Sony VAIO VGN-AW310J/H 18.4-inch review

Sony VAIO VGN-AW310J/H 18.4-inch review

 Sony's VAIO VGN-AW310J/H is the  least  expensive version of the AW series laptops that brings Blu-ray capability to a more affordable level. In doing this, Sony sacrificed a number of features that could have made it an exceptional laptop. Most notable of these is the 18.4-inch display that doesn't reach full 1080p HD video resolutions. Sony also didn't address the limited number of expansion ports compared to similar sized laptops.

Sony VAIO VGN-AW310J/H 18.4-inch advantages 
Blu-ray Combo Drive
Above Average Hard Drive
Well Priced
Cons
Large LCD Doesn't Support 1080p Video
Fewer Peripheral Ports Compared to Competition
Description
Intel Core 2 Duo T6500 Dual Core Mobile Processor
4GB PC2-6400 DDR2 Memory
400GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
Blu-Ray Reader and DVD Burner Combo Drive
18.4" WSXGA+ (1680x945) Display With 1.3 Megapixel Webcam
NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT Graphics With 512MB Memory
v.92 56kbps Modem, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11a/g/n Wireless, Bluetooth
Three USB 2.0, FireWire, HDMI, ExpressCard/34, 5-in-1 Card Reader, Fingerprint Scanner
17.2" x 11.4" x 1.6" @ 8.2 lbs.
Vista Home Premium, Works, VAIO Suite, Norton Internset Security 2009
Guide Review - Sony VAIO VGN-AW310J/H 18.4-inch Desktop Replacement Laptop PC

Jul 21 2009 - Sony's AW series of VAIO laptops brought a large LCD display and Blu-ray drive to their laptop lineup. The problem is that Sony's pricing is a bit high for a down economy. Enter the VAIO VGN-AW310J/H, a new lower cost version of the AW series laptop. It still features a fairly high $1300 price tag, but for a number of the features, this is reasonable especially for Sony.

The system reduces the cost by scaling back a number of the components. A lower grade Core 2 Duo T6500 processor replaces the P8000 series models. It still uses the same 4GB of DDR2 memory that keeps the performance at a reasonable level. The hard drive has also been reduced from a 500GB size to a more modest 400GB. While this is smaller, it still provides roughly 20% more storage space than the average desktop replacement 320GB drive size.

While previous versions came with a Blu-ray burner, the VAIO AW310 instead comes with a Blu-ray combo drive that can read Blu-ray discs while being able to playback or record to CD and DVD media. This isn't much of a downgrade though as blank Blu-ray media is still fairly difficult to find and quite expensive.

The big problem comes with the display. While it retains the Blu-ray capability, the screen resolution has been reduced to 1680x945. This falls short of the full 1080p high definition video capability. With a large 18.4-inch screen, this is really something that they should not have reduced. Sure, it still plays the movies back, just not as well as they could.

Sony also decided to keep the external peripheral ports the same as the previous AW models. This means it features fewer USB ports and lacks newer interfaces such as eSATA for high speed external storage. At least the system is still one of the less expensive avenues for those wanting to get Blu-ray in a larger media focused laptop.