10. Sony VAIO TX670P/B: Small Is Beautiful

Reviewers: Harald Thon and Bert Töpelt.

Light, thin and chic, the Sony VAIO TX670P/B is also endowed with extensive power saving features and functions. It's graced with a light-weight carbon fiber/composite case and incorporates power-efficient LED based backlighting, rather than the more power-hungry but conventional fluorescent backlights used in most mobile computers.

Despite an integrated optical drive, the Sony VAIO TX670P/B tips the scales at a mere 2.75 lbs, including battery.

Including its battery, the ultraportable TX670P/B measures 10.7" x 1.34" x 8.1" and weights in at a mere 2.75 lb. As you'd expect in an ultraportable, the TX670P/B features a relatively small 11.1" display but does include a DVD burner (unusual for machines in this weight class). Battery life is stunning, and ranges somewhere between 6 and 7 hours depending on the application used, thanks to Sony's inclusion of an expensive, heavy duty, high current battery with the unit.

The TX670P gets its stellar battery life from a series of intelligently designed power schemes that let it manage battery life very well indeed. With its low weight, small form factor, and outrageous battery life, however, there must be some gotchas in this pretty picture. The gotchas come in several flavors.

First, there's cost: at starting prices of $2,385, this Sony model has a big, though somewhat typical, price tag for a small ultraportable. Second, our testing shows this unit to be a modest performer and thus, best suited for office applications. Third, to get the kind of performance needed for quality DVD playback the CPU frequency level must be set at a point where the CPU runs hot and the cooling fan runs continuous. Unfortunately, this produces audible noise levels that can interfere with one's listening pleasure when viewing a movie or accessing other content. Nevertheless, for those who need something small, lightweight, and truly ultraportable, the Sony VAIO TX670P is hard to beat!