Photo gallery: Sony Vaio VGN-TT15GNSony's T series has always represented the ultimate in ultraportable computing. The latest incarnation, dubbed the TT, epitomises everything the series stands for: it's attractive, has great connectivity and is highly portable. It doesn't come cheap, though. SonyStyle.com.au is selling the entry-level machine for a cool AU$2,999, while the top of the range model commands a quite staggering AU$3,999.
Design
The Vaio TT is very compact in size, sitting somewhere between the largest netbooks and the smallest ultraportables. The chassis measures 279x24x199mm and weighs just 1.3kg, making it ideal for lugging to and from business meetings.
Sony has done an exceptional job styling the TT — it's right up there with the best laptop in any category. There are two main versions: the TT15GN (reviewed here), available in gold, black or red, and the TT17GN, styled in black with a few upgrades on the mainstream — a U9400 processor, 4GB RAM and Blu-ray burner.
Open the lid and you'll be greeted by the same colour scheme and an isolated keyboard with keys that are slightly smaller than the norm. However, there is a 2mm gap between each key, so if you're a little off with your aim, you're less likely to hit an adjacent key by mistake. This works well in practice, with high-speed touch typing a definite possibility for those who are capable.
Sony's got the mouse right, too. The trackpad is relatively large and smooth and has dedicated swipe zones at the far right and bottom edges for scrolling vertically and horizontally with a simple gesture. The selector buttons, which are typically very small on laptops of this type, are good too — they're actually bigger than those you'd find on many desktop-replacement laptops and have a smooth action.
The number of ports on the TT is about right, all things considered. On the left side there are two USB ports, a four-pin iLink (aka FireWire) port, an ExpressCard slot, and behind a flap labelled "HDMI", there are HDMI and Ethernet ports. The flap, which is tethered to the chassis, looks rather unsightly when hanging loose, but at least it keeps dust and debris from two of the laptop's most important ports. On the right lives a D-Sub video output port and DVD rewriter drive, which is a huge bonus for a machine of this size.
Features
The TT 15GN series comes with a 1.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU plus 2GB of RAM, while the TT17GN ships with a quicker 1.4GHz Core 2 Duo and 4GB of RAM. The performance delta between these systems isn't enormous, the bulk of the price difference being created by the Blu-ray burner in the TT17GN. The integrated Intel Graphics Media Adapter X4500 MHD on both models is capable of decoding 1080p Blu-ray, but in our eyes, Blu-ray is a luxury best reserved for your main desktop PC.
Storage isn't a primary concern on laptops of this type, since the TT is more likely to be a second PC than your main computer. It's therefore no surprise to learn the TT15GN uses a 120GB hard drive. If you really need extra storage, there's always the option to upgrade the drive yourself, or buy a USB hard drive or memory card.
Ordinary DVDs look fantastic on the 11-inch display anyway. This has a native resolution of 1,366x768 pixels, so DVDs are scaled up to match this, while 1080p video is scaled down. It is bright, has good colour reproduction, and the glossy black finish isn't so glossy it prevents use outdoors.
The TT series comes with a fingerprint reader for logging in without entering a password. This is linked to a trusted platform module (TPM), which provides an extra level of security. It can, for instance, encrypt your data in such a way that thieves cannot remove your hard drive and extract important files.
Performance
All versions of the TT offer balanced performance. They're by no means the quickest laptops in the world, but they're fast for their size and offer long battery life. The 1.2GHz Core 2 Duo CPU in our TT15W clocked up 2,259 in the PCMark 2005 benchmark, so it's significantly quicker than your average netbook, which tend to score approximately 1,500. We didn't expect the graphics performance to be up to scratch, and it wasn't — it achieved just 654 in the 3DMark 2006 benchmark, which is par for the course in any laptop using an integrated Intel solution.
If there's one thing the TT should be renowned for, it's its battery life. It lasted a very commendable three hours 51 minutes with its CPU running at full tilt in the Battery Eater classic benchmark. In the more relaxed reader test, it lasted a very impressive six hours two minutes. That's not exactly Sony's claimed nine hours away from the mains, but it's highly impressive nonetheless. Running our torturous DVD playback test, with all power saving off and screen brightness and volume set to maximum, the battery lasted three hours and four minutes — still quite impressive.
Conclusion
If you have the money, you shouldn't hesitate to buy the TT, no matter which version you choose. It looks phenomenal, is comfortable to use and is exceptionally portable. Netbooks offer similar functionality for a fraction of the price, but if you're not affected by the credit crunch and don't mind people laughing at you for blowing so much cash on a second computer, you should definitely join the TT club.
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