Overview: Sony Mini laptop

I’m sure you’ve noticed more and more mini laptop computers arriving on the market, released by the worldwide leading computer manufacturers like ASUS, Acer, HP or MSI. According to statistics, by the end of this year there will be sold approximately 5.2 million netbooks, and the number will increase up to 50 million in 2012.


In the mini laptops category are all models under 13.3 inches, including netbooks designed for wireless Internet use, ultra-mobile PCs and portable entertainment computers like the latest 11.1-inch Sony VAIO mini laptop models we will take a look at today.


The company provided a few mini laptops in the past years, which almost vanished without allowing us to know them in detail, but the models people are still talking today about are the VAIO UX Micro PC launched in 2007 and the new VAIO TZ series.


VAIO UX mini laptop has a sliding 4.5-inch widescreen display with XBRITE LCD technology, which reveals the full QWERTY keyboard, and weighs just 1.1 lbs in a very small pocketable form factor with rounded edges.


Even if it’s small, measuring 5.91 x 3.74 x 1.27-1.50 inches and combining a tablet PC design with a laptop, VAIO UX runs on a strong mobile processor of 1.2GHz, the Intel Core 2 Solo Ultra Low Voltage. In addition, it has 48GB Solid State Drive storage type to conserve power and increase battery life, Wireless WAN, Wireless LAN, Bluetooth GPS receiver, biometrics fingerprint sensor, and up to 7 hours of continuous operating time. It also provides front and back digital cameras.


Another difference between netbooks and mini laptop computers, besides the larger number of capabilities provided by the latter, is the high price difference, which allows you to distinguish between them easily. Netbooks are cheap computers available at around $300, while the other category including Sony mini laptop computers, has stylish designs with powerful features and are built using the latest manufacturing technologies to enable miniaturization of strong components powering standard notebooks.





For example, let’s take a look at the Sony VAIO TZ 3,699-dollars business notebook launched at the beginning of this year. It is an expensive model optimized for business people’s requirements such as mobile performance, portable entertainment, fast processing speeds and long battery life.


This Sony mini laptop series brings all these elements in a durable carbon fiber housing, weighting just 1.24Kg.


During the 7 hours of battery life, the Sony mini laptop allows you to watch high-quality images on its 11.1-inch X-black LCD display with 72% color gamut, and see your colleagues while chatting with the built-in microphone and Motion Eye web camera wirelessly, using the Wireless WAN connectivity that enables 3.6Mbps download speeds.


To send and receive files from mobile handhelds, the laptop has Bluetooth wireless technology.


Playing games on the go enhances your entertainment experience thanks to the integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 chipset with 3D support, while the Intel Core 2 Duo Ultra Low Voltage processor and Mobile Intel 945GMS Express chipset enable fast multitasking for all your complex applications, even in low light conditions as it features the LED backlight 1366 x 768 screen.





Other features of the VAIO TZ include 2GB memory, enough o run the Windows Vista Business operating system that comes pre-installed on the Sony mini laptop, fingerprint reader, Trusted Platform Module, HDD Shock Protection, DVD burner, 120GB HDD, and stereo speakers.


Sony is also planning the release of a new netbook, probably by the end of this year, and rumors say it will work with the VIA technology, with a design based on the 8.9-inch VIA mini laptop computers, featuring a 1.6 GHz C7-M processor, the VX800 chipset, 1GB memory, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, WiMac support, 60GB storage, and will run on the Windows Vista Home Premium operating system.

Overview: Lenovo’s ThinkPad X200 Tablet PC

Lenovo’s ThinkPad X200 Tablet PC, featuring Intel Centrino 2 technology and a 12.1-inch display with touch screen and pen input support, is now available for purchase.

According to the PC maker, there are X200 Tablet models “shedding almost 10 percent over the previous generation Tablet PC’s weight”. Additionally, the X200 convertible laptop also offers models with nearly 50 percent longer battery life.

“With models weighing only 3.5 pounds, the ThinkPad X200 Tablet PC gives users the best of notebook performance with the convenience of notetaking, similar to pen and paper functionality, in a digital form. Ideal for environments such as healthcare, real estate, education and sales, Lenovo’s first widescreen Tablet PC also offers models providing up to more than 10 hours of battery life for a full day of computing. Equipped with the latest low-voltage version of the small form factor Intel Centrino 2 with vPro technology, select models also offer up to 128 GB solid state drive storage, LED backlit displays, GPS and ultra wideband functionality as well as mobile broadband,” the company’s press release says.

Other innovations in the new convertible include touch sensitivity that recognizes a lighter pen or finger touch, dual swivel screen, web camera and dual-array microphones, and a full size keyboard.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X200 Tablet runs Windows Vista OS and starts at $1,814.

Overview: SONY VAIO TT

Sony today unveiled the VAIO TT laptop, “the world’s lightest computer with Blu-ray Disc technology”.

