X-bit labs

Sony VAIO and HP Compaq: Two Office Notebooks in Our Lab (page 2)

Category: Mobile

by Galina Sudareva

[ 06/17/2005 | 11:34 AM ]

The Sony VAIO’s full-size keyboard (the functional keys are even grouped in fours as on ordinary keyboards for desktop computers) is made of opaque light-gray plastic; the letters are painted black and are well-readable in dim lighting. The functional keys are marked out with gray (press and hold [Fn] to use them) and their readability is somewhat worse. The keyboard layout is typical for a notebook: the Delete, Insert, Print Screen and Num Lock keys are in the top row, next to the functional keys. The Page Up, Page Down, Home and End keys are placed vertically one above another on the right. A numeric pad and two Windows buttons are available. The cursor keys are not separate from the keyboard’s mainland, unfortunately. The Arrow Up button is rather too close to the End key, which may be uncomfortable at work. Yet overall this keyboard is handy, comfortable and functional.

The touchpad has the color and texture of the top of the case, with the touch-sensitive area being a bit sunken down. The touchpad is accompanied with two buttons (with a rather quick response) instead of the mouse’s left and right buttons. Unfortunately, there is no additional button or joystick for scrolling text.

The widescreen matrix of the notebook has a diagonal of 15.4 inches, an aspect ratio of 16:10 and a maximum resolution of 1280x800. It boasts an excellent reproduction of color, good viewing angles, contrast and brightness. The brightness setting (and the volume setting, too) is adjusted by means of appropriate functional keys. Everything is quite visible on the screen even at the lowest brightness setting. The LCD matrix of the Sony VAIO has an anti-flicker coating, but I think that this “glossy” surface creates even more reflections on the screen.

The following components can be found on the front panel of the notebook:

• A spring-loaded latch of the screen. You shift it to the right to open the notebook;
• The system status indicators: power (green when the notebook is on), battery charge (shows the status of the battery in orange), HDD activity, card-reader activity, WLAN connection (green when this connection is active). The indicators are barely visible in daylight, so you have to strain your eyes to see what’s going on with the system;
  
  
• A WLAN connection On/Off slider is located below the indicators;
• A microphone input;
• A headphones output.