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Sony VAIO Z Series - VGNZ17GN Explored

By Aloysius Low - 25 Sep 2008

All Good Things

All Good Things

From its arrival to our labs to the time where we had to pack it up for return, the Sony VAIO VGN-Z17GN has definitely lived up to our expectations. Its sleek design and attractive looks helped cement our opinion of this drool-worthy notebook, though we would like to point out that it's not 100% perfect (close though). From its cylindrical spine to the isolated keyboard design to the carbon fiber casing, the VGN-Z17GN is well, one heck of a notebook. We're still none too happy about the flimsy feeling screen, but with care, accidents can be avoided.

Performance too is another good thing the VGN-Z17GN has in its favor. Our benchmarks showed the unit getting pretty decent scores with a slight oddity with regard to the Quake 4 benchmark. The switchable graphics function that allow for either Stamina or Speed modes is also a very nice addition, but it is not exactly an "on-the-fly" function that you can switch when you want to. You'll still need to close all programs beforehand to get it to run properly or you'll find that some programs may crash or hang once the settings are swapped. That's understandable, so we're more forgiving and tolerant of this limitation since the benefits are appreciable.

With great desirability, performance and features come great price tags, and it's no secret that this Sony VAIO model will cost you a bomb. Retailing at a hefty S$4299 (and remember, this is not even using a solid-state drive), the VGN-Z17GN comes with a great burden for your wallet, but seeing as how this notebook delivers on so many fronts, we'll have to conclude it's definitely worth it and for that, we'll like to give it our Editor's Choice award.

For those who like what they see but are looking for a cheaper option, they can consider the slightly lower end VGN-Z16GN model, which differs from the VGN-Z17GN by having a Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 processor, 2GB DDR3 RAM, a 250GB HDD and a still substantial though more reasonable $3199 price tag. That said, please excuse us now while we go try and save up some cash for one of these babies.

The Sony VAIO VGN-Z17GN is a gorgeous machine with wonderful performance that's sure to seduce anyone who's laid their eyes on it. It's a shame about the S$4299 price tag though.

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