Design
For two grand your ultraportable had better look luxurious, and Sony delivers. The silver VAIO Z (also available in Premium Carbon Fiber for $50) is decked out in aluminum and magnesium, which gives the system a premium feel. We especially like the brushed metal deck and the circular hinges (complete with the green glowing power button on the right). The black bezel serves as a nice accent, and we appreciate that surface is matte instead of glossy.

Weighing an even 3 pounds—about 3.2 ounces heavier than most netbooks—and measuring 12.4 x 8.3 x 1.3 inches, the VAIO Z is remarkably light given its features. In fact, we barely felt it in our backpack on the way home from the office. Other design elements include four buttons above the keyboard: Assist (which launches VAIO Care software), a shortcut button, a button for launching the VAIO Media Gallery, and an eject button for the optical drive. On the left side you’ll find a switch for the notebook’s graphics system, which you can toggle between Speed, Stamina, and Auto modes.

Keyboard & Touchpad
The Sony Vaio Z has a backlit chiclet* keyboard design that is very nice. The keys are just a hair smaller than usual (Logitech illuminated, Macbook Pro, Vaio SR) but there is ample room in-between keys, and that reduces my typo rate, when compared to a non-chiclet keyboard. I type at average speed (77 words per minutes, or wpm) and on the Vaio Z, the speed is within that range (74 wpm), so I’m very satisfied. The backlight is great in dark settings, but the light sensor is not all that smart. I think that Sony should push that feature to mid-range ($900+ laptops), this is great and once you have tasted it, it’s hard to go back. The touch of the keys is a little soft/”gummy” and I would have preferred something more “crisp”, but it works. Sony could even make the keyboard just a little smaller if they needed extra room on the side (for speakers?).

It is small, but the trackpad surface is decent and feels better to the touch than most pads. The underlying hardware comes from Synaptics, and this means that you have access to many options in the trackpad driver to configure scroll zones and gestures. Having used a Macbook Pro (with Windows 7) for many months now, it’s (very) hard to get back to a smaller trackpad and “primitive” gestures. I miss the two-finger scrolling too…     *

Display & Ports
The 13.3-inch wide-screen LED display has a 1,600×900-pixel native resolution.That’s what we’d expect in an upscale 13-inch laptop; less-expensive 13-inch systems often have 1,280×800-pixel or 1,366×768-pixel displays. The higher resolution makes it good for 720p video, and gives you plenty of desktop real estate. The Vaio Z116 has a standard set of ports and connections for a 13-inch laptop, although for $2,300, we’d expect a Blu-ray drive. Still, it’s impressive the system manages to fit in an optical drive at all; it’s a feature missing from HP’s 13-inch Envy, Dell’s 13-inch Adamo XPS, and even Toshiba’s T-135.

Webcam and microphone
Fast and seamless online communications are vital in today’s highly competitive world. In order to make things easier for the users, the engineers from Sony have equipped the Vaio Z Series notebook with a 0.3 megapixel (640 x 480 pixels) MOTION EYE camera, as well as a microphone. This way, users can take advantage of those IM clients capable of making video calls in order to set up teleconferences and communicate more easily.

Performance
sonyvaiovpcz114gxs_sh1.jpgThanks to the combination of a 2.4-GHz Intel Core i5 processor, dual solid state drives, and discrete Nvidia GeForce GT 330M graphics, the VAIO Z is the fastest 13-inch ultraportable we’ve tested. It notched a very impressive 9,936 in PCMark Vantage, which is more than triple the category average. The only other system that comes close in this category is the Lenovo ThinkPad X201, which has a 2.53-GHz Intel Core i5 processor but a slower 7,200-rpm hard drive. (We’re in the process of finalizing our review for that system.)

Just as important, the VAIO Z feels fast. This system opened Adobe Reader 9 in under 2 seconds, and most other programs in one second. In fact, we never felt like we were waiting for Windows to catch up with what we were trying to accomplish, which is quite the feat. The VAIO Z booted into Windows 7 Professional (64-bit) faster than most notebooks, taking 50 seconds (versus 61 for other ultraportables). We also noticed that this machine was quicker when installing software than most other notebooks.

So how about those twin solid state drives, one 64GB and the other 128 GB? They’re blazing. When we conducted the LAPTOP Transfer Test, which measures how fast a 4.97GB folder is copied from one folder on the notebook’s hard drive, the VAIO Z blew away the field. Its data rate of 127 MBps is nearly six times faster than the average ultraportable.

