Sony X505/SP Notebook Review

John Gaule writes "Earlier it was mentioned on Slashdot that Sony has introduced the worlds thinnest laptop, the Sony X505 which weighs just under 2lbs. Designtechnica has reviewed this system and compares it to the JVC Interlink 7310, Panasonic W2 and Sony TR1A laptops. Apparently Sony had to have a custom motherboard configured to get the CPU and hard drive in the right position for cooling. There is also no integrated WiFi but it uses an 802.11g WiFi PC Card."

RIAA, Bad luck

[jrockway]

I know slashdotters (like myself) love Sony's offerings... they're cool and neat looking, but remember that Sony is supporting the RIAA in all of the lawsuits. Also, the MemoryStick media that they back (and surely put in this laptop) is much more expensive than CF or SD or anything else.

Also, I just plain haven't had good luck with Sony products:

My NX60 stopped working one day for no reason (didn't drop or crush it), my stereo shocks me when i touch the case (so that's gone), my brother's PS2 died for no reason, my coworker's sony laptop's keys [letters on the keyboard] have all rubbed off ("how can I type now!?" "remember where the keys are" "what!!???"), etc, etc, etc.

My Multiscan200sf monitor is holding up quite nicely; that's a well-made piece of machinery :) Then again, maybe they didn't suck in 1997.

Note that I'm not flaming or trolling, I just think that most people on slashdot would be better-served by choosing a more open vendor than Sony.

Can a laptop be too thin? Too small?

[in_ur_face]

I dont know but IMO a smaller/thinner notebook is a very specialized product for a small market. I personally have a Dell Inspiron 4150 and I think it weighs in around 5-7lbs, but I think it is a perfect weight/size. When you go smaller you start to lose drives (ie, cdrom, etc..), I/O connections, and also the laptop is so light that if you *accidentally* snag your power cord then its to the floor w/ the laptop. I hate the devices that are too small... PDA/phones that try to be laptops (or laptops that try to be palm/small sized) are less user friendly.

Re:it breaks easily

[Anonymous Coward]

A fellow I know at college had a W2, and almost the same happened to him. He put his notebook in his backpack, which rolled from one step down to another, barely a one foot drop, and the panasonic dropped out of the side a few inches onto the concrete.

The result? a smashed screen and it wouldn't close properly. I'd ribbed him about how weak the thing looked, but didn't expect it to be so insanely fragile.

These things are notebooks, but I don't think they're meant to be portable, they're more like your grandmother's finest china tea set. So impeccably made, so fine, so well crafted... and not something you'd want to use for their supposed purpose.

(I bought myself a 12" powerbook btw. It's not as elegant as the W2, but stunning in its own right)

keyboard position

[planetsphinx]

ok, with the keyboard slammed against the outside edge of the deck, how the heck am I supposed to use this in my *LAP*?
Come on Sony.. move the keyboard back so I can rest my palms on the deck, and hold the laptop on my lap at the same time...

Re:it breaks easily

[jsahol]

Same velocity, different momentum, though, right?

Too small to be useful

[KirkH]

It's pretty cool, I'll give it that. But at $3500 or $4000 (depending on which case material you go with) it's just too expensive and too feature limited to be something I would go for.

No trackpad (have to use trackpoint or external mouse).
No built-in floppy or optical drive.
Have to use dongles for LAN and VGA out.
Have to use PC Card for 802.11.
Only a 20GB hard drive.
Max of 512MB RAM.
1 GHz Centrino CPU.

All your paying for is thinness and lightness. That may be enough for some, but not me. Get rid of all the dongles, include a CD drive, beef up the specs a bit and then we can talk. I don't care if you have to make it a little thicker and heavier -- it needs to be useful!

I suspect they're going for the mobile professional market. Marketing guys that will pay out the nose for the smallest, hippest item. Good luck to 'em.

Re:Laptop too thin.. too small.

[Trashman]

I dont know but IMO a smaller/thinner notebook is a very specialized product for a small market. I personally have a Dell Inspiron 4150 and I think it weighs in around 5-7lbs, but I think it is a perfect weight/size

To each his own. The notion of the perfect size/weight is subjective. I personally think the IBM T30/T40 is the perfect wieght at less than 5-lbs and it is still very functional.

Custom Designed Motherboard?

[LamerX]

What do they mean by custom designed motherboard? Is there some sort of standard for notebook motherboards? I thought they were all custom designed. Last time I checked my crappy Dell notebook had a custom motherboard in it too. I think maybe that was some kind of hype statement?

Re:Too small to be useful

[NanoGator]

"All your paying for is thinness and lightness. That may be enough for some, but not me."

It's not meant for you. It's a niche product. It's meant for business travellers.

I saw a few laptops sorta like this (very small, no externals to speak of) being used by journalists and business peeps at Siggraph a couple of years ago. Whereas I have an Inspiron. I love this machine but I'd be nervous as hell trying to navigate around the show floor with it tucked under my arm.

Non-integrated WiFi is lame

[alispguru]

Actually non-integrated WiFi is lame on all notebooks, but especially so on this one.

When it's ultra-light and ultra-thin, the goal is portability, right? This should mean I can close the machine, dump it into its bag, and run.

But you can't do that safely if you have a WiFI card in the slot with the antenna lump sticking out of the side, just waiting to break off or transfer a bump from the outside into the card socket (munging it and in all likelyhood your machine's motherboard).

Re:it breaks easily

[metal_priest]

Why do people say sony sux and then don't mention the model that they broke. Fact is that sony has a lot of cheap feeling plastic laptops with big megaherz, ram, hd and no quality. Perhaps you had the p4 vr505 or whatever they call it?
Anyways, I hate it how people say that macs are better. Everybody made fun of me for buying a vaio sr19(10" & 2.9lb) instead of a "portable"(5lb?) ibook. Well, since then at least 2 of my people had to RMA their laptops due to mobo failure and screen issues.
Don't believe me? Check nice ibook stories here [osnews.com].
So to each his own. Sony can make good laptops and apple might too. Know what you are buying instead of just betting your buck on brandnames. But for god's sake, stop this whole "Apple is holy, ppc is better bullshit".

Oh yah recently my laptop experienced a big weight dropped on it from over a meter. As a result there is a crack on both sides of it, but it still functions(except for the bent memory stick slot).

Re:No onboard RJ45 connection

[metal_priest]

Very funny. I belive their design goal was to squish the laptop into ridiculous dimentions. Hence the carbon fibre frame, weird kb placement, etc.

This laptop isn't meant to be a everything-for-everyone model. It's a marvel of engeneering exploring new ways of achieving portability in laptops to come. It's common that first generations of skinny laptops miss non-essensial hw.