Sony VAIO P-Series (VGN-P19VN/Q) review

VAIO-P user's view:

Dear PCpro readers.
I am using Sony VAIO-P already for over 6 months. I would like to comment on the article with my own findings.

PCPro Opinion 1: It makes typing feel strangely dead and disconnected.

Indeed when typing gently on occasion a key may not act. In my case it happens mostly with SPACE key


PCPro Opinion 2. complete absence of any wrist rest

The laptop is thinner and much smaller that regular keyboard itself. With my wrist on the table I can easily reach all keys. When I sit in the armchair I rest my elbows on the armchair and I let the laptop rest on the thumbs. I use then the remaining 8 fingers to type. As the keyboard is small, fingers barely need to travel.


PCPro Opinion 3. We're naturally used to tapping the spacebar with our thumb, but as the trackpoint buttons along the front edge are raised we often found ourselves pressing them by mistake.

That’s not possible. The trackpoint buttons require much more strength to press. And the accompanying clicks are loud enough to wake up lights sleepers.


PCPro Opinion 4. And as for the trackpoint, (…) the tap-to-click function had us regularly clicking items by mistake.

True. When typing you may press trackpoint by accident fortunately, with new trackpoint drivers coming with Widows7 models it is very easy to disable tap-to-click function.


PCPro Opinion 5. Sensitivity is also an issue, and one that left us frequently tweaking the settings.

I have no issues with trackpoint's sensitivity.


PCPro Opinion 6. unless you're glued to the screen it makes reading text very, very difficult

True, you may tweak zoom-settings of the web browser, change font sizes in text editors, but at the end of the day, you will still be glued to the screen. Though its sharpness and clarity will definitely help you a lot.


PCPro Opinion 7. with the Sony's score 0.26 comparing unfavourably to the 0.44 of the Windows XP-powered Samsung NC10.

It is not only Atom/Vista's fault. Sony preloads its VAIO models with lots of bloatware eating all available resources. After I did a clean USB-install of Windows 7, it regained nearly 20GB of disk space (I've also deleted rescue partition as it became useless after I installed Windows7) and significantly lowered processor usage.
Bottom-line: you can watch DVD’s and DIVX/XVID movies with subtitling filters on without stuttering.


PCPro Opinion 8. Sony's own VGN-Z21MN/B, for example, might be significantly larger and twice as heavy, but it combines light weight and stamina with much more sensible levels of processing power.

I would not agree. The VAIO P is the ultimate ultra portable once you realize the benefits of Remote Desktop Connection. Keep VAIO-P setup at its minimum, avoid temptation of littering it with unnecessary software and do all your word processing, number crunching or even software developing, on your application server.

Conclusion:
I have read lot of VAIO-P reviews, and I believe that negative opinions about it are usually expressed by devoted Sony users. This laptop is not a typical Sony product, and as such it should not be tested by Sony enthusiasts.
I am devoted Thinkpad laptop user and I quite much dislike all Sony laptops (reason: no trackpoint) but VAIO-P has simply stolen my heart.

By stasi47 on 21 Apr 2010