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With the Sony VAIO VGN-P530H (the “Sony P”), Sony continues its long and oddly proud tradition of making overpriced, underpowered, completely useless netbooks. The netbook audience has always been a tiny niche market, mainly targeting people for whom a laptop is too big and a PDA is too small. Given the Sony P’s poor design and limited functionality, it measures up poorly against its competitors (especially since it is more expensive) and is destined to end its shelf life in the bargain bin.

The first hint of potential problems occurs when one looks over the spec sheet for the VAIO VGN-P530H. It features a 1.33 GHz CPU, 2 GB of non-upgradeable RAM, and 60 gigabyte SATA hard drive, and Windows Vista. Wait Windows Vista? On a computer that only has a one-gigahertz processor and two gigabytes of RAM? Believe it or not, yes. That’s where the problems begin, and they only snowball from there.

Before criticizing the Sony P to death, it is only fair to mention its strong points. It is a very convenient and portable computer. At less than ten inches long, five inches wide, and an inch thick, it is a very small computer, yet still comfortable to type on. At only 1 pounds, it is incredibly light. Although not quite small enough to fit in your hip pocket like the Sony commercials claim, it does fit easily into a purse or briefcase. It also looks very stylish. Once you look past the physical appearance, however, the problems start.

Users of the Sony P have one big complaint – there’s not enough power here for Vista. Microsoft says that one gigabyte of RAM and a gigahertz of processor speed will run Vista, but that’s a bare minimum. Speed issues abound with a configuration this light. The Sony P has barely enough power to keep its OS going, and can’t really do a lot once you load up other programs.

The obvious solution is to remove Vista and install Windows 7 or Windows XP instead, or even to turn the Sony P into a Linux machine. However, this can be pretty difficult. After all, like most netbooks, the Sony P lacks a CD-ROM drive. Installation from a flash drive can be extremely tricky, and to make matters worse, the new video card for the Sony P (the Intel GMA 500 chipset) has no available Windows XP driver, and there are similar problems with Linux. Installing Windows 7, which does have a driver for this video card, may be possible.

The next problem is that many of the useful features of the Sony P, such as the wireless Internet connection, capable of using ethernet, wireless 802.11b/g/n, and 3G Mobile Broadband from Verizon (for a fee), need special software from Sony. Much of this software is only useful on Vista, so switching to another operating system will cost you a lot of the functionality that the Sony P has to offer. Even if you decide to stick with Vista, the OS and all the software Sony has installed take up twenty GB of the fairly small hard drive.

The video card also has another problem. It has no dedicated video memory, forcing it to use up to 760 MB of system memory to do the job instead. This wouldn’t be a problem on some computers, but the Sony P is having enough trouble just running its operating system. This machine doesn’t have enough extra memory to go around, causing flickering, skipping, and slowdowns in DVD video, and rendering streaming video (such as YouTube) completely unwatchable.

The Sony P is clearly not meant to be a primary PC. Rather, it’s a secondary PC, designed to be highly portable to the exclusion of all other factors. If you need a basic computer for very simple operations-like taking notes in class, or entering data in a warehouse-then this tiny, light computer will fit the bill. For any other purpose, you can surely find a more powerful computer for less money elsewhere.

Ambrose Kurz has been into computers since they were as big as refrigerators and knows quite a lot about them. Currently, he provides dependable multimedia notebook pc parts and accessories at rock bottom prices. You won’t have to go anywhere else to get the best Sony VGN-P530H alternative that you deserve.

With the Sony VAIO VGN-P530H (the “Sony P”), Sony continues its long and oddly proud tradition of making overpriced, underpowered, completely useless netbooks. The netbook audience has always been a tiny niche market, mainly targeting people for whom a laptop is too big and a PDA is too small. Given the Sony P’s poor design and limited functionality, it measures up poorly against its competitors (especially since it is more expensive) and is destined to end its shelf life in the bargain bin.

The first hint of potential problems occurs when one looks over the spec sheet for the VAIO VGN-P530H. It features a 1.33 GHz CPU, 2 GB of non-upgradeable RAM, and 60 gigabyte SATA hard drive, and Windows Vista. Wait Windows Vista? On a computer that only has a one-gigahertz processor and two gigabytes of RAM? Believe it or not, yes. That’s where the problems begin, and they only snowball from there.

Before criticizing the Sony P to death, it is only fair to mention its strong points. It is a very convenient and portable computer. At less than ten inches long, five inches wide, and an inch thick, it is a very small computer, yet still comfortable to type on. At only 1 pounds, it is incredibly light. Although not quite small enough to fit in your hip pocket like the Sony commercials claim, it does fit easily into a purse or briefcase. It also looks very stylish. Once you look past the physical appearance, however, the problems start.

Users of the Sony P have one big complaint – there’s not enough power here for Vista. Microsoft says that one gigabyte of RAM and a gigahertz of processor speed will run Vista, but that’s a bare minimum. Speed issues abound with a configuration this light. The Sony P has barely enough power to keep its OS going, and can’t really do a lot once you load up other programs.

The obvious solution is to remove Vista and install Windows 7 or Windows XP instead, or even to turn the Sony P into a Linux machine. However, this can be pretty difficult. After all, like most netbooks, the Sony P lacks a CD-ROM drive. Installation from a flash drive can be extremely tricky, and to make matters worse, the new video card for the Sony P (the Intel GMA 500 chipset) has no available Windows XP driver, and there are similar problems with Linux. Installing Windows 7, which does have a driver for this video card, may be possible.

The next problem is that many of the useful features of the Sony P, such as the wireless Internet connection, capable of using ethernet, wireless 802.11b/g/n, and 3G Mobile Broadband from Verizon (for a fee), need special software from Sony. Much of this software is only useful on Vista, so switching to another operating system will cost you a lot of the functionality that the Sony P has to offer. Even if you decide to stick with Vista, the OS and all the software Sony has installed take up twenty GB of the fairly small hard drive.

The video card also has another problem. It has no dedicated video memory, forcing it to use up to 760 MB of system memory to do the job instead. This wouldn’t be a problem on some computers, but the Sony P is having enough trouble just running its operating system. This machine doesn’t have enough extra memory to go around, causing flickering, skipping, and slowdowns in DVD video, and rendering streaming video (such as YouTube) completely unwatchable.

The Sony P is clearly not meant to be a primary PC. Rather, it’s a secondary PC, designed to be highly portable to the exclusion of all other factors. If you need a basic computer for very simple operations-like taking notes in class, or entering data in a warehouse-then this tiny, light computer will fit the bill. For any other purpose, you can surely find a more powerful computer for less money elsewhere.

Ambrose Kurz has been into computers since they were as big as refrigerators and knows quite a lot about them. Currently, he provides dependable multimedia notebook pc parts and accessories at rock bottom prices. You won’t have to go anywhere else to get the best Sony VGN-P530H alternative that you deserve.