Review: Sony Vaio TT17GNX

Sony have served up a cross between a micro entertainment unit and a Notebook in their latest Vaio. But will you be able to afford the beast that lies within!

By Charlie Brown

Make: Sony
Model: Vaio TT17GNX

I’m a fan of netbooks, notebooks or whatever the buzzword for laptops is these days. They’re portable, offer the functionality of a desktop and are managing to keep up with their bigger cousins as far as processing speed goes.

So, on to the Sony Vaio TT17GN/X netbook with 11.1-inch screen. Out of the box you get a slim, tidy unit that has a cool, sleek design made from carbon, with a few metal (chrome?) attachments in strategic places to give it a little class. It feels light (specs say it is 1.3kg),and I especially like the thin screen, which probably helps balance the fact the body of the unit houses a DVD drive, a Blu-ray burner and reader, an Intel Core 2 Duo Processor (1.4GHz), and a battery that is claimed to last up to six hours between charging.

To switch the unit on, you have to press the button that is situated on the right-hand hinge. The power cord plugs into the other hinge on the left-hand side.

Once up and running, straight away I notice that the LCD offers up crisp, clean images and the Intel processor burns up the speed as I cut through to various websites. It comes with Windows Vista Business, which seemed to chug along nicely – although if Windows 7 turns out to be all that Microsoft are building it up to be, maybe later versions will come with that OS instead.

Being a touch typist, I was concerned that the Qwerty keyboard might be a bit small, but in fact it’s quite roomy compared to some of the other laptops I have tried recently. Any typos were more I made were due to trying to type too fast, as opposed to any fault with the keyboard.

There are two USB ports, which should be enough for what the unit is designed to do, with 4GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive. There is an in-built camera and the aforementioned processor.

The only downside about this piece of equipment is its price, which comes with a hefty RRP of $4,999 (although I have seen it advertised at $3,999), which is big money for such a little laptop. However, it is packed with high-end gear and the proof is in the pudding.
Overall, this is ideal for business people who want a piece of equipment to meet all their needs – is easy to use, has excellent storage and, most importantly, top-notch speed.
I liked it. I liked it a lot.

Pros: Blu-ray; size; great screen; looks great; fast processing

Cons: Screen could be too skinny (brittle?); Price

RRP
$4,999

4 Shacks out of 5

Brought to you by CyberShack.com.au