The computing relics unearthed in the PC Pro Labs

Tuesday, December 27th, 2011

The PC Pro Lab is a dark, dingy place full of cardboard boxes, benchmarks and more motherboards, processors and PCs than we care to count, but it’s also home to a variety of kit that’s slipped through the net –  some of it even dating back to before PC Pro launched in 1994.

From iconic machines like the IBM PC to the silliness of Sony’s £1,190 netbook, we’ve scoured the darkest corners and blown dust off some of the oldest, oddest and rarest kit we can find – starting with a true icon of the industry. (more…)

Sony VAIO Z Series (2011) review: first look

Wednesday, June 29th, 2011

***We’ve now published our comprehensive review of Sony’s VAIO Z Series, so click here for the full lowdown *** Sony’s VAIO Z Series is one of the finest ultraportables to ever travel the Earth, but now, several years after its 2009 debut, Sony has ripped up the rulebook and started afresh. At a launch event in London, we caught our first up-close look at the all-new Z Series.

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Sony VAIO S Series review: first look

Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011

After our exclusive reviews of Sony’s brand-new CA Series notebook and L Series touchscreen all-in-one, Sony’s launch event in London’s Century Club promised to be tinged with an overwhelming sense of deja-vu.

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How (and why) Sony designed the new VAIO P Series

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

Contrary to the beliefs of the rest of the PC Pro team, I didn’t spend all my time while stuck in Japan drinking sake and impersonating Elvis in debauched karaoke bars. Along with going behind the scenes to see the VAIO testing setup, I had the good fortune to hear directly from the chief project manager behind the Sony VAIO P Series – both the original and its successor – on how exactly this innovative laptop came into being.

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Samsung X-Series: First Look

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

The first two days of the IFA trade show in Berlin saw a couple of laptop-related surprises: first, Sony unveiled one of the most alluring machines we’ve ever seen in the form of its 14mm, 640g X-Series, before Samsung unleashed its very own X-Series notebooks the very next day.

Samsung’s trio of new laptops may not be quite as slim as Sony’s latest crowd-pleaser, but they still have some pretty enticing vital statistics: the 15in X520, for instance, is 24mm thick and weighs 2.09kg. And even though that’s more than three times as heavy as the Sony, it still feels incredibly light for a 15in notebook. The X120 is even more lightweight at 1.36kg.

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First look: Sony VAIO X-Series

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

We got our hands on an early sample of the all-new Sony VAIO X-Series at Sony’s pre-IFA show, and to say it looks an impressive feat of engineering completely understates matters.

Let’s get the facts out of the way first. This is the world’s lightest ever laptop, weighing less even than the Sony VAIO P-Series – and that weighed in at 640g.

Hold the X-Series in your hands and it feels breathtakingly light. Once you pick it up, you don’t want to put it down. (more…)

First look: Sony’s VAIO netbook, the Mini W Series

Thursday, July 9th, 2009

The long wait is over: finally, we have in our hands a Sony VAIO netbook. The Mini W Series is here, and we got our chance to try it out at a briefing in central London this afternoon.

Note: click here to read our full review of the Sony VAIO Mini W Series netbook

Its big selling point is undoubtedly the screen, with 1,366 x 768 pixels on show. It’s bright, and on first inspection it also looks sharp. Although at 10.1in it feels cramped compared to a full-size laptop, we’d be happy to work with this screen all day.

Sony has also made plenty of effort to give this netbook an element of luxury. It’s available in “berry pink, sugar white and cocoa brown”, and the model we had to hand was the sugar white version (white to everyone else in the world).

It won’t take your breath away with its style, but there’s no doubt the bold VAIO logo on the lid gives this netbook some immediate kudos. The chassis itself is plastic, but Sony gives it an element of styling with a mottled finish. (more…)

The PC Pro Father’s Day gift guide

Thursday, June 18th, 2009

Father’s Day is this Sunday and, as the big day looms ever closer, there’s now little time left to go out and hunt for the ideal gift. Just turn to the PC Pro A List, then, for the perfect presents that you can rush out and buy before it’s too late.

Those with photographic fathers are spoilt for choice: there are superb choices available no matter what you’re looking for, whether it’s a compact, DLSR or video camera.

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First look: the 370g nettop PC

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

Almost a year ago I blogged about a tiny PC, the Space Cube, which had landed in the PC Pro Labs and got quite a bit of attention – but, while that machine was undeniably impressive, its usefulness was limited to those who happened to own space shuttles and were familiar with its obscure version of Red Hat.

The latest miniscule computer to turn up, though, is far more practical for those who don’t engage in interstellar travel. The Anders Fit-PC2 may only be 27mm tall and weigh just 370g, but it’s a fully-fledged nettop with an Intel Atom processor lurking inside its tiny frame.

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First look: four new Packard Bell laptops

Monday, June 1st, 2009

While Packard Bell is making plenty of fuss about its AMD-powered netbooks, the firm’s new line-up of full-size laptops has plenty of potential, too.

The most exciting of the new models is the EasyNote TR series, which takes a leaf out of Apple and Sony’s books by concentrating on design just as much as hardware. And it’s not just any old in-house designers who are putting together these latest laptops, either – Packard Bell has enlisted the help of Italian design house Pininfarina to make sure that the TR can match up to the best in the business.

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