The CTL 2Go Convertible Classmate PC NL2 is one of the few 10 inch netvertibles I’ve tested that seems to be more than simply a netbook with a touchscreen slapped on. It has a webcam that rotates 270 degrees so you use it whether the computer is in laptop or tablet mode. There are page up and page down buttons built into the side of the display so you can easily scroll through documents in tablet mode. And the computer is choc full of touch-friendly software, whether you buy the netbook with Windows 7 Starter Edition or Windows 7 Professional. The NL2 convertible tablet also features a rugged design with a thick rubber case that helps protect the computer from scratches and light falls. There’s a sensor which shuts down the hard drive in the event of a fall to prevent damage. And the keyboard is spill resistant.

There’s even a handle built into the case, but unlike previous Classmate PC handles which always stuck out and looked a bit awkward, this one is retractable and looks like it’s just part of the case when not in use. The computer does have some problems. The 1024 x 600 pixel display is more than good enough for most tasks in landscape mode, but if you hold the tablet in portrait mode it turns into a 600 x 1024 screen which isn’t wide enough for viewing many applications or web pages. And the auto-screen rotate feature is sluggish and sometimes simply doesn’t work. The model featured in this review runs $599 and comes with a 10.1 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel resistive touchscreen display, 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor, Windows 7 Professional, 1GB of RAM, and a 160 hard drive. It has 802.11b/g/n WiFi, 2 USB ports, and a 4-in-1 card reader. The cheaper $499 model ships with Windows 7 Starter Edition or Windows XP. And in the coming weeks and months we’ll see additional options including 3G, WiMAX and GPS capabilities, a capacitive touchscreen, and a higher resolution 1366 x 768 pixel display.

Design
Like previous Classmate PCs, this netbook’s kid-friendly elements take precedence over aesthetics. However, gone is the leathery, Velcro-attached cover. Instead, the gray, rubberized layer encases the whole 10.5 x 7.6 x 1.2-inch system, giving the Classmate a classier air. The rounded corners and tapered edges keep the netbook looking sleek even though it’s bulkier than regular netbooks and only slightly smaller than Dell’s brick of a student netbook, the Latitude 2100. The Classmate NL2 isn’t exactly fashion-forward, but it’s an improvement.

Under the hood, the white, gray, and black palette continues to dominate with light blue accents here and there. The matte bezel around the 10.1-inch display is filled with buttons and lights, giving kids access to key functions while in tablet mode. The speakers also sit on the display bezel at the bottom.

A somewhat cramped keyboard (which should be fine for the target audience) and fairly small touchpad take up most of the deck, which is otherwise bare except for Caps and Number Lock indicator lights and two small indentations at the top. These help keep the display from wiggling on its swivel hinge when the lid is closed. The triangle-shaped stylus is more comfortable to use than the previous convertible Classmate and stows away snugly in a port on the left side.

The ruggedizing touches add weight: the Classmate is 3.6 pounds, almost a pound heavier than the average netbook. The integrated handle also adds to the heft, but since it’s retractable it doesn’t ruin the netbook’s smooth lines, and makes it easier to carry. While its rounded edges and rubber coating made it comfortable to hold either in portrait or landscap mode, it usually ended up on the table or our lap; we quickly tired of holding the NL2 in the crook of our arm.

Tablet performance
The CTL 2Go Convertible Classmate PC NL2 is a bit of a mixed bag when used as a tablet. On the one hand, it’s probably one of the best Intel Atom powered tablets I’ve used to date due to the software that came with this computer and a few key design decisions. On the other hand, saying it’s one of the best isn’t really saying much. I’m starting to think that while the Intel Atom processor is more than capable of powering a typical netbook it might not be fast enough to handle the demands of running Windows 7 on a tablet-based computer. While capacitive multitouch displays are all the rage these days, the base model of the NL2 ships with a resistive, single-input touchscreen. That means you can use the included stylus or your fingernail to tap at the screen. But it won’t recognize more than one input at a time, and it can’t perform two-finger gestures such as pinch to zoom. In fact, it won’t even notice if you touch the screen with your fingertip.

