S$1999
First Take
As one of the premium laptop labels, Sony notebooks can hardly be considered cheap though they are well-known for having one of the most stylish designs in the market. The Vaio CR series, however, attempts to target the budget-conscious crowd while still maintaining its aesthetic appeal, though compromises were made in terms of weight. Granted, at S$1,999 (US$1,433.49), it's still significantly costlier than other similarly-configured portables, but the Japanese company adds value to its offering by putting in a discrete graphics engine and proprietary multimedia software.
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Read first take of the Sony Vaio VGN-CR353 »
Average User Rating
from 4 users
First Take
As one of the premium laptop labels, Sony notebooks can hardly be considered cheap though they are well-known for having one of the most stylish designs in the market. The Vaio CR series, however, attempts to target the budget-conscious crowd while still maintaining its aesthetic appeal, though compromises were made in terms of weight. Granted, at S$1,999 (US$1,433.49), it's still significantly costlier than other similarly-configured portables, but the Japanese company adds value to its offering by putting in a discrete graphics engine and proprietary multimedia software.
Upside:
The first impression that the Vaio VGN-CR353 makes is to hit you with a bevy of color options from conventional black and white to shades like pink, red, blue and even gold. At S$1,999 (US$1,433.49) it is also one of the more affordable Vaios in the stores. If you are willing to fork out another S$100 (US$71.71), the top cover can even be decked out in silver, pink or brown with a lizard-skin texture.
The keyboard is similar to the one on the Apple MacBook, which Sony claims will give better tactile feel over the conventional design. By situating each key individually, it actually allows them to be larger while not affecting the pitch (distance between keys) for a more comfortable typing experience.
Thanks to its 2.1GHz Core 2 Duo processor and discrete 128MB ATI Mobility Radeon X2300 graphics, we expect the machine to perform well even with the full Aero Desktop experience enabled in the Windows Vista Home Premium operating system. The unit also has an 802.11a/b/g/n radio along with Bluetooth to cover wireless connectivity. Despite this, Sony claims that the Vaio has an uptime of up to 4 hours on the standard cell. An optional extended battery is also available to boost it up to 6.5 hours of unplugged time, though this will add a whopping S$690 (US$494.80) to the cost of ownership.
To give its machines multimedia capabilities out-of-the-box, Apple pre-installs the iLife suite on every MacBook. Vaio attempts to do this by bundling software such as Vaio Movie Story, Vaio Content Exporter, Adobe Premiere Elements 4.0, Vaio Edit Components, Vaio MusicBox and
Click to Disc Editor. Though Vista itself does have its own built-in multimedia applications, Sony's version allows for more features and controls which should be enough for the amateur photo and video editor.
Downside:
To keep this machine affordable, the chassis is mostly made out of plastic. As such, this resulted in a rather heavy laptop, tipping the scales at 2.5kg for a 14.1-inch portable with a thickness of 38.3mm. Despite incorporating the latest Wi-Fi standard, this machine is stuck with a porky 10/100 Ethernet port. The ExpressCard slot is of the smaller 34mm variety, making it less versatile than the ExpressCard/54 standard.
Outlook: With its wealth of color options and stylish design, the Vaio CR series is a yummy option for those on a budget but still wants a Sony portable.
Rate It Now
User Reviews
Very Good Procuct
Jan 21, 2009Rating: 10 out of 10 (Perfect)
Pros: Good for my studies
Cons: Its hard to say how good it is
Opinion:
It's very light, small, easy to carry, have all the necessary funtion for me
VAIO CR353 is the best deal
Sep 28, 2008Rating: 10 out of 10 (Perfect)
Pros: nice display, nice keyboard, fast, cool, pretty colour combination
Cons: no fingerprint reader, graphics card is not so powerful
Opinion:
the design is perfect, keys are unique. the color combination is very pretty. good casing. it is quite fast. i am very pleased with it.
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