Model Number

Sony Vaio UX380N

Editor's Note: The UX180P is discontinued, as is the UX280P. Read our review of the Sony Vaio UX380N with a gig of RAM, slightly faster CPU and Windows Vista .

A few things are certain: death, taxes and that Sony will release some unbearably cool new piece of technology every year. Last year it was the PSP, this time it's the Vaio UX series. We'll cover the UX180P, which is the US version of Sony's new Micro PC. Shying away from the UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC) design, introduced in late May 2006, Sony decided to do it their way and create yet another highly mobile concept in full Windows XP computing. Indeed, the UX is quite different from the Samsung Q1 UMPC, and bears more similarity (conceptually) to the OQO model 01. Sony perhaps learned from the OQO's shortcomings, thus releasing a more solid, usable machine for $200 less than the model 01's original price. Certainly it's not cheap at $1,799, but we're happy to see any kind of downward price trend in groundbreaking hardware

Let the acronyms fly: the Vaio has WAN, LAN and PAN, not to mention WiFi. OK, that means it has an integrated Sony Ericsson GSM radio which supports GPRS and EDGE (WAN), wired 10/100 Ethernet (requires the included dongle or docking cradle since those each have a RJ45 port), Bluetooth (personal area networking) and 802.11b/g. The unit has the Intel Pro/Wireless chipset for WiFi, which is a part of Intel's mobile package. It's reliable, comes with good management software and good security support. The Vaio has decent WiFi range, though not as good as full-sized Vaio notebooks. It's on par with the Samsung Q1 and some of the stronger PDAs for signal strength and beats the OQO model 01. Should you need better range when far from an access point you can use Intel's power management software to increase reception (and power consumption, but not by much). Bluetooth behaves well (if such a thing can ever be said) and the Sony uses Toshiba's Bluetooth stack. You can use it with Bluetooth stereo headphones, GPS, mobile phones and PDAs among other things.

The built-in EDGE radio supports both EDGE and the slower GPRS standard. It's strictly for data and there's no software for making voice calls.There's a SIM card slot under a tiny hump on the left side, affixed with a single tiny phillips head screw (the door must be closed securely or the Vaio will complain that the SIM door is open). So yes, you could pop your phone's SIM in there, but by the time you take out your phone's battery, remove the SIM, unscrew the door on the Vaio and pop the SIM in there you could've already checked your email with your BlackBerry or Treo. Life is easier if you can leave the SIM in there, should you plan on frequent EDGE network use. Or use your Bluetooth phone as a wireless modem, though we found we got better download speeds using the EDGE radio rather than Bluetooth. The UX is sold locked to Cingular (odd thought, now even notebooks are locked to cellular providers). But you can call Sony support to get an unlock code should you wish to use another carrier's SIM card in the Vaio. Cingular's connection manager software is pre-installed and is easy to use (though it's an older version than that currently available on Cingular's web site). It comes pre-configured to work with Cingular's data service (ISP.cingular), though you can create your own profile for Cingular's other data service (MEdiaNet, which we tested) and even other carrier's services such as T-Mobile if you've unlocked the EDGE radio. The UX has very good reception on Cingular's network and we got around 145k. Do raise the antenna, it gets you two bars more reception. The UX180P comes with a 30 day Cingular trial, and current Cingular customers get a hefty discount on service.