Sony VAIO VGN-UX180P Micro PC

If You Want

Posted Oct 26, 2006 - I waited 5 years before (finally) purchasing a new notebook PC to replace my old one, & although it wasn’t the fastest (at graphics @ processing speed), nor the most powerful (like with tons of RAM, Hard Disc Space, Blu-Ray burner, etc.), for me, it does the job just fine, it’s lots of fun to use, and is a Dream-Come-True compared to my last notebook, most especially in terms of built-in features, mobility, and portability! It’s my notebook PC (a.k.a. laptop), Digital Camera, cell phone/videophone, digital voice recorder, MP3 player, PDA (for my agenda, memos, scheduler, phone book/contact list, etc.), and PC Cam/Web cam ALL-In-ONE, that fits in the palm of my hand! Again, it might not be the greatest, but it’s the best one in my book—or, should I say in my hand! LOL

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SONY VGN UX180P

Posted Mar 17, 2007 - Been struggling for a long time to find a device that combines everything from media player , web browsing , email, VOIP , has adequate battery life, touch screen, high resolution , is light , well built and future proof. This is it !!

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Overall very usable ultraportable

Posted Aug 23, 2006 - Very weak wifi reception: 0-2 bars (out of 5) only 5 feet away from my Linksys 54G router, all my other wifi laptops and PDAs showing full signal strength 30 feet away, frequent disconnect/reconnect is really annoying and it interrupts you while you are working, sony tech says it may be just a driver issue but I doubt it - defective unit maybe. Update to this problem, as a last resort, SONY support suggested to replace their own wifi driver with the most updated version from Intel. After loading intel's driver the disconnect/reconnect issue seems getting better, however the new driver still falsely advertises the low signal strength, but it stays connected. One problem is that if you load intel's driver, Sony will not support it if you have further questions. Blue keyboard light is very soothing and useful, it turns on when you press any key on the keyboard or slide the keyboard open, but I think the design misses a button to turn it on. In real world scenario, you have to press a key to light it up so if you type in the dark, the first key you pressed needs to be backspaced, a small design annoynace to me. As far as the size of keyboard, the key spacing is not optimal for heavy keyboard input. The zoom key pair are useless for the reason that when screen is zoomed (in and out), it is very ugly. I would prefer page up and down buttons for easy browsing, the two buttons can be reconfigured though, however page up and down are not among the reconfigurable selections. Of course there are page up down keys on the keyboard, but they are not very accessible. built-in cameras picture taking is ok but don't expect too much out of it, especially for low light and direct sun light conditions. Sony did not include many pen computing applications with the unit, most important among them is the handwriting recognition application, so you have to switch between keyboard and stylus back and forth in many situations. I installed the microsoft recognition pack for tablet PC on this unit(the pack includes some nice features like voice recognition and handwriting recognition modules for 12 languages, however in order for you to install and run it, you need first load a tablet PC SDK which can be downloaded for free from microsoft's www.tablepc.com site), and it turns out that it is very useful. Battery life for me is 3+ hrs, including 70% web browsing using wifi, and 30% music and video playback, locally and remotely.

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Sony VAIO UX`17GP (Australian version of UX180)

Posted Jul 24, 2006 - * instead of a "MultiPoint", a small joystick-style mouse-point steering tool would be far more usable * an external battery that plugs into the I/O connector at the bottom would be useful - but it's probably going to be too expensive * suggest setting the computer and hard disk passwords (press Fn-2 after power-up) in addition to the Windows password - if someelse sets these two passwords, you lose control of your own computer! * the WXP Pro version of handwriting input panel is not as good as the Tablet Edition's Tablet Input Panel * the OnScreen Keyboard utility's keyboard is too small and not enlargeable (had to download a freeware version that has enlargeable keys) * if you don't use this computer to connect to a network, a lot of trimming-down can be done. I managed to free up 70MB of memory by turning off a few Services * there's not a great deal of visual difference between 16-bit and 32-bit color on a screen this size. Changing to 16-bit color saves some memory * the documentation said the hard disk is partitioned into C and D drives, but that's not true. Had to use PartitionMagic to resize C drive before creating D myself * Norton Internet Security is a major pain. Since I don't use this computer to surf the internet, I got rid of it completely. Even uninstalling it is tricky - should search the internet and get precise instructions before proceeding. While NIS was installed, I couldn't even double-click an Excel XLS file to open it. NIS also uses a lot of memory and CPU resources - i.e. consuming power and shortening your battery life * overall, this is a very nice toy. I use it to do technical reading while commuting to and from work - a total of 1.5 hours per day. When I buy my next micro PC in a couple of years time I'll know exactly what to look out for after having experienced this model.

