Product Review of the Top Selling Sony VAIO VGN-CR390E/B 14.1" Laptop

Sony's Vaio is one of the most popular notebook product lines on the market. It may be the sexy sleek look that Sony gives all their Vaios or their renowned service and good name. Either way these Vaio's are flying of the shelf and I'm lucky to have my hands on the VGN-CR390E/B 14.1" laptop. I'm going to let you know how this sleek black notebook performs and who is going to enjoy this product the most. First let me get started with the basics.

Hardware:

Display: 14.1-inch screen

Imaging: Integrated Webcam

Processor: 2.0 Intel Core 2 Duo

Storage: 250 GB hard drive

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

Optical dive: CD R/RW with and integrated DVD +/- R RW burner

Graphics Card: Integrated Intel GMA X3100 (which dips into shared system resources)

Dimensions: 13.2" x 9.8" x 1.67"

Weight: 5.5 pounds.

Included: biometric fingerprint reader

I love the mobility. It is under 6lbs and that is my cutoff for 14" notebooks. Its battery life is decent as well coming in between 2 or 4 hours depending on how you're using it. I would be on the number being closer to 2 hours, because that is with wireless internet and Bluetooth activated. If you're on a plane or something just watching DVD's and you disable the wireless, you might get closer to 3.

The processor is strong and the hard drive is large. I would like to see a little more Ram for the cost of this notebook. This is especially true since the integrated video card uses system resources. I could do without the biometric reader, I don't know anyone that uses theirs and it wastes resources, drives up costs and adds weight. That is a lot for a gimmick.

Everything else is great. You of course get the clear crisp beautifully XBRITE glossy Sony screen that these Vaios are renowned for. You can compare the clarity to something like one of their 720p Bravias.

Connectivity:

Integrated Bluetooth

Integrated WiFi

3 2.0 USB ports (industry standard connections to be used for printer, digital cameras, or MP3 players)

1 FireWire (for fast data transfer from PC to PC or from your digital camcorder)

1 Ethernet port

ExpressCard slot

Memory Stick and SD card readers

1 VGA output (to be used with standard PC monitors)

1 S-Video output (typically used with projectors, can be used with some compatible televisions)

I like the connectivity, they haven't left anything out. As a bonus I would like to see some sort of HD output but I guess it isn't something I could expect at this price point or with this weak graphics card. This would be a great choice for the student, business professional or an around the house notebook. It won't become the backbone of your entertainment center, but it has enough power to give you plenty of fun. It will play most games but not necessarily with the graphics cranked all the way up. At $1179 it is probably an OK deal. Sony doesn't drop their prices too much, so I guess there would be no real use waiting around on this one, I don't see it going on sale anytime soon truthfully.