Sony's VAIO PCGR505DT irons out most of the kinks of the company's earlier slimline notebooks, and it offers a very useful media-creation software bundle that's almost fun to use. The smallish screen and weak audio are less impressive, but the notebook's tiny form factor and good performance make it worth checking out.

The Sony VAIO PCGR505DT notebook provides an excellent example of why you should sometimes look past performance ratings and technical specifications when buying a notebook. Its standout specifications are its minimal size and weight, but this slimline notebook also sports an excellent software bundle aimed at hobbyist photographers and videographers who will find it worth sacrificing a few benchmark points.

The VAIO PCGR505DT is compact and light, at 3.8cm thick and a mere 2kg with AC adapter. Despite its subnotebook size, the VAIO is plenty powerful, packing a 750MHz SpeedStep-equipped Pentium III processor. Overall, the notebook feels very responsive. It does disappoint in the 3D graphics arena, as it uses the weak 3D support built into its Intel 815 motherboard chipset instead of a dedicated graphics chip. Battery life is mediocre at 2 hours and 33 minutes in our tests despite Sony's rating of 3 to 4.5 hours--although it's still much better than the previous SuperSlim model. However, a double-capacity battery is available as an option.

Sony bundles a number of media management apps that are clearly aimed at casual and hobbyist users, with sleek and easy-to-use interfaces that sport a unique look styled after the company's consumer electronics devices. These programs include the Media Bar multimedia player, PictureGear graphics manager, DVGate video editor, and Drag'n Drop CD burner software. All of these apps share a similar user interface, and while they're not exactly high-end, they offer plenty of power for the average home or small-business user dabbling in digital photography and DV editing.

When manufacturers try to enhance the Windows interface, it usually results in gimmicky and obtrusive software. Not so here. You pull up Sony's custom launcher application via a jog dial set below the touchpad, and once you get the hang of it, it really does make jumping to various programs a snap. You can also use it to access notebook settings and use it as a scroll wheel in apps.

Along with the typical notebook expansion ports, including a pair of USB connectors, the VAIO PCGR505DT sports a Memory Stick slot and an i.Link (IEEE 1394) port. One way Sony keeps the size down is by omitting removable media. When you need to access a CD or floppy disk, just clip on the optional SlimDock, which includes either a combo DVD/CD-RW drive (as our review unit did) or a DVD-ROM drive along with a floppy drive. DVD playback looked great on the smallish 12.1-inch TFT screen, but audio was disappointing. There's so little room for speakers that the Sony just doesn't put out a lot of volume. Audio CDs played a bit louder, but there was a lot of distortion evident at higher volumes.

The VAIO PCGR505DT's keyboard is very comfortable, a big improvement over Sony's earlier slimline notebooks. The layout's not bad overall, but dedicated page-navigation keys are missing--you'll have to use the Fn key in conjunction with the arrows.

While it doesn't offer standout performance or battery life, its slim and light package and useful software bundle makes the VAIO PCGR505DT an excellent road companion for DV and digital photography fans.

--by Denny Atkin

Sony VAIO PCGR505DT Superslim Pro
Company:Sony Australia
Ph: 1300 137 669
Price: AU$5,199
Rating:

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