Prime Notebook Computer Review

The Sony VAIO SZ110/B is Sony’s entry level SZ series notebook. The SZ to combine mobility and power without sacrificing too much of either. The SZ-110B has a black-and-silver magnesium and plastic body. The cover is matte black plastic with a rough sandpaper-like texture. The screen border and keyboard keys are solid black. The rest of the notebook is metal with a few areas of black trim. The notebook is lightweight and very portable, with only 4 lbs weight. The notebook isn’t quite as light as the smaller 3-pounders, but its larger screen and internal optical drive make the tradeoff worthwhile. The notebook seems generally well-built and nothing feels too loose or flimsy. The magnesium/plastic casing feels solid and looks great to boot. DVD drive has a bit of give and can be pushed in 1mm or so, which can feel kind of odd when you pick up the notebook from that side. The notebook come with a 13.3″ WXGA 1280×800 XBRITE glossy widescreen. The resolution is right. And the screen is bright enough at maximum brightness. The screen had no dead pixels and the backlight seems very even.

The SZ 110/B specs :

Processor : Intel Core Duo Processor T2400 1.83GHz
Memory : 1GB DDR2 PC2-4200 533MHz
Display : 13.3″ WXGA 1280×800 XBRITE
Hard Drive : 100GB 5400rpm SATA
Optical Drive : Dual-layer, dual-format DVD RW DL
Battery : Standard-capacity lithium-ion
Weight : 4.07 lbs
Dimensions : 12.5″ x 1.5″ x 9.3″
Graphics : Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
Audio : Sony Sound Reality Audio Enhancer

The speakers are normal with no bass. If sound quality matters to you, you can use headphones or other external speakers. The SZ-110B comes with an Intel Core Duo T2400 1.83GHz processor, 1GB of DDR2 PC2-4200 533MHz RAM, and a 5400 RPM SATA hard drive. The notebook uses a dual-core processor and certain optimized applications will run much faster. It seems speedy enough during regular office and Internet usage. The notebook comes with an excessive amount of pre-loaded software, that slows the notebook down, especially since much of the software is redundant. You can uninstalling the included programs that you don’t use or starting over with a clean install of Windows XP. The system comes with 533MHz RAM, but the theoretical maximum should be 667MHz.

This notebook has a poor software package. It comes with Windows XP Home Edition and a recovery partition, but no Windows CD or recovery discs. Aside from the operating system situation, the included Sony drivers and control programs are also not very good. Everything is decentralized, unintegrated, and redundant. The keyboard feels different from most other notebook keyboards. Its loud and hard but its soft too. It’s no better or worse than what’s out there, just different. But its fine. The keys is full size and its good for long time toch typist. The keyboard has a bit of flex, but it didn’t affect for typing. The touchpad is centered below the F and J keys instead of the center of the notebook body, meaning it doesn’t get in the way of your palms when you’re typing. If you like a trackpoint-style pointing device or an external mouse perhaps the touchpad will dissapoint for you. But it has a slightly coarse texture that’s relatively easy to glide your fingers across. Between the two touchpad buttons lies the fingerprint scanner and it works as expected.

The VAIO SZ110/B has two USB 2.0 ports, a FireWire port, a PC Card slot, a MemoryStick Duo slot, a microphone jack, an ExpressCard/34 slot, a V.90 modem jack,a headphone jack, a VGA-out port, and a 10/100 Ethernet jack. But no parallel or serial port. The notebook includes both internal WiFi that works very expected and internal Bluetooth. SZ110/B doesn’t have EDGE antenna and infrared port. This notebook have no heat in the keyboard and palm rest areas, it runs cool. The fan not quiet at all, its little noise. In normal use the life of the battery just for 3 hours in the average. Its between 2-4 hours, not 4-7 hours like what Sony claimed.

For a small package of last technology, the SZ110/B is great. There’s no peer for writing. It’s powerfull and fast, have hybrid graphic systems, full size keyboard and package in small, sleek and light. But the battery life is mediocre, have poor softwares package, poor drivers aviability, poor tech support and expensive. But its powerfull too. So if your needs only doing office work and internet connection this notebook is outstanding.