Strengths:Refined design; LED screen pops out text; meticulous focus on aesthetics and correlating form with function
Weaknesses:Core Solo not a huge jump over Pentium M, 1.5GB MAX ram, keyboard hump, fan goes on all the time, feels fragile (but is not)
Posted Jun 25, 2007 - Thin and light is one of the most marketable buzz words when you label that on a laptop. The fallacy is, most laptops that get slapped with that label are anything but light and certainly not thin. With this machine by Sony, not only do the labels stick, but also along with a whole cachet of positive euphemisms. While there are some subjective design choices that mar perfection, this laptop delivers an uncompromising performance when used as intended for endurance and office apps.
There two things that jump out at you when looking at any laptop, the quality of the keyboard and the screen. The screen doesn't disappoint. LED screens have been perfected by Sony now for 1.5 years and coupled with their X-brite technology, the screen can create a depth behind 2D text because it is so sharp and bright. The carbon fiber material also helps bring a high class finish to the construction, begging you to touch it or at least, run your fingers over it to marvel at this hybrid alloy material. When you begin to use their machine for a long time, the button placements down to the reinforced spindle for the notebook hinge just appreciates in function over time. You will understand why each button was placed there.
The weaknesses of the machine do not compromise the overall function but they do merit mentioning because it is obvious. The Core solo processor, while picked because of its less than 5W power, chokes when pushed. It can be alleviated to an extent when you expand the RAM to the limit, but there is no reservoir of power by that CPU. You don't need to run complex programs like graphical games to see the shortcomings of the CPU, just run a heavy flash ad and you can see a freeze of the system. Speaking of RAM, the limitation is less than 2GB, while XP Pro operates at a sweet spot of 1GB, if you decide to upgrade to Vista, you are going to be pushed. The keyboard also has some humps that raise the keyboard which can possibly scratch the screen and there is a feeling of fragility--not enough to make you want to baby it, but enough that you just cant throw in a backpack or messenger bag along with a heavy textbook or a 500 page brief.
The upcoming TZ series hopefully will correct the deficiencies that the TX series didn't get to. All said, the TX series certainly raised the benchmark what a thin and light notebook should strive to be. Recommend!
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