Sony Vaio FW

Full review of Sony Vaio FW

The multimedia powerhouse that is the Sony VAIO FW-270j meets all your entertainment features and more in one attractive package. The 16.4" glossy 16:9 HD display in concert with the HDMI port and Blu-ray player give you all the tools you need for high quality video playback. With an Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 2.26GHz CPU, 4GB RAM and a 320GB HDD, it can handle most other computing tasks too. It's a little heavy and just fair on battery life, but it makes up for it with style points and multimedia prowess.

Design, Keyboard and Mouse

The FW-270J isn't lacking for grace. With a minimalist design featuring a Macbook-like silver chassis and black chiclet keyboard, you'll love looking at more than just the glossy display. The display rests on what looks like two large hinges, the rightmost of which has a glowing green band which is lit when the computer is on. Everything about the laptop looks very smooth except for the lid, which is strangely black matte. The keyboard itself lacks a number pad despite room for it but the keys are well spaced and are decent for typing. The trackpad is smooth and comfortable.

Multimedia Power

This VAIO comes with a Blu-ray player, HDMI, and a beautiful 16.4" glossy HD display. Although the display claims to be "Full HD 1080p" the resolution is a 720p 1600x900 (Sony explains that it's only 1080p "when connected to a compatible HDTV", which essentially means you can use it as a Blu-ray player for your TV). The backlighting was excellent and helped eliminate the glare, and the viewing angles were good enough that multiple people could easily watch a movie on it sitting side by side. There is also a set of multimedia buttons placed above the keyboard, one of which gives you access to Sony's helpful built in multimedia software.

Connectivity

The FW-270j has a standard slew of ports with a few nice additions. You'll find a card reader, audio in/out, VGA, HDMI and i.Link S400 (ie: mini FireWire) as well as an ExpressCard/34 slot and 3 USB ports. Bluetooth and 802.11a/b/g/n was also included in the unit. The HDMI port is essential to any HTPC, and the list of other ports is enough to get most of your general computing jobs done.

Performance and Conclusion

This computer is a multimedia powerhouse with good internals but it lacked a GPU, which explains the score of 3235 on PCMark Vantage, although we were a little disappointed with the 74 on Worldbench. Battery performance was adequate for this type of laptop, with 101 minutes while watching a Blu-ray (enough time to actually finish it on one charge) and 181 minutes in general use. The downside of this laptop was that it is "just" decent in overall testing and it is a little heavy, but in return you are getting a beautiful laptop which looks as good as the HD video it is capable of easily playing.

Sony Vaio FW Technical Specifications

• Processor 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile
• Memory 3 GB
• Harddrive 250 GB
• OS Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
• Weight 6.4 lbs
• Screen 16.4
• Screen resolution 1600 x 900
• Graphic Card Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500 MHD
• Battery Life 5.5 hours

Pros

• Beautiful and bright HD display
• Blu-ray & HDMI
• Runs coolly and quietly
• Sleek minimalist design

Cons

• Misleading 1080p sticker on front
• All the other stickers too – they’re ugly
• Speakers could be better
• Matte lid is rough to the touch

Dell Studio 15

Full review of Dell Studio 15

The Dell Studio 1537 is a beautifully designed laptop that manages to look good without sacrificing computing power or running up the starting price. Sporting a red lid and an overall smooth appearance, our 1537 came packed with an Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 2.26GHz to go along with a 320GB HDD, 4GB RAM, and a dedicated 256MB ATI Radeon HD 3450 GPU. For a price that won't surpass 3 digits, the 1537 does an admirable job or satisfying you, your onlookers, and your wallet.

Design, Keyboard and Mouse

The look and feel of the Studio 1537 is stylishly smooth. The red lid features a shiny silver Dell logo in the center and is smooth to the touch. The screen is wide and glossy and there is a silver frame around the display as well as the black speakers and backlit keyboard, which creates a nice effect. Beyond being backlit, the keyboard also features a number of multimedia touch buttons and is full sized. The trackpad is comfortable to use and appears as only a slight depression in the palmrest. The Studio has a tapered front which helps avoid the boxy look, and reaches thinness of 1" in the front. However, it is about 1/3" deeper in the back, and our model shipped with a 9-cell battery which made it even bulkier. It's not so thick that it looks bad at all, it's simply not competing with the thinnest of thin laptops.

Connectivity

The 1537 comes with a solid array of connectivity options. For your high quality video needs you get HDMI as well as the older VGA, and for your data transfer needs there is mini FireWire in addition to 3USB ports and 1USB/eSATA. The Studio 1537 also comes with a nice looking slot loading DVD player, eliminating the need for unsightly trays, as well as 2 audio out jacks so that you and a friend can both listen at the same time. You can even connect through your fingers with the biometric fingerprint reader. Audio in, Ethernet, and wireless on/off switch (as well as a button for Dell's "WiFi Catcher") round out the remaining options.

