A Product Review of the 15.4" Sony VAIO VGN-NR385E/T Notebook

Sony's lines of Vaios are as stylish as they are powerful. Thanks to strong name recognition and great customer service Sony makes one of the more popular lines of notebooks on the market today. Included in that is the Sony VAIO VGN-NR385E/T a tan, yes that's right, not sleek and black but tan notebook. While it looks a little different it's still every bit a Sony on the inside. Let me get started with a few of the basics.

Hardware:

Processor: 1.83 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5550

Storage Space: 200GB hard drive

RAM: 2GB RAM (expandable up to a maximum of 4 GB)

Optical Drive: a CD R / RW with integrated dual-layer DVD R +/- drive

Graphics Accelerator: An Integrated Intel X3100 video card (utilizing 358 MB of shared RAM)

Dimensions: 14.2" x 10.6" x 1.5" and 6.2lbs

While this notebook is wonderfully designed I just love the one I have, you still may want to make sure you see one of these in person. Brown isn't a standard notebook color and some consumers may be put off by it. Other than that it is a beauty. The RAM is adequate with 2GB (what I would consider the minimum for operating Windows Vista). The hard drive is of a decent size with 200GB which will be fine for most typical notebook users. The only thing I've noticed is the lag caused at startup by all of Sony's preinstalled trial ware. I would recommend removing whatever you won't use (which is likely all of it). I have and I've noticed considerably quicker startup times.

Connectivity:

Integrated Wireless

1 Ethernet port (for wired LAN's)

1 Modem port (so you can dial up internet)

4 2.0 USB ports (these are so you can connect peripherals like digital cameras, iPods, and printers)

1 FireWire port (typically used for high speed data transfer between a digital camcorder or PC)

1 VGA output (a typical monitor output)

1 ExpressCard slot

Memory Stick / SD card slot (to be used to directly insert solid state memory from portable devices into the notebook)

1 audio out / 1 mic in

While I love the connectivity especially the abundance of USB ports I'm a little surprised at the lack of S-Video port on my model. Other than that it is perfect. I love this notebook it is great for mobility and work, while it does lack a little on high performance. It will please any notebook consumer that just wants to hit the road with some computer power but will unlikely please the multimedia professional or hard core gamer. College kids and professionals will love the VGN-NR385E/T and at $830 it is worth every penny. I don't expect a drastic drop in prices (just because its Sony) however I do expect a slight dip as Sony continues to move forward and include the Penryn chip in their newer Vaios slowly antiquating these older core duo powered notebooks.