Showing posts with label reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reviews. Show all posts
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Samsung N150 Specification:
Intel Atom N450
LED Backlit
10.1" Screen Size Graphics 128MB Shared
Intel GMA3150 (Internal) Graphic Processor
1 GB DDR2 System Memory
160 GB Hard Drive Capacity
0.3 Megapixel Integrated Camera
802.11 b/g/n Wireless LAN
I/O Ports : Headphone, Mic-in, 3-in-1 (SD, SDHC, MMC) Multi-Card Slot, 3 USB 2.0 VGA
83-Key Keyboard
Touch Pad
Power : 40 W Typical Power Usage
6-Cell Lithium Ion
Dimensions : 10.4 x 0.97 ~ 1.37" x7.4"
Weight : 2.73 lbs With Standard Battery
The Samsung N150 netbook is a 10-inch netbook available via standard retail sores and also offered from Verizon Wireless with a built-in Verizon wireless card for broadband access to the internet anywhere the Verizon network has coverage.
The N150 features a 10-inch LED-backlit display with 1024x600 resolution, an Intel Atom N450 processor, 1GB of system memory and a 160GB hard drive for storing your important business files or your personal music library.
The Samsung N150 is a low-performance netbook with an extremely low price from Verizon.
Pros
Good battery life
Low cost with Verizon 3G service
Cons
Difficult to upgrade
Weak performance
Low-resolution screen
Saturday, June 25, 2011 0
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Toshiba Satellite A665-S6067 Specification:
Intel® Core™ i7-720QM processor
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 330M 2782MB total: 1GB GDDR3 discrete memory + up to 1758MB shared memory w/NVIDIA® TurboCache™ technology
4GB DDR3 memory
500GB HDD (5400rpm)
DVD-SuperMulti (+/-R double layer) with Labelflash™ drive
Display Size 16.0" widescreen
Display Type HD TruBrite® LED Backlit display
Display Resolution Supports 720p content, 16:9 aspect ratio, 1366x768 (HD)
harman/kardon® stereo speakers, Headphone jack (stereo), Microphone jack (mono), Built-in microphone
Webcam
Wi-Fi® Wireless networking (802.11b/g/n)
10/100/1000 Ethernet LAN
Power AC Adapter 90W (19V x 4.74A) 100-240V AC Adapter
Battery Li-Ion (48Wh, 6-Cell)
Battery Life Up to 3.16 hours
Toshiba Satellite A665-S6067 is a 16-inch laptop versed with a 1.6GHz Intel® Core™ i7-720QM processor, 4GB DDR3 memory, and 500GB HDD (5400rpm). It sports a 16″ HD TruBrite® LED Backlit display, NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 330M graphics, Built-in webcam and microphone, HDMI port, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, DVD-SuperMulti, and 6-cell Li-Ion battery. The laptop runs on Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit handling system. Needless to say, such a pattern is good sufficient for the every day use, people have been really confident with it.
As a well-configured 16″ laptop, the Toshiba Satellite A665-S6067 could be an preferred desktop replacement, so if you’ve been sleepy of your desktop PC, it’s right time to reinstate it with this one. The laptop is good for examination movies and personification games, you’ll suffer shining knowledge with it.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011 0
Intel® Core™ i7-740QM processor
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTS 360M 2298MB total: 1GB GDDR5 discrete memory + up to 1274MB shared memory w/NVIDIA® TurboCache™ technology
6GB DDR3 1066MHz memory
564GB: 64GB SSD (Serial ATA) + 500GB (7200rpm, Serial ATA)
Blu-ray Disc™ ROM and DVD SuperMulti drive with Labelflash®*
18.4" widescreen FHD TruBrite® TFT LCD Display 16:9 aspect ratio, Supports 1080p content*, 1920x1080
Built-in microphone, Headphone jack (stereo), harman/kardon® stereo speakers, Microphone jack (mono), S/P DIF output port (shared with headphone port)
Webcam
Wi-Fi® Wireless networking (802.11b/g/n)
Bluetooth® V2.1 + EDR
10/100/1000 Ethernet LAN
AC Adapter 180W (19V x 9.5A) Auto-sensing,100-240V AC Adapter
Battery High Capacity Li-Ion (87Wh, 12-cell)
Battery LifeUp to 3.77 hours
Weight Starting at 9.70 lbs.
