advertisement
 

Sony Vaio VGN-TZ17GN (Core 2 Duo U7600 Processor 1.2GHz, 1GB RAM)

 Print    Email     Bookmark     Share



List price as of Oct 19, 2007:
S$3699

Product Summary


Very good

7.5

out of 10

View score

The good: Great screen; optical drive; fantastic battery life; strong features for a portable; ExpressCard/34 slot.

The bad: Feels fragile; no native digital video out; bland design.

The bottom line: The Sony VAIO VGN-TZ17GN is more fragile than we'd like, especially at S$3,699 but the feature set is quite impressive for an ultraportable.

Read full review of the Sony Vaio VGN-TZ17GN »

 

Average User Rating

from 12 users


Readers' Choice
Excellent

8.3

out of 10
 

How would you rate this product?

 
 

CNET Asia Review

By Craig Simms, CNET.com.au


The ultraportable range is always fun to poke around--the form factor itself is always an exercise in compromise. Bits get left out either to reduce heat, battery drain, or simply because the notebook doesn't have the room to take it. It certainly keeps things interesting at the very small end of the scale, where one extra feature can mean make or break.

Editors' note :
This review is based on tests done by our sister site CNET.com.au. As such, please note that there may be slight differences in the testing procedure and ratings system. For more information on the actual tests conducted on the product, please inquire directly at the site where the article was originally published. References made to some of other products in this review may not be available or applicable in Asia. Please check directly with your local distributor for details. The Vaio VGN-NR17G is also known as the Vaio NR160 in the US.

Design

The 11.1-inch TZ impresses with its 1.2kg weight and impressive LED backlit screen--but the 1,366 x 768 screen itself is flimsy. While it probably would take a large amount of stress to actually break something, it is disconcerting. Despite this, a basic Webcam is still thrown in for good measure.

The power button sits on the right hand side on the hinge, glowing a pleasing green colour. The hinge itself is smaller than you'd think, with the battery taking up the bulk of the space.

The keys on the keyboard are matte black, raised from the base and separated, and easy enough to type on at a respectable speed. The piano black surface behind it makes it look trashy however, as does the silver-dust bezel of the screen and the plastic used for the monitor hinge--it's a bit odd to see a Sony notebook that isn't the epitome of style, and in fact goes the other way.

Sony's own blurb for the TZ is hilarious: "In many ways, the Vaio TZ is a notebook inspired by nature. Its sleek, dark looks and brooding inner strength reflect the compact power of a crouching puma. But lift the razor-thin screen from the slimline body and the Vaio TZ adopts the delicate characteristics of a pearlescent black butterfly." Translation: small, flimsy, black, somewhat shiny.

The modem, Gigabit Ethernet and FireWire ports are hidden underneath a cover that will probably break off far too easily--we'd almost prefer that they be left open to the outside world, as it's clear it's going to end up that way anyway just through everyday use.

A smattering of multimedia buttons are along the front, however they are quite difficult to press, making their usefulness questionable. The wireless LAN switch is situated beneath these, capable of turning off the 802.11a/b/g and Bluetooth connections.

 

Rate It Now

Rating guidelines

Sony Vaio VGN-TZ17GN (Core 2 Duo U7600 Processor 1.2GHz, 1GB RAM)
Rate this product:

Need help? Read our guidelines for what each number rating represents.

User Reviews

Business Laptop.



Rating: 9 out of 10 (Spectacular)
Pros: Small,long power...........
Cons: Price. but, for business man who is moving it's worth to bye.
Opinion:
Move your business with your portable laptop.



 

Hands down the best Windows machine



Rating: 10 out of 10 (Perfect)
Pros: Great looks, light, excellent performance, full package
Cons: Gets hot (but don't they all?), price
Opinion:
This laptop has everything: looks and pizzazz, but also function: included webcam, fingerprint access (to avoid entering passwords all the time), an auto true-crypt drive for very private data, up to 2GB memory, large hard disks, a fantastic key board (I use Thinkpad at work but even that fades in front of the new Sony keyboards). I have had one for over a year and never had any issues. It's expensive but if you can cough it up it's the best in the Windows camp.

 

100% performance the best



Rating: 10 out of 10 (Perfect)
Pros: very good look, very fast processing speed, wide space for stroing data,
Cons: No cons.
Opinion:
the sony vaio vgn-tz17gn notebook is the best for all people and it is very useful for all. viao processes very fast and give very wide space to store the data. the core 2 duo U7600 process lets you do any hardwork.

 

See all user opinions »

advertisement

Latest Downloads

  •   CanoScan Toolbox
  •   Diskeeper
  •   FastTrack Scripting Host
  •   PC Optimizer Pro
  •   R10Clean

More downloads »