Sony Vaio VGN-N31M

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Reviews for the Sony Vaio VGN-N31M

70% Sony VAIO VGN-N31M/W laptop Review
Source: Pocket Lint Archive.org version
We’re great fans of Sony’s ultraportable and high-end notebooks but we’ve never been too taken with the company’s entry-level machines. The main problem is they tend not to live up to the build quality or innovation of the more expensive machines. However, the VAIO VGN-N31M/W may be about to change all that. With a street price of £699 (inc. VAT) this is about right for a mainstream machine capable of handling a wide range of tasks. The look of the notebook is impressive. The white plastic case with silver keyboard is certainly striking and the feel of it when closed is solid and robust. Most of this rigidity is in the lid, which neatly protects the screen. Open the lid up though and you’ll find the body of the machine isn’t quite so solid.
7 von 10, Preis/Leistung gut, Mobilität gut, Ausstattung mäßig, Display schlecht
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 11/05/2007
Rating: Total score: 70% price: 80% features: 60% display: 40% mobility: 80%

Comment

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 is an integrated (onboard) graphic chip on Mobile Intel 945GM chipset. It is a faster clocked version of the GMA 900 and supports no hardware T&L (Transform & Lightning) accelleration (which is required for some games).

These graphics cards are not suited for Windows 3D games. Office and Internet surfing however is possible.

» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Graphics Cards and the corresponding Benchmark List.

Intel Core 2 Duo: This is the Core Duo and Core Solo successor with a longer pipeline and 5-20% more speed without more power consumption. As an addition to the Core Duo design there exists a fourth decoder, an amplified SSE-unit and an additional arithmetical logical unit (ALU).

The Core 2 Duo for laptops is identical to the desktop Core 2 Duo processors but the notebook-processors work with lower voltages (0.95 to 1188 Volt) and a lower Frontside bus clock (1066 vs 667 MHz). The performance of equally clocked notebooks is 20-25% lower than Desktop PCs because of the lower Frontside bus clock and the slower hard disks.

T5300: » Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Processsors.

15.40":

15-inch display variants are the standard and are used for more than half of all laptops.

The reason for the popularity of mid-sized displays is that this size is reasonably easy on the eyes, often allows high resolutions and thus offers rich details on the screen, yet does not consume too much power and the devices can still be reasonably compact - simply the standard compromise.

3.1 kg:

A laptop with this weight is comparatively heavy and less designed for mobility than for use at the desk. Therefore, the devices tend to shine less with battery life than with a large screen and higher performance.

Sony: Sony Corporation is one of the largest Japanese electronics companies. The company was founded in 1946 under a different name and initially produced rice stoves. The company launched the first transistor radio. In 1958, the company was renamed Sony. Sony is a combination of the Latin word sonus (sound) and the English word sonny (little boy). Today, its core business is consumer electronics. The company is engaged in the development, design, manufacture and sale of electronic equipment, instruments, devices, game consoles and software. Sony operates in the following segments: Gaming and Network Services, Music, Images, Home Entertainment and Sound, Imaging Products and Solutions, Mobile Communications, Semiconductors, Financial Services and Others.

70%: This rating is poor. More than three quarters of the models are rated better. That is rather not a purchase recommendation. Even if verbal ratings in this area do not sound that bad ("sufficient" or "satisfactory"), they are usually euphemisms that disguise a classification as a below-average laptop.

» Further information can be found in our Notebook Purchase Guide.

Devices from a different Manufacturer and/or with a different CPU