Sony VAIO X

Sony VAIO X is an ultra-slim, lightweight netbook with an extremely powerful battery lasting up to 10 hours. The little netbook is not only brilliantly designed, but also powerful – it features 3 wireless and GPS receiver. Although it might seem that its price is a bit too high it is comparable to other ultra-slim laptops.

Sony VAIO X pros:
+ Excellent design
+ GPS and 3G integrated
+ Good viewing angles
+ Powerful battery
+ 11.1” screen displays 1366 x 768 pixels
+ Windows 7
+ Snappy performance
+ 128 GB SSD

Sony VAIO X cons:
- A bit pricey
- Keyboard and touchpad could be more comfortable
- Speakers are too quiet

The design:

Sony VAIO X measures 10.95 x 0.55 x 7.29 inches and weighs 1.4 pounds with the battery so it is the lightest notebook in the world (at the moment). Sony decided to use the magnesium alloy in the production and finish the lid with carbon fiber which add the the netbook’s endurance. The Sony VAIO X was designed to be small so it couldn’t house a full keyboard so the one inside the netbook is about 88% of the normal size. The keyboard is generally comfortable if you have small hands, or are used to such devices, yet the right Shift key is a bit small. The trackpad measures 2.1 x 1.6 inches and supports multitouch gestures just like Apple MacBooks.
The 11.1-inch display on the Sony VAIO X shows up to 1366 x 768 resolution which is is quite unusual for such small netbooks. The colors are crisp and the image is very vivid also at wide angles. Both the horizontal and vertical viewing angles are outstanding.
The audio quality in the Sony VAIO X is, unsurprisingly, not that good. That’s only natural as the speakers cannot be very big in such a small body. The speakers are not only too quiet, but also the overall quality is rather poor and the bass is nonexistent.
The left side of the Sony VAIO X features two USB ports and a headphone jack, whereas the right side houses the Ethernet and VGA ports. There is also the SD Card reader and the Sony Memory Stick slot.
The built-in webcam records videos in VGA resolution and is sufficient for running Skype conferences and for casual conversations.

Performance:

In performance tests the Sony VAIO X does quite well scoring above the netbook average in almost all respects. Starting up Windows 7 took less than a minute and the mixed bag of data was copied at slightly over 27 MBps.
Although the Sony VAIO X does not do very well in graphics performance test the netbook is capable of playing 720p videos smoothly.
The wireless performance of the Sony netbook is also among the average for netbooks.
The netbook does not overheat so even after prolonged and demanding use it should feel comfortable on your lap.

Conclusion:

The Sony VAIO X is a really decent netbook but its price makes it a bit of a show-off. For a comparable price you may get a full size laptop, or even a MacBook.

Selected Sony VAIO X features and specifications:

• Performance

2GHz Intel® Processor
533Mhz Front Side Bus Speed

• Memory & Storage

Up to 128GB Solid State Drive
2GB DDR2 SDRAM

• Expansion Slots

Memory Stick PRO™(Standard/Duo) media slot with MagicGate® functionality
SD™ memory card slot

• Hardware

QWERTY keyboard, 82 keys with 1.2mm stroke and 17mm pitch
Built-in MOTION EYE® camera and microphone
Electro-Static touch pad

• Display

11.1″ Screen
1366 x 768 Resolution
LED Backlight

• Graphics

Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 500
Intel® System Controller Hub US15W Chipset