Sony Vaio W Class

Introduction

So this weekend I am attending a family wedding out in Seattle. What this means for me is taking a 2 hour bus to St. Louis, flying to Chicago, two hour layover, and then flying to Seattle. As much fun as that sounds, I really want to get some work done. I could take my workhorse Macbook Pro, but this is the two year old model with not the best battery life; I want to be able to be on my laptop more than 80% of my trip without having to scrounge each airport for open outlet. Not only that, but I wasn’t planning on doing any real photo editing during the trip, I could easily save that for when I got back home.  So do I want to bring my beast? Really don’t want to, but I really want to get work done. Luckily, a Sony W class netbook came in this week ready to be reviewed.
I decided to instead of lugging around my full size personal laptop, to just bring along the Sony W. I’ll talk a little about my observations of using this Sony at the airport, on the airplane, and on the bus, but mostly this will be a review of the computer itself. I think this is a good set of circumstances for this machine because it is built for portability and long battery life.
Specs
Intel Atom N 1.83GHz Processor
1 GB RAM
250GB Hard Drive
10.1 inch screen
Outside
This thing is pretty tiny.  Three women have called it a baby computer (I’d be a little worried if a man ever used that metaphor) in less than three days. It sort of makes a statement that laptops can be really small, and still be used by someone 6’1 such as myself. To be honest, I would have blended more easily if Sony hadn’t sent me the Billabong version ($50 more than the standard colors) which actually looks pretty awesome. If you’re someone who enjoys a flashy computer with a California-isk design, it is definitely worth the added cost.
The entire body is clad in somewhat flexible plastic. It isn’t the strongest material in the world, but it keeps it very light and lowers the chance of cracking or denting. The entire keyboard is sloped upward due to the half of the battery that sticks out the bottom. This is similar in design to the Toshiba M645. I wrote an article about battery sizes and about their positives and negatives, but to sum it up for this machine, having an exposed battery makes typing much more pleasurable because it is on a slant. The compromise is that the battery is not flush against the bottom. This may be problem when using a small form fitting case, but it worked perfectly well sliding into the laptop compartment of my Recon North Face backpack.
The ports are of the typical Sony manner: SD and memory stick slots on the front, two usb ports on the right  with the Ethernet port, left side has the VGA port with audio ports and DC in. The wireless killswitch and power slider switch are both on the front also.

Inside
Pulling up the screen reveals exactly what this computer is, a netbook. The keyboard is simple and small, as is the trackpad and screen. The keys are a little mushier, but are easier to type on than the much more expensive Sony Vaio X. The  glossy screen is actually not that bad when it comes to reflections which will make it much easier  to use when outside, which the road-warrior using this machine will for sure appreciate.
The keyboard feels kind of a mushy and cheap at first, but surprisingly I have no problem typing on it for hours before and after the plane. There were no sticky keys, and I never really missed a keystroke. It is a pretty quiet typing experience, and as small as the keyboard is, I have no complaints. I know I’m kind of saying this over and over again about it being nothing special with no special shortcut keys or anything, but it has allowed me to do the amount of work I want to do to match the battery life. My biggest issue with the keyboard is that it is not back lit. While this feature is typically only available on higher end models, it would have been nice if Sony had made the exception for this machine.  This computer is built to be extremely portable and be used anywhere, but what about use in a dark space such as at night in a dark airplane or on a bus.
The trackpad has no two finger, and like all Sony trackpads, can scroll down the right side or back and forth using the bottom. As hard as I tried, I could not get the trackpad to slide from one corner to the other in one swipe. What this means is Sony does not use any algorithms to measure the momentum of your finger. Apple uses an algorithm for it that works very well, but if a poorly executed algorithm is used, it can make using the trackpad very difficult because of the lack of precision. So the Sony W trackpad will be very dependable movement wise for no matter how fast or slow you move your finger, it will travel the same distance.
Glare has not been too big of issue on the trip. I can pretty much see a clear reflection of myself when the computer is off, but once something is open like a word document, very little is reflected including light sources which is nice. The quality of the screen isn’t great, but to be fair it is possibly the nicest netbook screen I have ever used. As far as other screens go, the colors are a little washed out and has pretty low contrast. Thinking about it though, one of the last computers I used was the +$2000 Sony Z which puts most screens to shame. The screen is fine for normal work but you will notice when downloaded or streaming videos.
Performance
The actual performance of this computer is pretty much identical to every other current netbook because except for a few exceptions, they all have the same specs. The Atom processor and 1 GB of RAM will only get you so far. In other ways though, having the very long battery life paired with the compact body could get you very far and working around the country with little hassle. (speakers)
Recommendations
As far as netbooks go, this is definitely one of the nicest ones, which is why it is more expensive. I have found it to be surprisingly dependable and don’t have any major complaints, which I was sure I would have after using just a netbook for the entire weekend. For Microsoft Office and online stuff, you really don’t need anything more powerful than this computer. If you need a compact computer with stellar battery life and don’t want to spend the money on the Sony X class, this is for you.  I wish Sony had included a backlit keyboard or at least the option to upgrade to one. After using it for any entire weekend  and getting used to the keyboard, using it on a dark bus really wasn’t a problem, but it would be nice to not have to use my cellphone to light up a function key to see what it is. The easiest way to resolve this issue is to purchase a cheap USB keyboard light. For someone on the go, the Sony W Class is a very good option.

Posted in: Sony