Customer Reviews

Sony VAIO VGN-UX280P 4.5-inch Laptop (Intel Core Solo Processor U1400, 1 GB RAM, 40 GB Hard Drive)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have had my UX280 for about two weeks now and I've had no major disappointments with it. Being a previous owner of numerous palmtops and PDA, I have to keep reminding myself this is a REAL computer, in spite of its small size. It comes preloaded with tons of demo/trial software (Norton Internet Suit, Roxio, Microsoft Contact Manager, Microsoft Streets and Trips 2006, a few generic titles...) I elected to remove most of it and I used my own personal registration info for the Office 2003 which comes preloaded on the unit.

With the least amount of software loaded I'm using about 10GB of hard drive space. About 7GB of the 40 GB HDD is used as a diagnostic partition and for reloading software. There is another 7GB which is just there and inaccessible by me via Windows XP. There is no guidance from Sony regarding why the drive is set up this way.

I elected to purchase the Sony 4GB Memory Stick, the 2-yr warranty and the Sony external FireWire DVD/CD drive as additional storage. The unit works fine with typical USB devices and I configured a TCP/IP network printer, which works well with my in-house Wi-fi router. So far all of the advertised gadgets, cameras, HDD protection, biometrics, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth work as expected. I have had a few challenges getting the ($349) FireWire drive to work property with Norton's Ghost 2006.

I do most of my serious typing with the UX280 while it's in the port replicator and connected to an external display, keyboard and mouse. This provides the flexibility to use my portable computer to perform the same functions as my desktop PC, which is great; however, it sometimes "forgets" about the external FireWire drive.

I think Sony could have done a better job with the design of the small keyboard. It's not very easy to press just one key when you're typing quickly with regular man hands. Still, it's manageable if you take your time.

It has a "portrait" mode you can switch to on the fly but it's almost impossible to use because of the screen width size (or lack thereof). The Tablet PC interface is sort of cheesy too.

I wish the unit came with a printed manual but most things don't these days. The documentation is on the unit itself and, if you have not noticed already, the screen is very small. I tried using the "Zoom" feature but it requires much effort to read a book using it. Nevertheless, the documentation is very well written and explains the full operation of the UX280 if you're willing to read it. Sony's support site has a fairly decent Q&A section and along with all of the current drivers for the UX280.

Overall, this unit performs just like any other $2000 portable computer. It's a nice gadget if you have the cash to spend. It comes with everything you need right out of the box, including an inexpensive but useful carrying case.

The UX280 is a good product and I would give it a higher rating if it didn't cost so much.

It is very tiny, by far the smallest fully functional computer I've ever had. It much larger than a PDA though so users used to putting a PDA in their pocket will not be happy with this. It would fit in really baggy pants pockets I suppose, but not in any pockets for anything I wear. It does fit nicely in my winter coat pocket. It really doesn't matter to me though as I have a small backpack-like case that I carry it in, along with keyboard, mouse, AC adapter, extra batteries for all, dongle for wired Ethernet/monitor output/NTSC video out, headphones and even an AV cable for connecting to a TV. All of that and it still weighs less, takes up less space and functions as well as any ultra portable I've had.

Usability:
The mouse is ok once you get used to it, and the keyboard is really only for small entries and just one step better than an on screen keyboard. Some key combos can be hard to enter but there are ways around that if it bothers you. The screen is very tiny, but also very crisp and bright. It can output to a monitor and display larger resolutions too. The speaker is nothing special, but if I am playing a game or listening to music or watching a movie I would use headphones anyway. I have not played with the cameras much but the webcam is very low quality as would be expected and the main camera was not that impressive either. It can take videos with sound so in a pinch it could take place of a digital camera or video camera but realize it may be much lower resolution that you are used to (it was for me).

I took it on the road last week for the first time and it worked great. It felt weird packing a bag and fitting all my clothes and the computer with all accessories into the same bag. I have been taking two bags for years so this was a noticeable change for me. I unpacked when I got to my room and before you knew it I was checking email, surfing and even played games for a hour or so.

Battery:
The small pack that comes with it looks much better than the extended battery, but also bites as far as life. From my very simple, non scientific testing it seem to last as little as 2 hrs to as long as 4 hrs. The extended one is about double, at about 4 hrs minimum to as long as 8 hrs. Now those figures are from one extreme using it constantly, defragging the hard drive, playing games, wireless on, to the other extreme, wireless off, quite a bit of idle time between tasks, etc.

