March 6, 2006

Sony VAIO BX Notebook - If It Was a Car It Would Be A Benz

For the Small Business Summit 2006 I had the opportunity to work with Sony's VAIO BX Notebooks. The particular notebook I tested and continued to try out, is a powerhouse of productivity and connectivity. While the basic notebooks sold on the market today have the usual compliment of USB & FireWire, decent sized hard disk and pretty good screens, the Sony VAIO BX goes way beyond the usual.

It reminds me of a great car. Sure all cars have tires, air conditioning and maybe even cruise control. But not every car has dual climate control in the front and back, heated seats, remote ignition and more.

The Sony VAIO BX notebooks (note some of these things are options and some are standard) comes with Secure Digital and Memory Stick ports, a dual touch pad and pointing stick for cursor movement. At the top of the screen is a built in camera for on-demand video conferencing. You think you won't use the camera, but when you are on a 2 hour train ride using the BUILT IN Cingular Wireless broadband network - you'll find plenty of time to communicate with your clients beyond just email. Of course if you can get near a WiFi, dial-up modem, Ethernet or Bluetooth network this notebook can connect you just as well.

Sony doesn't skimp on security but provides a built in finger print reader to enhance security but also to make it EASIER to authenticate your use of the computer. Passwords need to be remembered, get lost and are not very secure - fingerprints are.

Sony's notebook offers several hidden gems - for example with one button you can turn off all your wireless connections. Why? Security?

The notebook itself is important but Sony does not skimp on support. There's a range of standard and basic support options that Sony offers, which you can check out here.

I've been saying for years that Lenovo ThinkPads were the best notebooks money can buy. Sony might just steal that crown or equal them.

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