Product Reviews

If notebook computers had been around in the 1950s, this Sony Vaio is exactly how they'd have looked. (Of course, they'd have filled five rooms and had processing power equivalent to a pocket calculator, but we'll brush that one under a rather large carpet.) To start things off there's the shiny, black patent finish, sharply contrasted with Bakelite-style keys, all wrapped up with an ever-so-handy-for-the-housewife handle.

But Sony isn't just feeling a tad nostalgic - it's much more likely that it's trying to muscle in on a market carved out by Apple's fruity range of iBooks. This thinking is backed up by some aggressive pricing: £1,105 for a Sony Vaio is pitched directly at the high-street market, where value is everything and power is just a five-letter word beginning with 'p'.

So it's no great surprise to see a lack of processing muscle underneath the QR10's glossy exterior. Instead, Sony includes the budget-tastic Celeron, which beats away at 650MHz. This wouldn't have been too disastrous had it been paired with 128Mb memory, but with only 64Mb to back it up, the Vaio struggled in our benchmarks when compared to 'proper' notebooks like the Asus/Hi-Grade Notino A1300-850 (reviewed May 2001)

Still, the Vaio is certainly fast enough for general use in Windows Me. As long as you're not intending to run a number of applications at the same time, you shouldn't need to take advantage of the spare memory socket that's hiding underneath the keyboard.

We'd recommend the upgrade if you want to perform intensive tasks like video editing, and Sony goes some way to making this possible, by including a FireWire port. As expected, two USB ports keep this company, but the integrated network adapter hidden behind a black flap at the rear of the notebook was a bit of a

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shock. Probably, this is intended for students hooking up to a university network, rather than business users - this Vaio is all about consumer style, as is demonstrated by the huge Vaio emblem adorning the lid. Anyone needing to hook up an old printer will be disappointed, though, as Sony jettisons the parallel port, while making the floppy drive an optional extra.

At this price, we weren't expecting a DVD-ROM, and our expectations were affirmed by the CD-ROM drive Sony includes. This reads data at a respectable 24-speed, but will probably find just as much use for playing audio CDs. Sony opts for an uninspiring pair of speakers in the QR21's case, however. The 10Gb hard disk is again in line with expectations, while Intel's 815 graphics aren't the greatest choice if you have 3D shoot 'em ups in mind. It struggled woefully in 3DMark 2000 with a score of 949.

In fact, if we were to judge the QR10 on benchmarks alone it would be struggling to gain one or two stars out of six, rather than the four we think it's worth. Take the battery life, for instance. Lasting just 62 minutes in our gruelling test, this Vaio will be a distinct failure if you choose to use it away from a power supply for any length of time. Not that this notebook is designed for work on the move. It feels heavier and bulkier than the measured 3kg suggests, and your arms will know all about it by the end of the day.

Sony starts to pull back some ground when it comes to ergonomics. The 13.3in TFT screen may not be the largest available, but it holds 1024x768 sharp and evenly-lit pixels. True, the large bezel does make the screen seem rather smaller than it is, and the thick, silver-coloured edging is a slight distraction, but you'll find there's plenty of room on your desktop.

The keyboard also takes a little getting used to, but before I knew it, I was quite fond of its typewriter-like feel. Touch typists should certainly have no problem, as the Backspace and Enter keys are both huge, while all the other keys are suitably large and sensibly placed.

With lacklustre performance in all our key benchmarks, the QR10 was never going to win an award, but this doesn't mean you should dismiss it entirely. It can cope with standard computing duties with ease and packs in all the most important features. If you're torn between an iBook and this, we'd opt for the Vaio every time.