This is a good and a bad thing. It’s good because it makes it much easier to write notes on the display than it would be with a capacitive display which only recognizes finger input. Since the NL2 is designed for classroom use, handwriting support is pretty important. The computer won’t recognize any input from your palm if you happen to rest your palm on the screen while using the stylus to write — much the way you would with a piece of paper. But a resistive display still isn’t the best screen type for handwriting, since it doesn’t recognize variable pressure. That means you can’t differentiate thick strokes from light ones, which makes it touch to write accurately and even tougher to draw. For that kind of precision, you need an active digitizer, which would drive up the cost significantly. You can pull up the Blue Dolphin software from any screen by hitting the Home button on the side of the screen. If you hit the Home button twice you bring up the “Quick Controller app which lets you adjust the volume and screen brightness, calibrate the display, and enable or disable auto screen rotation. The $599 model also comes with Windows 7 Professional, which includes a number of optimizations for touchscreen displays. For instance, any time you tap a text input box in a web browser or other application, an option to launch the on-screen keyboard will appear. And tapping and holding on a shortcut, link, or other part of the screen will simulate the action of right-clicking a mouse button.

There’s also support for “flicks,” which let you navigate through Internet Explorer and other applications by flicking your stylus across the screen instead of relying on scrollbars. You can also use flicks to perform certain editing tasks such as copy, paste, and undo.
By far the biggest problem with using the computer in tablet mode is that a 600 x 1024 x display just doesn’t give you much real estate for displaying web sites or applications designed for larger screens. Even the Blue Dolphin program launcher will only show you a single row of program icons when you’re holding the tablet in portrait mode.

Performance
The 1.67-GHz Intel Atom N450 CPU and 1GB of RAM earned the Classmate NL2 a score of 1,090 in PCMark Vantage, almost 200 marks below the netbook category average (1,231) and the Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t convertible (1,227). The Classmate’s Geekbench score of 848 is only 20 points below average (868) and more than 40 points ahead of the Viliv S10 Blade convertible (803). Unfortunately, it lags far behind the IdeaPad S10-3t (961) and the ASUS Eee PC 1001P (908). This performance delta was most noticeable when multitasking. While writing this review in Open Office Writer, we switched between Art Rage, Windows Media Center, and Google Chrome with up to 8 tabs open. The browser began to slow once we created more than five tabs, and background tasks like streaming audio made the system more sluggish.

By contrast, the 5,400-rpm, 160GB hard drive is speedier than the competition. It completed the LAPTOP Transfer Test in 3 minutes and 28 seconds for a transfer rate of 24.5 MBps. This speed is comfortably ahead of the IdeaPad S10-3t (22.1 MBps), the Eee PC 1001P (17.5 MBps), and the category average (16.7 MBps). The S10 Blade’s score of 9.4 MBps doesn’t even come close.

Though the hard drive is fairly fast, the boot time of 1:10 is slower than both the average (1:01) and the Dell Latitude 2100’s speedy 35 seconds; this is most likely due to the Blue Dolphin interface that loads on startup.

Intel’s integrated GMA 3150 graphics earned the Classmate NL2 a score of just 150 on 3DMark06, which is on a par with most other netbooks with this chipset such as the Eee PC 1001P (155) and far better than the Latitude 2100 (122). But the IdeaPad S10-3t trumps it with a score of 164, and the netbook average (which includes Nvidia Ion systems) of 214 is over 60 marks ahead. We don’t expect students to do any video transcoding on the NL2, and that’s good because it took the netbook 8 minutes and 29 seconds to transcode a 5:05 MPEG-4 video clip (114MB) to the AVI format using Oxelon Media Converter. This is almost 2:30 longer than the netbook average (6:01) and well behind the IdeaPad S10-3t (5:51), Eee PC 1001P (6:02), and even the Viliv S10 Blade (6:42). Despite the low graphics scores, standard definition video runs smoothly on the Classmate, though the system struggled with a 720p trailer for The Discoverers. And we were able to watch Hulu and YouTube video at full screen with minimal hitching.

I quickly fell for the golden, brushed-aluminum body and the matching widely spaced keys. (Not feeling flashy enough for the limited-edition gold version, like the one we received? The X Series also comes in black.) Measuring 10.95 by 7.29 by 0.55 inches and weighing 1.6 pounds, the X Series out-smalls the MacBook Air and gives the upcoming Dell Adamo XPS a run for its money.

