New, light laptops: Dell Adamo and Sony VAIO VGN-Z610Y/B

Consumer Reports News: April 24, 2009 06:08 AM

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Sony VAIO VGN-Z619Y/B notebook. (Click to enlarge.)

Everyone loves a lightweight, at least when it comes to laptops. So we were excited to get one of Dell's new Adamo slim-and-light notebooks, as well as a competitor, the new Sony VAIO VGN-Z610Y/B. We'll be testing both in our next group of laptops, but here are some early impressions:

Both compete with the standard-bearer of the category, Apple's MacBook Air. The Air weighs in at 3 pounds, has 4.25-hour battery life, and is less than an inch thick. One of its big appeals is its sleek design. And that's where the Adamo steps up. Besides being less than ¾ of an inch thick, it's stylish-looking, with a cover that's half white plastic and half embossed silver. The Sony, on the other hand, is a plain-looking, flat-black laptop that's a bit thicker than the Adamo.

Still, looks aren't everything. The Sony's battery life was excellent—8.5 hours without an extended battery. It weighs just 3.2 lbs., and unlike both the Air and the Adamo, it includes a built-in CD-DVD drive. Connectivity options include two USB ports, mic and headphone inputs, a memory-card slot, and an HDMI port. You can also choose settings based on whether you want speedier processing or longer battery life. For security, there's a thumbprint reader.

While the Adamo is slimmer than the Sony, it's also heavier at 4 lbs. The lettering on the keyboard is hard to read even with the backlight on, and the keys are not spaced far enough apart from each other. The display is prone to glare. Unlike the Sony (but like the Air), the battery is not removable and it lacks a media card reader. There's a headphone input, as well as a port for an external eSATA drive and Ethernet. Battery life was 4.5 hours.

Price is a downside for both these products—we paid $2,000 for the Adamo and $1,900 for the Sony—but we'll have to wait for our tests to see how well they perform. We'll provide details soon in our laptop computer Ratings (available to subscribers). In the meantime, for more computer shopping help, see our free online Computer Buying Guide. —Donna Tapellini