Display and Sound
Though it's designed for gaming, the Qosmio X505-Q890 makes an excellent multimedia system. The gorgeous 18.4-inch, 1920 x 1080-pixel screen is the real star of the show, offering plenty of screen real estate with beautiful, sharp images. When watching videos, such as a Blu-ray of Iron Man, the high-definition video was sharp, smooth, and colorful. Of course, when we watched a streaming 720p video of Fringe we noticed some blockiness because the screen was at a higher resolution than the video.
The Harmon Kardon speakers are good enough to turn the X505-Q890 into a stereo substitute. When streaming "Stuck on Repeat" by Little Boots, the sound was accurate if not overly rich and loud enough to fill a large living room.
Ports and Webcam
For such a large system, the Qosmio X505-Q890 has a pretty standard array of ports. On its right side are two USB ports, audio in/out, and VGA out. Its left side is adorned with Ethernet, HDMI, a Firewire 400 port, ExpressCard/54 reader, and a USB/eSATA port for a total of three USB ports overall. The front lip houses a 5-in-1 memory card reader and a Wi-Fi on/off switch. The only port we wish the X505-Q890 had is USB 3.0.
The X505-Q890's 1.3-megapixel webcam produced impressively sharp and bright images even in our dimly lit cubical. When talking on Skype, our image was colorful and the video smooth.
Performance
Just from its specs, we could predict that the Qosmio X505-Q890 would provide epic performance. The notebook's 1.73-GHz Intel Core i7 Q740 CPU has four high-speed cores that can run a whopping eight threads at once, improving your multitasking or boosting the performance of multithreaded apps. Its Nvidia GeForce GTS 360M discrete graphics card is loaded with 1GB of graphics memory, and it has two storage drives: a speedy 64GB SSD boot drive and a 7,200-rpm, 500GB hard drive.
On PCMark Vantage, a synthetic benchmark that measures overall system prowess, the Qosmio X505 scored a whopping 10,392, which is nearly double the category average for desktop replacements (5,308) and 80 percent better than the ASUS G73Jh (6,460). In fact, that's the third highest score we've ever seen, behind only the more expensive and boutique-oriented $3,966 Malibal Satori (13,187) and the $5,952 Origin EON18 (11,039), both of which use desktop components.
The 64GB SSD booted Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) in a speedy 52 seconds, 11 seconds faster than the category average and 15 seconds faster than the ASUS G73Jh, but about 4 seconds slower than the original X505.
We conducted our LAPTOP File Transfer Test, in which we copy 4.97GB of files on the 7,200-rpm hard drive, and saw it complete in a mere 2 minutes and 51 seconds for a rate of 37.1 MBps, comfortably faster than the 32.6 MBps category average and the 31.2 MBps turned in by the ASUS G73Jh. When it came to transcoding video, the X505-Q890 also converted a 114MB MPEG-4 in just 57 seconds, 6 seconds faster than the category average of 1:03.
Source: laptopmag.com
Intel® Core™ i3-350M Processor
RAM 4,096 (2,048 + 2,048) MB, DDR3
HD 320 GB
DVD Super Multi (Double Layer) drive
Display : 39.6cm (15.6”) Toshiba TruBrite® HD TFT High Brightness display with 16 : 9 aspect ratio and LED backlighting, internal resolution : 1,366 x 768
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator HD memory : up to 1,696 MB shared memory
Never mind the ultra slim, ultra portable and ultra stylish laptops, many people just want a reasonable laptop at an affordable price. Step forward the Toshiba Satellite C650-15X, a great laptop for everyday use that won't break the bank.
The Satellite C650 has sober-looking and practical flushed through the design. However, Toshiba has given it a nice plain black matte finish which feels beautifully robust and there’s no flex in the hardware. Toshiba has also made sure the components and features are competitive.
The Toshiba Satellite C650 is simple to use thanks to an end-to-end keyboard on the 15.6-inch frame, complete with a numerical keypad – great for creating presentations and typing for long periods.
Connections are average with only one VGA and two USBs, but there’s no HDMI for High-Def fun. Toshiba also left out a Blu-ray drive option– opting for an integrated DVD instead, although it’s not really a surprise looking at the competitive price.
Toshiba Satellite C650: Performance
Our model had an ageing 2.3GHz dual core processor, but it does have 4GB of DDR3 – the fastest memory money can buy. Combined with the 64-bit flavour of Windows Home Premium and roomy 500GB hard drive, the Satellite C650 has respectable specs, ably handing day to day tasks, but you won’t be playing games via the Intel GMA 4500M graphics card.
