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.
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