Long Term Test – Sony VAIO P subnotebook

The little P that could By Gadjo C. Sevilla Prior to investing in the Sony VAIO P, we had a series of netbooks and subnotebooks which we had used as backup machines as well as travel computers for basic e-mail, blogging and web surfing, The models we used included the 7’ inch and 9’ inch ASUS EeePcs and the HP Mini. While they were stellar in terms of size, their lack of storage space as well as tiny keyboards made them less-than-ideal for use in extended periods of time. The VAIO P, which was designed around the keyboard promised to be a more portable yet more robust solution. Despite early misgivings on poor performance and a poor OS of choice (Vista Home). The Sony VAIO P has acquitted itself as a viable subportable that just works. Emergency Option When our unibody Macbook Pro started exhibiting odd behaviour (freezing, hanging and slow performance) during an overseas assignment, we were forced to make our Canadian version (no GPS, no WWAN) Sony VAIO P our main machine for managing our blog, social media, light photo editing and resizing as well as email and communications. Our VAIO P, outfitted with the extended battery, which ups the battery life to almost 6 hours with Wi-Fi, took to the tasks admirably. We reveled in its near full-sized keyboard which had us touch typing at our regular rate without much adjustment. The 2GB of RAM on the VAIO P is ample for Vista Home, even with the requisite antivirus and anti-spyware applications running in the background. The biggest hassle we encountered with the VAIO P is getting used to the small screen. Although incredibly crisp and clear, the VAIO P’s screen requires that you keep toggling your browser to increase the font size on each page you visit. There’s probably an easier way of dealing with the incessant need to resize and enlarge everything. While handy and easier on the eyes, resizing text on webpages works only on non-Flash enabled websites and as expected, wreaks havoc on formatting, specially on more comprehensive websites with a mix of elements such as embedded video or images. What we would change Since our main machine, the Macbook Pro, crapped out, the VAIO P has become our most used computer for communications, research, blogging and email while an iMac has taken on all the image editing and video work. There’s a lot to love in the VAIO P. Small size, stellar keyboard, ample connectivity and its long-lasting battery life are just some of the features that make it a true traveling subnotebook. We would have liked it better if it did come with the ability to use a SIM card for 3G connectivity. While Vista Home works well enough (we had to scale back the settings and remove visual styles and aero to speed things up), we still would have relished the ability to install Windows XP, which, with the soldered 2GB or RAM, would have given the VAIO P better and faster performance. Finally, something has to be done about the clunky video performance. Even YouTube videos play like absolute crap on full screen—we’ve seen the iPod Touch do a better job playing back video, which shouldn’t be the case. The VAIO P would be an ideal device for portable video given its bright screen and strong battery life but alas, until Sony or Intel deliver a software fix for the integrated video its all wasted. Conclusion Netbooks have come and gone but it seems our VAIO P is here to stay, either as a secondary machine or as our first option for a wired note-taker with almost all-day computing on its extended battery. We can’t wait to see what the VAIO P will be able to achieve once Windows 7 is made available.

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Windows 7 - Promise of a New Day

Windows 7: Loading soon in a PC near youMicrosoft is still reeling from the fiasco that was Windows Vista. 2008 for them was really all about dodging the backlash from customers and PC manufacturers who turned to Linux or offered, “upgrades” to Windows XP on new Vista machines. The Mac vs. PC advertisements, which poked fun at Vista’s shortcomings, eventually led to Microsoft’s rebuttal in the form of the “I am a PC” ads, which gave a more human face to PC users. This didn’t really ease the sting from unhappy Vista users or computer resellers but it showed the software company was aware of the perception that Vista had fallen short of expectations. Rather than continue beating a dead horse, Microsoft wisely gave advance notice of a successor to Windows Vista. Redesigned from the ground up, the new version made it to public beta recently. More on Windows 7 after the jump. A New Hope Windows 7, which is supposed to make it to market late this year, carries with it the hopes of millions of users. It is supposed to be the breakthrough OS that patches all of Vista’s flaws and offers what Microsoft is calling, “a major Windows release.” Will 2009 be the year of redemption for Windows, it remains to be seen but for now we can gloss over the features and improvements that lucky 7, Windows that is, will be bringing to market. Multi-touch technology, currently making waves in iPods, tablets and some smartphones, will be integrated into Windows 7; we see this as a handy feature for Tablet PC users or for touch screen enabled notebooks. Multi-touch is a great party trick and does have some uses but for most mainstream users it isn’t a big deal. Users will see more of the new Windows Shell with a new taskbar, a spiffy home networking system called HomeGroup and performance improvements. A lot of the applications that Microsoft used to include in Vista, will be cast away from the system to trim the fat and give users a more solid OS that requires less storage space. Fans of Windows Mail, Windows Movie Maker and Windows Photo Gallery might miss these built-in apps but the rest of us can rejoice their departure. You will still be able to get them separately as part of the Windows Live Essentials suite, part of Microsoft’s cloud computing initiative of offering applications online. Windows 7 users will also see updated versions of Paint and WordPad plus more things to tweak in the Control Panel including Accelerators, ClearType text tuner, Display Color Calibration, Gadgets, Infrared, Recovery, Troubleshooting, Workspaces Center, Location and Other Sensors. Expect upgraded functionality on the Start Menu and the rest of the taskbar that will now be called the Superbar and will feature Jump Lists that is a way of accessing common tasks. Lean and Able Microsoft wants to make sure that Windows 7 is as lean an operating system as it can possibly be. Aside from ditching all the add-ons which users don’t really need, they are supposedly streamlining the code to trim out the bloat that has swelled up since the days of Windows 3.1. The result is that Windows 7 will run well in machines that Windows Vista could not. It remains to be seen if Windows 7 will have as many versions as Windows Vista did, hopefully Microsoft will just offer a home and a professional (business) version like they did with Windows XP. This is exceptional news for the netbook crowd who are stuck in XP land simply because Vista is too bloated to function on stripped down systems. Newer PCs like Sony's new VAIO P have been proven to run Windows 7 quite well despite choking on Windows Vista Home. One thing is certain, Microsoft has learned their lesson and won’t be shipping a product that is premature and still buggy. If it has learned anything about the painful Windows Vista experience, it is that the extra time taken to refine a product can only make things better. Shipping something that “just works,” is less expensive than constantly patching unfinished and buggy software. Users will finally be getting the efficient and stable OS they deserve.

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