Toshiba claims 270 minutes battery life and we came very close at 254 minutes, but this is reduced to 145 on maximum performance mode with all bells and whistles turned on.
Toshiba Satellite C650: Display
At 1366x768 the Satellite C650’s 15.6 inch screen has a low resolution for a mid-sized laptop. We tried opening two documents simultaneously but found you really need a higher resolution to make it viable. On the positive side, the LED Backlit display isn’t too glossy and has a wide viewing angle so it’s easy for more than one person to see the screen.
Toshiba’s included some useful software from Nero and McAffee - programs you’ll actually use. This makes the Satellite C650 good to go out of the box. We also love the inclusion of face recognition software for the integrated web-cam, which can be used as a security feature.
The Toshiba Satellite C650 isn’t ultra-mobile and performance is average, but for everyday tasks, including browsing and office tasks it’s a solid choice. If you or a son and daughter are heading off to university any time soon then it’s worth noting that this laptop is available under the National Notebook and Desktop Agreement (NDNA) for students, where it comes with a three-year warranty.
modified from T3.com
Sunday, June 19, 2011
HP ProBook 4425s Specifications:
AMD Phenom II P920 Quad Core (up to 1.6GHz, 2MB L2 cache)
14.0-inch LED-backlit anti-glare HD display (1366 x 768)
Integrated ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250
4GB DDR3 1066MHz RAM
500GB 7200RPM HDD
LightScribe DVD+/-RW Optical Drive
Broadcom 4313 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1, 1Gb LAN
6-Cell 47WHr Battery
Limited 1-year standard parts and labor warranty
Dimensions: 13.23 x 9.15 x 1.07-inches
Weight: 5.05lbs with 6-cell battery
Build and Design
The HP ProBook 4425s has a very neat and professional look with brushed metal covers over a plastic body. The panels on this current generation of ProBook are dark copper or bronze in color and can be found on all sizes, including AMD and Intel models. Compared to the first generation models with only plastic showing on the exterior, the newer design looks great and adds strength to the notebook. The brushed metal finish is used throughout the notebook, including the screen cover, palmrest, and speaker grill. To compliment the finish, the surfaces not covered in metal are glossy black plastic, adding another touch of class to this stylish small business notebook.
Build quality is very good and a step up from the older model. The brushed metal lid gives the 4425s some much needed strength and screen protection that the plastic lid on the previous-generation ProBooks lacked. The palmrest and speaker grill show little to no flex under strong pressure, perhaps feeling stronger than the 15-inch or 17-inch siblings. The keyboard tray has some minor flex under pressure which wouldn't be a problem on the more expensive HP EliteBook models. The chassis looks and feels much nicer than the first revision ProBook series, but is just slightly behind business notebooks that use alloy as a primary component.
Users looking to quickly swap out components will be in for a bit of a shock. To access the processor, hard drive, or even the system memory, you need to fully dismantle the ProBook 4425s. On this small and medium business notebook HP opted for centralized support and maintenance, with very little work being done by the end user. In terms of looks this gives the bottom a clean appearance without any access panels, but in terms of difficultly, it adds a lot of work to swap out components. To open the system, you remove four screws underneath the battery, pop off the speaker bezel, remove four additional screws that hold the keyboard in place, slide the keyboard up. This gives you access to the system memory. To get at the hard drive, you remove three more screws that hold the palmrest in place, slide it carefully to the right to release it from its clips. Once that is removed you simply take out three more screws that hold the hard drive in place, and take it out (with four more screws holding it into its cage). To say upgrades on the ProBook are difficult or confusing is putting it lightly.
Ports and Features
Port selection on the ProBook 4425s is very nice for a small and medium business notebook, featuring three USB 2.0 ports, one eSATA/USB combo port, VGA and HDMI-out, LAN, modem, and headphone/mic jacks. The notebook also features a SDHC-card slot and ExpressCard/34 for future expansion.
Source: Noteebookreview.com
Sunday, June 19, 2011 0
Intel 2.53GHz Core i5 460M
Intel HD Graphics/nVidia GeForce GT 330M
Memory: 2GB Ram
HD: 320Gb
Screen: 13.3-inch, 1366 x 768
Connections: 3x USB, VGA, HDMI, gigabit ethernet, card reader, N Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0
Optical drive:DVD-RW
Battery tested: 385 mins
Dimensions/Weight: 331x234x27mm/2kg
Samsung produced some great laptops in 2010 and, on the evidence of the SF310, 2011 looks to be another vintage. Providing a successful mix of power, portability and usability the SF310 is also an extremely competitively priced machine, leaving many competitors floundering in its wake.
