Sony Vaio C1MW PictureBook Review 160
daanger0us writes "There is an excellent review of the Sony Vaio C1MW PictureBook that uses the Transmeta Crusoe CPU and has a built in camera so you can capture all those special moments. Here's an excerpt:
'Size is not the only identifying attribute of this VAIO. The built in Motion eye camera is really the most intriguing part of the design - and probably the selling feature. The camera is built in on top of the screen and can flip to point to or away from the driver. The software loads at the push of the capture button and live video begins showing up within seconds. JPEG shots or MPEG2 video can then be recorded and replayed quite easily. With the included 30 Gigabyte hard drive a quick calculation shows that about 10 hours of streaming video and audio can be recorded at a time before running out of room.'"
Re:Why not just get a digital camera (Score:2, Informative)
Machine is out for over a year now (Score:5, Informative)
It's a nice machine, sure, but worthy of a slashdot frontpage post a year later?
hmmm (Score:5, Informative)
here is the meat (Score:3, Informative)
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Sony VAIO C1MW PictureBook Review
Date: October 4th 2002
Author: Benj Mauck
Score:
Related Link: Sony Style
Introduction
In case you still think the PDA & notebook are still distinguishable, guess again. Sony's new VAIO C1MW PictureBook Series Notebook blurs the boundaries of both form factors and offers a solution to impress your family, friends, and colleagues. But at a cost of about $2000, can it really compete? Read on to find out...
Features:
Two very notable features set this Sony Picturebook apart from competition; first and foremost - its petite proportions. The form factor is halfway between a PDA and a notebook; yet with nearly all the features of a full size notebook. Unfortunately it is not quite small enough to fit in your pocket, yet not quite big enough to have a full size keyboard and screen. This might leave some people wondering if there is really a need for such a crossover vehicle in the electronic realm - something we have also been pondering. The half-height LCD (1280x600) and slightly compressed keyboard probably will eliminate the device from many business, home, and gaming markets. Yet there are certainly some benefits - especially when computing on the bus, train, or plane in coach class - where even a laptop can seem bulky. The intermediate size would also allow lugging around only a small backpack or large purse. Wearing it on the hip or in the pocket will unfortunately not quite work as well as a PDA. But at only 2.2 lbs, the extra weight is nearly inconsequential if you are already using a briefcase or backpack.
Size is not the only identifying attribute of this VAIO. The built in Motion eye camera is really the most intriguing part of the design - and probably the selling feature. The camera is built in on top of the screen and can flip to point to or away from the driver. The software loads at the push of the capture button and live video begins showing up within seconds. JPEG shots or MPEG2 video can then be recorded and replayed quite easily. With the included 30 Gigabyte hard drive a quick calculation shows that about 10 hours of streaming video and audio can be recorded at a time before running out of room. The possibilities with this are actually quite interesting. The immediate application that comes to mind would be recording business meetings or lectures at school. Because the camera lens is extremely small and can flip toward the front of the room, it is far more inconspicuous than to manipulating a video camera or even a tape recorder in class. In fact it is doubtful that that it would be recognized for anything but a PDA or calculator in school. The video quality is fairly impressive, though the resolution is only 640x480. Playback may drop a few frames if other applications are going - but will look smooth after burning it on CD and playing it when you get home on your desktop. No need to be stationary while recording, but do not expect all the features of a camcorder either. Video editing software is included to allow for some decent home video creation immediately after recording.
Extended battery life is the biggest boast of the Transmeta Crusoe CPU inside this Sony Picturebook. Unfortunately it is also one of the more difficult to benchmark, as this CPU does voltage and frequency scaling on the fly to limit power consumption according to need. A clear comparison can be made only with a standard load, such as DVD playback. Starting with a full battery we were able to make it to just before Wesley, Fezzik and Inigo Montoya storm the castle in The Princess Bride. That is exactly 75 minutes: maybe long enough for some of those new fangled movies like MIB II, but not long enough for a true classic. Obviously the included external CD-W/DVD draws a large portion of the power, and drastically reduces the battery life. For more common sporadic usage (including benchmarking, video capture, and idle time) we were able to demonstrate an average battery life of between two and three hours. This is comparable to many notebook computers - despite some claims of the CPU manufacture otherwise. Of course, a larger battery is available if your main concern is finishing your movie on the airplane.
Several other features are notable. There is one type II card slot - which would be perfect for an 802.11b wireless card. Built in stereo speakers provide adequate volume. The audio quality during DVD playback was good - as we would expect from Sony. The high resolution (1280x600) screen is excellent for watching wide screen DVD's, although we had to play around with the settings for a while to get the widescreen DVD to fill up the entire width and height. Unfortunately this size is not so convenient for office style applications - where viewing full pages is preferable. In such cases it would probably be a nice feature if the monitor could rotate 90. Games and graphics also suffer due to the limited height. Fortunately a port replicator is included to allow simple docking and connection to a full size monitor. The data transfer abilities via memory stick, ILINK (IEEE 1394), and AV in/out allows quick & easy access to many nice toys: camcorders, cameras, and gadgets. Of course modem and Ethernet are also included to talk to big brother - the PC.
Setup and Installation:
As expected no unusual setup or installation is necessary. Windows XP Professional is installed, as is Corel WordPerfect Office 2002. Boot time was one minute thirty seconds - perhaps a bit on the slow side when compared to other laptops, and even slower if compared to PDAs. Ample documentation is provided - but none is necessary to start playing. One push of a button pulls up the video capture program, momentarily turning the monitor into a mirror.
Benchmarks:
Not intending to replicate benchmarks taken elsewhere on the Crusoe we have just run a basic set. PC Mark 2002 gave a score of 1606/1440/339 for CPU/Mem/Hdd. Below are results from Rightmark and CPU Bench. The performance on most metrics shows it slightly lower than a PentiumIII at the same frequency. This may be disappointing to some given that most similarly priced laptops have nearly twice the performance. But clearly raw performance was not the intention of this device & must be weighed accordingly.
Find the latest reference results on http://cpu.rightmark.org
Re:I tested one out! (Score:3, Informative)
And the production version uses XP, not CE.
Re:love the size, hate the ... (Score:3, Informative)
Fujitsu p-2000 (Score:5, Informative)
I'm amazed the p-2000 doesn't get more press, it packs everything I need in to small package without using any external gadgets.
Re:Machine is out for over a year now (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Fujitsu p-2000 (Score:5, Informative)
I have one for job costing, and my notes are as follows:
I don't use the touch screen.
Small enough to open in coach class in a airplane and still use the keyboard.
Apps take a bit to start up, due to the Curusoe doing it's code morphing thing.
Hibernate works wonderfully - be up and running in 15 seconds after opening the thing up.
No serial port. USB dongle reqired to telnet into serial boxes.
Cheap keyboard.
$1200 less than the Sony.
Free USB Floppy drive that you can boot off of.
160 min of battery life. (really)
Only one year of warranty.
Only availabe from fujitsupc.com (nobody else stocks them)
Do note: the P-2000 does come with a weight saver - you can skip the CD-RW/DVD and get the P-2000 down to 2.6 lbs. Fujitsu makes a extra battery that will fit where the CD-RW/DVD normally does.
I chose the P-1000 due to cost issues - like I said it's $1100.