Netbook Reviews

Sony has always given a chance for new inventions and hence laid before its customers the 10 inch netbook under the name “sony vaio mini notebook”. This netbook typically has essentially all the features of the netbook with the standard vaio look. This Sony Vaio VPCW215AX/L Netbook is a big gift for those who had been yearning for a typical sony vaio product packed in a tiny screen. But what makes this netbook stand out from the rest of the other in the line? Check it out.

Design:

This VPCW215AX/L Sony vaio netbook is the first 10.1 inch mini notebook from Sony that is packed neatly along with the power adapter and the guide book. This little piece is available in a choice of three colors – Cocoa brown, Sugar white or Berry pink. The three color choices are equivalently attractive in their own way, while the brown color symbolizes masculinity and one of the stronger kinds, the pink one is girlish while the white is more subtle and appealing. Taking the pink one, it has a pink color lid while the base area is light or pale pink in color. The trackpad is shown uniquely since it is in the color that is between the bright color of the lid and the paleness of the base. This tiny notebook is basically a netbook since it has all the ‘properties’ of any netbook, good number of ports, but absence of the optical drive and comparatively less hard drive storage capacity.

The VPCW215AX/L 10.1 inch netbook is definitely neither the thinnest nor thickest with the dimensions of 10.54 inches in width, 1.08-2.00 inches in height and 7.07 inches in depth. This product weighs nearly 2.93 lbs. The viewing angles of the netbook are pretty cool since the screen is quite flexible. One thing to be happy about this netbook is that it comes with a clean 1366 x 768p resolution and this is really outstanding for a 10 inch netbook. The LED backlit screen adds to the excellent resolution resulting in good clarity in the videos and pictures that appear before your eyes. The netbook is well constructed and is sturdy and the high definition display resolution makes it lightly expensive on comparing with the ones that go with the same specification. However, its overall design is really attractive and elegant looking that evades its average category specifications.

Keyboard and Touchpad:

The chiclet style keyboard works well with this 10 inch vaio VPCW215AX/L netbook. The keys are well laid with good spacing. However, it does not include an integrated numeric keypad. But then it is not going to be disappointing news for netbooks because for staying connected in social sites like facebook or twitter or for light browsing, the numeric keypad does not really count. Below the keyboard is the good looking trackpad with raised dots all over its surface and has two buttons for left and right mouse operations. There are three LEDs at the top of the Touchpad for indicating the status of the caps lock and the like. The Touchpad is typical of Sony creation and the Sony crazies would love it.

Ports and Connectivity:

The ports of the Vaio W netbook do not make the users crave for it, but instead they only come with the ports that are needed. As said earlier, there is no optical drive, which rules out the possibility of playing the DVDs and there is no meaning in waiting for a blu ray upgrade. The Power port, fan vent for letting out the heat, VGA for external connection to monitor, the headphone and microphone jack appear on the left side of the netbook while the two USB 2.0 ports, the Ethernet RJ45 port and the kensington lock are present on the right side. At the front there is the multi card reader and There is the Motion Eye camera on the top bezel for enabling the users to chat endless on skype or attend video conferences. The sound system that the netbook contains is the Intel HD Audio system which produces clear and sound audio. For staying connected to the internet, the users can connect either to the wired RJ45 Ethernet LAN port or the wireless Wi-Fi b/g/n. As the name implies, this netbook can be a great delight for surfing the net or downloading any videos, or for actively commenting on your friends’ photos in facebook or for tweeting!

Memory, Graphics, Processor and OS:

The Sony Vaio VPCW215AX notebook comes with a 1GB of DDR2 RAM and 250GB of hard drive storage capacity. The 1GB of internal RAM memory can be extended to 2GB. For a netbook this memory is sufficient. The processor for graphics and multimedia is the Intel GMA 3150. This is an integrated processor and hence can not be expected to be a gaming netbook. The netbooks in general are not good gamers and so is this one. It does not come with a core processor that works really fast but instead comes with the decent performing Intel N450 processor with a clock speed of 1.66GHz. The W series netbook works on the Windows 7 Starter which is only a basic of the Windows 7 series edition.

Battery:

For users who want a battery life nearly as high as 7 or 8 hours, Sony provides a 6 cell battery that protrudes at the back that might not be liked by few. This long battery life can not be obtained in the 3 cell battery though, where the battery would be alive for nearly 3 or 4 hours only. This Lithium ion battery is not really satisfactory and Sony could have worked on that.

Performance:

The Sony Vaio W series netbook VPCW215AX/L has only the ordinary features in terms of its ports and connectivity. But what attracts the users is that it has a high definition display and most of the netbooks do not support this feature. This HD Display alone would not suffice to increase the price tag though. The audio and video performances are average only.

Warranty:

The Vaio W series netbook has a standard 1 year warranty period within which time the Company bears the charges for any kind of repair or replacement.

Verdict:

The Sony Vaio W netbook might be little pricey when compared to the other netbooks of this range of features. It is in no way comparable to the best netbooks in the line like the Samsung N110 and Dell 250. But then, this is a standard Sony product with the ability to stream data between the DLNA devices. So this netbook is a good choice for those who prefer Sony for all their technical gadgets. For others, this netbook does not disappoint you, but then this is definitely not one of the best.

Sony Vaio VPCW215AX/L Netbook – Technical Specification Table

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