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 suprises 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. Two two-tone designs were also available: the aforementioned silver and gray design, or silver with rosegold lid.

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.

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The VGN-TX was superceded by the VGN-TZ in April of 2007.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

Display: 11.1" 16:9 1366x768 WXGA TFT

RAM: 2x SO-DIMM (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.