Hibernate mode works awesome as it should, with saving and resuming each taking less than 20 seconds.

If you don't mind using standby mode however you can get much more battery life and not really impact the availability of the machine. It takes 5 seconds to go into standby and resumes instantly, and I do mean instantly. Until now I have not had an occasion to use standby since they made the hibernate mode standard years ago, but I have to admit it is handy to put it in standby for a few minutes or even an hour or two if I want to keep it ready to use at a moments notice. This greatly extends the battery life to 12 hrs or more depending on how much you actually are using it. I put it in standby overnight one time and when I woke up it was still had 20% left, not sure how full it was the night before though.

While I admit that it is more of a toy for me, it has some merit in being a very portable unit in between the PDA and ultra portable laptop market. I really hope these don't go away, as I think it is a very cool idea and as they get even more powerful it could really become a decent gaming platform. Price being the biggest turn off, the second one being size or at least thickness (at least for this unit). Some say it's too small and others think it's too big. If it was any smaller I would have a hard time holding it, and any bigger and you lose some of the portability of it.

Software:
I'm running Windows Professional, Open Office, use IE7, Trillian for IM, xfire for gaming IM. I have a 4 gb memory stick that I put a bunch of MP3s on and also a few movies that range from 300mb to 700mb. They actually look quite well on the small screen and with the headphones makes a nice personal media player for moves and music.

Now here's the real reason I call it my toy: it plays games, a lot of games, only limited by the 40 gb hard drive space. I have a Dell m1710 with a 512mb 7900GTX and I love it, but this thing is small enough to take to work each day and play on breaks and the battery life is good enough to last all day. It plays game much better than I ever would have imagined, party because of the lower resolution and partially because you can turn down the details that you can't see anyways on such a small screen.

Work great - no issues:
Morrowind
Diablo 2
Warcraft 3
Quake 3
Halo
Half Life
Call of Duty
Counterstrike
MAME works great! Thousands of games
Nesticle NES emulator
GBA emulator
Bunch of smaller simple 3d games, Zuma, Mohjongg, etc

Work great after I worked around minimum 1024x768 screen res issue
Sacred Underworld
Minions of Mirth

Work at very min settings barely playable
Oblivion - had to use Oldblivion patch though

Do not work or did not try
Goldeneye mod for Half Life 2 - suppose HL2 would not work either but did not try
Did not try Call of duty 2 because would take up too much space and COD1 looks great anyway

This is a chore. I rated the unit as a 5 because it is fantastic for what I wanted and is truly very portable. As a 61 year old geek this is just what I was waiting for. The 40 hard drive comes with the first 10 gigs used by the manufacturer to store the install software and is apparently not deleted after the install. Shame on Sony for this.

Sony's upgrade DVD to Vista Business is a chore to install if you don't delete the partition first with XP installed the problems get to be huge. I suggest downloading partitioning software to delete the 7 Gb partition and then increase the size of the C drive to the maximum. A clean install (which is what I eventually wound up doing)vs an upgrade appears to require less space.

The Vista software is fantastic on the UX280 provided you have the space. The Vista software includes the tablet software which is perfect for the UX280.

This thing does it all. It allows you to go from home den/work space to office seamlessly, never having to turn it off. It has completely replaced my more powerful PC. Five stars.

Here's some advice, though:

- Get the extended battery. Battery life is arguably the greatest downfall for this mini-titan. With the screen on full brightness (you can choose to dim the screen while on battery) you'll only get about an hour of life before you have to recharge. DESPITE what Sony tells you. The extended battery is physically bigger but allows for a better grip (though weighs more as well). I can't tell you how much it extends the battery off the top of my head (though Sony boasts 1.5 times more), but I haven't had to change batteries since I got it.

- Buy the screen protectors. The screen can and will collect dirt often; so if you decide to pass on these then prepare to invest in some LCD cleaning solution.

- The keyboard can be very cumbersome to work with, especially with extended use. As an alternative buy the Think Outside Universal Bluetooth Keyboard (just type that into Amazon). It communicates with the Vaio wirelessly saving that one USB slot for something else. Plus it's the same width as the Vaio, and folds up -- it's ultra mobile!

