A more relevant comparison, perhaps, is with the Asus N10, a netbook that, like the TT, runs Windows Vista so is aimed at a similar audience as the one Sony's chasing. The two are matched on hard drive performance, but the Sony has the N10 licked elsewhere. Note that the N10's benchmarks are incomplete because PCMark05 won't run its graphics tests at the Asus' 1024 x 600 resolution.
Fortunately, 3DMark06 tells you all you need to know. Think the TT's score was bad? At least the 617 it rated at 1024 x 768 was better than the 139 the N10 got at 1024 x 600.
Like the N10, the TT comes with 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1 on board, but the TT11WN variant adds 7.2Mb/s HSDPA and 2Mb/s HSUPA support courtesy of a built in 3G module from Option. Sony would like you to connect using T-Mobile, but we fitted our Vodafone SIM - the slot's hidden by the TT's battery - and were quickly up and running. We got a decent signal strength when we tried the HSDPA link out in North London, and there's no doubt having 3G built in is better than using a dongle.
Sony provides a nice utility, Vaio Smart Network, that allows you to disable individual radios - the Wireless switch on the front is an all-or-nothing affair - and the Ethernet port, which is turned off by default. This is all in the interests of conserving power, as is a Task Bar icon that'll power down the optical drive.
We used it during our battery test, which involves running PCMark05 continuously until the power's gone, though it continued to report that the drive was turned on. As usual, we had Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on, but disabled the HSDPA radio. We set the screen to maximum brightness after pulling the power cable auto-dimmed it.
The design's defined by the 'tube'
The TT ran for just shy of four hours - three hours 55 minutes - which is rather better than the two-and-a-half hours we got out of the Dell Latitude E6400 in the same test. Our benchmark is a tough test that keeps the CPU, GPU and HDD doing rather more work than the usually would, so take it as a worst-case figure. Typically, you can almost double the time for ordinary workloads, which takes us to the best part of eight hours, and by dimming the display and turning off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth you could probably eke that out to nearly eight-and-a-half hours, which isn't so far off what Sony claims you'll get.
COMMENTS
Muggins is as Muggins does..
A Laptop is a Laptop IS a Laptop!!!
I should know I trade hardware day in and out and I can assure you all there's no special technology here that couldnt be achieved by many laptops with similar spec
Looks good, but you can buy x3pcs of DELL inspiron or similar with this functionality (better functionality)!!
What a complete rip-off.
If you buy this other than for the need of the battery life...then your middle name is MUGGINS... and you should drop out of school if your in it or go back if your out of it...
"But it looks very pretty" get over it.. it will collect dust and marks in 3 months!!
Move along folks.. theres nothing to see here...
I won't buy a Vaio again
I bought a Vaio a couple of years ago and in two years I had to replace the CD drive twice and the motherboard once. I also bought a PS2 and had to replace it because the disk drive died. My experience with Sony products does not suggest that they are worth any premium at all.
I would far rather have a new MacBook Pro and would not cost two grand.
As one of my friends would say "Two grand? They're 'aving a larff".
It's a keeper!
I've got one of these little puppies and I have to say I'm very impressed with it. I normally change laptops at least once a year as I just like new toys so I've had a few to compare it with and this is far and above the best laptop I've ever owned.
The fact is that yes, whilst its a bit pricey, it's well and truly worth it. When my clients see it, they're impressed with it too. The battery life and general speed is a breath of fresh air, its actually a usable machine for all my mobile tasks. As Mark mentioned, The first thing I did when buying was to format the drive and clear the installed crud and start a fresh, so theres a few hours of my life I can never get back - Sony, you really need to listen to your customers who don't want yours or your friends crapware! (I have the technet direct subs, so the OS purchase is a mute point nowadays)
For the churlish posters who think I'm an idiot for buying, you really need to get a life. My purchase choice was driven by me evaluatiing my needs, finding a machine that met them and then buying it - can't really see how that makes me an idiot. Money isn't always a factor in a purchase descision. I'll certainly get my moneys worth out of this machine though and so that makes it a bargain for me!
Nice laptop
But... They've got to be joking with that price. You can get that weird Lamborghini laptop for just a bit more money! I'd rather have THAT in the office.
Vaio TT
Sony used to have a good name for reliability and quality, that was a long time ago however. These days I avoid all Sony products as everthing I've bought from them over the years falls apart sooner rather than later.
This looks like another excercise in style over substance, under powered and overpriced.
