Product Listing

Sony VAIO VGN-TZ18GN (Centrino Duo)

By Vincent Chang - 8 Aug 2007

Looking at the Numbers

Notebook Comparison

It's fair to say that unlike components i.e motherboards, processors, etc, a notebook is harder to compare against because it is a complete system, with a sheer number of different components and factors that can affect its performance. Hence, we have to make do with comparisons that may not be wholly appropriate in the strictest sense but should provide a rough ballpark figure. This is the case again for the Sony TZ series and the following table includes the list of notebooks we have compared it against or simply just used as reference points. Some are chosen selectively for certain aspects and will not be featured in every one of the benchmarks.

Notebook Comparison Table
Specifications/Notebook Sony VAIO VGN-TZ18GN / VGN-TZ17GN MSI PR200 BenQ Joybook S41 Sony VAIO VGN-TX37GP Intel Santa Rosa Prototype
Processor Intel Core 2 Duo processor U7600 (1.2GHz, 2MB L2 cache) Intel 2 Duo processor T7300 (2.0GHz, 4MB L2 cache) Intel Core 2 Duo processor T7100 (1.8GHz) with 2MB L2 cache Intel Core Solo U1400 (1.2GHz, 64KB L1, 2MB L2 cache) Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7700 (2.4GHz, 4MB L2 cache)
Chipset Intel 945GMS Express Intel GM965 Intel PM965 Intel 945GMS Express Intel PM965
FSB 533MHz 800MHz 800MHz 533MHz 800MHz
Memory 1 x 1GB DDR2 2 x 1GB DDR2 1 x 1GB DDR2 1 x 1GB DDR2 2 x 512MB DDR2
Video Intel GMA 950 Intel GMA X3100 NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS Intel GMA 950 Intel GMA X3100


Battery Life and Portability Index

First, let's take a look at battery life. Sony quotes the TZ-18GN as having up to 11.5 hours of use under the JEITA Battery Run Time Measurement Method, which seems to be Japanese based. Since our usual MobileMark doesn't play nice with Windows Vista, we have been substituting this so far with a DVD playback test for our notebooks. This is conducted similarly with the TZ-18GN and with our X-Men 3 DVD, it lasted an impressive 3 hours and 35 minutes. Compared with the recent batch of notebooks we reviewed, the ultra portable TZ-18GN has a clear advantage, even beating out the MSI PR200 with its extended battery. Sony also has an optional extended battery for the TZ-18GN with an additional 6.5 hours of battery life (JEITA measurement). Meanwhile, we looked at the battery in our review unit and calculated some power consumption numbers, which were again superior to our comparisons.

Despite its size, this Li-ion battery lasts quite a while and is rated at more than 11 hours according to Sony. Our own DVD playback test at full brightness saw it last a very good 3 hours and 35 minutes.

Next, based on its battery life and its small dimensions, we calculated how portable this notebook actually is, relative to other notebooks of course. This index below shows that and again it's a ratio that's only useful when seen in the context of other notebooks. Even with its standard battery, the TZ-18GN scores highly thanks to its twin highlights of weight and battery life.

System Benchmarks

Our system benchmarks have basically been reduced to PCMark05 due to the incompatibilities of Windows Vista. Nevertheless, this benchmark breaks down the various sub-systems of the notebook and gives an idea on how the TZ-18GN fairs, relative to others. Going from the Core Solo on the older VAIO TX (based on the Windows XP operating system) to the Core 2 Duo on the VAIO TZ, there's a significant gain but the TZ series lagged behind the new Santa Rosa (and admittedly higher clocked processors) notebooks. This trend stayed mostly for the memory and CPU sections but the SSD on the TZ18GN made its impact in the HDD segment, where it easily outperformed the others. As you can see here, the two TZ notebooks are very similar as it should be, though the slower 4200RPM hard drive pulled the TZ17GN back compared to the other 5400RPM based comparisons.

Graphics Benchmark

With the older Intel GMA 950, the integrated graphics on the Sony TZ series was simply no match for the newer GMA 3100 on both Santa Rosa notebooks. It's quite clear that this notebook is not meant for anything more taxing than the most casual of games and with its small 11.1-inch screen, we can understand that.

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