Sony Vaio CW Notebook

Sony’s Vaio brand( Sony vgp-bpl9), now synonymous with stylish and high-performing laptops and netbooks, certainly excites technology enthusiasts. Back in November last year, Sony had slid the covers off its CW series of Vaio notebooks. Keeping to the Vaio family, the mainstream laptops in this series were fashioned to suit the computing needs of stylish users. Though sleek, the notebooks in this range aren’t as super-slim as the X series launched around the same time. The performance of the CW models however seems to speak volumes about thier VGP-AC19V28 Adapter. Well, we managed to get one of these robust models namely the Vaio CW VPCCW16FG under our wings for a review.

Before we present an in-depth analysis of this CW notebook, here’s a low-down of the basic features it encompasses. Powered by an Intel core 2 Duo P8700 2.53GHz CPU, the device includes a 4GB DDR3 RAM and a 64 bit OS. It boasts of a 14-inch LED backlit 16:9 wide-screen display panel that has a resolution of around 1366 x 768. Sure to hold more than just the attention of notebook lovers are the graphics of the notebook courtesy Nvidia GT230M with 512MB of GDDR3 RAM. With these features, the notebook we reviewed seemed capable of handling practically any task assigned to it.

The first thing you would probably notice about this CW model is its glossy exterior. You can take your pick from four colors namely pink, red, black and white. We for one got to lay our hands on the red version of the notebook. The hue used to dress the notebook seemed to be just right, not flashy enough to distract business meetings yet exuding elegance and stylish computing when set to impress. Besides the exterior casing even the touchpad area revealed a red color which seemed to add it’s to chic look.

The Vaio logo on the top exterior looks good while the notebook’s vgp-bpl2 Battery build too is pretty appealing and seemed strong yet graceful. The plastic used also appeared to be of good quality and the glossy surface ensured fingerprints and smudges were kept to a minimum. In fact if there were any, they were barely visible. The notebook’s smooth surface certainly impressed us.

Opening the notebook PCGA-AC16V3 Adapter and displays a neat island-style keyboard with protruding keys and enough spacing for comfortable typing. The large yet smooth and intelligent touchpad on the other hand allowed easy navigation of the device. Above the keyboard there are four shortcut buttons mainly Web, Display Off/On, Vaio and Power Off/On and they perform the exact actions suggested by their name. On either side of these buttons are RealTek HD audio speakers. Five rubber pads at the bottom kept the notebook elevated off the desk by a few inches.

Four LED lights just below the touchpad area offer indications on the power, battery, CPU status and Wireless connectivity. On the left of the lights are two slots that accommodate Pro and SD memory cards. On the right edge of the panel’s base is a DVD writer, headphone and mic jack and a USB port. Starting from the extreme edge close to the display on the left base is the exhaust vent followed by a VGA port, an HDMI port, IEEE 1394 jack and two USB slots. The charging port is at the back of the notebook. The notebook tips the scale at 2.4kg while its dimensions are 341.3 x 27.5-38.5 x 233.1mm.

The desktop can be personalized with gadgets like calendar, clock, Windows Media Center and more. When navigating through the device, windows that have been minimized sit neatly on the bottom toolbar of the desktop and appear like buttons. It also includes a distinct Nvidia Control Panel that allows enhanced image reproduction courtesy a multitude of settings. This includes PhysX configuration, ability to change color resolution, flat panel scaling and accommodation of multiple displays. You can also play around with the video color and video image settings for advanced video playback.

With these advanced settings, gaming on the notebook was a sheer pleasure. We played BioShock and might we seem overly enthusiastic, the details in imaging literally threw us off our seat. For a notebook, the graphics seemed too good to be real. We had a little trouble with the trackpad functioning as a mouse when picking weapons and slaying enemies. Also, we wish the device had better speakers to complement the astounding graphics offered.

Among the host of regular settings and functions, the notebook VGP-BPS9 Battery we received for a review also included a very interesting Snip tool. It allowed us to capture anything in the computer by simply hovering our finger over the touchpad. From word files to images, we could snip everything and save it as PNG, GIF, JPEG or Single HTML files. With the Windows Anytime Upgrade feature, you can additionally upgrade to any edition of Windows 7 at any given time. There’s also a Parental Control feature that let us control two logins by restricting access to only certain functions and content. This could be a great option for family notebooks.

Sony Vaio CW NotebookAllowing simple and quick WLAN connection, browsing the internet was hassle-free. We could further multitask between a number of options without experiencing any lag in performance. The notebook showed a good ability to handle simple and routine tasks with access being super-fast thanks to the advanced processor. On the multimedia front too, videos kept us engaged for long with virtually no drag in performance. The CW notebook will certainly catch the fantasy of gamers with its high-graphics. The speakers though we must repeat were a real disappointment, so accompanying the notebook with headphones will be a better option. We enjoyed approximately 2 hours 43 minutes of battery juice.