Sunday, April 30, 2006

New Laptop

In preparation for the day when I do not have the use of the company laptop, I purchased a new one yesterday. It is the Sony Vaio TX750P/B. The main reason for selecting this laptop was its size, but I still wanted something that would not be obsolete in just a few months. I wanted something very small so I can use it for my GPS while driving. I have been using my Thinkpad which was small, but this is even more so. It make it less obtrusive while sitting on the dash.

This laptop has a wide screen that is only 10.7 inches corner to corner. The screen is only 9 3/4 wide and 5 1/2 high and I have never seen a screen as thin as this one. It is only a little over 1/8 of an inch. This makes the print on the small side, but since I usually have it actually sitting on my lap when I am using it out of the truck, it is readable. I have experimented with increasing the size of the font, etc. and found it is OK as it is for my needs.

It has a decent processor (Intel 753), an 80G hard drive (only 4200 rpm), built in wireless, bluetooth and even Cingular Wireless WAN (at $80 per month it won't get used!), and a built in double layer DVD burner. With the battery, which should last between 4 1/2 to 7 hours, it only weighs 2.8 pounds. Really a featherweight. It came with XP Pro.

So far it seems great for my needs and I have only found two things I need to get used to. The keyboard does not have all the keys nor the great feel of my Thinkpad and I am very used to the button mouse. I have never liked the glide pad but that is all this has.

One other nice built in feature is the A/V capability. It can be used as a DVD player without even booting to Windows so it is also a basic portable DVD player. Of course the sound is terrible over the built in speakers but with a headset it is very nice. I don't know that I will use that much but who knows.

So, the fun of customizing, loading software and moving data is already underway. It will probably take several days to get it set the way I want.

3 comments:

  1. I've seen that little Vaio (Costco sells them doesn't it?) and loved the sweet size. As for the small screen, if you are using it at the desk, you can always hook up your external monitor and stretch your desktop. That's how I use my laptop.

    Nice! Congrats!

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  2. One of the advantages of being near sighted! People here are always amazed when I take off my glasses to see something tiny. That will be a very advantageous disadvantage.

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  3. The Intel 753 is an "ultra-low voltage" Pentium M mobile processor, running at 1.2GHz. A good choice for a small efficient laptop, though a dual core processor is much more powerful. If battery life is prime, than this is an excellent choice.

    Sounds like you got all the options too, in a very small light package.

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