Product Reviews

Sony never used to let a month with an 'r' in it to go by without releasing a notebook. And now, even May, June, July and August are blessed with a new VAIO or two. So it was no surprise to see the FX601 arrive at Buyer towers, hot on the heels of the FX501 and FX401 before it.

As the photos show, this is no ultra portable featherweight. Sony's FX notebooks are very much pitched as fully-featured alternatives to desktop machines. Take the FX601's size: measuring a generous 324mm from side to side, there's room for a well-proportioned keyboard. Even if you've never used a notebook before, you'll soon get used to the sensible layout - all the important keys are suitably large, and although it isn't blessed with the most responsive feel, your fingers should still be nimbly pecking away after a couple of hours.

The screen is even better news. It's the kind of high-quality TFT we've come to expect from Sony, with a generous 14.1in diagonal. It's bright, evenly lit and ridiculously easy to read - simply a pleasure to view.

Another sign of the Sony's desktop aspirations stems from the integrated DVD-ROM and removable floppy drive. The latter can be replaced with a weight saver (reducing your load to 3.2kg, compared with 3.4kg when the floppy is in place) or even a second battery. If you intend to travel extensively with the FX601, we certainly recommend the latter option, as the high demands of AMD's 1.1GHz mobile Duron and the screen soon took their toll. With the backlight set to full, the battery dropped from 56 per cent to 38 per cent in 20 minutes - and that was when we were just tapping away

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But the Duron was never designed for maximum battery life. Its biggest strength is its performance-per-pound. Despite this machine's low £879 price, the FX601 breezed through any task we threw at it in Windows XP Home.

The Duron is clearly helped along by the respectable 256Mb serving of memory, which you can upgrade to 512Mb. The 20Gb hard disk is another sensible inclusion, although more space would always be welcome. If people actually use this VAIO for the Video and Audio denoted by the first two letters of Sony's acronym, then that space will soon be filled. If you are a budding video editor, the i.LINK (better known as FireWire) port should prove useful, but anyone using a Sony Memory Stick-based MP3 player or digital camera should note the lack of a Memory Stick slot.

Predictably, ports are kept to the usual allocation of two USB, one serial and one parallel, while the internal modem and integrated network adapter cover both communication bases. With two Type II PC Card slots as well, we've no cause for complaint in such a well-priced unit.

It's also good to see a DVD-ROM here. Sony is generous enough to include a TV-out and video cable so you can output to a TV, and even if you just want to watch DVD movies on the FX601, the image quality won't disappoint. If only we could say the same about the sound - the pair of stereo speakers are just about adequate, but no more.

But this machine isn't really designed to be an entertainment device. It's there for work and the occasional bit of play - though hardcore gamers won't be overly impressed by its score of 612 in 3DMark 2000. More importantly, though, it's solidly built, and you even get some decent media-orientated software thrown in. There's Adobe Photoshop Elements for creating graphics, SonicStage for looking after your MP3 collection, MovieShaker for creating your own movies, and WinDVD for watching other people's.

There's no denying that other notebook manufacturers often offer faster chips and a similar specification for less, but the Sony's high-quality screen, keyboard and stylish design - compared to its budget rivals, that is - make it the one to choose.