- While you're at it invest in a decent travel-size bluetooth mouse (preferably with rechargeable batteries). With the keyboard and mouse it'll feel like you're on a regular (albeit micro) PC.

- Invest in a nice padded bag to carry it in. The case the vaio sits in is nice for a protective skin but you'll want something sturdier for your investment.

- When you tuck your Vaio away to travel from one place to the other (from the office to home, for example) be sure to put it in Hibernate Mode. If you don't (and choose Standby or Power Saver) the heat sensor will kick in, turning on the fan, which will overheat it and drain the battery even more (with the running fan).

The max resolution it can have on an external monitor is 1600x1200. It can play 3D games such as Star Wars: Empire at War and Warcraft III fairly smoothly (though on lowst graphics setting).

I am thoroughly impressed with this incredible machine. It does absolutely everything a "regular" laptop can do, except it is tiny and ULTRA-PORTABLE.

I teach and I wanted a machine that would allow me to access the internet, connect to a TV, use my usual word processing applications, and listen to and view movies, and most importantly something that could fit in my bag without being cumbersome. Now I can share all the wonderful things that the internet has to offer without needing a computer in the classroom. I can quickly access my electronic dictionaries, and my personal databse of info such that my lessons are more vivid, accurate, and I can teach students how to properly look for and retrieve infomation.

The battery life is excellent, I use it for a good 3 hours straight with screen brightness set to 60-70% total brightness. The processor works well, very little slow down (some is to be expected since it is so small).

Many aspects of the computer are customizable (such as brightness, touch screen sensitivity, power options etc.). It can also sync with other computers - an important option since I personally don't use this particular computer as my main computer.

The screen is beautiful, vivid and bright. The colors are sharp and crisp. The two built in cameras (one in the front and the other behind the screen) and the microphone are a god-send. They work well, I've used it to "Skype" family and the people on the other end were impressed by the quality of the both the sound and picture. So will safely assume that business people will benefit from the convenience.

The built-in LAN, WAN, and Bluetooth are an excellent touch. It makes life so easy, since it connects to EVERYTHING, ANYWHERE! The GPS is pretty cool too.

The keyboard lights up, which is cool. I am not used to typing with my thumbs yet, but I am sure with practice I will be better.

The bundled software are great. I have the UX-280P version, so the applications are business oriented. The electronic whiteboard is great program to have. Also, I have used the styllus to write using MSWord without a hitch.

Overall, this machine is excellent. Flawless in both design and portability. Sony has truly created a masterpiece. I would recommend this machine to anyone that is "on the go" and needs something more powerful than just a Blackberry or a PDA.

BTW - This my third Sony VAIO. My first one, I purchased over 4 years ago is still in excellent working condition. I also currently use an S480. I will assume that my UX280P will be in good working condition for many years to come.
Additionally I have purchased the extended warrently from Sony for all of my laptops and I would recommed it since it has already paid for itself with my first laptop. Besides, the Sony customer service is great - no complaints here!

It works good for me at glance. However, there are many things that you need to consider before making your decision. The first thing is it does not come with a program that we could use along with the stylus instead of using keyboard like other devices such as tablet PC or Pocket PC, so it is very inconvenient when you take it to a conference room or something, you always have to put your attention on typing on the very small keyboard. The next thing is the battery just lasts arount two hours, not four hours as advertise. It should be shipped with a better battery for such a portable unit like this, especially it is designed to use as a mobile phone too. In addition, the solution of the screen is the most inconvenient. It was 1024 x 600 instead of 1024 x 768 and it causes many dialogs and screens have part of it disappear. There are many more things that you need to consider about.

I got a week using the 280P intensively as I am very satisfied. This is the model to pick, you do not want to go through the learning curve of MS Vista with this little screen and keyboard. Starting with the obvious, this is a real PC, not a PDA, so expect to expend hours getting your base software a communications activated, updated and registered. This by itself becomes a crash course on using the little screen, keyboard and mouse. The screen is very usable, especially with the zoom feature. The limitation of the 1024x600 format quoted by another reviewer is real and some badly-designed software windows may fall outside the visible area. Also when you connect the dock to an external monitor you would get a "widescreen look" with black bars on top and bottom. The keyboard is the weakest part of the otherwise wonderful machine. The keys are leveled with the surface and are a lot harder to type (even with small fingers) that on smaller Blackberry keyboards with true keys. I am typing with the back of the stylus and bought one of those flexible keyboards to pack if I am planning to do any serious typing. The mouse is, in the other hand, very usable and you would become an expert on it in no time. The communications are very powerful, the Cingular WAN works very well (at least in Texas), the wireless LAN reception is a little weak but functional and the Bluetooth devices work well. The fingerprint recognition software/hardware gives you the WOW factor that is sometimes enjoyable when you are "demoing" a new gadget to a friend. I am getting decent battery life and found a way to extend it if you keep your data in memory sticks. As example I set the iTunes library in a 4GB memory stick and was able to get almost four hours of music with a single charge.

