VGN-TX

Overview

The Sony VAIO VGN-TX is a high-end subnotebook released in 2005 by Sony. It sets its focus on portability over everything else.

The VGN-TX surprises with its quality and design, sporting a silver carbon fiber case. This results in a very sturdy and durable, yet light and comfortable laptop. With such premium materials in such a small formfactor, it's no wonder that the VGN-TX only weighs around 1.28kg.

You could have the VGN-TX in two monotone designs: silver or white. Three two-tone designs were also available: the aforementioned silver and gray design, or silver with copper coloured lid, as well as an extremely rare limited edition "Premium Blue" lid, which had 2 batches of 1000 units released in 2005 as well as 2006 only in Japan. These were also released in Europe as a limited edition directly from Sony, which would come with a special authenticity certificate, although the number of units is unknown.

VGN-TX with a rose gold lid

As it's a small and portable subnotebook, the VGN-TX came only equipped with a range of single-core processors. This, in combination with the small screen and absence of a dedicated GPU, makes for a very power efficient laptop. A maximum of 2GB RAM also evidences, that the 11" laptop was not made for performance. With the included 7800mAh battery, the VGN-TX could be expected to last up to 7.5 Hours on a single charge. An optional extended battery could also be fitted, which doubled the VGN-TX's battery capacity.

VAIO TX in Premium Blue

The small subnotebook comes with an assortment of connectors and ports. Included are two USB 2.0 Ports, a VGA Out, Modem and LAN ports, headphone and microphone jacks, as well as an i-LINK Port. The Core Solo variant also added a fingerprint sensor. This doesn't make the VGN-TX a master of connectivity, but that's acceptable for an 11" laptop. Despite that, it features a DVD-RW drive, which is respectable for a subnotebook.

Heat and noise are a given, due to the VGN-TX's small size, but they are kept at a minium with the low-power CPU and the absense of a dedicated graphics card. At idle the subnotebook is barely audible, with 33dB. Under load the VGN-TX reaches a maximum of 42.3dB, as tested by NotebookCheck.

Windows XP Professional was offered as the operating system (Vista on later models), the VGN-TX came with a plethora of applications and software. Some examples being: PictureGear Studio, DVgate Plus, SonicStage, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere and Norton Internet Security.

The VGN-TX was superseded by the VGN-TZ in April of 2007.

Detailed Specs

Processor: Pentium M 753 1.2GHz / 733 1.1GHz / Core Solo U1500 1.3 GHz

Graphics: Intel GMA 900/GMA 950

Display: 11.1" 16:9 1366x768 WXGA TFT

RAM: 1x SO-DIMM, 512MB or 1GB soldered (upgradable to 2GB)

OS: Windows XP Professional / Windows Vista Business

Weight: 1.3kg

Daily Usage Today

When combined with a lightweight operating system, such as Lubuntu, the VGN-TX is still usable for some light modern tasks, such as web browsing and text editing. Gaming, be it 2D or 3D, is not going to be a good experience, due to the low-power hardware. Due to the older connector style 1.8" IDE hard drive, SSD upgrade options are limited, so you are mostly stuck with the original hard drive. These days, the UX is harder