Sony VAIO VGN-A217M Laptop Reviewed

By Ian Bell October 30, 2004

Quote from the review:

“Sony’s VAIO A series is the king of cool. Sitting in the middle of the company’s range of multimedia laptops, the VAIO VGN-A217M is a visually attractive system that will suit graphics professionals thanks to its two-tone grey magnesium-alloy enclosure and large 17in. widescreen display. Based on Intel’s Pentium M processor and both built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, the VAIO VGN-A217M includes most features a causal multimedia user requires, but will also help to make a professional statement about yourself and your company. Unfortunately, the system is a little slow, its battery life is below par, and it comes with just 64MB of video RAM as standard. In addition, you’ll likely want to spend a little more to a get a higher resolution screen. If value and performance are critical, there are faster and better value systems. Having said that, Sony’s X-black display is in a league of its own.”

Read the full review

Editors' Recommendations

Publisher

I work with the best people in the world and get paid to play with gadgets. What's not to like?

Computing

This was the most exciting gaming laptop I reviewed in 2023

The lid of the Lenovo Legion 9i.

I've never used a laptop quite like the Lenovo Legion 9i. It's the only laptop I've given a perfect score, which you can read about in my Lenovo Legion 9i review, and it puts many of the best gaming laptops to shame. It's out of reach for most people -- it's certainly too expensive for me -- but I didn't touch another laptop this year that excited me as much as the Legion 9i did.

Sure, it's a powerful laptop, but when you're spending $3,000 (or more) on a gaming laptop, you expect peak performance. The Legion 9i stands out so much because it refines this class of laptop. It takes all of the elements that make 16-inch desktop replacements impractical and turns them on their head. It's not a flawless laptop -- no laptop ever is -- but it's the closest I've seen this year.
Slimmed down

Computing

This was the weirdest, most exciting laptop I reviewed this year

HP Spectre Foldable PC in several modes.

Each year, one laptop out of the many I review jumps out at me the most. It can be a singular outstanding feature or a combination of little things that sets it apart. It's not necessarily the best laptop that I've reviewed, because maybe it has some attribute that limits its appeal to a select group of buyers. But it's a laptop that's different enough that I'm not quick to forget about it.

For 2023, that laptop was the HP Spectre Foldable PC. On paper, it's an unusual machine with a 17-inch foldable display and some interesting potential use cases. In practice, it's so well-designed that it works better than some other laptops that seek to offer as much flexibility.
Sometimes it's the little things

Computing

I’m a laptop reviewer, and these were my biggest disappointments of 2023

Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 3 front view showing display and keyboard.

I recently praised five great laptops from 2023, ranging from the excellent and affordable Asus Zenbook 14 OLED to the spectacular and expensive $5,000 HP Spectre Foldable PC. But not all of the laptops from 2023 belong on our list of best laptops.

Some of them were downright disappointing. Maybe they were overly expensive, provided inferior performance, or otherwise failed to live up to expectations. I cover six of these disappointing laptops here.
LG Gram Style
LG Gram Style Digital Trends