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Sony Vaio VGN UX180P

Posted Jul 23, 2006 - Overall, a great buy.... Though screen is very clear, the word are VERY small, almost too small for my hand to use stylus on. Though it does have a button for stylus operation with bigger buttons. It did not come with any written documentation which makes learning the the thing more difficult....then again, the process of discovery becomes more enjoyable that way. :) Only a few stores carry LCD screen protectors, unlike Sony's PSP, and being this is $1800, it could use more availability. Also, the power connector on the bottom is slightly loose, so I must be fragile with it. Though, overall, I still love the little thing...and being computer literate helps a lot with the no documentation.

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Amazingly Small, and pretty fast

Posted Aug 26, 2006 - This is an amazing product. They got a full PC, with windows XP Pro into a a package that looks like a PSP or a bit bigger than the sidekick. I had one dead pixel on the screen, i'll try to use a fixer to fix it and then decide if it is worth returning for that. Anyway - it looks like a speck of dust. Because the screen is so small and the resolution is high, the eyes get a bit tired after working on it for a while, but what can you expect for something this compact. Keyboard is of course too small for regular 10 finger typing, but you can get pretty fast using two/four fingers. Great for taking for PowerPoint presentation and using GPS navigation software (like the MS S&T included with the software bundle). The wifi wireless and the bluetooth works great. I haven't tried the cingular deal yet (a bit expensive for me!) All in all, this is an amazing engineered product. And I would have thought it would be more expensive (given all the stuff inside). Bottom line: if you like toys, and if you travel a lot and want a good compact computer to present you work and help you navigate, this is for you.

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VAIO VGN-UX180P Micro PC

Posted Sep 27, 2006 - It's a small but powerful mini pc overall. Light weight but big enough for viewing browser and multimedia playing. However, the small storage capacity limit its power and need to increase to at least 60GB. The keyboard is too small and need to improve that.

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A full powered laptop in the palm of your hand

Posted Oct 10, 2006 - Overall, I love this unit. However, it is not without it's shortcomings. Similar to the other reviews, why doesn't this thing have XP tablet. I am looking forward to upgrading to Vista with tablet built in. Battery life is usable, learn to store in the included cradle/docking station. If you wish to use this to watch a movie on an airplane, you have to create your own stand. Otherwise your hands begin to cramp from holding this computer. Sony really fills up the harddrive with EVERY trial version of software known to man. I thought Dells had gotten bad, but this is worse. Even worse, many of the pre-installed programs do not seem to be listed in in the add/remove software section of the Control Panel. Many users have completely wiped the drive and started from a fresh install. However, to properly back up the system restore files, it appears you must have the SONY optical drive. Currently, that drive sells for about $400. I haven't paid $400 for an optical drive for about 10 years. I have not had the wireless networking sensitivity problems, that many others have complained about. However, I am usually within 25 feet of an access point. It is about the same signal strength, in reception, as most of my linksys cards. The built in wireless wan "mobile broadband" is useless. Why on earth, did they choose to go with Cingular? You can get the card unlocked, by calling Sony Tech support. Search the internet for a complete tutorial. Unlocking the card will allow you to use the T-mobile service. Cingular runs about $79 month, and T-mobile will run about $49. Keep in mind, these services generally max out at about 52K download speed, so you're moving data at about the same speed as dialup. If Sony had given us an industry-standard PCMCIA or Expresscard slot, we could use our Verizon or Sprint cards. BUT NO!!!! That would actually make the machine usable for SO MANY MORE CUSTOMERS. With my ranting out of the way, I really love my UX180P. I would hope that Sony will actually listen to users complaints, and the second generation machines will be REALLY GREAT machines.

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an expensive and not very useful toy

Posted Dec 12, 2006 - It's a disappointing device from otherwise innovative company. (See my complains above for not a complete list...) I was thinking it would replace my Sony PCG-TR3AP2 in business trips, when I need to access email, VPN into network, troubleshoot LANs and WANs and not get bored on a plane. No way - it's too uncomfortable to work on, but too underpowered to run fun stuff, i.e. DVDs, games, etc. And battery life is not better than any "big" laptop. My recommendation - save money or buy TX model, they are still great!

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