Sony VAIO PCG-FX801 review

The last VAIO we saw in PC Pro's Labs was the PCG-GRX416SP (see Labs, issue 95), costing a mammoth £2,369 and boasting cutting-edge graphics, a 16.1in TFT and the latest Pentium 4-M processor.

The FX801 couldn't be more different. This is Sony's most basic laptop, with the only 'exciting' extra being an i.LINK port (FireWire to everyone else). In return, the price drops to a much more reasonable £709.

The good news is that Sony doesn't compromise on quality. We're fans of the keyboard, with the wide chassis allowing for well-sized keys, despite Sony not separating out the cursor keys. And the 14.1in TFT screen is one of the best here, with respectable viewing angles and bright backlighting, although if you want to lower this you'll have to look up how to in the manual (okay, we'll tell you: press - obvious really).

If battery life is important to you, you'll be lowering the backlight frequently. The VAIO was the worst performer on test, lasting a measly 62 minutes in our intensive test, while dropping all demands to minimum only stretched this to two hours, 21 minutes. And with a second battery costing £144, not many people will opt for this extra.

The tiny 3,000mAH battery is the main culprit for this poor battery life, but in return you get a portable machine weighing 3.1kg, and this is despite the inclusion of a floppy drive and DVD-ROM (both of which are removable). There's respectable connectivity too, with two PC Card slots, two USB 1.1 ports, plus parallel and serial connectors.

Another sign of cost compromises is the 20GB hard disk, which reduces this notebook's appeal as the centre of your digital world. Some people's CD collection ripped to MP3 would consume this space. Nevertheless, Sony bundles its usual collection of video and music software, and the FX801 is fast enough to cope with video-editing tasks.

This is thanks to the 1.2GHz mobile Athlon XP 1400+ processor, which showed itself to be a great performer - the VAIO rivalled many notebooks powered by 1.8GHz Pentium 4-M chips. This was despite the handicap of PC133 memory - there's room for one more SODIMM if you want to boost the 256MB included. But even the Athlon XP processor can't transform the VAIO into a 3D games machine, with the Rage Mobility-M1 unable to cope with 3DMark2001 SE, partially thanks to only 8MB of video memory.

The FX801 offers excellent value for money, and Sony's good performance in our Reliability & Service Awards 2002 counts in its favour. Just beware of the poor battery life and a lack of luxuries.