Sony VAIO W Netbook Reviewed — Display Over Battery

sony-vaio-w-netbookSony’s entry into the crowded netbook field got tongues wagging. The company is known for its VAIO premium notebook brand, and the VAIO W crossed firmly into the low price category. On paper, the VAIO W is a fairly standard netbook, although the colorful Sony styling and the high-res display set it apart from the rest of the field. Computer Shopper has reviewed the Sony netbook and found that while the display is very nice, the battery life is not that great.

The reviewer loved the it, although some folks may find it too high-res (1366×768) for the 10-inch display. The resolution can be a big advantage over the standard netbook display resolution (1024×600). Unfortunately, it sounds like the higher-resolution display pushed the graphics subsystem too hard:

On 3DMark06, which measures graphics performance, the VAIO W’s score was among the slowest we’ve seen, at 76. The GMA 950 graphics integrated within Intel’s 945 chipset is anemic even on netbooks with only 1,024×576 pixels to push, so we’re not surprised that its performance was even more lackluster on the higher-resolution 1,366×768 display.

The other deficiency noted about the VAIO W is battery life. The review found that the Sony netbook could only achieve 2 hours and 24 minutes of life through their battery test. Average battery life for this test was noted at 4 hours, making the VAIO W much worse in this vital category.

The VAIO W is $499, putting it on the high end of netbook pricing. The styling and higher-resolution display make it a nice netbook, if you can overlook the deficiencies of performance and battery life.

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