53am
Specification says:
CPU = Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 (2.50GHz)
Ram = 4GB DDR2/667
Graphic card = GeForce 8400M GS
then why,
Fear = WNR
Quake 4 = WNR
THANKS
sc123
July 28, 2008 at 3:01pm
You said: "...it’s the only ultraportable that even ran our gaming benchmarks"
Yet your benchmarks show WNR for the games...
willsmith
July 28, 2008 at 4:55pm
Yeah, it should have been more clear. It ran the games, but not the benchmarks at the resolutions we test due to the screen's resolution. At the resolutions we normally test, it scored <1fps. Because of the two things, we reported WNRs.
Print
