Sony VAIO
With seven different series of VAIO notebooks that cover the gamut from ultra-portable to desktop replacements, it’s hard to know where to even begin describing them. From big, hulking laptops with 17 inch displays, to tiny handhelds that resemble Palm Pilots more than fully functioning PCs, the VAIO line of notebooks truly has a model for every need.

The smallest entry in the laptop arena, the UX series looks like a smaller version of its cousin, Sony’s Playstation Portable. With a 4.5 inch LCD screen, it’s easily the smallest and lightest laptop ever made that still packs as much power as it does under the hood. The unit features a small keyboard mounted into the case, which slides out from the bottom when the user has the need to enter text into the operating system. And when it is not in use, the keyboard just slides back underneath the console so the user can hold it in his hands like a gaming system. The display is a touch screen as well, so the user can input data using the included stylus, eliminating the need for a mouse, which would just wind up taking up space. Besides, it’s more fun to poke at the screen anyway, rather than using a mouse to guide a cursor around.

The VAIO UX runs on an Intel Core Solo processor, and while that’s not the fastest chip in the world, it is certainly more than adequate for any task that you’re going to use this device for, such as editing documents, browsing the web, and checking email. Programmers and video editors aren’t really going to be using this tiny screened mobile computing device for their processor-intensive work, so a larger, faster processor isn’t necessarily needed. Plus, with such a small footprint, it has to be very cramped inside the case, which isn’t exactly good for a big time processor that’s going to be putting out a lot of heat.

The UX also has an integrated Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN) adapter, which interfaces with cell phone towers (and hotspots where available) to give the user internet access all across the country, in most populated areas. One can purchase a data plan from a cell phone provider to use this feature, to eliminate once and for all the painstaking search for a free wireless access point. Prices for plans are coming down quickly, so an unlimited plan can now be bought for less than a hundred dollars per month.

The verdict: while I wouldn’t necessarily run Photoshop on the VAIO UX, it is an outstanding little mobile computer, and it can provide a valuable link to your email, the web, and all of your documents when you’re not at your desktop or laptop.