The Thin and Light Multimedia Laptop.
Written: Jan 19 '02
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Pros: 2-spindle design, Fast, Large Screen, jog dial, 3 USB ports.
Cons: Short Battery life, optional external floppy drive.
The Bottom Line: If a desktop replacement laptop can be a multimedia creation laptop, why can¡¦t the lighter laptops do the same? The Sony Vaio GR 270 will do that.
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| lavoisier's Full Review: Sony VAIO GR270 PC Notebook |
For many of us, we all have a busy lifestyle and we¡¦re always on the go. But what if you happen to have a very busy productivity schedule, but you still want some entertainment along with it? Then you would have to buy a multimedia laptop for that. But for many people who are interested in investing a desktop replacement laptop, they may complain that the laptop is too heavy to carry on a regular basis. But with the Sony Vaio GR270 laptop, it has the power of a desktop replacement notebook, but it¡¦s thin and light. All this is due to the 2-spindle design, which allows the manufacturer to shed some weight from the desktop replacement laptops.
Features and Use
The Vaio GR270 features an Intel Pentium 3-M processor at 1 GHz, 256MB SDRAM (expandable to 512MB) which doesn¡¦t slow the system down in memory demanding applications, even in Windows XP as a stable operating system. With the 15-inch XGA screen, it delivers clear images for video, graphics and even in everyday tasks. With the ATi Radeon video port feature, it allows the user to display crisper images on the projector or on a larger monitor. For peripheral connection, it features 3 USB ports, a Firewire (iLink) port for your digital camcorder or any Firewire device, parallel port for your printer, a TV output for showing your DVD movie on a television screen, microphone and headphone ports for voice recognition software and 2 Type I or II PC card slots (1 Type III PC card slot). But the unique features in this laptop include a slot for Sony¡¦s proprietary Memory Stick, which you can transfer data from your Sony Clie, Network Walkman and Sony digital cameras. The unique jog dial in the center of the laptop acts as a shortcut for your applications as well as a scroll wheel.
For storage, it includes a spacious 30GB hard drive, enough for many applications from MP3 audio to your son¡¦s baseball video. It gets even better with the removable CD Rewriter/DVD combo drive, which provides an unending storage capacity, it can even play your DVD movies and load software. The removable CD Rewriter/DVD combo drive bay can also accommodate a second battery, to double your work time between charges. However, I wished that Sony bundled a modular floppy drive instead of having us to order the optional floppy drive, which can be a nuisance to handle external drives.
The keyboard is also full sized for a laptop and it doesn¡¦t have the mashed potato quality typing like the Dell has. Even the touch pad was a pleasure to use, but for precision purposes, it¡¦s very hard to get it right unless you¡¦ve practiced.
The battery life is rather average though, running up to two and a half hours on full charge in just one battery in normal applications. But if you¡¦re watching a DVD the battery drains very quickly.
Despite the laptop¡¦s thickness of 1.4-inches, it weighs 6.7 pounds. That¡¦s rather heavy for a 2 spindle design laptop computers. Even with the weight saver in the modular drive compartment, it only helps by shedding 0.3 pounds.
The software bundle includes the Adobe Acrobat reader, Adobe Photoshop, Norton Anti Virus, Word 2002, Adobe Premier LE 6.0, Sony Movie Shaker, Sony DV Gate, Win DVD 2000, Picture Gear and many more. As the result of the generous software bundle, it would be ideal for those who are multimedia creators who want to travel a little lighter than their desktop replacement laptops.
Conclusion
Even with the power/processor robbing software, I would still recommend this for the multimedia conscious. With the weight saved from the desktop replacement laptops, it makes it a much more ideal candidate to travel with. With the fast processor, generous hard drive space, memory, software bundle and multimedia options, this truly is the multimedia laptop for those who are considering a desktop replacement laptop. At $2700 this certainly isn¡¦t an affordable laptop, but it does seem to compensate with the 3 year warranty.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 2700
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium III
Processor speed: over 1000
Screen Size: 15
RAM: 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 21-30
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Member: Hugh Jazz
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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