Sony Vaio VGN-C1S/W.CEK.(laptop computer)(Product/service evaluation)

Byline: Cliff Joseph

Sony Vaio VGN-C1S/W.CEK

Price [pounds sterling]999 Contact http://shop.sonystyle-europe.com

Sony's Vaio VGN-C1S has no outstanding features but it strikes a balance between performance, portability, screen size and battery life.

As always the Vaio shows off Sony's flair for design, with a keyboard that is big and comfortable to use but neat and uncluttered to look at. The hardware specification is fairly conventional though -- a 1.66GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 1GB of Ram and a 100GB hard disk. It's not a top performer, but it does produce a solid and consistent set of results in our benchmark tests, and should be perfectly adequate for most home or business users who need to work on the move. However, like most of its rivals, it uses a low-cost integrated graphics processor, which means that it's not much use for 3D graphics or games.

One feature worth mentioning is the 13.3in screen. The lightest laptops all have 12in screens, which some people might find a little too small for tasks such as word processing or spreadsheet work. On the other hand, the 14in screens used by HP ...