As conclusion I highly recommend the machine, specially if you can have a "base" station with an external keyboard and monitor for the maintenance work (installing software, tasks with lots of typing) and use the machine on the road as a very light and comfortable-to-carry replacement of your laptop, PDA and iPod.

I've had my 280P for a month, and have waited this long to write a review because this little gem has all the bells and whistles of a full-size computer, but it also takes a period of adjustment for anyone who works with a normal computer, keyboard, and mouse 8 hours a day. Small is great, but there are drawbacks.

This is a "notebook" computer in terms of its capabilities, but certainly not in size. It's smaller than a paperback novel which is probably the primary reason why most people buy it. It's a toy, yet it isn't. I guess that makes it a serious toy. I fell in love with it over six months ago, but I waited for the price to come down to $1,100 from $2,000+ because there was just no way of justifying it.

On the plus side, it has a 40 gb hard drive. That's probably too small for most people today who are used to having 200 gb in their day-to-day PCs. Yet I can get all my music, photos, and business documents/programs onto the 280P and still have room to spare. BUT no matter what others have said, this cannot replace your PC. There is no way I can take all of my programs with me, programs such as Macromedia and the four photo editing programs. And even if I could bring Dreamweaver and spreadsheets and docs, this is not a screen that you can read without squinting.

Before I forget, remember that while surfing the Web, you can use Ctrl + and - to increase not just font size, but the size of the entire page. There are also a few programs that similar shortcuts will work with off line. Otherwise, you have to use the 280's magnifier which is less than stellar but often absolutely necessary.

I bought this primarily for travel even though I have a Vaio laptop that only weights 4 pounds. By the time I was through with a four-port USB hub, wireless mouse (which I found was unnecessary on trips, but great in the office), and the power cord (which you would think could be a lot smaller), it was less than the laptop, but I was still bringing a lot with me. And it's value on a plane is for listening to music, perhaps playing games, etc. but not for working on spreadsheets or writing a novel. Though you can increase the font for the latter two, we now come to a discussion of the keyboard.

I waited a month to write this in part because I wanted to see if I could adjust to the keyboard. I don't like to use the stylus, and the screen protectors are a ripoff, so I "practiced" with the keyboard. I've become quite proficient though I wish my thumbs were smaller. I can answer an email with no real difficulty, though it's easier to forget about capitalizing. There are four problems with the keyboard:

1: The shift key is just below the caps lock, and I cannot help but hitting the caps lock. There's no way around it even using fingers and thumbs.

2: The left and right sides of the keyboard are curved which, although it gives a better feel while holding it, make some of the typing difficult.

3: Cutting and pasting, and even blocking are difficult at best. The function keys are on the upper left, another good/bad feature. It's very easy to use them with the left hand, but to hold down the Shift key and then use the other keys takes three hands.

4: When "typing" on the upper row of letter keys, you're bound to hit the number keys. In other words, don't expect 65 wpm on this keyboard.

Other cons: Without question, and even including a few MP3 players, this has the worst manual (on screen only) ever. It doesn't explain Bluetooth hookups with keyboards or whatever, or synchronizing, or much of anything else for that matter. The manual with my Canon S3 IS camera is 170 pages long. The "manual" with this computer is no more than 20 pages. That may be an exaggeration, but I gave up on it especially since the font size is about 4 pt. and magnifying it doesn't make it easier to read.

The other major con is that Sony has put every piece of junk and trial software on it that they could find. And part of the problem in removing them is that one is never sure that the software isn't essential. Sure, it's easy to see that you can toss "Jeopardy" and "Wheel of Fortune" (trial copies only), but there's almost 15 gb (!) of software that is either not essential or that you may want to replace.

