First Take

Upside: Made from the same material as the chassis of race cars, the black carbon-fiber exterior is very light, yet stronger and more scratch-resistant than magnesium alloy. This notebook has an understated and classy black-and-grey theme which sits well in an office environment.

The first in Sony's Vaio lineup to incorporate the Hybrid Graphic System, the Vaio VGN-SZ18GP has the best of both worlds when it comes to video rendering. To extend battery life, the integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 GPU is more than adequate for simple computing tasks without consuming excessive power. But when it comes to intensive graphics rendering, a flick of a switch and a reboot allow the dedicated Nvidia GeForce Go 7400 processor to kick in and utilize 128MB of TurboCache VRAM to boost performance at the cost of increased power consumption. We feel this new technology breaks new ground as, increasingly, mobile computers are used both for work and play.

Not forgetting its role as a corporate machine, the VGN-SZ18GP has a fingerprint biometric sensor, Trusted Platform Module chip and hard drive password protection up its data security sleeve. Because information is vital to any business, the harddisk is physically protected with a 3D acceleration sensor that secures the hard drive if it detects sudden drops or shocks to the system.

The addition of an integrated Webcam above the display also makes video conferencing a breeze. With 7 hours of estimated battery life, offsite presentations should not be an issue with this thin-and-light laptop.

Downside:For a S$3,999 (US$2,895.94) premium notebook with corporate features, the lack of an S-video port is almost incomprehensible. This makes hooking up to external analog displays difficult without the optional S$419 (US$303.43) port replicator base.

The warranty terms are not too attractive for a premium notebook, offering only one-year local coverage. For a thin-and-light in this price range, it would have been nice to offer a three-year service period. Though you can upgrade to international coverage for an additional S$90 (US$65.17), there is no extended warranty option.

Outlook: Unlike the song, the best things in life aren't free and at almost S$4,000 (US$2,896.66) for a thin-and-light, it may be out of reach for most people. However, those with deeper pockets will be hard-pressed to find another notebook which can offer the build quality and design of the Vaio VGN-SZ18GP, not to mention the innovative Hybrid Graphic System that gives the user even greater control options. For work or play, this Vaio notebook definitely fills both shoes easily.

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Sony Vaio VGN-SZ18GP (Core Duo T2400 Processor 1.83GHz, 512MB RAM)

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User Reviews

sfo

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Nice and Stylish notebook

Jun 3, 2006

Rating: 9 out of 10 (Spectacular)
Pros: Light, sexy and elegant looks on this notebook
Cons: dun have extension battery bay comparing then my old Fujitsu notebook
Opinion:
Generally this is a nice notebook while i do love the weight coz it is very light. Very sexy indeed while the notebook colour is blak while screen is very bright indeed a nice designed notebook. However the quality of keyboard is very different between IBM and Toshiba. Feeling on typing is different while sony notebook keyboard does need special care as quality feel is diff. Abt the battery was told can be till 5 hours but till today i have not try yet...however generally the notebook is very nice and good. Worth buying it.

 

lomodes

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Hip & slim. perfect for students and young business ppl.

May 20, 2006

Rating: 9 out of 10 (Spectacular)
Pros: Stylish-looking, lightweight, comfortable keyboard.
Cons: built-in camera is not clear enough to hold a video conference, lack of international warranty
Opinion:
On the whole, this laptop definitely has the style and performance- a product worth owning.

 

ben5471

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Great performance, poor design and problems

May 20, 2006

Rating: 2 out of 10 (Terrible)
Pros: lightweight, good looking
Cons: bad spacebar, scratches mark leave from poor design. overpriced. no international warranty!
Opinion:
It's a Sony! What do you expect. good design but overprice and poor Sony Support and short warranty and no international warranty

 

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User Discussion

sfo: To all of those people whom want to get a Sony Brand for notebook. Please do extend your warranties ...

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