Ok, the 2kg chassis isn’t quite as light as we would’ve liked and it’s certainly bulkier than the latest Apple MacBook Air but the excellent 384 minute battery life offers over six hours of battery between charges, meaning you can leave the adapter at home on day trips.
Everyday performance is aggressive thanks to the Intel Core i5 460M processor and 4GB of memory. You’ll blitzkrieg through pretty much any consumer applications without issue, and resource intensive multitasking is also an option.
The SF310’s dedicated nVidia GeForce GT 330M graphics card allows quite a bit of play as well as work. We’re not talking high-end gaming, but HD movie editing will run fine. All this for under £800 is excellent value for money.
The 320GB hard drive is about right for the price, allowing plenty of room for your multimedia files, and you also get a DVD-RW chucked in for good measure, allowing you to watch your favourite films on the go as well as regularly back-up crucial data.
The ivory white lid finish and gentle curves of the chassis make this an attractive, as well as functional, laptop. The SF310’s palrmest features a chic brushed aluminium finish and the touchpad reflects light in a swirl pattern, giving the machine a unique look. We like shiny things.
Usability is also top-notch. The bright 13.3-inch screen features a 1366 x 768 720p screen resolution, so technically HD, which makes the best of photos and films. A very shiny screen coating causes distracting reflections in bright light, however, so not great for the garden.
The SF310’s spacious keyboard suffers none of the flexibility issues that plague many other laptops around and the keys are well-spaced and boast a firm, crunchy action which makes typing for long periods of time as much of a pleasure as possible.
A good spread of ports includes three USBs for connecting up peripherals or charging your smartphone, as well as both HDMI and VGA video outs, so hooking up to an external monitor or TV is quick and easy.
Samsung has created a fantastic laptop, the price is exquisitely low for what you get, and great design makes this a very desirable machine also.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Specifications:
Slate tablet design starting at 1.50 lb/0.68 kg
8.9-inch diagonal LED-backlit WSVGA wide-viewing angle display (1024 x 600 or 1024 x 768 for some applications)
Capacitive multi-touch screen with pen digitizer
Integrated 802.11 b/g/n wireless LAN
Bluetooth 3.0 + HS
Intel System Controller Hub (SCH) US15W chipset and Intel Atom™ processor
64 GB SSD
Secure Digital (SD) slot
Two integrated webcams (VGA inward facing; 3 MP outward facing)
HP Slate Dock, HP Slate Digital Pen, and HP Slate Folio are optional accessories that may be included on select configurations
As a tablet PC user since the launch of Windows XP Tablet PC Edition in November 2002, I've longed for a lightweight, portable and thin slate device that essentially functions as a digital notepad computer, and this is what I believe HP has delivered in the 500. There's nothing new here, the Slate is just a vanilla Windows 7 Professional device with practically no 3rd party applications installed except Evernote and the camera software, but I think that's actually a good thing as it keeps the unit from being bogged down given its adequate but less-than-powerful Atom platform.
Build & Design
The HP Slate 500 packs a lot of hardware into its svelte 5.91 x 9.21 x 0.58 inch body, and it only weighs 1.5 pounds to boot. The unit is impressive with an Atom Z540 1.86 GHz CPU, 64 GB SSD, 2 GB of DDR2 RAM, front-facing VGA camera, rear-facing 3 megapixel camera and an 8.9-inch 1024 × 600 screen with an N-trig Duo Sense capacitive touch and digital pen digitizer. This combines to give the HP Slate 500 topline specs at a topline price compared to most consumer slates. The 500 is sealed with no user replaceable battery or other parts.
The device is physically attractive and the rubberized back with a distinctive textured repeated pyramidal design with the HP logo in the center allows for good gripping either lying on a surface or in one's hand, and the flat back allows the Slate to function well for inking on a desk.
The device is fanless and completely silent but still manages to keep cool most of the time. The back does get quite warm when the device is charging or being taxed, such as when playing HD video. It's not scalding, but it might make your hands sweat.
Ports, connections, buttons & accessories
The Slate has one USB port, a full SD slot, a combination headphone/microphone jack and a combined power/dock connector. There are five hardware buttons along three sides of the machine. On the right in the primary landscape orientation is the combination power and screen rotation lock switch that disables the accelerometer. At the top right is the home button that minimizes all open windows and when held down for several seconds turns off the display backlight. To the left is the Control-Alt-Delete button for domain security purposes. On the top left is a volume rocker and finally on the left side is a toggle button for the Windows Tablet Input Panel.
