Sony VAIO VGN-TZ21WN/B

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Review

If you’re willing to pay the price, then an ultra-portable is by far the best option for the commute to work. At just 1.2kg, Sony’s VGN-TZ21WN/B is so light you’ll hardly notice it, and its compact size means it will fit into even the tiniest of travel bags. 

It’s impressive physique is all thanks to the carbon fibre case, something that Sony has used to great effect in its ultra-portable range over recent years. Yes, the lid feels incredibly thin, almost suspiciously so compared to a normal laptop, and you will have to take a little more care than usual when chucking other items into a bag with it, but it’s a small price to pay for such portability.

We can forgive the amount of flex in the lid as it does at least suggest that the Sony can take the odd knock in its stride — after all, it’s better to flex than to snap. And it’s the 11.1” screen that’s the Sony’s greatest asset. With a 1366 x 768 resolution and the usual X-Black technology, it’s bright, vivid and incredibly sharp.

The TZ21WN/B is a real pleasure to use and looks stunning, too — even the hinge hasn’t been forgotten by the designers. On the left end sits the power socket and on the right glows the power button, and the overall look is wonderfully sleek and stylish.

On a laptop of this tiny stature, a poorly designed keyboard is enough to write-off an otherwise attractive deal, yet the TZ21WN/B’s is comfortable. It takes a bit of getting used to, as the Scrabble-like keys are more widely spaced than on traditional laptop keyboards. But once you’ve become acclimatised to its quirky design, the 2mm or so gap between each key proves to be a surprisingly useful aid for touch-typing. Those with larger fingers may find the keys just a little too small though, so we’d advise trying before you buy. The keyboard’s styling did split opinion in the office — whether it gives it a babyish my-first-keyboard look or a real iconic style is a matter of personal taste — but it’s certainly distinctive.

The mouse buttons are responsive and well-positioned, and the fingerprint reader between them pairs up with the internal TPM chip to improve security. Travelling workers will also appreciate the integrated HSDPA adapter, which will have you online wherever you are, adding further to its superb portability.

A jukebox function makes perfect sense on a laptop of this size — the InstantON AV mode can play music directly from the 100Gb hard disk without loading Windows, thus conserving power. Unfortunately, the speakers prevent it from fulfilling its full entertainment potential, as they are quiet, tinny and sound distorted at anything approaching a decent volume.

Despite the TZ21WN/B’s tiny size and low weight, it manages to squeeze in an optical drive, so with a pair of headphones it’ll make a fine DVD player for long journeys. And the battery life will be no problem at all — we got almost seven hours from it so it’ll safely carry you through the longest of commutes.

Unfortunately, there has to be a compromise to all this portability and it comes in the performance department. Sony has opted for one of Intel’s low-voltage Core 2 Duo processors. With a thermal design power (TDP) rating of just 10W, the 1.06GHz U7500 has frugal power requirements and also needs less cooling to keep it running. But even with 2Gb of RAM, you won’t want to have more than one application running at once, though as long as you don’t overtax the U7500 it rarely feels sluggish in use.

This trade-off in performance is one that needs to be made and given the Sony’s many charms it’s one that we’ll happily take on the chin. The price is extravagant, which leaves the Sony dangling just out of reach of the average consumer, but if you can afford it there’s simply nothing else out there to match Sony’s latest ultra-portable.

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