The giant in consumer electronics Sony is one of the driving forces in the Geek industry. Loyal readers of AkihabaraNews know that I'm not a big fan of Sony, especially when it comes to their policy concerning memory cards and even less when it comes to their prices, but I like their design a lot and especially their innovating concepts we can't resist buying, even though the U50/70/71 are not really that practical, but that's a different discussion altogether. So Sony creates PC's that make us dream because of their design or concept, and they also make these little monsters like the FS90 A Spec (that we have tested
here).
Today, we will focus on one of the lightest and most talked about PC's when it comes to style and thickness: the VAIO X505CP (Carbon).
As said in Lindt's advertisement for their chocolates, "a few grams of finesse in a world of brutality", the X505 represents this statement in an excellent way.This is the technical specifications sheet to illustrate the statement I just made:
After seeing the technical sheet for the first time, the most striking element is the weight:
780g... a PC with a Pentium M 1.1Ghz CPU, 512Mb of RAM, a 20Gb HDD and a 10" screen that weighs only 780gr?? Is this possible? Well, the answer is yes, it is possible and Sony has managed to pull this one off, and here are some pictures to prove it:
Without the battery
With the battery
Let's open the box and have a closer look at the contents. The X505 comes with a carrying pouch specifically designed for this model, a VGA/Ethernet dongle and an AC adapter.
Once the X505CP is closed, you have a tight little bundle packed with the best technologies (it's a Pentium M and 512Mb of RAM PC after all).
As you have seen, the X505 is not only light but also extremely thin. To give you an idea of the thickness, here are some pictures of the beast next to my
Qtek 9090 (of which you can find a detailed review here on PPCReviews).
X505 vs Qtek 9090, the thickest side of the beast
X505 vs Qtek 9090, the thinnest side of the beast
The Qtek 9090 on the X505's lap 
Let's compare the X505 with my trusted Vaio Z1 that refuses to die... Die, Z1, why don't you just die? I need an excuse to buy another laptop...
For your info, the Z1 has a 1.5Ghz Pentium M and a 15" screen.
The X505 on the Z1
The X505 and Z1 on their thinnest side
The X505 and Z1 on their thickest side
It's quite amazing to realize how light this PC really is once you pick it up... even to the extent that you feel some sense of fear using it, opening or closing the screen is indeed a bit scary because the hinges are designed in such a way that you really need to use your hands to really close or open the lid. This laptop really gives you the impression that it's fragile and could be broken in two just like that. After using the PC for a week, you really have to forget that first impression, because this PC is very well-built and robust (comparable to other PC's), and if you use it like you should use any laptop, you will not be able to break it in two. I would like to stress this and assure you that there is no concern to be nade when it comes to the build quality and robustness of the design.
Keyboard-wise, you have to realise that form (style, weight and thickness) was more important than functionality. No panic though, the key stroke is as good as the industries average and better than for example the IBM A20m I have next to me here at this moment. What is less poractical, especially in the beginning, is the usage of the Pointing Stick. They kays to click the mouse are located on the edge of the laptop and it's not always very easy (at first) to use it in a comfortable way, but it's merely a matter of getting used to than a design flaw. However, the IBM ThinkPad line has a better Pointing Stick than the ones you can find on this X505 and U50/70/71. To end this chapter about the keyboard, it has to be noted that this laptop is not really very practical when it's used on your knees or lap because the package is very light and the buttons are placed on the edge of the laptop, and as result of this design, it's sometimes impractical to use the keyboard and mouse and the computer might be unstable when used on your knees.
You will ask me: "So my dear Green Pig, where did you put the DVD/CD-drive?". Well, my friends, where on earth would you put a DVD/CD-drive in this package? There is no space for this optical drive, and for this purpose, you have a (powered) FireWire port made in Sony (on the picture you can find it on the right, with on the left 2 USB ports and a port for the VGA/Ethernet dongle). So the same logic applies for the VGA and Ethernet ports, they are no longer located on the unit itself but on a dongle that you shouldn't forget when you want to use these functions.
Other disadvantage of this PC is that it has no built-in WiFi. If you want to connect to a wireless network, you will have to purchase a PCMCIA card that Sony sells for this PC. The space restrictions and the desire to make the device as light as possible make that built-in WiFi had to be discarded. In my opinion, this is not really a big problem, as the wireless LAN card offered by Sony is a very good one that does not protrude too much from the side of the laptop and the laptop can be stored in the carrying pouch together with the WiFi card. It would have been a shame to include WiFi but sacrifice the PCMCIA port... at least now, you have the choice to get a PCMCIA WiFi card or not.
Performance-wise, this machine is not really designed to do something more that Word/Excel/Powerpoint and some emailing, so the target audince for this PCare young dynamic executivesthat only have one thing in mind: use the lightest and smallest PC possible for work-related purposes. Moreover, this PC's (512Mb) memory cannot be extended.
Finally, these are 2 pictures to please our Linux fans: the PC runs flawlessly with this OS and I can also add that this is the case on a U71P
Thanks again to GeekStuff4U.com for this test device.
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