- Very Compact Design
- Sturdy Carbon Fiber Case
- Relatively Powerful for Size
- Expensive
- Uses Slower DDR3 Memory
- Intel Core 2 Duo SU9400 Ultra Low Voltage Dual Core Mobile Processor
- 3GB PC3-6400 DDR3 Memory
- 160GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
- 8x DVD+/-RW Dual Layer DVD Burner
- 11.1" WXGA (1366x768) Wide LED Backlit Display With 1.3 Megapixel Webcam
- Intel GMA 4500MHD Integrated Graphics
- Gigagit Ethernet, 802.11a/g/n Wireless, Bluetooth, Sprint WWAN
- Two USB 2.0, FireWire, HDMI, ExpressCard/34, Memory Stick Slot, SD Card Slot, Fingerprint Scanner
- 11" x 7.9" x 1" @ 2.9 lbs.
- Vista Business, Works, VAIO Suite, Live OneCare
Mar 21 2009 - Sony's VAIO TT is probably one of their sharpest ultraportables they have built. With its sleek carbon fiber body and extremely small dimensions, many people might mistake this for a netbook rather than a full featured laptop. Even with its tiny dimensions, Sony has been able to put together a complete laptop computer.
The VAIO TT290 is driven by the ultra low voltage version of the Intel Core 2 Duo processor, similar to what is found in most of the ultrathin laptops. This gives the system some solid overall performance while limiting the amount of power that it draws from the batteries. While the system does use the new DDR3 memory standard, Sony has hampered the performance by using the PC3-6400 speed memory that puts it at the same level of performance as traditional DDR2 memory. They really should have gone with faster DDR3 or stuck with traditional DDR2 to keep costs down.
Probably the most amazing aspect of the VAIO TT290 is the ability to have a standard dual layer DVD burner in such a small package. This is something that most of the ultrathin laptops with their less than one inch height have decided to drop. Hard drive storage is a bit low with just 160GB but this is on par with most of the ultrathin's it competes with.
Even with the small overall dimensions, Sony has managed to keep a good range of peripheral ports on the VAIO TT. While the two USB 2.0 ports might seem few, it also comes with a iLink FireWire port, ExpressCard/34 slot, memory stick slot and SD slot.
The big problem with the VAIO TT290, as with most of Sony's laptops, is cost. This system is easily over $2000 with the least expensive configurations and models can easily go over $3000 with the SSD drives, Blu-ray drive, etc.
