Product Reviews

Choosing a laptop is somehow more personal than buying a desktop PC. It's one of those possessions that feels as if it should reflect your personality, like your clothes or your car. And because of that, you may be tempted to go for a stylish model from a big brand name. Trouble is, that could play havoc with a sensible budget. After all, quality costs, doesn't it? Well, not necessarily, it seems. Sony's newest range of laptops, the NR series, start at just £480 including VAT, and all come equipped with Intel dual-core processors on the inside as well as the VAIO logo on the outside.

While the cheapest option may be the most eye-catching, we couldn't resist asking for the top-of-the-range model. Even this, at just a smidgen over £600 from dealers, is hardly pricey.

For a laptop from a 'budget' range, the VGN-NR11Z/S makes a pretty good first impression. In a welcome break from the current norm, Sony have resisted the temptation to wrap their machine in glossy black plastic. Instead, we got a textured silver finish that, at least from a distance, looks rather like Apple's machined aluminium. Up close, the price constraints do become a little more evident. Press the lid hard in the centre and there's more give than we'd like. Similarly, flip the laptop upside down and the black underside feels a touch cheap and creaky for a Sony.

But firing up the VGN-NR11Z/S allayed many of our fears. That lid might be more flexible than it ought to be, but it still does a good job of protecting the screen; we had to really lean on it before we noticed any show-through on the display. It's the same story with the base, which, though somewhat flexible, feels up to standing a few knocks.

Walk the line

With any budget machine, the key to success is in striking a balance, and the NR11's specification goes a long way towards making up for any physical weaknesses. The Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 processor isn't the fastest around, but with two cores running at 2GHz apiece it provides more than enough processing power for most personal computing tasks. Thanks to this and a sensible 2GB of RAM, the installed copy of Windows Vista Home Premium feels nice and snappy in use, with programs launching far more quickly than on many low-cost laptops we've encountered. With a score of 147% in our 2D (general) benchmarks, it's clear you'd have to do much more than surf the web and write the odd email to Granny to push the Sony's limits.

Games are perhaps a little too much to ask of the VGN-NR11Z/S, though. After a little fiddling with drivers from Intel's website, we did get the built-in Intel GMA X3100 graphics chip

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to run our Call of Duty 2 test, but it refused to enable our standard anti-aliasing or anisotropic filtering settings, which made the graphics look very basic. And even with these processor-heavy tasks omitted, it struggled to reach an unimpressive 27%. Older games will be playable, but only at low resolutions such as 800x600.

It's a shame the Sony hasn't got a little more poke in the graphics department, as the display delivers a bright, high-contrast image. That is, as long as you spend a little time positioning it just so. Limited viewing angles often left us tilting the screen back and forth to get the image looking right: too far back and the picture begins to look like a photographic negative, too far forward and everything gets washed out. Once you've found the sweet spot, the glossy screen lends both movies and photos a vibrant, high-contrast quality, but the narrow viewing angle can be aggravating.

The keyboard didn't do too much for our blood pressure either. Sony have employed their usual minimalist keys, often likened to Scrabble tiles, but whereas these have proved surprisingly pleasant to use on other models, the NR11's keyboard felt noticeably spongier. We often found it hard to know if we'd pressed a key or not. The generously wide trackpad is free from issues, though, and the two accompanying buttons both respond with a reassuringly solid click.

Get connected

If there's one thing that really gives away the Sony's low cost, it's the relatively frugal arrangement of ports and connectors. There are no DVI or HDMI video outputs to give a perfect picture on the latest monitors and TVs, just a single VGA port on the right-hand side. There's not even an S-Video output for hooking up to a conventional telly. Instead, the closest things to luxuries are the single mini-Firewire port (for your MiniDV camcorder) and the front-facing memory card reader, which is limited to reading Secure Digital (SD) and Sony's own Memory Stick cards. Still, WiFi is built in, with a switch on the front edge to turn it off when you're not using it and want to eke out a bit more battery life, and the generous complement of four USB ports is a welcome surprise.

One of this machine's strongest points is its battery life, which in our light use test ran out only two minutes short of four hours. Even our demanding DVD playback test ran to three hours and ten minutes before the Sony finally gave up the ghost. It might not be the lightest, nor the most robust laptop for carrying around, but pop it in a well-padded laptop bag and the Sony will see you through a pretty hefty train or plane journey before you have to dash to a mains socket.

Sony's foray into the budget laptop market is a mixed bag. This model's performance is impressive as long as your intended tasks don't ask too much of the weakling GMA X3100 graphics, but the trade-off is plasticky build quality and questionable ergonomics. HP's DV6623EA, for example (see page 34), is arguably sexier, somewhat sturdier, and probably a better all-round bet. Then again, it's not quite as nippy, doesn't last as long on a battery charge, and has a less vibrant display. If your heart's set on a Sony, your head may well be turned by the price tag.