Chock full of multimedia goodness, the Vaio VGN AR590E has hit the market with a beefy price tag befitting of it's bells and whistles.
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The Good: portable; affordable; stylish and modern exterior; solid structure; elegant, minimalist look; comfortable, full-sized keyboard; DVD burner; fast internet surfing; battery life comparable with other mid-size models and adequate for movie watching; LCD with high native resolution; wireless connectivity; use of Xbrite technology for readable display with antireflective coating; adequate multitasking performance; with three USB 2.0 ports and a mini FireWire port.

The Bad: bulky; available only in white and brown colors; noisy mouse buttons; a little bit heavy for traveling; no quick-launch buttons; insufficient for 3D gaming; lack of PC Card slot; low speaker sound.

The Bottom Line: suitable for budget-conscious individuals with discriminating style; usable for basic productivity; not for the more demanding buyer.

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The Good: Great battery life; built-in mobile broadband antenna; typically impressive Sony industrial design; LED-backlit display provides bright screen and aids battery life; compact and light; still includes optical drive.

The Bad: Slow Core Solo processor; small and slow hard drive; expensive warranty extensions.

The Bottom Line: Sony adds Windows Vista to its ultraportable VAIO TXN17, which doesn’t change much otherwise from its XP-based precursor. With a gorgeous design, excellent battery life, and wireless broadband, it remains one of the best ultraportables on the market for business travelers.

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The Good: Improved battery life; solid-state hard drive; multiple interface options.

The Bad: Nontactile keyboard; some navigation keys are hard to use; expensive.

The Bottom Line: The pocket-size Sony VAIO UX390 makes solid improvements over the first generation of UMPCs, but its target audience is unclear.

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Once you got a laptop of your own, the worst thing that can happen to it, apart from being stolen or blowing up in smoke, is to develop problems that require a mainboard replacement. The next in line is the LCD replacing, second costly repair that you may need to pay for, and today we’re going to show you how to do it yourself. Are you ready?

First of all, you should have the following tools at hand: a small Phillips screw driver, paper and pencil for documentation (or simply a printer with enough paper loaded), and a little bit of tape to keep the screws together.

Now, nobody got its technical knowledge over night, so before everything else, you should take your time and do some research on the Web. You need to know exactly what kind of display you need, so you won’t order the wrong replacement. (read more)

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I am not a big Apple fan, but I must admit that the iMac is one of the first things I would like to get in the near future, but this may change with the new VAIO L series from Sony. No, Sony didn’t start to manufacture computers able to run Apple’s Mac OS X, but they introduced a revolutionary concept with this new VAIO that reminds me of Apple’s all-in-one computer I just mentioned.

(read more)

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VAIO is an acronym for Video Audio Integrated Operations, and Sony uses this as a subbrand of many products, including notebooks, desktop systems, and even a hard-disk-based audio player that comes in both 20GB and 40GB versions, called VAIO POCKET player, as well as network media solutions.

Today, we’re going to talk about Sony VAIO SZ, the laptop from the VAIO series that has the best balance between size, weight, keyboard size and screen resolution. With a weight of 3.8 pounds, the SZ comes between the 2.8 pound TX and the 5.5 pound FJ, having all the features needed by a business user, including a fingerprint scanner for security and an integrated webcam and microphone for videoconferencing.

Featuring a capable processor, a comfortable keyboard and a high quality display, the Sony VAIO SZ manages to offer a decent battery life at the same time, making it a good choice for people that need to take their office on the road.

Best features:

• 13.3 inch WXGA display having a native resolution of 1280X800 pixels
• big keyboard, with smooth keys and comfortable touchpad
• can switch automatically between the integrated Intel video chipset and the more powerful built in nVidia GeForce 7xxx series adapter
• 1.3MP resolution webcam integrated on top of the screen
• fingerprint scanner

(read more)

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After launching its first ultramobile unit for Windows XP, the VGN-UX50, last spring, Sony takes a big step forward to follow the industry, releasing its first minilaptop for Windows Vista, Microsoft’s latest operating system that finally made it to the public only four days ago.

Sony’s ultramobile PC for Vista comes with high hopes, targeting the business users in search for minilaptops. Although no reference to the price is being made in the official press release, the UX1 is expected to have a price around $3,800 U.S. (£2,000). The sources say that this price comes from the Sony officials, but until it becomes a reality, we can’t consider it more than just a rumor.

The little Vista-capable laptop from Sony is known as Vaio VGN-UX1XN, or shortly UX1, and has only 95 by 50.2 by 32.2mm (4 by 2 by 1.3 in.), featuring a slide-screen over a full Qwerty keyboard. If you don’t workout often, it won’t be a problem carrying it around, since it weighs less than half a kilo (a little more than a pound). These being said, we can award it the title of “Smallest Vista capable laptop” without any worries that we’ll be wrong! (read more)

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