The Sony Vaio Z1RMP is a great looking notebook that’s also a joy to use. It’s fully featured yet remains slim and reasonably light. The inclusion of both WiFi and Bluetooth will make it an attractive proposition to anyone who needs to stay connected on the move, and the price is impressive considering the specification. Unfortunately the battery life is well below par for a Centrino solution and tarnishes an otherwise sparkling package.
Note
Sony informed me that the poor battery life on the Z1 could have been due to Mobile Mark removing Sony’s custom power management application during install. Since I am always keen to investigate any possible explanations for unexpected results, I asked Sony to send the Z1 back to me for further testing.
This time when I ran Mobile Mark, made sure that Sony’s custom power management application was present and the result was a bit more encouraging. This time the Z1 turned in a battery life score of three hours and eight minutes, which is 44 minutes more than the previous tests. It should also be mentioned that the Mobile Mark performance rating dropped by eight points as well, but that shouldn’t have a huge impact on everyday use.
Although, three hours is still nothing special by Centrino standards, it’s a major improvement. So if you were put off by the very poor battery life in the original test, you might want to take another look at the Z1.
ManufacturerSonyModelVaio PCG-Z1RMPPrice1,554.21URLwww.sony.co.ukDimensions (WxHxD)316x39x247mmWeight2.1kgProcessorIntel Pentium M 1.5GHzMemory512MBHard Disk60GBOptical DriveDVD/CD-RWScreen14.1in TFTNative Resolution1,400 x 1,050Graphics ChipATi Mobility RadeonGraphics Memory16MBModemV.92 56KNetworking10/100 EthernetWireless802.11b, BluetoothI/O Ports2 x USB 2.0, FireWire, D-SUB, RJ-45, RJ-11, headphone, mic,Operating SystemWindows XP ProCard ReaderMemory StickWarranty1yr Collect & Return
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