Sony VAIO VGN-TT11WN/B

[Regina]

Sony's TZ-Series have long been seen as some of the best business ultraportables on the market.It is now updated with the TT-Series, and while the Sony VAIO VGN-TT11WN/B carries a formidable price tag, it proves to be a truly stunning business laptop.Sony is well known for making highly desirable ultraportable notebooks.Scan through the TT's vital statistics, and you'd be forgiven for thinking that not a great deal has changed.

For one, the svelte 279 x 200 x 31mm dimensions mean that the VGN-TT11WN/B is as gloriously petite as ever. It's lost a little weight, though, dropping a few hundred grams from the VGN-TZ31MN's 1.48kg to end up at an impressive 1.32kg. Pop the charger in with it and it still only weighs in at 1.68kg.The ultra-low voltage 1.2GHz Intel processor ensures the chassis stays comfortably cool at all times, but also results in limited performance. All office tasks and even basic video editing tasks can be performed however, thanks in part to the impressive 4096MB of memory.



Storage is also strong. The 160GB hard drive is ample for business use, and the dual-layer DVD rewriter supports all current CD and DVD formats. For maximum storage if your budget allows, this can be substituted for a recordable Blu-ray drive for £330.The ultra-low voltage 1.2GHz Intel processor ensures the chassis stays comfortably cool at all times, but also results in limited performance. All office tasks and even basic video editing tasks can be performed however, thanks in part to the impressive 4096MB of memory.

Storage is also strong. The 160GB hard drive is ample for business use, and the dual-layer DVD rewriter supports all current CD and DVD formats. For maximum storage if your budget allows, this can be substituted for a recordable Blu-ray drive for £330

Specifications:-

• Processor manufacturer : Intel
  
  
• Processor model : Core 2 Duo SU9300
  
  
• Clock speed : 1.2 GHz
  
  
• Number of processors installed : 1
  
  
• RAM installed : 4096 MB
  
  
• Wireless LAN : 802.11a/b/g, Draft-N
  
  
• Wireless WAN : Sony Everywair (HSDPA)
  
  
• Hard drive size : 160 GB
  
  
• Graphics processor : Intel GMA 4500MHD
  
  
• Graphics RAM :
  
  
• Display diagonal size : 11.1 in
  
  
• Case form factor : clamshell
  
  
• Dimensions (W x H x D) : 27.9x2.35x20 cm
  
  
• Weight : 1.3 kg
  
  
• Operating system : Windows Vista Business SP1

While the high price of the Sony VAIO VGN-TT11WN/B puts it into an elite group of ownership, its style, resilience, battery life and features make it one of the best ultraportables we've seen. This may well prove to be the perfect laptop for the frequent business traveller.It is available for £1,849.00

[Bon-Z]

Like other Sony ultraportables before it, the TT uses an isolated key keyboard. This means that the keys have a shallow feel which takes a little getting used to, as they don't have that reassuring, positive click when typing, but that aside the keyboard layout is first rate, with the palm rests slightly raised to allow for more comfortable typing.For sure, the T11WN is well featured, having integrated HSDPA, a high resolution screen, 4GBs of RAM, TPM security, Draft-N Wi-Fi, Gigabit Ethernet and Bluetooth, but you can pick up a ThinkPad X301 with all these features, a three year warranty (as opposed to one year) and a 128GB SSD for the same money. Our TT, in the meantime, must suffice with a somewhat sluggish 160GB 5,400rpm shock protected mechanical drive.

And, as a quick glance at our benchmarks will reveal, a decent SSD has a pretty marked impression on performance so the benefits in a low-power machine like this are huge.The TT's carbon fibre casing makes for robustness, although there's still a fair amount of flex in the lid. We were also irked by the absence of a clasp between the lid and keyboard sections. The front edges of the notebook don't quite fit together flush and on our review sample the hinge was not overly tight, so a protective sleeve is advisable when you pack this system in your travel bag.

On the left of the Sony VAIO VGN-TT11WN are two USB ports and a mini FireWire port, along with concealed HDMI and ethernet ports - accessed after pulling off a plasticky cover by the screen hinge.The Sony VAIO VGN-TT11WN's keyboard is the now-familiar Scrabble tile type - perhaps Travel Scrabble is more apt, given the shrunken size of the key tops. The amount of travel found on these keys is truly minimal and this made quick and accurate typing less easy.

The Sony VAIO VGN-TT11WN's trackpad precision is good, and the click buttons are usefully sited on the edge of the chassis so they can be readily depressed with the thumb's edge.

A WorldBench speed benchmark score of 60 is a good result, underlined by an uncanny battery life time of 8 hours 30 minutes. This was recorded by our usual Mobilemark 2007 Productivity test, and usurps even Sony's advertised time of 7 hours 40 minutes.

[Pugsly]

VGN-TT11WN/B incase of powering the graphics is Intel's integrated GMA X4500M HD solution which outputs to a really good screen. The 16:9 aspect ratio, 11.1-inch screen has a native resolution of 1,366 x 768 pixels and Sony's X-Black high contrast coating, together with the LED backlighting, gives superb colour reproduction and contrast despite it not having a glossy finish.

But Sony has been miserly when it comes to the webcam as it is only a 0.3-megapixel unit, not the usual 1.3-megapixel ones normally used in notebooks.Below the keyboard, of course, is the touchpad. It's well proportioned, never getting in the way of typing, while it's two faux-chrome buttons are large and have a nice positive action. Between the two is a fingerprint reader and this is matched with TPM 1.2 (Trusted Platform Module) adding secure encryption and authentication to protect your precious data.

Connectivity, meanwhile, isn't prodigious but covers most of the bases a business user will demand. Behind the flap on the left there's an HDMI output and an Ethernet port and this is followed by a lock slot, a 34mm ExpressCard slot, a mini-FireWire port, the two sole USB ports and the headphone and microphone jacks.

Up front there's the usual combination of an SD card reader and a MagicGate Pro slot for Sony's propriety card formats. Next to these is a quick and useful wireless radio switch and following on the opposite are volume control buttons, a mute button, one programmable shortcut button and an Eject button for the optical drive.

It's just as well there is one, too, since the button on the drive itself sits flush and is very small, making it difficult to operate. This does ensure it won't be accidentally activated, though, so should be regarded as a feature as opposed to a problem. Next to the optical drive sits the only other output, a VGA port for analogue connection to a monitor or TV.

[Orlando]

Actually, quite a lot. Frankly, as good as netbooks are, for doing serious work they're just not up to task. You can't realistically use Outlook on a netbook, not without significant compromise, plus any serious multi-tasking between applications quickly becomes a chore.

It's a popular thing to say "just buy a netbook" and if that suits that person then that's fine, but for people that need a serious ultra-portable notebook they're not a viable solution.