The X Series boasts an 11.1-inch screen that measures merely 0.125 inch thick. The laptop comes with two interchangeable batteries: a standard (3.5-hour) battery and a larger, heavier, battery-and-stand combo that supposedly lasts for up to 14 hours, according to Sony spokespeople. They were wrong. It lasts just a few minutes under 15 hours — that’s easily the longest running laptop we’ve tested to date.

Design
It’s hard to overstate just how light and tiny Sony’s new Wunderkind truly is. It measures half an inch thick, and weighs 1.5 pounds. This is a notebook you can flip around like a magazine, lift from the corner with a thumb and two fingers, and probably send into the stratosphere with a dozen or so balloons. If the MacBook Air can cut a cake, the Vaio X can probably perform minor surgery.

Don’t take that to mean that the Vaio X feels insubstantial. Sony has called upon the wonder of carbon fiber to give the notebook stiffness and rigidity totally out of proportion to its weight. We were able to wring a bit of flex out of it by intentionally grabbing two corners and giving it a twist, but the small size of the machine and impossibly light weight means that it never really encounters this sort of stress during every day handling. We only batted an eye when adjusting the screen with one hand from the side, which made us wish it had a little more reinforcement. Fond as Sony is of glossy paintjobs, our carbon-fiber review unit came decked out in stealthy matte black from head to toe – an arrangement we much prefer. Although it doesn’t offer the durable rubbery feel of say, a ThinkPad, it shakes off fingerprints and other marring all the same.

Keyboard
The thing that I like most design wise (apart from the fact I could successfully balance it on its corner in the palm of my hand like they do in adverts. Not that I tried of course because that would just be irresponsible is the well spaced keyboard. My big issue with laptops is that they’re a devil to type on, but this one genuinely does accommodate fat fingers and overly eager typers! And Sony seems to love putting that tiny right Shift key on all its ultraportable keyboards. Multitouch comes turned on by default, which makes a hard-to-use trackpad almost impossible to use since moving your finger often results in some flavor of zooming, scrolling, or whatever else they’ve baked into it. I turned off all that stuff within a few minutes – even vertical scrolling. After that, it worked well enough to not have to carry a Bluetooth mouse. I have rather large hands but even normal or small hands will seem big when typing or using the trackpad. You do get used to things after a while, though.

Ports
When you’re designing a notebook as thin as some of the connectors that will plug into it, you have to get a little creative. Sony engineers rose to the occasion. The VGA connector on the right, for instance, matches the height of the notebook almost identically, and therefore isn’t even shielded in from all sides: The bottom edge has been left bare and sits flush with the bottom of the notebook. Along the same lines, the right-hand Ethernet port literally snaps open like a jaw to accommodate the standard connector, which would be too fat to fit without this python-like adaptation. Sony also provides two USB ports, a headphone jack, and a power jack on the left-hand side. We really wish Sony had managed to move one of the USB jacks to the right; both to accommodate for right-handed travel mice, and to prevent the overlapping problems you might encounter when connecting oversized accessories like thumb drives or mini camcorders. Up front, you’ll find both an SD card reader and a slot for Sony’s Memory Stick Duo cards.

Display and Audio
sony_vaio_x_sh3.jpgAs befitting a netbook that costs $1,500, the VAIO X’s 11.1-inch screen has a higher-than-usual resolution of 1366 x 768; we’ve only seen this standard on the Gigabyte Touchnote T1028X. This is becoming a more common option, however, such as on theHP Mini 110. While this resolution tends to make icons too small on 10-inch netbooks, we didn’t mind it as much on an 11-inch screen. When watching content streamed over the Web or played off the VAIO X’s hard drive, we were impressed with the crispness and wide viewing angles of the display; we could turn it nearly 90 degrees to either side without seeing image reversal or egregious reflections. Being as thin as it is, we’re not surprised at the lack of audio quality in the VAIO X. Songs were thin and tinny; the bass line in Aerosmith’s “Dream On” streamed over Pandora was nonexistent, and the speakers could barely fill a small office with sound.

Performance

The Vaio X is a beautiful piece of machinery. Downright gorgeous, in fact. But can it perform any better than a $400 netbook? Yes and no. On one hand, the 2.0GHz processor seems to give it that little extra bit of spring in its step. It handles Windows 7 just fine, minus the flashy Aero bits (they come turned off by default). It snaps open browser windows in a split second, breezes through photos, and boots to the Windows desktop in 55 seconds. Not bad.