The dock is lightweight with a folding leg and provides two additional USB ports, a headphone/microphone jack, a power connector that's identical to the one on the HP Slate 500, and finally an HDMI output. The Slate pops in and out of the dock nicely.
The metal digital pen uses an AAAA battery and is very comfortable to hold but the battery cap at the top is a bit flimsy, I've already broken the plastic ring around the top but fortunately it hasn't interfered with the pen's function as far as I've noticed. As with most digital pens on tablet PCs, it has a right click button.
The leather portfolio is form fitted for the Slate and has cutouts for the cameras and a strap holder for the pen. It reeks of professionalism and is a wonderful touch to the package as the Slate 500 is a device many will want to take to professional settings such as meetings.
The total weight of the Slate, dock, AC adapter, portfolio and pen is 3 lbs. according to my postage scale, which is accurate to within two ounces.
Screen
The 8.9-inch screen is bright however, viewing angles are not very good in primary landscape mode. I've found that rotating the screen 180 degrees so that the HP logo is at the top provides better image quality especially for video when viewing the screen outside of 45 degrees. As is common with slates, the screen is smooth and glossy and does produce glare, but I've not found it distracting in normal indoor lighting conditions though bright and direct sunlight will washout the screen. There is a good amount of backlight bleed around the edges of the screen. It's not typically a problem but it is noticeable with darker colors and blacks, especially during video playback in darker lighting conditions.
Performance
As the HP Slate 500 is essentially an Atom based netbook running Windows 7; it's simply not a speed demon. It has a Windows Experience Index of 2.7, with the 2.7 being the CPU rating, which is a bit higher than first-generation netbooks, and the 64 GB SSD does help to keep things humming along nicely for a netbook.
You'll find that common desktop applications like Office 2010 run wonderfully. Web browsing in IE 9 Beta overall is a solid experience with all of the Flash and other browser plug-ins you've become accustomed to in Windows.
That's not to say that web browsing on the Slate 500 is a super smooth experience in all cases. While most web sites run well, there are some that just don't. Some vertically-oriented sites will often stutter when scrolling, which can be frustrating particularly while using the touchscreen. On the flipside, pure Flash sites like Geforce.com run very well. Major sites like YouTube, Facebook, etc. all run fine. You'll have a blast updating your Facebook page with a pen!
Touch Interface
The N-trig Duo Sense digitizer also has a capacitive multi-touch part that supports four touch points. Touch is responsive and works well in most applications, but since Windows is a desktop OS, most of those applications will not have the beautiful and fluid visuals of the iPad. The tradeoff is that one will usually have more functionality with those programs.
The Office 2010 suite of applications are examples that do provide enough touch awareness to be completely functional via only touch, and Office will generally outpace mobile OS equivalents in features. But even in Office, there are still buttons and menus that were obviously not updated or designed with fingers in mind, and not all of the applications work equally well with touch, including PowerPoint and Publisher. You might have to use a little more care to do certain things but there is rarely something that can't be done via touch in most applications, even if it is not as fluid as it should be.
Video Performance
The Slate 500's video playback abilities are strong gratis Windows. I've used a variety of applications: Windows Media Player & Center, VLC and KMPlayer, and they all perform well, though VLC seemed to provide the smoothest 720p playback. 720p and even 1080p playback over 802.11n Wi-Fi is possible, though 1080p only worked in WMP and WMC as those applications use the Broadcom Crystal HD video decoder out of the box, though it is possible to get KM Player to as well.
modified from tabletpcreview.com
Thursday, June 16, 2011 0
Sony VAIO Y Specifications:
Intel Pentium U5400 (1.2GHz, 3MB cache)
4GB DDR3 1066MHz RAM (8GB max)
500GB 5400RPM Toshiba Hard Drive
13.3" Widescreen LED Backlit Display (1366 x 768)
Intel GHA HD Integrated Graphics
Atheros B/G/N, 1Gb LAN, Bluetooth
Ports: 3 x USB 2.0, Headphone Output, Microphone Input, VGA, HDMI, RJ-45 Ethernet, FireWire
6-cell 54Wh battery
Dimensions: 12.8"(W) x 0.93 - 1.2"(H) x 8.9"(D)
Weight: 3.81 pounds (with standard capacity battery)
The VAIO Y is a 13.3" ultraportable CULV-powered notebook from Sony, acting as the affordable-brother to the high-end VAIO Z. This model includes Intel GMA HD integrated graphics, an Intel Pentium CULV processor (New models feature Intel Core i3 and i5 ULV processors), 4GB of DDR3 memory and a WXGA resolution display. In this review we see how well this model stacks up against other ultraportable systems and if it should be added to your back-to-school notebook buying list.
