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Review of Sony Vaio TZ

Posted Jun 24, 2008 Jesper Berg

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It's obvious that the Vaio TZ from Sony has been designed from the ground up with 100% mobility in mind. It looks stunning in its carbon fiber casing and remarkably thin design, and with up to eight hours of battery life, there is very little that discerning road warriors won't appreciate about the TZ.

Full review of Sony Vaio TZ

Of course, when you're talking about a computer that weighs 2.65 lbs., you probably don't expect it to perform as well as your average desktop computer, but the Intel U7700 is still a fairly capable companion for average office work.

Eight-Hour Battery Life

Speaking of the U7700, it's one of Intel's "Ultra Low Voltage" CPU's, which consumes less current than the average laptop processor. Coupled with a 64 GB Solid State Drive (no moving parts,) it helps you reach that sought-after 8-hour battery life, but not without adding a rather hefty amount to the price tag. The Sony Vaio TZ SSD edition will hardly fit into everyone's laptop budget - configured with an SSD it cost about $3,000. You can get it for less, however, if you can settle for a 4,200-rpm conventional hard drive.

Features and Usability

Besides the fact that it looks great, the Vaio TZ is loaded with features - some of which put the MacBook Air to shame. In spite of its smaller size and weight, it has a built-in optical drive, a VGA port, 2 USB, Firewire, LAN and dial-up, and a memory card slot. This model also came with an integrated wireless broadband card plus one month's free subscription to Sprint's broadband service.

The keyboard makes good use of the limited space available; the keys are raised and have some space between them, but if you happen to have large hands, writing may become uncomfortable after a while. This is of course nearly always the case with such small laptops. Another potential annoyance is that the fan never comes to a complete stop. It gives away a constant humming sound, which is audible in quiet surroundings. Just like other Sony laptops, the TZ is equipped with an XBRITE screen, which is more than a funny name or a gimmick - it's actually very sharp and bright, with vivid colors and a 1366x768 resolution.

It's also worth mentioning that the screen is really, really thin, almost disturbingly so if it happens to be a bit fragile, but we didn't pound it with a hammer to find out.
Nonetheless, the Sony Vaio TZ is definitely one impressive little gadget, that in spite of its amazingly thin frame qualifies as a full-featured laptop.

Sony Vaio TZ Technical Specifications

  • Processor 1.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo U7700 (Low Voltage)
  • Memory 2 GB DDR2
  • Harddrive 64 GB SSD (Solid State Drive)
  • OS Windows Vista Business
  • Weight 2.65 lbs. (1.2 kg)
  • Screen 11.1 inches
  • Screen resolution 1366x768
  • Graphic Card Intel GMA 900
  • Battery Life 8 hours

Pros

  • Exceptionally thin and light
  • Superb screen
  • 8-hour battery life
  • Fast hard drive (SSD)
  • Good performance considering size

Cons

  • Expensive

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