Miguel just bought me a new laptop and I couldn’t be any happier!

We bought the Sony Vaio NW, it was a choice between the walnut-brown and the white-silver-gold one, and I ended up choosing the white version simply because it looked a bit more feminine. The brown one, although it was quite handsome and would probably withstand dirt a bit more, was just a little too mannish, and in some angles it looked like a dull chocolate brown compared to the “bronzer brown” it showed when you’re looking at it full on.

So white it is.

Body

One of the things which attracted me to this one was the cool embossed wood-grainish design on the body – this laptop isn’t at all like the smooth aluminum of an HP nor the black boring plastic of a Lenovo. The textured design will also help make scratches and bumps (assuming the worst) less visible, and this is a plus in my case. Although I don’t intend to lug my baby around everyday, I did choose to get this so I can bring it with me on my trips back to Manila, so this may need to withstand a bit more than just sitting on a table.

Keyboard and Trackpad

The NW’s keyboard rested on a minor depression because of the waved body design, which is something I like because it means I don’t have to raise my fingers too much to type faster. The feel and look of the keyboard layout is pretty close to a Macbook Pro’s chiclet approach, and although it’s not the most original keyboard, it’s not something I’m going to complain about.  The one thing that worries me about the keyboard is that it’s in white, which – although I’m probably going to be OCD about keeping my hands clean while using it – may be more susceptible to dirt and stains. The keys are all flat and springy which makes typing a pleasure.

The layout lacks the full number pad which some HP laptops have at this size; this is something I would have loved to have since I usually touchtype with the numeric keypad, but then again I can always choose to buy an external numberpad if I want to.

There’s also a 3.3 x 2.5-inch textured touchpad below the keyboard – which looks and feels amazing to use. Unlike other trackpads, this one offers some friction due to its textured coating which makes for more precise mouse control. I also liked the fact that the two touchpad buttons were raised from the pad, and overall, the buttons had a firm feel to them.

SplashTop

Okay, here’s something new – this laptop has a special button, located above and to the right of the keyboard, which launches a special browser without the need to boot my Windows 7 OS. I’ve tried this only a few times, and the response times are fast (it takes about 30 seconds) but this can be very convenient when I only need an internet browser to do some quick work.  I’m still not sure if this has any access to my drive in terms of saving documents and files, so I’ll need to test that area.

Size and Weight

For a widescreen 15.5 incher, this laptop isn’t so heavy. It’s actually light enough for a woman to carry around. But don’t let the weight fool you – this laptop’s display area is huge: there’s enough real estate to open two browsers side by side without needing to scroll through content.

Display and Audio

The uber-glossy, 15.5-inch (1366 x 768-pixel resolution) display uses Sony’s X-Brite Eco technology, which lengthens battery life by using one backlight instead of the two in the regular X-Brite displays. And as previously mentioned, the 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio offered plenty of space for doing work, viewing movies, and coding webpages. The viewing angles were fairly decent – two people can probably watch a video together, but since the screen is super glossy, you sort of lose track of the crispness of the images the farther you are from the center.

What I would have really wanted were some dedicated keys to adjust the sound volume, but what the heck – I can always use the FN+F# keys.  The sound from the built-in speakers were okay; not Altec Lansing HP quality, but loud enough for laptop video viewing. The bass could probably use a bit of adjustment, but then again, if I really wanted to watch hi-def from this laptop, I’d probably use the HDMI output and plug it into my tv so I can maximize the 1080p capabilities.

Performance

Packing a 2.1-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T6500 processor and 3GB of RAM (expandable to 8GB), this laptop has fairly fast processing speeds, but I haven’t fully tested working on it with my graphics, video-editing, and webcoding programs open all together.

The hefty 5,400-rpm, 320GB hard drive offers loads of room for storing documents, photos, music, and videos.

Graphics

This notebook has ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570 graphics (with 512MB of dedicated video memory) although personally I would have wanted to go for a higher video card from Nvidia (just for personal reasons). And although this dedicated graphics card will help with video display, I don’t think I’m bound to be playing any graphics-intensive game like Warhammer on it anytime soon. (Sorry, Miguel, it’s a no-go.)

Battery Life and Wi-Fi

I expect decent endurance from this VAIO NW. The spec sheets tell me it should last me about 6 hours, so I am expecting around 3.5 hours of battery with maximum use.

The 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi pushes data from my wireless router (located in study/closet) to my living room and bedroom, letting me watch Crunchyroll with no hiccups wherever I go at home. Than again my flat isn’t that big (I do live in Hong Kong) so I guess that’s no benchmark for anyone.

Software and Warranty

This laptop came bundled with a 60-day trial of Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 (which I already uninstalled and replaced with my own licensed version), Norton Internet Security 2009 (30-day trial) which I killed and replaced with ZoneAlarm Security Suite, and Sony’s multimedia suite, which includes Click to Disc Editor, VAIO Movie Story, VAIO MusicBox, and VAIO Media plus which I personally do not use.

Also included is DeviceVM’s Splashtop Browser (branded here as Quick Web Access) which lets me connect to the Internet (by pressing the Web button) in just a few seconds.

Sony covers the VAIO NW with a one-year limited warranty and 24/7 toll-free tech support.

Verdict

This laptop feels great, looks great, and works a treat. It offers me a sense of individuality without breaking my budget, and I think it offers great value for its price.