Sony VAIO Z11WN/B:- Intel Core2 Duo Processor P8600 (2.4GHz) 4096Mb 250Gb DVD+-RW/+-R DL/RAM 13.1" WXGA++ X-Black VB w SP1

 

 

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The Sony Vaio Z11-WN/B is a beautifully designed, fully functional modern gadget.

The initial impression upon delivery is, "It's tiny" - and it's still in the box! This minuteness is even further enhanced when you see the laptop in the flesh. The Z11 was bought to replace an aging Dell D400 (which itself was no monster) but the difference between a 12" 4:3 screen and the new Sony 13.1" 16:9 screen is immediately obvious: the Sony is so much narrower top-to-bottom. You wonder if the screen is going to be high enough to view anything properly, but it's okay (that is, we will get used to the marked reduction in screen height).

In spite of the good specification the Z11 seems a bit slow, surprisingly. Perhaps the low video memory detracts from overall performance, but with 4GB of system RAM, surely it shouldn't. Having said that, it still runs Vista easily enough, it's just booting and subsequent hard drive activity are slower or more prolonged than my new Toshiba (which has less RAM and a slower processor).

The screen is crystal clear and pin sharp but the very high resolution makes text size too small in some dialogue boxes and a great many websites need to be viewed at 125%+, which completely messes up the formatting. Fortunately, the new Internet Explorer 8 addresses the website issue so, overall, text size is not much of a worry. I'm writing this review in MS Word 2003, viewing at 105% and it's perfectly clear and comfortable (fonts are set to `Large' through Control Panel: 120 DPI).

The keyboard is a great looking thing. Like the whole laptop, it's neat and precise and comfortable to type with although I prefer larger keys - rather than small ones with large gaps - as some keys (like the right shift) are further away than I'm used to. The touchpad is a very good size and the buttons are plenty wide enough. With the laptop being so narrow (from top-to-bottom) it doesn't leave much room for the palm rest. This means that I can only rest my hands on the unit - not my wrists - and the mouse buttons are narrow too which will also take some getting used to.

One dreadful drawback is the lack of easy-access hard drive bay. Our old Dell has a handy drawer and my old Sony had a dedicated bay with `trap door' access. I have changed the drive in this Z11 to a Hitachi 7K320 and quite frankly, it was nightmare. You have to crack the case all around the edge and remove the keyboard. This is a dreadfully delicate operation requiring quite forceful prying of very sharp edges. And, of course, everything is shoe-horned into place with many very stiff, brittle parts... If I'd have known, I'd have paid the extra and got it configured at the Sony business website, if that's possible. (I might also note that the performance advantage seems negligible - but we do have 320GB of storage now.)

I had intended to uninstall Windows Vista and bought a new copy of Windows XP (the Sony website fully supports XP for this laptop and offers all the drivers). You can only imagine my surprise when I found a `Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2 Install Disc' included with this laptop. What a belter! The only disappointing aspect is that all the associated software is not included or supported (you can't download XP versions of Adobe Standard, Photoshop, etc.) So, since the Z11 handles Vista so well and because of the software thing, I won't bother to downgrade after all.

The key word here is: Neat. It's just such a smart and tidy packaging of technology. My wife's main requirement in a replacement laptop was portability - specifically, weight. The Dell was light at 1.6kg, but this is 1.5kg AND includes a dual-layer DVD drive. Superb. So, while this laptop is expensive, I still recommend it (as long as you don't need to upgrade the hard drive).

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