Sony VAIO X505 user reviews (Japanese Import)

Pros Small, light, sturdy, stylish, portable, optimal business machine

Cons Most people say price, but this is only partly true

Summary Sony's X505 laptop is groundbreaking. As of last month (and I think also presently), it is the smallest and lightest fully functional notebook on the market. It has everything that a business (or possibly non-gaming college student) can want in a notebook. What is the point of a notebook with everything possible that weighs so much you never carry it around? This is the best notebook to own in conjunction with a desktop, which is how I use it.

I would like to completely counter all of the "ohh dear! it is so expensive!!" comments found in most posts here. To begin, almost every internal component was specially designed for this notebook. The 20GB HD is about the size of a compact flash card. The housing is made out of carbon (expensive but strong and heat resistant). It has no fans and uses a liquid cooling system. There are no components under the keyboard. Absolutely everything lies in the area directly above the keyboard. There is physically no room for built in bluetooth, which is one thing many people also complain about.

It is a "special series", and Sony has no plans as of yet for a new series based on this design. I was working for Sony at the CeBIT Conference in Hannover this year and know this computer insideout. People do not generally complain about how expensive a Bentley or Lamborghini is when these cars are purchased. The same rule applies here: This is (currently) the Bentley of notebooks. Don't buy it if you can't afford it. And if you can't afford it then don't complain because you can't.

Toshiba currently has plans for releasing a new "special" series, called the Dynabook SS. When this is released, it will be the only comparable notebook to the X505. It will also be about the same amount of money. So the lesson here is if you want the latest and greatest in technology you have to pay for it.

As an X505 owner, I would recommend it to any manager that travels and works or likes to carry around his/her notebook most of the time. A college student may also find it quite interesting for carrying around campus and using in lectures. With a desktop computer and some sort of synchronization software between the two computers (my personal setup), one should have no complaints.