SONY VGN-AW125J/H REVIEW

SONY VGN-AW125J/H – FINALLY A TRUE DESKTOP REPLACEMENT

This is a bliss. We’re finally living in an age that we no longer need to pay a fortune to our laptop computers to perform miserably compared to our desktops. We no longer need to deal with miniscule screens, cramped keyboards or brick-like weights either. And the best part is, if you still want to pay a fortune and carry a big weight, you do it to have a proper computer, a prestige item, a SONY.

I don’t know about you, but until recently it was a real challenge even to find a bag to carry our 17” laptops –not to mention the luck you needed to find the laptop itself and the price required for it. And today, we’re starting to see even bigger ones, 18.4” screens and let me tell you, this SONY is the best of this breed. So, enough chit-chat, let’s review this beast!

GENERAL LOOKS
Let’s start with this beauty’s (yes, she’s beautiful, and when I buy mine, I’ll name her “darlin’”) general looks. As you can guess, it’s big. Actually, “gigantic” would be a better term to describe it’s presence, since it looks like Shaquille O'Neal standing next to a dozen of jockeys when you compare it with other laptops. But don’t let this term –gigantic- fool you, although it’s probably bigger than your coffee table, it’s very light and thin for it’s size (8.2 lbs –o.k. not light, but still at least 2 pounds lighter than the next lightest 18.4” and only 1.6 inches thin) and since it’s a SONY, it also has very charming and sophisticated looks. All the lines flow smoothly and there is not a single flaw or imperfection. Then again, 8.2 pounds mean that you have to double it with the weight of the adaptor brick, bag and etc, which leads to the inevitable conclusion, this is not a mobile computer –unless you’re a heavy-lifting champion.

POWER & SPEED
The computer comes with a second generation Intel Centrino architecture, with a core 2 duo P8400 processor with 2.26 GHz speed, Intel® Mobile PM45 Express chipset, Intel® Wi-Fi Link 5100AGN network connection (802.11a/b/g/n). Now, let’s translate this from geek to human, you’re finally looking to a laptop which can run Vista with a good speed, which can also be rephrased as this computer is incredibly fast since Vista also happens to be one of the most power demanding program on the market today (I know 3D design, sound and video editing can demand more, but come on! You need all this power when you use Vista just to run, well, Solitaire!). Intel claims that this architecture works cooler and spends less energy, which is a good thing since the computer uses almost 99% of it’s battery power to light the Las Vegas size screen and the rest should be used for computing. At this point, I must emphasize on a word “claims”… Yes, Intel claims that this chipset is cooler, but on the other hand, we all know that it’s almost impossible to cool down such a fast processor when it’s working at full speed on a laptop, which also happens to be the curse of all high end desktop replacement wonder-laptops. As you may know, even Apple has suffered from this problem with their 17” Macbook Pros (yes, we’re talking about the holly grail of laptops) and ,well, just know what you’re getting into. Desktop replacements may be wild animals, but with this SONY, we’re talking about a 1 ton Bengal tiger, good luck with taming it!

The computer comes with a 4GB RAM configuration and unfortunately there’s no way to increase it. These 4GBs happen to be PC2-6400 DDR2, and since it’s working with a 1066MHz frontside bus and 3MB L2 Cache, which makes multitasking very fast.

STORAGE
The storage capacity is decent for a computer of this caliber , 320GBs, but since it’s a 7200RPM SATA hard drive, it makes us forgive it not being 500GBs or more, which is not that necessary anyway, since there are millions of 1 TB or more external drives in the market for you to choose. Another good thing about this hard drive is that SONY delivers it with single partition, which means, you don’t have to spend hours to gather two divided partitions into one. Good job SONY, it’s refreshing to see that some companies avoid non-sense techno fashions created by compu-handicapped marketing monkeys.

OPERATING SYSTEM
Now, let’s list some problems before we continue to list the wonders of this beauty. Yes, there are problems, and the biggest one is it’s operating system! It comes with Windows Vista Home Premium Edition 64Bit with Service Pack 1. Translation of this last sentence from “geek” to “human” –again- is simple, you practically receive a home based operating system on your work computer and since it comes in 64bit version, 99% of anything you’d try to install on it will have compatibility issues. I know, you may be saying to yourself “I’ll choose a 32bit version of Vista then” but please keep in mind, in a situation like that, you also have to pay the price of the 32bit version. That’s right, 100% compatibility (or if something like that exists on a PC) comes with downgrading the operating system and paying for it!

MULTIMEDIA
Returning back to the pros again… This SONY is a serious multimedia platform. It comes with a multi format driver supporting CD’s, DVD’s and Blu-Ray discs, but there’s a catch here, blu-ray discs are only “supported”, which means you can read/view BR-ROM, BD-R, BD-RW but can’t create your’s and it also can’t write on + format CD-RWs, which is not that much of a problem.

