If you’re looking to upgrade to a Blu-ray laptop for under $1,000, the Sony Vaio NW160J might prove to be just the right pick. Well-executed and attractively-styled, the slightly-above-midrange notebook offers plenty of hardware features, but is priced above similar machines with the exact same configuration, though not by much.
Key specs of the NW160J include a 15-inch display, 2.1 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T6500, 4GB of DDR2 RAM, Mobile Intel PM45 Express chipset, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570 graphics and 320GB of HDD. As you can tell from the details, it’s a gaming-friendly, entertainment-capable system, while managing to stay at a portable size.
The NW160J is a well-made machine, with a gorgeous screen, one of the best keyboards we’ve ever used (though, there’s no separate number pad), very responsive touchpad and sturdy construction. Chassis itself sports a very interesting patterned design that makes the notebook look a little different from the slew of generic computers around.
An interesting addition to the laptop is a pre-Windows OS with a built-in browser, allowing you to surf without powering up the entire system. It also comes with Sony’s usual set of proprietary bloatware, which nobody really uses, but they’d rather burden you with, anyway.
Display manages a 1366 x 768 resolution, which means you can’t watch 1080p movies right on the computer (there’s an HDMI out, though). Regardless, the NW160J offers terrific, hitch-free movie playback, with ample size and brightness. Speakers are good, but lack more volume.
Overall, the Sony Vaio NW160J offers a good way to spend $929 on a computer. With a good set of hardware, plenty of multimedia power and excellent overall package, it’s worth every penny.
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