Sony VAIO PCG-TR3AP3

In Brief

Wi-Fi road warriors need look no further than the VAIO TR series for stunning Wi-Fi range, light weight, and full-featured hardware with very few compromises. The secret key is the low-power Pentium M processor, which gives very good performance while allowing excellent battery life. But the VAIO TR's best feature is probably its XBRITE LCD screen, which has a superfine pitch (1280-by-768 in just 10.6 inches!), and is also super bright. A full complement of ports and slots makes expansion easy, and there's a built-in DVD+RW drive as well as photo/video camera. The only things we really missed were bigger hard disk and memory options.

In Depth

Sony's ultralight TR series models all have the same basic hardware design, with a 10.6-inch superfine LCD and weighing 3.1 pounds, varying only in things like processor, memory, OS, and storage options. The VAIO PCG-TR3AP3 reviewed here sports a 1GHz Pentium M, 1GB of RAM, a 40GB hard disk, and a DVD+RW drive, as well as built-in Wi-Fi B/G. The just-released TR5AP is exactly the same, but with a slightly faster 1.1GHz processor. Both list for around $3,000; other TR series models start at $2,200.

Oddly, Sony's own VAIO X505 gets more attention, thanks to its 1.85-pound weight, half-inch thickness, and sleek carbon case; but it's downright wimpy compared to the TR3/TR5, lacking an optical drive or built-in Wi-Fi (you have to use the PC Card slot for wireless), and with only 512MB RAM and a 20GB hard disk. Yet the X505 also lists for $3,000, hardly a bargain. If you want a true ultralight performance machine, tote that extra pound; it's worth its weight in chips.

In terms of Wi-Fi performance, the TR3 had the best range we've ever tested in a notebook, achieving good throughput over 50 feet away from the base station in every corner of our wood-frame test house. System performance was not as notable, as you'd expect in an ultralight, but was still very good.

The TR series design has not changed for a couple of years, but still looks good, with a silvery magnesium alloy case. The keyboard is slightly less than full size, but easy to get used to; more troublesome are the relatively small touchpad and mouse buttons. Still, we didn't have any major problems with it. My biggest design issue is the superfine 10.6-inch screen, which I sometimes found hard to read (the 1280-by-768 resolution is normally found on 15-inch LCDs!). Fortunately, the display is also super bright, which alleviates the fine print considerably.

The TR3AP3 has so many hardware and software features it's hard to know where to begin. On the port side, there's a full complement of USB, i.LINK, VGA, PC Card, Memory Stick, Ethernet, modem, headphone, and microphone connections. Plus there's that state-of-the-art DVD+RW drive and built-in video camera. Even most full-size notebooks can't boast all these bells and whistles.

In terms of software, the Sony sports a top-notch collection of multimedia applications, including Sony's own PictureGear Studio (photos), SonicGate (music), DVGate Plus (video) and VAIO Media Server (for sharing all those media files over a network). Then there's Microsoft Works, although we'd have preferred an option for Microsoft Office in what is obviously intended to be a business machine. Another shortcoming is the lack of printed manuals or recovery CDs. You'll need to burn your own, and use the online help files to learn about the machine.

Overall, however, the Sony TR3 is an exceptional Wi-Fi notebook, and the obvious choice if you're looking for a feature-packed machine in an ultralight form factor.