Display

The display on the Studio is great, and the colors look sharp on the glossy screen. The display is LED backlit and extremely bright, making outdoor use possible even in direct sunlight. The viewing angles are excellent, especially from the sides or below. The only thing holding our Studio back was the rather average WXGA 1280x800 resolution, which is fine for most purposes but a little short of impressive.

Performance and Conclusion

With a score of 79 on Worldbench, the Studio 1537 fit in fairly well next to other multimedia laptops we tested. A score of 2845 PCMarks was a little less encouraging, and we had expected the notebook to do better. Still, overall we found the performance to be quite acceptable and when we remember we're getting a notebook with a few style points too it made it easier to cut the Studio some slack. With the 9 cell battery the battery life hit almost 6 hours, which is plenty. On the whole, the Studio is a beautifully designed and perfectly capable laptop for a price that won't break the bank.

Summary and Details

The Studio 15 from Dell is an affordable mid-range 15-inch laptop. Just like all other Dell laptops, you can customize it down to the smallest detail and the Studio 15 more so than others. It's even available in custom lid colors and patterns.

It can be configured with either lower-end Pentium Dual Core processors with a slower FSB, or the more efficient Core 2 Duo. The 256MB ATI Radeon 3450 is also an optional upgrade from the integrated Intel GMA; the 3450 is not the fastest graphics card on the market, but should be sufficient for games in low detail settings. Intel graphics are however not at all suited for gaming.

Another detail worth noting is that either a dedicated GPU or a fast processor is mandatory if you select the optional Blu-Ray player upgrade.

Dell Studio 15 Technical Specifications

• Processor 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• Memory 4GB
• Harddrive 320GB
• OS Windows Vista Home Premium
• Weight 6.11 lbs (w/ 9-cell battery)
• Screen 15.4 in
• Screen resolution 1280x800
• Graphic Card ATI Mobility Radeon HD3450
• Battery Life 6 hrs

Pros

• Great value for money
• Good battery life
• Nice design
• Pleasant display

Cons

• A bit bulky
• Slower than expected GPU

HP HDX 16t

Full review of HP HDX 16t

As a 16" HTPC, the HP HDX 16 sports all the features you'd want in a multimedia powerhouse. The 16" display is a flush glass 16:9 1920x1080 1080p HD ready spectacle of an LCD. Aside from that, the unit is stuffed with a P7350 Intel Core 2 Dup 2.0GHz, a 512MB Nvidia GeForce 9600M GPU, 4GB RAM, a 250GB HDD and of course a Blu-ray player. All this going along with an attractive titanium liquid metallic design means the HDX won't be the least expensive laptop on the block, but the price is reasonable for the feature set.

Design, Keyboard and Mouse

The HDX is stylishly designed with silver and charcoal lines streaking across the charcoal lid and palmrest, even racing right across the trackpad. Above the keyboard are a number of pale glowing multimedia touch-buttons and sliders. The sliders unfortunately don't work as well as the buttons, but it creates an altogether attractive look. The keyboard is full sized and includes a number pad (although the num pad is somewhat shrunken), and it is relatively quiet and comfortable to type on. The trackpad was a joy to use, as the smooth surface never gave our fingers that sticky feeling at the end of a long scroll which we've felt on other trackpads.

Connectivity

The HDX comes with some noteworthy features, most of which are packed onto the left side of the unit. It comes with HDMI, eSATA, FireWire, VGA, ExpressCard 34/54, Ethernet, 4USB (1 shared with eSATA), a multicard reader, 2 audio out and audio in. HDMI is essential for any multimedia notebook and the second audio out is a nice thought - now you and your friend can both watch that movie on the airplane without splitting up your earbuds.

Multimedia Power

Aside from the gorgeous, glossy, flush glass 1080p 16" display, the HDX offers a number of other multimedia features. The unit sports an integrated remote which can be used to watch movies or listen to music from a distance, and there is preinstalled HP MediaSmart software to help your organize and enjoy your media. The Blu-ray player displays beautifully on the LCD and a TV tuner is an available option for those who want it.

Performance and Conclusion

The HDX scored an 80 on worldbench, a 3320 on PCMark Vantage, and a 1225 on 3DMark Vantage. Translating those numbers a bit, you'll find you have a computer that fares well on general performance and puts up average gaming numbers, although it's clearly not designed for it. Perhaps the weakest number revealed in our testing was the 80 minutes of battery life during Blu-ray playback, which is barely enough to watch an entire film, although regular use battery life almost doubles to 156 minutes. The laptop is a little on the bulky side, but on the whole this laptop is an excellent and beautiful multimedia powerhouse that you can take with you when you need to.

HP HDX 16t Technical Specifications

• Processor 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P7350
• Memory 2GB
• Harddrive 250GB
• OS Windows Vista Home Premium
• Weight 7.3 lbs
• Screen 16.0 in
• Screen resolution 1920x1080
• Graphic Card Nvidia 9600M GT
• Battery Life 156 minutes

Pros

• Beautiful LCD
• Beautiful lid/palmrest design
• Blu-ray + integrated remote
• Reasonably powerful

Cons

• Heavy
• Size is thick
• Runs somewhat warm