The Sony VAIO TT Series ultraportable, that weighs 2.87 pounds and is less than 1-inch thin, has a 11.1-inch 1366 x 768 display. The screen features LED backlight and has a 16:9 aspect ratio, used in many HD movies. The Blu-Ray drive is incorporated in select models and reads and writes BD, DVD and CD discs.

The laptop is based on Intel’s Centrino 2 technology. According to specification sheets of the VAIO VGN-TT160N/B and VGN-TT198U/B models, the TT comes with an ultra-low voltage Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, GMA 4500MHD integrated graphics, support for up to 4GB of DDR3 memory, and a traditional hard drive or solid state drive storage. The SSD option will be available in single 128GB or dual (128GB x 2) variants.

There are also optional Sprint Mobile Broadband support, standard WiFi, Ethernet LAN, and Bluetooth connections, as well as a built-in web camera, HDMI and VGA outputs, two USB ports, an ExpressCard slot, Memory Stick PRO and Secure Digital Card readers, and a Firewire port.

The notebook runs Windows Vista operating system and has a premium carbon black, silk black, champagne gold and crimson red carbon-fiber chassis.

Sony’s VAIO TT will be available starting this fall with a basic price of $2,000. The BD version will go for about $2,700, while the SSD model (128GB) for around $2,750.

Overview: HP G60

Hewlett-Packard has silently released the HP G60, the company’s first laptop that features a 15.6-inch display.


A G60 model sold by Circuit City - the G60-120US - includes the AMD Turion 64 X2 RM-70 processor, NVIDIA GeForce 8200M graphics, 3GB of DDR2 memory, a 250GB hard drive, and DVD burner. The 15.6-inch display has a resolution of 1366×768 pixels and a 16:9 aspect ratio.


The G60 also incorporates a built-in web camera, HDMI and VGA outputs, 802.11n wireless module, Ethernet LAN port, modem, three USB ports, an ExpressCard slot, a 5-in-1 media card reader, and a full size keyboard with integrated numeric keypad.


According to the product image, the HP G60 looks similar to the 15.4-inch Compaq CQ50 without num pad.


The G60-120US weighs slightly more than 6 pounds and runs Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit.


Circuit City sells the laptop for $629.99 after instant savings and mail-in rebate.

Review: Sager NP8660

The Sager NP8660 asserts to be the world's best ever 15.4-inch gaming laptop. It is dependent on the new-fangled Intel Centrino 2 platform and captures a top-of-the-line 512MB NVidia Geforce 9800M-GT graphics accelerator card.


Design

The NP8660 seems solid and business-like. Its framework is practically all black, put aside for a silver trim portion around the margin of the cover and bottom of the laptop. The NP8660 has a customary squared-off intend: there are no visualize design curves on this laptop as there are on typical multimedia consumer laptops. The back of the cover and around the keyboard is enclosed in black brushed aluminum, which both seems and feels of high excellence. There are only 2 places on the NP8660 where lustrous plastic can be spotted: a thin ribbon bordering the keyboard, and a slender trim section going around the far exterior of the indoor lid.


Performance

The NP8660 arrives with no operating system as the bottom of the variant; our adaptation has Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit (32-bit edition also incorporated). Windows XP and other adaptations of Windows Vista are also accessible. There is a negligible amount of software pre-installed. This arrangement goes for a shadow over $2,350. The NP8660 begins at $1,742 as of writing.

Items appeal noting in our design are the DDR3 memory and Intel Turbo Memory 2.0. Both approach as an ingredient of the new-fangled Intel Centrino 2 codename "Montevina" platform.
The NP8660 is accessible with 2 diverse resolutions: WSXGA+ (1680x1050) and WUXGA (1920x1200); ours has the previous. The display is lustrous though not exaggeratedly so; the silken finish on this exhibit is not as deep as other glossy displays I have used. Brightness is additional than sufficient and contrast is razor-sharp.

These speakers are in relation to the identical as typical laptop speakers. They have essentially no bass and too much treble. I establish the upper assortment of these speakers to be insensitive. The NP8660 has a solitary large fan that crops air through a colossal vent in the rear of the laptop. At leisure, the fan clamor is chiefly non-existent.

The 8-cell battery power pack afforded about 2 hours of battery life during my testing, with the display at 1/3 brightness and while surfing the Internet. This battery sprint life is lower than a archetypal 15.4-inch gaming laptop, which accomplish around 2 and a half hours with a 6-cell battery.


Overall

The Sager NP8660 is an outstanding high-performance laptop. It is as dominant as the majority of 17-inch gaming laptops, yet sits in a 15.4-inch framework. The build excellence is stupendous. The input devices and display of are excellent quality, and the power pack life is sensible for a laptop with this kind of power. The hallmark of this arrangement is its astral cooling system, which does its trade inaudibly and proficiently.


Pros

+ Top notch performance
+ Brilliant build eminence
+ Concrete input devices
+ High-quality display


Cons

- Keyboard might have additional tactile feedback
- Bulkier than a archetypal 15.4-inch laptop.