I didn't expect this to come with a CD drive, but before you buy, you have to figure out how many programs you have that are on CD and how many can be downloaded. I have four programs that are essential to me that are on CD and really could not be easily transferred even through our network. So I borrowed a CD and plugged it into one of the three USB hubs in the docking station (which is great, btw). One of the first programs I removed was Norton, and replaced it with Avast. If you ever replace Norton, make sure to search for anything having to do with that program. There are .dll files that will crop up and could easily freeze the computer.

Battery life: about two hours, maybe a little less. That's not terrific but the extended life battery is $350 although I have found it at $289, still a ridiculous price. It took two years before the price of my Sony laptop battery to come down to below $100, and I'm afraid I'm in for the same wait with the 280. I plug it in while waiting for a flight, but I still have to carry my i-River MP3 player for any flight over two hours.

Although I bought this for business, I also like to have it while watching a baseball game on TV or just being away from the office but within network range. So even with less-than-satisfactory battery life, it's still just the right size and weight for carrying around.

Here's a con that you won't hear from anybody else: on my trip last week, I actually got tired of answering questions about the computer. "What is it?" "Can you run xxx on that?" "Is it easy to surf with?" "How much memory..." OMG, it got to the point where I told one person it was just a big MP3 player that also had some pictures on it.

Neither here nor there: there are two cameras on this computer. Resolution isn't great, but I doubt if I'll ever use either. I haven't used the one on my cell phone: no reason to believe that I'll use these, although if I ever get involved in video conferencing...ya never know.

I didn't think I would get used to the pointing device, but I did, and it's quite easy. It brought me back to the days of my first laptop which is more than a dozen years ago which had a pointer in the middle of the keyboard. Oddly, Sony includes two extra key tops, but doesn't describe them as such and they don't look like they're the same size. I actually tried putting them on the stylus, and then the light dawned. Sony doesn't explain how to replace the caps either.

Big plus: Sony's tech support is great, and so far has been in the U.S. They've answered my serious and not-so-serious questions, and answered quickly. They're almost as good as (business) Dell support, and from me, that's quite a compliment because I give Dell business support a "10."

I still wouldn't spend more than $1,100 for this much as I like it. That means that I wouldn't get the one with Vista, and probably won't ever "upgrade." I'm quite comfortable with XP Pro, and I have too many programs that won't run on Vista and aren't going to be rewritten for Vista.

So after a month, even with the cons listed, would I buy this now? In a heartbeat! It's a traveler's delight especially if you can find a network. I've been fortunate to find secure networks, but not in my two primary airports, and I'm not about to subscribe or pay $15 an hour to get 10 minutes worth of email. When I get into a hotel, different story, but at least that's $15 for the day.

That leaves me with one other problem and a suggestion. The fingerprint security is fine though crackable. (Yeah, a real word.) Besides, if somebody wants your toy badly enough, there are ways... Can't leave it in a hotel room; can't always take it with me. In such cases, I leave it in a hotel safe. What a world.

(I did not write this on the 280. It would have taken ten times as long, and I'd be blurry. Still, it's amazing what you can get used to when you're trying to justify spending $1,100 on a third computer that wasn't exactly essential...)

I like this product, it's a full functioning laptop even though it's so small. When I was considering to buy a UPC, I considered two models, one is the sony one, the other is OQO. With the similar price, the Sony one has more features, eg. two cameras while OQO doesn't have one, the Sony one has better resolution, 1024x600 while the OQO only 800x400, the Sony one has a keyboard more closed to standard keyboard, Sony one has memory stick slot. But I like these better from OQO, thiner, screen a little bigger and the font size is bigger, hard drive is bigger (60G vs 40G from Sony).

In the end, I pick Sony because of two main reason, 1st is it has more features, 2nd is it comes to the market earlier than OQO. For the resolution, I found using 800x600 and make it fill the whole screen makes it's more readable and ok comparing to OQO.

This little FULL PC is a traveler's delight especially those that do much of their travel by air. Its size makes it a breeze getting through those long security lines and its ideal for the tray table inflight.

Screen is awesome - pc funtions are fast - keyboard takes a bit of time getting ue to.

Battery time is a bit shorter than expected.

While in dock an external mouse makes chores easier.

So many functions built in - haven't had time to even use them all.

Take this little gem with you anywhere and blow the socks off of PDAs!