Aral Balkan

Why, oh why, does the latest ultraportable notebook from Sony, the Vaio TX3, have a TV tuner and a DVD drive?

I wish Sony would make an ultraportable without a DVD drive (I don't know about other people but I rarely use a DVD drive on the road). While they're at it, they can remove that TV tuner too.

I'd love to see a no-nonsense ultraportable that's as thin and light as possible while not skimping on performance. Ideally, it would use flash memory in place of a hard drive. Add to that a nice Core Duo processor and at least 1GB RAM and I'd have my dream machine.

Maybe Apple will come out with a tasty ultraportable sometime early next year.

Darn, I had my heart set on a new TX3 but a Core Solo just isn't going to cut it, I don't think, and I don't want to lug around a DVD drive and TV tuner everywhere for no reason.

Update: I'd go for a Lenovo X60 but its display resoluion of 1024x768 is a bit too low for dev work in Flex Builder, Flash, After Effects, etc.

Comments

• To answer the question: Because it's Sony! Have you ever seen a decent piece of hardware made by Sony?!

  by sascha/hdrs on 2006-06-18 18:30:34

• Every PC is too slow for After Effects, you better want a battery of computers for that ;-) Anyway After Effects, Digital Fusion, Shake all cool applications, though.

  by Weyert de Boer on 2006-06-18 23:26:38

• Those iBooks are really small and compact... I figure if they make any smaller macbooks, youd be hard pressed to find a machine that has similar performance at the same physical size/weight. (Not to mention power consumption). As for video editing on the run, have a look at http://www.apple.com/pro/profiles/hoffman/ 2 man crew and a G4 Powerbook put together those Nike World Cup ads.

  by tunaranch on 2006-06-19 01:52:06

• i was recently shopping for ultraportables and it seems that notebooks with external optical drives aren't as common any more? at least in my admittedly limited looking around. tis a shame, it's a great way to reduce weight IMHO.

  by bunnyhero on 2006-06-19 04:54:08

• You should note they didn't use After Effects or similar tools for that ad if you have to please Apple's page. As you might know rendering aint the fastest things to do. Anyway you can't have a enough power for rendering :-)

  by Weyert de Boer on 2006-06-19 09:31:00

• Aren't there any decent custom build laptop companies out there? Of course thats not so easy as with desktops but someone must be reputable for it?

  by DannyT on 2006-06-19 15:18:22

• I'm with you on the TV tuner, but I like computers to come standard with a DVD burner now. Games are mostly all coming out on DVD. I don't play many these days, but I've noticed that it's becoming standard practice. Likewise, Linux distributions are offering the DVD option instead of half a dozen CDs. I'd prefer to carry around one DVD, especially if I'm travelling. I don't doubt that a lot of software will continue move to DVD instead of CD, though it may not be important since they'll continue to provide the CD option for a while too.

  by Josh Tynjala on 2006-06-19 16:58:52

• i have a lenovo x60 and plug it into a ultrabase docking station at home and at work, where i have a big monitor keyboard/mouse setup. i used the exact same setup with my old dell x300, and found it was perfect- i just needed to eventually upgrade the machine. i find the laptop resolution isn't too bad for occasional use, especially if you're mainly coding, and the computer itself is fantastic. i was looking at sonys, too, but i keep hearing that they just don't hold up. i throw my laptop in a messenger bag every day- it needs to travel well. the macs are tempting, but they haven't made one yet without an internal drive, have they?

  by kathryn on 2006-06-20 18:39:02

• Hi Kathryn: I'm mainly worried about 1024x768 with Flex Builder. I present at that resolution usually (mirroring a portion of the 1680x1050 screen I have on my current 15" Acer) and it's not something I'd like to experience daily. (For coding it would definitely work but I tend to go back and forth between code and design view regularly.) AFAIK, there isn't a Mac without an internal drive and probably never will be :) I wish they made updated versions of the Vaio X505 with core duo processors -- now that would rock!

  by aral on 2006-06-20 23:16:13

• I'm looking for a new notebook and i cant resist the dell xps m2010. Complete with is own briefcase i shall be kicking major ass with this baby

  by Bjorn on 2006-06-21 12:36:23

• The Ultimate notbook computer I'd love to see a no-nonsense ultraportable that's as thin and light as possible while not skimping on performance. Ideally, it would use flash memory in place of a hard drive. Add to that a nice Core Duo processor and at least 1GB RAM and I'd have my dream machine Maybe Apple will come out with a tasty ultraportable sometime early next year. ejazs Laptop Computers

  by ejazs on 2009-03-02 06:26:27