Sony Vaio W

The Sony Vaio W scores mainly on its stylish looks, rich feature set and build quality. While its hardware configuration is similar to most netbooks, there are a few things that set this one apart.

Unlike a plain Jane netbook, this one is quite an eye candy. The entire body follows a metallic color theme. The unit we tested has a deep-pink lid and touchpad, with a light-pink bezel, and a satin chrome keyboard. The pink theme along with the matt finish truly enhances the look and is more feminine. Thankfully, there are other colors available too — brown and white.

The main feature that differentiates this netbook from others is the placement of the card readers, wireless on/off switch and the power button in front. There are two card readers, SD and Sony’s proprietary memory stick PRO duo.

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The rest are mostly common features. There are 2 USB, a VGA and an Ethernet port, audio jacks, a Kensington lock slot and a webcam. Connectivity is offered via Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi-N and Bluetooth, which is the best combination in netbooks yet.

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The onboard graphics, the crisp 10.1-inch screen and the 1366 x 768 resolution are great for light entertainment. However, the built-in speakers aren’t impressive, because at high volume levels the treble is annoying and over powers the bass—if any. So, you’ll need a good pair of headphones to use with this netbook.

Similar to many netbooks, the hardware in the Vaio W includes the Intel 945 GSE chipset and an Atom N280 processor, which is clocked at 1.66 GHz. There’s 1 GB RAM, a 160 GB hard drive and integrated graphics. Performance-wise there isn’t much that differentiates this netbook. The usual Internet surfing, chatting, emails, blogging, office work and light entertainment will be a breeze. The battery life is not very impressive, 2 hrs 40 minutes.

Ergonomics scores the second highest after build quality. The only area of concern is the keyboard - the keys are crammed, quite tiny and the ‘Shift’ key is smaller than the little finger.

Though the performance doesn’t really set this one apart, the style factor would be the biggest USP for the Sony Vaio W. Available for Rs. 29,990.