I was quite bored with my Acer Notebook and wanted a new one as I am a very tech savvy person and the Vaio ads on the TV really tempted me to get myself one.Luckily it was the Christmas season and I bought an NR series Notebook on sale.
What makes the NR series authentically distinctive for Sony is that the starting price is less than$800 . making the NR the lowest-priced notebook the company has ever fashioned.
Following are the specs for my lappy:
Screen: 15.4-inch screen WXGA(1280 x 800) with XBRITE-ECO(glossy finish)
Processor: 1.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5250Hard Drive: 160 GB hard drive(SATA, 5400RPM)
Memory: 1GB RAM(PC5300, 667 MHz, DDR2 SD RAM, 2 x 512 MB) - 4GB max memory
Optical Drive: DVD+-R Double layer / DVD+-RW Drive Ports
Slots: Four USB 2.0, one Fire Wire 400 port, one Express Card 34, oneVGA, one Memory Stick Pro reader, one SD card reader, headphone /line-out, microphone-in, modem, 10/100
Ethernet Wireless: Wi-Fi(802.11a/b/g)Graphics: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100(965 Express chipset with up to 251MB of shared RAM)
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium
Dimensions: 14.2 x 10.6 x 1.5 inches(WxDxH) Weight: 6.2 pounds
On the whole, the first impression that I had when I looked atthe NR series is that this notebook was designed to have a plush look and feelyet be reasonably priced. From the diversity of available colors to thefabric-like textured LCD cover and palm rests the NR is a uncomplicated yetarresting design. The"granite" silver version looks like metal at adistance but upon closer assessment it's clear that the notebook exterior ismade of chunky plastics.
The dual core processors that come with the VAIO NR-series offer more than sufficient performance for average use.Yes, I think that's more than enough. The 3DMark06 benchmarks are low.
wPrime is a program that forces the processor to do recursive mathematical calculations, the advantage of this program is that it is multi-threaded and can use both processor cores at once, thereby giving more accurate benchmarking measurements than Super Pi.
The keyboard on the VAIO NR is probably just normal fanfare for Sony notebooks, but it was one of the most distinctive features of this notebook when I first opened it.The keys are well mitigated and responsive to light touch.
The touchpad is nice and big with a very usable and responsive surface.The mouse buttons have a nice size, the buttons have noisy clicks.which I didn't like.
It has stereo sound via speakers located above the keyboard. With the speakers located on the top of the interior in this way they tend to direct the sound at you and make for a surprisingly enjoyable listening experience.
The VAIO NR runs extremely quiet with the 1.5GHz Core 2 Duo processor. The bottom side gets a bit warm, but temperatures remained comfortable enough to keep the NR on the lap. Temperatures are likely kept within acceptable limits thanks to a rather large heat sink visible through the vent on the side of the NR. Below are images with the temperatures listed in degrees Fahrenheit.
Sony claims the battery life of the standard 6-cell battery at 2.5-4.5 hours of use depending on how you use the notebook. During my test I obtained3 hours and 2 minutes of battery life using the notebook at half screen brightness, wireless on, and a mixture of web browsing and idling.Clearly you would need to have the screen brightness turned even lower and do little more than let the notebook idle if you want to obtain the full 4.5 hours that Sony claims.
The Sony VAIO NRis a stylish, affordable notebook with a solid set of features that is sure to be appealing to students like me or anyone looking for an attractive notebook on a budget. It features enough performance and build quality to keep most users happy.
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