Product Listing

Sony VAIO X - Xtraordinary Thinness

By Aloysius Low - 3 Nov 2009
Launch SRP: S$1999

Buried Treasure

Buried Treasure

Let's face the facts:- Sony's VAIO X is a marvel of engineering; it's a netbook done well with plenty to drool over. You can't help but drop your jaws at the design and form factor. We've not seen a netbook this thin ever, so design wise, the VAIO X does score mightily in our hearts. Furthermore, the bright LED-backlit screen can't help but light up your eyes when you look into the screen. Sadly though, the chiclet keyboard could have been made bigger given the ample real estate space but we reckon that this is could be the byproduct of space constraints under the hood.

Performance too was yet another drawback to the netbook, with its less than satisfactory experience a drawback to consider. Despite the relatively better benchmark scores and great hardware (in the form of the Samsung SSD), our own user experience with the sluggish responsiveness from Windows 7 left much to be desired. It's probably the fault of the single core Intel Atom processor, as our desktop based dual core Atom 330 performed flawlessly when we tested it. Then again, turning off Aero on the VAIO X meant that the system worked fine, so until we get other Windows 7 loaded Intel Atom netbooks, we can't comment on whether this will be the norm.

Last but not least is the price you have to pay for this netbook. Sure it's a premium netbook from Sony, and more so as a VAIO product, expect to pay a handsome amount for this netbook. The base model will set you back at minimum S$1999 (specs include a Z540 processor and 64GB SSD), while our review unit has yet to be priced (details to be released later in November). Sp expect an even bigger price bump for our exact reviewed model and specs. Whether or not the price of the VAIO X is justifiable, we'll have to let you decide based on your lifestyle needs. Nevertheless, we would like to mention that you'll not find a better designed netbook out in the market that's comparable to the VAIO X, though a shame that the performance doesn't quite match its looks.

The Sony VAIO X may be a very expensive netbook with a tad less than ideal performance, but it's still a very well designed machine that's certainly an engineering feat.

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