At the time of publishing this review, Sony has phased out the older Intel Pentium processors, as seen in this review, and replaced them with the newer Intel ULV Core i3 and i5 processors
Build and Design
The Sony VAIO Y has a laid back design compared to the more expensive VAIO Z, with slightly thicker panels, smoother lines, and a more tried-and-true color scheme. Whereas the Z might include a custom machined faceplate, the Y offers a standard painted body panel. Another change is the color selection between the two models, with the Z offering more professional finishes and the Y including fun and sporty color options. As a whole the Y-series seems to be the thin and light system designed for a younger crowd. The design still includes many cool elements, including the hinge-integrated power button, slice power indicator light embedded in the top edge of the notebook, and island-style keyboard.
Build quality is top notch for a sub-$800 notebook with sturdy body panels and a very strong chassis. The screen cover provides more than adequate protection for the display, preventing any distortions from showing on the LCD with a firm grip to the opposite side. The keyboard and main body don't seem to have much flex and without the optical drive cavity inside the notebook, it almost seems to have less flex on the right side. Without going to the extremes with a fully machine top-plate Sony still managed to create a very sturdy notebook.
Compared to the Vaio Z which included a proprietary SSDarray, the Sony VAIO Y uses a much more basic, and easier to upgrade 2.5" hard drive. This, as well as the system memory, is accessible through the bottom of the notebook. For users looking to upgrade to anSSD down the road this means you wont have to fully dismantle the notebook just to swap out one component.
Keyboard and Touchpad
The VAIO Y has a comfortable Chiclet-style keyboard that is easy to type on for long periods of time. Compared to the Vaio Zthe spacing is a bit different, putting dedicated Page Up/Down and Home/End keys on the right side of the keyboard, instead of including them as secondary functions over the direction keys. This caused some shrinking of the right shift button and left control button as well as slightly tighter spacing. The keyboard also lacks one of the luxurious backlit keys seen on the VAIO Z, but that was expected given the much lower starting price. Keyboard support is excellent with no noticeable keyboard flex under strong typing pressure. Key responsiveness is great as well as very quiet key actions that don't emit much noise when fully pressed.
The touchpad on the VAIO Y is a Synaptics model that is very responsive and has no discernible lag. The touchpad includes some multitouch features, including two-finger scroll which the Z actually skipped in favor of the chiral-scrolling motion. Refresh rates were excellent, preventing any "trails" from the cursor drawing fast circles on the screen. The touchpad settings out of the box were near perfect, with no tweaks needed during the review. I also found the touchpad buttons to be easy to trigger with the edge of your thumb and had shallow feedback when fully pressed. Overall the touchpad was very good and one of the nicer models seen on a thin and light notebook.
Ports and Features
Port selection on the VAIO Y was very good for a thin and light system, including three USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 400, VGA and HDMI-out, audio jacks, and LAN. Expansion slots included a SDHC and MemoryStick card reader, as well as an ExpressCard/34 slot.
Screen and Speakers
The Sony VAIO Y comes standard with a 13.3-inch WXGA panel with no upgrade options for higher resolutions. Compared to other CULV-based notebooks the screen rates above average with good color and contrast. I have to admit that this screen was a step down from the one seen on the VAIO Z, which had a higher color saturation and deeper black levels (at nearly triple the cost!). For users looking to enjoy a movie on the road, enjoy a YouTube clip during class or type a term paper during a study session the screen is perfect. Backlight levels were good for bright indoor viewing conditions, with the surface measuring 196nit at full brightness. Viewing angles were good, although colors did seem to have a narrow sweet spot of roughly 10-15 degrees before colors started to shift or invert vertically. Horizontal viewing angles were much better, spanning over 60 degrees from the side.
Speaker performance was good for a thin and light system, with strong volume levels to fill a small room. Bass and midrange were lacking, but that was not unusual for a system in this class. Sony does include a headphone jack which puts out clean audio for private listening, as well as an HDMI-out jack for connecting the notebook to a HDTV and stereo.
modified from: notebookreview.com
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