Laptops are in high demand by students, professionals and home users. The specifications available today are truly amazing, but they can carry a high price tag.
The Sony VaioPCG-N505X is a stylish compact laptop launched in 1998. It weighs a mere 1.2 kg, with a 10.4" TFT screen.
<<<>>> With dimensions of 25.9 cm x 20.8 cm x 2.2 cm the laptop looks sublime. The laptop casing is silver with a blue battery department at the back of the laptop (where the lid folds).
There are several slots on the left hand side of the device, which include; a memory slot, AC adapter, USB (just the one port), microphone and headphones. The other side of the laptop comprises of the: Power switch (which is a slide button), a reset
button - which you press in and finally there is a slot to plug in your external disk or cdrom drive.
<<<>>> Now I'm fully charged up to write this opinion lets talk batteries. Okay this has to be my biggest gripe with the Sony Vaio, why? Well as soon as I turn the laptop on, 20 minutes later (if I'm lucky!!) an American synthesised lady informs me that 'your battery is low'.
It is not a fault with the Sony Vaio itself it was more a impulse buy with me, without reading such review sites as Ciao. If I'd done a bit of research before splashing out I'd not of bothered with this model.
So why didn't I just return it? I bought the laptop from Ebay. Partly I blame the seller for not explaining the batteries poor performance. However he wouldn't have stood a chance of selling it if he had. I also blame my impatience and have learnt a big lesson from this. I've owned the laptop for several years now and at the time, it cost me a few hundred.
The laptop comes with software called 'Battery scope'. There will be an icon on your taskbar with a picture of a blue battery (if the battery is fully charged) and a white battery and a red cross if the battery is about to die (your become very familiar with that icon!). On an additional note this software is incompatible with Windows XP.
You can buy a new battery from laptopshop.co.uk priced at £60.00. Which I consider quite steep for its life spam (half an hour - if your lucky).
PC World Business offer a power adapter for the car this can be purchased for £37.33 at the below web address: www.pcwb.com PSA CCC0673A - Power adapter - car ( external )
Additional details -------------------------- Sony Vaio N505X Voltage: 11.1 V Capacity: 3600 mAh
<<<>>> An important factor for any consumer to check. 64MB - small compared today's standards. I have never used the laptop to the degree where I have had to worry, but it seems quite ironic that my mp3 player stores more information than this device!
This may not be any consolation but you can upgrade the memory to 128MB (still not great huh?). The option is there and priced at £42.29 and can be purchased from orcalogic.co.uk - they are 'in stock' today (17/01/06).
<<<>>> I'm not going to pretend I understand all the technical side of computers but the laptop runs at 333 MHz and is a Intel Celeron processor. From my understanding the processors speed determines how fast it carries out instructions. Thus this is quite slow compared to today's laptops such as the Sony Vaio VGN-S5XP/B with a Intel® Pentium® M processor 760 2.0GHz, 533MHz.
<<<>>> This is a considerably old laptop and so the speed and graphics are not anything to write home about.
The keyboard has tiny keys - this may not be suitable for any rugby players or suchlike!! I apparently have tiny fingers and quite good touch typing/keyboard skills but I still get frustrated with the laptops layout. I'm half way through typing an essay and the cursor has suddenly moved up two paragraphs thus I'm typing unrelated words/work into an old sentence. I am constantly swearing at the laptop when using Microsoft word!
The keys are very sensitive, quite quick to respond and the touch pad is very simple to use. There is a function key to press with the F: numbers to for example to adjust the volume (Fn = function & F4)
Due to the poor battery performance this laptop is only worth its while if you don't mind being plugged in all the time. Seems slightly pointless when you can just use a personal computer, however if you stay over in hotels or in student housing then it might be worth it.
Because the laptop is so light and looks great, I'd advise any show offs (like myself) to buy it. If you want to do any real work which is of some importance - don't bother with the Sony Vaio N505X!
<<<>>> Ebay: These laptops are selling for around £100 if you're short of cash or just want a simple word processor I would highly recommend this model.
I have searched the internet high and low and because of the age of the device I am presuming it is hard to find. So if you are not put off by my review then I'd recommend looking on auction sites.
I'd go down the replacement battery rout - from my experience Sony batteries usually have amazing stamina. It may have been mistreated in a past life. I'm looking for a laptop currently and will probably go for a Toshiba. Richard.
nickyjackson2005 19.01.2006 17:59
Returning the read, it's really thin! The lap top I'm on at the moment is about 3 times the thickness!!!
Sweary 18.01.2006 10:43
I had a PGC900 and something - can't remember the exact number - also from 1998. It was a work computer and they let me "buy" it for £25 when I was made redundant. It was bloody brilliant and I only upgraded two years ago. Re the battery. Like phone batteries, they wear out so if you do buy a new one you should get about an hour and a half to two hours - depending what you're working on - of battery life before it dies. Mine had exactly the same problem and that sorted it out. It was never great but it could do around 2 hours before it died. Well worth investing that £60. Cheers Sweary.
Advantages: Ultra-portable, Magnesium alloy casing, Runs XP no problem!, cost just £90! Disadvantages: Battery life is about 1 hour, Low spec by today's standards
kenzo123 06.07.2007 (06.07.2007)
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Review of Sony Vaio PCG-N505X
Advantages: Ultra-portable, Magnesium alloy casing, Runs XP no problem!, cost just £90! Disadvantages: Battery life is about 1 hour, Low spec by today's standards
kenzo123 06.07.2007 (06.07.2007)
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Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Sony Vaio PCG-N505X
Jan 17th, 2006
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