Sony Vaio VGN TZ170 Review

Overall Rating

Small, light, thin. Have the carbon fibre model ~ I like it.Battery time is good. Keyboard layout is good.

Have had a hard time finding a decent hard case for it, but; that isn't a fault of the laptop.

Upgraded the system RAM to 2Gb (only one slot! Its max ram.) and am left with a one gig stick that I cant use.

It came with Windows Aero pre-loaded and no separate O/S disc! - I confess to feeling a tad cheated by this sheer "meanness".

Bought it in Canada (2008) expressly for business and is now a solid tool after I took off M$'s "flakey" Aero (crashed 3x in the first 20 mins.) and put Debian (Linux) on it instead: the only thing I can't get working in Linux is Sony's proprietary Memory Stick, but; I won't lose any sleep over it. :) I now have a robust WiFi enabled ultra small laptop without the; crashing, nag screens, viri, etc. ...and it has a, secure, bulletproof firewall. Boot time is also much improved and ...I love it.

I had looked at lots of other internet capable devices, but this device (it seems to me) is just the right size to be realistically productive. The qwerty keyboard is 'just' big enough to type comfortably and I can browse the internet (11" diag. screen) without a magnifying glass and still see the bigger pictures (pun also intended). The laptop fits in my vehicle's glove box easily and it's low power consumption doesn't drain the car's batteries too fast.

I have had some 'very serious problems' with all of my Vaios in the past but nothing I haven't been able to fix myself. I find there are no guarantees in life, only; how one deals with the moment at hand. Sony do tend to try and pack a lot into the box.=)

I value it as a snazzy bit of kit and my absolute ideal of the "perfect laptop!"