Sony VAIO T350P/L

Why We Picked It

Road warriors have plenty of ways to stay connected with today's notebooks, from Wi-Fi hotspots to plug-in cellular connection cards. The problem with going the former route is that it's not always easy to find a hotspot and it can be a real chore to log on. Cellular PC Cards are very convenient, but they can be easily lost or stolen.

Sony answers the call for always-on wireless with its VAIO VGN-T350P/L notebook, the first consumer laptop to have built-in wide area network connectivity. This tiny three-pound ultraportable taps into Cingular's EDGE network ($80 per month for unlimited data), offering speeds of up to 160 Kbps virtually anywhere you go in the U.S. (that’s about three times faster than dial-up). Now other notebook makers are scrambling to catch up with Sony’s innovation.

 

Users benefit by being able to surf the Web, download e-mails with attachments, and even stream Internet radio without having to hunt for a hotspot or worry about their cellular connection card.

The VGN-T350P has a single rubbery antenna that's attached to the right side of the lid. To easily connect with one click, the T350P/L includes Sony’s SmartWi technology. This enables users to instantly toggle between the notebook’s Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections by pressing Fn/F1. You’ll find a hard-wired Wi-Fi On/Off switch to turn off all of these connections when you want to save power.

Despite its extremely compact frame, the VAIO T350P/L boasts a 60GB hard drive, CD/DVD playback and volume controls, an embedded Memory Stick reader, a PC Card slot, two USB 2.0 ports, and a FireWire port. The T350P/L is forced to use a relatively small 10.6-inch screen in order to fit into its tight dimensions, but this is a beautifully crisp, bright WXGA widescreen display built with Sony’s XBRITE technology that’s ideal for watching DVDs, if not word processing.

Realizing that the road warrior who needs a WAN connection from his notebook will often be using the system for extended periods of time away from a power outlet, Sony has endowed the VAIO T350P/L with extremely low power consumption, thanks largely to its Ultra Low Voltage 1.2-GHz Pentium M 753 processor. The system ran for a remarkable 4 hours and 53 minutes in our MobileMark battery life test.

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