Review: Sony Z505NR notebook, and recommendations for new laptop requested

From: Brian Eable (beable+unsenet_at_beable.com.invalid)
Date: 12/28/04 

Date: 28 Dec 2004 16:25:50 +1000

I bought a Sony Z505NR notebook in Yokohama in February 2000. Now after
about 5 years of use, it's time for a review.

Hardware:

CPU: Pentium 3 @ 500MHz
HDD: was 12GB, now 40GB
RAM: 256MB
Video: 1024 x 768 x 16bit (Neomagic 2.5MB video RAM)
Network: Intel EEPro100 100baseT ethernet
Sound: Yamaha YMF744

At first I installed Red Hat Linux on the notebook, and I used that
for a while until I got tired of how Red Hat would slightly change all
the configurations of standard software for no apparent reason. Then I
switched to Linux From Scratch, which I used for a couple of years
until I changed to Debian. I didn't have any major problems with any
of these installations.

The laptop is thin and light, which makes it portable unlike some
of those "desktop replacement units", which look like you'd need
a forklift to take them anywhere. With the extended battery, the
computer can operate for a few hours without mains power.

Pros:

- 500MHz CPU is fast enough for most uses. Normally it runs below 10%,
  making me think a 50MHz CPU would be enough.

- thin and light, for easy carrying (this might be because there are
  no internal floppy or CD drives)

- should be quite cheap to buy one now second-hand

Cons:

- quite difficult to take the computer apart to replace the hard drive
  - it's like a jigsaw puzzle

- 256MB of RAM is not really enough for me. With three web servers, a
  proxy server, a database server, a dozen xterms, a few emacses, a
  couple of web browsers, and assorted other junk, it uses up all the
  memory and about 170MB of swap space. It might be enough for a less
  demanding user.

- Similarly, 2.5MB of video RAM isn't quite enough to run quickly at
  1024 x 768 x 24 bit. It runs fine at 16 bit, but I'd prefer 24 bit.

- have to carry extra stuff if you need a floppy drive or CD drive

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Five years of use is pretty good value for a laptop, I reckon. But,
due to insufficient RAM, I'm now considering getting a new laptop. If
anybody knows of machines which meet these approximate specifications,
I'd be interested in hearing about them:

Specifications (in order of importance):

- 1GB RAM (expandable to 2GB would be good)

- 32MB video RAM (or more, of course)

- easy to get Linux running on it

- hard disk 40GB or bigger

- sound card that works

- reliable (who wants a broken laptop?)

- good value for money (is this the same as cheap?)

- good battery life (say, 4-8 hours)

- wireless networking

- not too heavy (5kg is too much; 3kg is marginal; less than 2kg is good)

- not too big (I can't understand the trend to gigantic laptops)

- modem that works 

-- 
 a house-blowing wolfen sneezer / might be a porcine tortfeasor. -- plorkwort
                              http://beable.com

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