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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
BEST CHOICE FOR SIZE AND FUNCTIONALITY, BUT NOT CHEAP, 3 Aug 2009
This review is from: Sony Vaio P11ZQ 8-inch Netbook, Intel Atom Z520 1.33Ghz, 2GB RAM, 60GB HDD, Vista Home Premium (Black) (Electronics)
I have now used this Sony P series mini-netbook for 4 weeks. It is my second computer, which I need when I am away from home. It is more portable than the 9-12 inch netbooks (which is why I preferred to buy it, in spite of the higher cost). It fits into my winter-coat pockets but does not fit into my jacket pockets, so I still need a small case to carry it in summer.
As expected, the screen and text sizes are small, but there are ample options to enlarge texts: a) through control panel>ease of access>optimise visual display options, b) by using the key board Fn+F10, c) through view>text size option in internet browsers or d) via format>font size in other applications.
Windows Vista operating system takes some 80 seconds to open the home screen, but it takes a while longer to be ready for use. On the other hand the Instant Mode takes only 20 seconds to open the home screen and is instantly ready to use. Wi-Fi connectivity is easy. There is also a Vaio Everywair that recommends T-mobile broadband service, but there is no T-Mobile 3G reception in my area; therefore I bought an o2 sim card dongle (and discarded the dongle). The sim card works well via the Globe Trotter Connect software, which comes pre-loaded with the mini-netbook.
The mini-netbook has crashed twice, so I have recognised the limit to the 2 gigabyte RAM. It gets hot rather quickly, but I had been warned. I am satisfied with everything else: keyboard, cursor pointer, Motion Eye Camera, solid build, connection ports, screen resolution and two hours battery life as a trade off for small size and light weight.
In summary, this is a wonderfully small ultra-portable machine that can do most things; it very wisely has a fast access Instant Mode for some tasks and enables mobile internet access conveniently. I recommend the Sony VAIO P series as the smallest but not the cheapest mobile computer, preferably for people who need a second computer.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Surpassed all my expectations - superb, 22 Aug 2009
This review is from: Sony Vaio P11ZQ 8-inch Netbook, Intel Atom Z520 1.33Ghz, 2GB RAM, 60GB HDD, Vista Home Premium (Black) (Electronics)
I was almost put off buying this after reading some of the reviews on here and other sites but I'm so glad I took a gamble! This is one of the most amazing looking devices I have owned. I've been looking for a netbook / mini laptop for ages and have tried variants from Asus, Samsung, Toshiba and HP. All were ok but all had a deal breaking flaw (they wern't small enough and /or usable). I will admit the Sony can be a tad slow with Vista at times, but it just needs some tinkering. Remove all the rubbish, install an anti-virus that doesn't use all the available resources, use readyboost, and wait patiently for Windows 7. If you want a truly mobile device for internet browsing and basic usage this is ideal. It looks stunning, feels great, and works perfectly. I have one gripe, thats the battery life with the standard battery - not great. Solved by getting the extended battery package. You can also now get this with £150.00 cash back from Sony and free Windows 7 upgrade - Happy days!!!
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good first try, but usability needs more refinement., 10 Jun 2009
This review is from: Sony Vaio P11ZQ 8-inch Netbook, Intel Atom Z520 1.33Ghz, 2GB RAM, 60GB HDD, Vista Home Premium (Black) (Electronics)
It feels a bit unfair to say this notebook has a very small display and keyboard. It is after all, probably the smallest lightest notebook available in the UK (640g. It's less than about a third the weight and size of a standard value 13" notebook).
BATTERY LIFE - With the default 2-cell battery, you get about 2-3 hours (perhaps closer to 2 hours in Vista, I'm using Windows 7). However, upgrade this to the 4-cell battery for around £100 like I did, and you can easily pass 5 hours, and with the notebook still weighing around 750g, the utility goes up tremendously. I recommend all buyers go for this option, and am not sure why Sony didn't include it by default (it raises the back slightly but not so much that it looks terrible).
ERGONOMICS - You can't *possibly* expect ThinkPad-like ergonomics out of something this small, and I think Sony's done a great job here, the keyboard is easy to get used to and since I'm used to trackpoints, I didn't miss the touchpad being there either. I was worried about this area but Sony more or less nailed it considering the size constraints - the trackpoint is more "hard and pointy" than "flat and big" like on ThinkPads but it works almost as well...and well, you can't buy a ThinkPad anywhere near this light.
SPEED - I went in with expectations that things such as Web browsing and Youtube etc would be fine on the Atom CPU on this thing, comprimising speed for size makes sense, but admitedly was a bit underwhelmed, sometimes things do feel a bit *too* slow and you wish you were back on your fullsize 13-15" notebook again. It's not a deal breaker though - Office 2007 runs just fine and it *is* usable, just don't expect silky smooth webpage scrolling that you're used to on your "full speed" computer.
SCREEN - This has to be the notebook's biggest weakness. 1600x768 sounds great on paper, until you realise just how *tiny* it makes everything. If you've seen their previous T series 11" notebooks, recall that those were 1366x768 on an 11" screen, and if you think *that* was small text, you're in for a nasty surprise when you try the P1. The word "microscopic" keeps coming to mind and I can't see how anyone can use Windows on it at native DPI settings. To resolve this you can tell Windows to run at higher DPI (making text, windows etc bigger, 150dpi starts to make text bearable) but this brings with it a whole host of problems (weirdly formatted webpages, install dialog boxes that are chopped off the screen, further slowdown as the weak video processer is stretched to render such a high resolution desktop) and the whole feel of the operating system just feels flakey and unoptimised. I'm really not sure what to make of it in the end - images do look amazing on it but what use is that if you sacrifice usability. Perhaps a 1280x600 resolution would have worked better (1024x600 like on the netbooks wouldn't work since this notebook is longer to fit the width of the keyboard, which is fair enough). Sony went overboard on the resolution. Portable users don't need crazy high unusable resolutions, they want something compact and practicle.
So, at the end of the day, 5/5 from me, had they gone with a more practicle more fiddle-proof display option. But I can't really complain about the rest of the system, it's as good as notebook you can get in this size, can be handled like a paperback and can completely change your usage cases when it comes to portable computing, so Sony should be applauded for at least getting their foot through the door and producing something very different from all the other relatively chunky Atom notebooks.
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