Sony X Series ReviewBut the same walls that bind your $400 netbook still apply to the Vaio X. It will handle YouTube, but has trouble scaling even standard-def content to fill its 1366 x 768 pixels in full screen mode. Hulu bumps it against the same wall. (Incidentally, shifting resolution to 1024 x 768 for the sake of testing fixes the problem, explaining why many lesser netbooks pull this trick just fine.) And don’t even try any gaming. The Vaio X suffers from the same handicaps as a netbook, but it’s worth noting that experientially, it doesn’t feel like a netbook. By virtue of running Windows 7 and offering a bright WXGA screen, we’re dealing with a whole different level of refinement from the dime-a-dozen XP machines with half as many pixels to drive. When you play within the boundaries, it doesn’t announce them to you.

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the Vaio X’s performance cropped up when we fired up music on the built-in speakers. The single down-firing speaker – which hides behind a grille no bigger than half a keyboard key – emits barely a whisper. With the built-in battery, which sits flush to the bottom, Sony’s three-hour battery life estimate proved closer to two hours for us. However, Sony includes an extended-life battery with every unit. Although significantly bulkier, it delivered a clean 10 hours at full brightness – not all that far from Sony’s 12-hour claim.

Design Dimensions and Weight
One of the reason people switch to laptops from desktops is mobility. You can’t carry desktops with you when you work outdoors but yes notebooks are designed to coup with this problem. Sony Vaio VGN-NW20EF/S comes with robust silver chassis with a modest weight of 2.7kg. If your nature of job requires traveling, you can rely on Sony Vaio as it would never let you down when it comes to performance and reliability. With slim dimensions of H29 x W370 x D249mm, and a robust brushed aluminium casing, Sony Vaio could very well be a reliable travel companion.

Processor Performance and Graphics
The Sony Vaio VGN-NW20EF/S has an Intel Pentium T4300 processor, and has dual Core technology one of the best on the market now!. It has 3GB DDR2 RAM and 2.16GHz Dual Core T4300, this allows you to run multiple applications with less stress on the laptop for a smoother experience. Also enjoy superb quality videos and pictures on the 15.6 inches X-Black Wide screen LCD display for vibrant colours and sharp image resolution.There is also Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500M which allows movie watching and playing 3D games without any problems.

Display Screen and Battery Life
Enjoy high-quality videos and pictures on the 15.6-inches X-Black Widescreen LCD display which reproduces vibrant colours and sharp image resolution. Sony comes with an energy saving illumination technology which doesn’t let the screen dry access battery juice. Despite having a high quality screen, a fully charged Sony Vaio VGN can provide 4 hours of battery life which is justified if you realise the overall specifications of this machine.
A 15.6-inches screen is suitable for ordinary picture size but you can also connect an external plasma or large screen monitor to Sony Vaio VGN through VGA port. Viewing angles are impressive, as you can easily view couple of web pages side-by-side and enjoy videos in their real formats without any irritating side bars.

Keyboard and Touchpad
Typing on Sony Vaio VGN-NW20EF/S is very easy and comfortable. The Keyboard on the Sony Vaio VGN-NW20EF/S is well designed for ease of use and comfort with large keys. palm rest and a touch pad which is very highly responsive.

Camera and Connectivity
For video conferencing, you can use the webcam fixed on the front screen panel. Getting online is also possible with the built-in Wi-Fi technology which connects you to any Wi-Fi enabled network so that you enjoy a smooth uninterrupted internet service. For data sharing through wire, there are 3 USB ports and an Ethernet port for networking.
Hard Disk and Optical Drive
The storage capacity is excellent, you have a massive 320GB of hard drive space which give you plenty of room for storing movies, music, pictures document and all your applications. It has a DVD+-RW/+-R DL/RAM DVD to play all your favourite cd’s DVD’s. You can also Burn your important data files on blank CDs and DVDs using the optical drive.

Verdict. Verdict
Sony Vaio VGN-NW20EF/S is a sleek and practical laptop offering some high quality specs and decent battery life which is always demanded. If you are hunting for a performance laptop from a leading brand with an affordable price tag then go for Sony Vaio VGN-NW20EF/S without any doubts.