Digital Trends

Sony VAIO TR1A

July 22nd, 2003 | by Ian Bell

Setup and use

Setup on the VAIO TR1A follows the typical Windows XP Home Edition routine. Simply add your user information and follow the setup prompts. The software included with the VAIO TR1A is the same mix Sony is offering on the most of their other notebook computers: Microsoft Works, McAfee Utilities and Sony's own software created specifically for the VAIO line.

The first thing we had to do was to try out the integrated web cam, called the “Motion Eye” by Sony, to see how easily it works. The Motion Eye can be flipped to aim either towards the user or away. There is a “capture” button located on the right hand side of the lid. Pressing this activates the web cam software and allows you to record yourself and broadcast it or take a digital still shot. We were a tad disappointed with the overall quality of both the live video and the images. Even at the highest settings quality settings the image appeared fuzzy and blurred.

While the integrated Motion Eye produces blurry images, the beautiful 10.6” display does not. Both the brightness and contrast ratio's appear almost perfect. Sony uses what they call XBRITE LCD technology to enhance the appearance of the display. We have seen this same display technology used on the Sony VAIO PCV-W20 lifestyle system reviewed back in April. The screen looks incredibly vivid and bright from viewing angles up to about 45 degrees. Because the screen has a glossy and smooth look and feel to it there is considerable glare in an environment with lots of sun, but overall the XBRITE display is better than most LCD displays we have seen.

Having a 10.6” screen may have the advantage of offering a smaller overall system, but those planning on using a notebook computer for extended periods of time may find the 1280x768 resolution on a 10.6” display fatiguing. While we found the screen resolution to be just about right, those new to the notebook world will more than likely find it smaller than desired. Sony addresses this issue by including a one touch screen zoom hotkey which when pushed will “zoom” in and change the screen resolution increasing the font and icon size.

The keyboard layout while small does not inhibit you from typing slower than what you would on say a 15” laptop. The right hand shift key is about half the size of what it would be on a larger notebook, so you will have to train your fingers to find it, unless of course you use the shift key on the left hand side. The key travel feels short and mushy unfortunately, so you will have to get used to it.

The touchpad is just the right size and cursor travel correlates to the screen resolution perfectly; it is not under or over sensitive. What is odd from a design standpoint is that the touch pad buttons do not line up directly below it, they are skewed to the right slightly. But because the buttons are rather long finding them with your fingers is easy. Overall the keyboard layout is good and feels pretty solid, making typing on the go easy to do after some getting used to.

Mobility is what the Intel Centrino chipset and Sony VAIO TR1A are all about. Packed with every Centrino chipset comes Intel's very own 802.11b WiFi network adapter. Our VAIO TR1A test system always had an excellent 802.11b WiFi connection with our Netgear WGR614 router and the range was outstanding even while pushing the 300FT barrier through walls. In fact the TR1A was able to get further range than the Sony VAIO PCG-Z1AP1 we reviewed back in May.