And since we’re talking about multi-media capability, let’s finally get to the best part about this computer, the visuals! The X-Brite Full HD 18.4” screen runs on 1920x1080 resolution. It’s clarity, brightness and quality is the best one that I’ve ever seen… Seriously, I’ve never seen a laptop screen with a picture quality like this. It’s just like looking into an aquarium and not be able to look away… Another great thing about this screen is that it’s backed up with one of the best laptop graphics card on the market today, 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT, which can be also found on the newest Macbook Pro’s, which I guess more than enough to tell the quality of it. It uses up to 2280 MB’s of memory which also means, for 99% of the time, it’s way more than enough. I guess if I want to summarize the whole thing, I would say something like “you can write a whole article just about it’s quality”…

Although words are not enough to describe the beauty of the screen, it’s not possible to say the very same for the sound. It’s an Intel® High-Definition audio card with Dolby Digital Live and built-in 2W subwoofer. Of course it’s quality is above most laptops, but with it’s rivals using Altec Lansing and Harman Kardons, it would be nice to see a similar thing with this SONY. I’m aware of the fact that this is 100% because SONY also happens to be a stereo manufacturer, but then again, their marketing strategy is not much of my problem when I pay enough money to buy a second hand car just to buy a laptop computer. I’ve used almost every version of these Intel sound cards, and let me tell you as a home recording musician myself, you’ll definitely need an external sound card, if you really want to enjoy this machine! (Come on, it’s almost as big as your LCD TV and you’ve bought a home sound system for that, why don’t you do the same for this too?)

As you can guess, the computer also has a webcam. And a quite good one actually, with 1.3MP resolution with motion eye technology, this means you can wander all around in front of the computer, and somehow, you’re in the picture. The finishing touch to this online chatting tool is a microphone which works really well and frees you from buying a headset .

Since –as I’ve been mentioning all along- this SONY is a real big computer with full multi-media capabilities, it also houses a lot of extra buttons that you cannot find on a regular laptop. These buttons are DVD play, A/V mode, volume, play, pause and stop, giving you full control over your movies and mp3’s.

CONNECTIVITY
Since this is a Centrino (second generation) based computer, you get Intel® Wi-Fi Link 5100AGN network connection (802.11a/b/g/n). The general performance of the Wi-Fi antenna is really good and you connect almost everywhere there’s a whisp of signal. In addition to that, you can always choose to connect the internet (or a local network) via it’s built-in 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T Fast Ethernet card which ensures high-speed Internet access with RJ-45 connector. Last but certainly not least, you also have the V.92 high-speed data/fax modem which may be an old standard for net connection but then again, can be a lifesaver one day and there’s no harm having it.

For the connection with external devices, you get 3 USB ports and an i.Link IEEE 1394 port which is really handy if you need a fast connection for an external hard drive, sound card or etcetera.

Other outputs are; a VGA output with Smart Display Sensor (which means kinda plug and play for displays) and HDMI . Unfortunately (and really don’t know why but…) there’s no S-Video port.

The computer also has Built-in Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR interface with A2DP support.

DETAILS
As we’re getting to see on more laptops every day, this VAIO has a finger print scanner, which is really useful for a computer like this, in order to protect your files.
The internal card reader supports both SD and Memory Stick (DUH!) and it’s always better to use this drive then looking for the connection cable around the house and fail to find it (experience speaks here!).

The full HD resolution and big screen makes this a perfect laptop to watch Blu-Ray movies and even though close to 2 hours (around 1 hour 50 minutes) may not be enough for a long film, it’s still good for solid 90 minutes of movie pleasure if you like to.
Another great thing about this computer is that although it’s a SONY, it’s the cheapest Blu-Ray 18.4” laptop on the market today, which is great.

Box Content :
• Sony VAIO Laptop with Intel® Centrino® 2 Processor Technology
• Lithium-ion battery
• AC power cable
• Software: VAIO Movie Story; Click to Disc; Microsoft SE 9.0; Windows Live OneCare (12 months)
• Owner's manual

PHOTOS


CONCLUSION
This is a proper computer, being a laptop is just an extra. It has good speed, great visuals, understandable price and lots of tricks. Besides using a 64bit operating system and sheet size, I don’t think there’s not much bad to say. I know it’s my perfect new year present, and number one in my shopping list.

Pros
+ 18.4” display with amazing clarity
+ Full HD resolution
+ Fast graphics card
+ Fast CPU
+ Relatively light for it’s size
+ Has every toy onboard
+ Blu-Ray
+ Cheapest 18.4” Blu-Ray on the market
+ Well, it’s a SONY…

Cons
- Comes with 64bit Vista
- Relatively small hard drive
- Sound could be better
- No glossy screen option
- Big, very very very big and nightmare as a portable
- Low battery life
- Not much proprietary software
- No S-Video out

Value For Money

Our Rating

Reviewed by Mehmet Can
Notebookbox.com Review Team