The Sony VAIO GRV670 is as Good as a Powerful Desktop!
Written: Jun 08 '03 (Updated Jul 14 '03)
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Pros: Lots of power and a big 16 inch screen!
Cons: None
The Bottom Line: Overall the look and feel of this Notebook is great and with the power and performance of this beauty, it is a great buy.
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| surferdude7's Full Review: Sony VAIO GRV670 PC Notebook |
The Sony VAIO GRV670 is powered by an Intel Pentium 4 processor of 2.6GHz with 512MB of DDR RAM and a 400 MHz Bus Speed. Combined with a 64MB DDR RAM ATI Radeon 9000 video card and a combination DVD CDR/CDRW player for less than $1600 makes this a powerful, portable Notebook that can run with many desktop computers.
This is a sleek Notebook only 1.8 inches thick, 14 inches wide, 11.8 inches deep and with one battery it weighs in at 8.7 pounds. The GRV670 provides you with a nice large 16 inch SXGA LCD display that produces brilliant colors to your photos and in game playing.
The Display
The display is a 16 inch LCD display with a resolution of 1280 x 1024. It provides beautiful colors as long as you look straight at it, moving to the sides darken the screen.
To give you the great colors it is powered by 64MB DDR RAM ATI Radeon 9000 video card that produces 3D video and can support dual display.
Memory
The Sony VAIO GRV670 uses PC2100 DDR SDRAM memory which is a disappointment to me since it has a 400MHz Bus, they only provided the 266MHz speed memory instead of the 400Mhz speed memory. Oh well it is nice to see that they did use DDR RAM over the SDRAM, the DDR RAM is much faster.
The system can be upgraded to 1024MB of RAM with one open slot available.
A Combination Drive
Included with the Notebook is a drive that works as a combination for DVD viewing, CD viewing and CD recording. Now you can view DVD movies and burn your own CDs.
The DVD part reads at an 8x speed and the CD reads at a 24 x speed. For CDR use it writes and reads at 24x and for CDRW use it writes at 10x and reads at 12x.
The Power
The VAIO GRV670 is powered by plugging it into and AC outlet or by a rechargeable battery.
Included is a Lithium-ion rechargeable battery that is rated to last from 1.5 to 3.5 hours. I usually get a little over two hours of use before a recharge is needed. This Notebook does support dual batteries so if you purchase an additional battery it will give you twice as much usage.
Other Specifications
40GB Hard Drive
AC-XG Integrated Audio
10BASE-T/100BASE-TX Ethernet
56K v.90 Modem
3 USB ports, 1 Parallel
i.LINK (IEEE 1394 FireWire)
RJ45 LAN
RJ11 Modem
Headphones & Microphone combination jack
VGA Video, AV Video-Out
Port Replicator
Software
Windows XP Home edition is the operating system included.
For productivity they included MS Money 2003, MS Works 7.0 and MS Encarta online. Ages of Empire is included for your gaming fun, this is a nice game.
Other programs include, Sony VAIO Media, Sony SonicStage, Screenblast, Trend Micro PC-Cillin, Adobe Photoshop Elements and more.
Overall
The Sony VAIO GRV670 is a powerful and easy to use Notebook. Working the mouse on the touch pad is easier to use than most, though I still like adding a wireless mouse like the Logitech Cordless Optical Mouse.
The 16 inch screen makes it nice for photo editing while on trips giving you true color clarity of your photos. My trip to Hawaii makes it easy to download my photos onto the Notebook every evening not only for editing but also for storage so I can clear my 128 MB SmartMedia Memory Card and have more room for photos taken with my Olympus Camedia C-3000 Zoom Digital Camera.
Games are great to play when on a vacation for those rainy days or long trips. DVD movies also are great for the vacation though I do miss the 5.1 Digital Dolby sound. The main thing about game playing and movie viewing is you have to use a set of headphones or add a pair of speakers.
One thing I like about this Notebook is the availability to do some upgrades like more memory, battery power and more. You can connect the Notebook to another monitor but why, it has a nice 16 inch screen, unless you have a much larger monitor.
My suggestions with this Notebook are, get a carrying case, and extra battery, a good set of headphones and a decent pair of speakers.
So far this is the best Notebook that I have used because of the power, portability and it was easy to use.
Need a Good Digital Camera? Then check out my review of the Olympus C-750 Ultra Zoom Digital Camera.
Here are some of my Computer reviews!
Dell Dimension 8250 Series
Dell SmartStep 200 Series Notebook Computers
HP Omnibook XE3 PIII Notebook Computers
HP Pavilion N3410 Notebook Computer
emachines T2080
The Sony VAIO R505DL Super Slim Pro Notebook
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1599
Operating System: Windows
Screen Size: Greater than 15 inches
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 31-40
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surferdude7
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