Value For Money

Our Rating

Review: Lenovo ThinkPad SL500

In the past few months, Lenovo has experimented to tremble up its merchandise accessibility a bit with the preamble of new-fangled lines of laptops. The SL series is a finances line of notebooks intended at the small business section.

Design

The 15.4-inch SL500 is a bigger adaptation, obviously, than the 13.3-inch SL300 or 14.1-inch SL400 that we've reviewed at previously. It trails the identical stylings, with a lustrous back lid and narrow piece underneath the LCD, while all over the place else is encrusted in a black matte plastic. Positioned in the corners of the slick back are the different Lenovo, ThinkPad and Energy Star logos.


Specifications

· Memory: 2GB PC2-5300 RAM
· storage space: 320GB SATA hard drive
· Optical Drive: DVD+/-RW
· Wireless Connectivity: Intel 5100 802.11 a/b/g/n
· Graphics Accelerator: NVIDIA Geforce 9300M GS 256MB


Performance

The SL500 is a commerce laptop, so don't be expecting disproportionate 3D/gaming presentation. That being alleged, it detained its own extremely well. Recital was satisfactory with even desktop rendering. The laptop never felt bogged down even with quite a few applications open at similar time appreciation to the dual-core Intel processor buried inside. Lenovo's laptop keyboards are branded for their constancy and effortlessness of typing, and the keyboard on this notebook is no omission.

Being a 15.4" laptop provides the SL500 the suppleness to proffer a number of dissimilar ports and extension technologies, and the SL500 takes benefit of the room. Lenovo also elegantly speckled the ports around the sides of the laptop rather than putting them all in the flipside, so users don't have to twist the laptop around anytime they desire to plug something in.
Lenovo did an unbelievable job when engineering the SL500's temperature dissipation techniques. Our laptop came with a 9-cell battery, which is a supplementary $79 but except your laptop stays plugged in all day, I'd say it's a requirement. For the battery test, I set the display to sixty percent vividness, wireless networking on, and loading different webpage’s every so frequently.


Overall

At the end of the day, the SL500 is a commendable accumulation to the ThinkPad line, as it permits consumers to forgo a definite degree of build excellence while saving adequate money to approximately buy a second computer. Small businesses glancing to swell their productivity while keeping prices down would do well to seem at the ThinkPad SL500 as a mobile elucidation.


Pros

+ Assortment of ports, together with FireWire and HDMI
+ Bodily wireless connectivity button for easy conformity with flight regulations
+ Far-fetched heat debauchery
+ Contemporary business plan
+ ThinkPad excellence devoid of ThinkPad prices!


Cons

- Intend makes accessing a few ports tricky
- Lustrous lid is a fingerprint attraction


Value For Money

Our Rating

Overview: Sony VAIO NS Series

The recently announced Sony VAIO NS Series 15.4-inch consumer notebooks, based on Intel Centrino Duo Processor Technology, are now available for preorder.


The offered NS laptops at SonyStyle are preconfigured models, featuring the Intel Core 2 Duo T5800 CPU at 2GHz, GMA 4500MHD integrated graphics, 3GB or 4GB of DDR2 system memory, and a 250GB hard drive. Select models include a Blu-ray Combo optical drive, while the others come with a DVD burner.


The VAIO NS has a widescreen display with a resolution of 1280-by-800 pixels and a built-in 1.3-megapixel web camera. There are also Intel’s WiFi Link 5100AGN wireless module, an Gigabit Ethernet LAN port, 56k modem, four USB ports, an ExpressCard slot, Memory Stick PRO and SD memory card readers, Firewire port, and VGA output.


With an approximate weight of 6.4 pounds, the laptops are available in three different colors - nightfall blue, silk white, and granite silver. The NS provides up to 4 hours of run time on a single battery charge, according to Sony.


The Sony VAIO NS runs Windows Vista Home Premium operating system. The models with 3GB of RAM come with the 32-bit OS version, while those with 4GB of memory run Windows Vista 64-bit.

The laptops start at $799.

Sony VAIO NS Series (available models)	VGN-NS140E/L VGN-NS140E/S VGN-NS140E/W	VGN-NS190J/L VGN-NS190J/S VGN-NS190J/W
CPU (Intel Core 2 Duo)	T5800 - 2GHz Clock/800MHz FSB/2MB Cache	T5800 - 2GHz Clock/800MHz FSB/2MB Cache
Memory (DDR2)	3GB	4GB
Hard Drive	250GB SATA at 5,400rpm	250GB SATA at 5,400rpm
Optical Drive	DVD burner	Blu-Ray Combo (BD-ROM/DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/RAM )
Chassis Color	Nightfall Blue (VGN-NS140E/L) Granite Silver (VGN-NS140E/S) Silk White (VGN-NS140E/W)	Nightfall Blue (VGN-NS190J/L) Granite Silver (VGN-NS190J/S) Silk White (VGN-NS190J/W)
Operating System	Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit	Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
Current Price (US$)	799.99	999.99