Sony Vaio PCG-TR1MP

A stunning exterior housing lots of handy components.

Price: £1800

Manufacturer: Sony

Ratings

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Verdict

Pros:

Looks; battery life; screen.

Cons:
Performance.

Overall:
If you've got £1,800 in your pocket and don't need high performance, this is the best ultra-portable money can buy.

Mark Walsh, Personal Computer World 11 Jul 2003

Notebooks don't come any smaller or better looking than this, but these are by no means this notebook's best features. Heaven knows how Sony has managed to fit so many components into something this size, but it has.

The grey and silver exterior houses a stunning silvery-white interior, while magnets instead of catches are used to hold the lid shut.

On the top of the screen is a Motion Eye camera that can be swivelled 180 degrees vertically so you can take shots either in front or behind.

There's a handy capture button on the right-hand side for quick shots, next to some useful volume buttons and a Hotkey Client shortcut.

A CD-RW/DVD drive sits at the front - it's unusual positioning but actually proves easier to use. The inclusion of this at all is impressive considering the notebook's size, as is the 30GB hard disk.

On the front of the chassis is an on/off switch for the integrated 802.11b wireless, and there's a Magic Gate compatible Memory Stick slot on the right that also supports the new MS Pro format, which can reach up to 4GB. Also included is a VGA out, should you wish to output to a projector.

A USB2 port and a mini FireWire are under a flap below the MS port, as is a DC out for charging cameras etc.

The keyboard is small and therefore not particularly easy to type on. However, the keys are as large and as well spaced as can be expected on a device this small, so it's all credit to Sony that you can type on it at all.

The TR1's right side has modem and Ethernet ports, a single Type II PC Card slot, with another USB2 port next to the headphone and mic sockets.

The battery can be removed from the back and a new, larger one inserted - it sticks out about an inch from the back, but gives you extra battery life.

However, considering this little beauty kept going for just under three hours in our battery test (nearly twice as long as most other Centrino notebooks), we can't see many people needing the extra oomph.

Playing a DVD was a dream, as the screen is one of the best we have ever seen. The TR1 uses Sony's new Onyx Black technology, which is only available on this model and its latest 16in behemoth, the FR215S.

Onyx screens have a higher contrast ratio than other Sony screens, as well as being brighter and crisper. The results are tremendous, and the viewing angle is practically 180 degrees in both directions. We were slightly disappointed at how quiet the speaker was though, despite its high quality.

However, we can't think of a better way to while away a long train journey than watching a couple of films on this.

Running on a 900MHz Pentium M processor, this Centrino machine is not for gaming or heavy processing, but is more appropriate for bog standard tasks such as word processing.

The Sysmark result was a pretty poor 98 overall, and the 3Dmark score was little to speak of at 1,781.

Overall, despite its slight performance results, the TR1 is one of the best-looking notebooks we've ever seen, and has the best battery life and screen of anything like it that's currently available.

Contact: Sony
www.vaio.sony-europe

Specifications: