The good: Rugged construction, bright screen. Comprehensive software bundle. Useful new scroll button. Good battery life.

The bad: Ethernet port in port replicator. Processor can't handle complex video editing.

The bottom line: For fans of the earlier PCG-C1MV, the new sub-notebook/movie camera adds features they'll crave. But others will be unmoved, due to the high price.

Read full review of the Sony Vaio PCG-C1MT (Crusoe 733MHz; 128MB) »

By John Lui
Apr 11, 2002

Bigger than a handheld computer and smaller than an ultraportable, the Sony PCG-C1MT fits in a space occupied by only a few other computers, such as the Fujitsu P-series. That Sony has released this product now attests to market success of its predecessor, the PCG-C1VM.

New: A picture gallery of this remarkable computer is here.

The In-Betweener
Overall, it's only a third the size of even the smallest 12-inch LCD ultraportables, but the 0.9 kg machine runs Windows XP, not PocketPC. The other prominent feature of this pint-sized computer is the Transmeta Crusoe processor, clocked at 733 MHz, which claims far lower power consumption requirements than an equivalent Intel or AMD CPU.

The other unique point is the built-in camera which can capture PAL or NTSC-quality video, compressed into MPEG-2 standard with dedicated chips.

Despite its size, it's no PDA replacement. Data-entry still requires Windows XP, the keyboard and mouse. Among its users, suggests Sony, will be travelers who need to store and edit digital still camera and video files on its 20 GB hard drive. An IEEE-1394 (iLink or FireWire), one USB and a Sony Memory Stick slot are provided.

The bundled cell-phone-sized port replicator adds another USB port, monitor out, an Ethernet port and composite AV in/out connectors.

But it will be from among the geek horde that the Vaio PCG-C1MT will draw most of its buyers. The technolust appeal of the machine is deeply apparent, from its sleek alloy metal shell to its miniature keyboard to its DVD movie playback from the optional external drive. Few will cough up the US$2,000 (S$3,000) price just for the sum of its features.

Brilliant Engineering
On the outside, a sleek aluminum-magnesium alloy body has replaced the plastic one of the older PCG-C1VM. At just under one kilo, you could put it in a knapsack and forget it's there.

The short stroke of the keys and the cut-down size of the keyboard make data entry a challenge, but it's not impossible. Cursor control through the pointing stick is easy enough, but the tiny 8.9-inch SXGA (1280x600) TFT screen makes precision difficult.

New with the PCG-C1MT is the user-customizable scroll wheel located just under the screen, a very convenient addition for one-handed page navigation and menu selection.

While small, the screen is among the best we've seen: Very crisp and bright. Watching DVD movies on it was a pleasure. Besides the detailed picture, playback was also very smooth, thanks to the hardware MPEG-2 decoders. But for text work, such as Web browsing and email, bumping up screen fonts to 150% increased legibility a great deal.

In a less useful engineering move, the LAN port was left out of the main body and an RJ-11 modem port included. You'll have to turn to the Ethernet connect on the port replicator, increasing cable clutter.

Movie Making Made Smaller
The MPEG-2 hardware also came into play with video inputs such as the Motion Eye video camera, which can rotate outwards, or inwards to face the user. Recording short clips at a 640x480 pixel size without dropped frames was easily handled by the Vaio. The AV input (composite video on the port replicator) can record and compress a PAL-standard 760x576 pixel analog stream.

Although Sony touts the PCG-C1MT's movie-editing prowess, we can't see it used for anything other than digitizing, splicing or splitting short MPEG-2 clips. Our benchmark score of 60 on the SYSmark 2001 Office Productivity Suite and Quake III frame-rate test shows that the Crusoe processor and sub-system would take a long time to perform video tasks such as fades or dissolves. User-friendly MovieShaker 3.2 video-editing software is bundled.

Great Machine But...
Our BatteryMark 4.01 test showed a three-hour life. This is good for a small computer--ultraportables usually croak around the two-hour mark--but somehow, unsatisfying. We were hoping for five hours.

The optional iLink (FireWire) DVD-CD-RW combo drive looks as stylish as the PCG-C1MT. Priced at a whistle-inducing US$500 (S$949), it's only for the avid Vaio fan.

This machine shows that when Sony sets its mind to it, no-one can touch it for sheer engineering muscle and design esthetics, and despite the high price tag, the PCG-C1MT should, like the PCG-C1VM before it, find a committed audience.

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