Sony VAIO PCG-Z1WA Laptop (1.70 GHz Pentium M (Centrino), 512 MB RAM, 60 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD-RW Drive)

The Basics

• Hard Drive: Though not world-beating in size, the 60 GB enhanced-IDE hard drive offers more than enough storage capacity for road warriors.
• Processor: The 1.7 GHz Pentium M processor is at the top of the Centrino speed range. Because of its design, the Intel Pentium M gets more done per clock tick than a Mobile Intel Pentium 4, thus providing the discrepancy in GHz measurement (i.e., 1.7 versus 3.2). The Pentium M processor is designed specifically for low-power mobile usage, and it features the latest in power-saving technologies--ensuring you push your battery and productivity to the max.
• Memory: The PCG-Z1WA comes with a 512 MB built-in memory (1 x 512 MB DDR SDRAM, 266 MHz)--a good start for power users. It has a maximum memory expansion up to 1 GB (2 x 512 MB), which is a bit smaller than other notebooks, but understandable due to the PCG-Z1WA's size. It also has an L2 cache of 1 MB and a front-side bus (FSB) speed of 400 MHz.
• CD/DVD Drive: It comes equipped with a combo DVD/CD-RW drive, which enables you to play DVD-ROM discs and DVD movies as well as burn data and record music to CD discs. You can read and burn CDs at 24x speed, rewrite at 10x, and read; it has an 8x DVD read speed.
• Keyboard & Mouse: This notebook has an 83-key QWERTY keyboard (with 2mm stroke and 18.5mm pitch) and electro-static touchpad. It features two programmable buttons (one pre-set as maximum brightness and the other as sound mute).

Connectivity and Expansion Slots
The PCG-Z1WA has an Intel Pro-Wireless 2200BG integrated wireless LAN that connects using the 802.11g wireless standard. It also offers Bluetooth wireless connectivity, for communicating with peripherals like keyboards, mice, printers, and more. You get a smaller offering of connectivity options (due to the notebook's size):

• 2 USB 2.0 ports for connecting a wide range of peripherals--from digital cameras to MP3 players
• 1 FireWire (also known as IEEE 1394 or i.Link) ports for connecting digital video camcorders and other peripherals
• 1 RGB monitor port
• 1 PCMCIA (or PC Card) slot (Type I/II)
• 1 headphone jack and 1 microphone jack
• Memory Stick memory card reader (compatible with Memory Stick Pro)

Preloaded System and Software
The PCG-TR3A comes with the Windows XP Home Edition operating system, and it also features Microsoft Works (for working with word processing and spreadsheet documents). It also is loaded with a bevy of Sony multimedia software: PictureGear Studio and Network Smart Capture (digital photo), DVgate Plus (digital video), and SonicStage (digital music). Other preloaded software includes InterVideo WinDVD, Screenblast ACITD and SoundForge, and RealPlayer One.

Dimensions and Weight
At 12.4 x 9.7 x 1.5 inches (L x W x H), this is a seriously thin notebook. And it weighs just 4.7 pounds with the battery.

Power
The included rechargeable lithium-ion battery offers between 3 and 5.5 hours of life with typical usage. An optional larger-capacity battery will provide double that (between 6 and 11 hours of battery life).

What's in the Box
This package contains the Sony Vaio PCG-Z1WA notebook PC, rechargeable lithium-ion battery, AC adapter, and operating instructions.

One of my main complaints so far is that the filesystem as shipped is horribly fragmented, making the computer quite slow. Make sure you defrag as soon as possible. It speeds up the computer tremendously. Again, I'm surprised Sony didn't fix this in the factory.

Another complaint is the keyboard. The keys are quite flat and a little hard to touch-type on. Also, the right shift key is the same size as a regular letter key, making it hard to use. Sony should have made the arrow keys smaller and extended the shift to be a double-wide key as it should be, but that's moot now.

Also, it comes with C: (14GB) and D: (37GB) drives from the factory, which seems silly. I suppose it might make it easier to recover, but I haven't tried that yet. But it'd make more sense to me to have the one hard drive have only one letter so that you had only one chance to run out of drive space, not two.

Also, it does come with a lot of utilities that aren't the most helpful. Norton Internet Security seems like too much of a mother hen. Norton Anti-Virus is a 3-month trial, as is Office. I'm sure there are more of these utilities that are doing nothing more than wasting drive space, but I've only had it for about 12 hours now.

The lid can be a little hard to open, too, especially with one hand. There's no latch, just a spring holding it closed and it's a litte tight. It might loosen up with use, though.

Having ClearType font smoothing on as default would probably have made sense, too, but it wasn't.

Other than these quibbles, though, I'm quite happy with the computer. It's quite light, has a nice high-resolution screen (which others with worse sight might find a detriment), looks sexy (especially after you take off the at least six stickers), and performs well. I'm happy.


Good, but not good enough   June 26, 2004
 2 out of 10 found this review helpful

The laptop looks cool, and it is light enough to carry around for a long time. But I am very disappointed after I bought one and tried it. It generates too much heat too quickly compared to similar models from other vendors (e.g., IBM T41). In addition, I am not sure that SONY tested the port replicators thoroughly. The port replicators do not support fast Ethernet connection well. When you connect the replicator to a LCD monitor, you do not get video on the monitor when you play video files using real-player.

I won't not buy any VAIO laptop computers in the future. It sucks!