Thanks to its svelte, silver finish and overall good looks, the Sony VAIO VGN-NR310E looks more expensive than its $599 price tag. But while you get a large and bright glossy display and a DVD burner for a bargain-basement price, don’t expect more than basic productivity performance. This laptop is best for word processing, checking e-mail, and browsing the Web. Anything more causes it to wheeze.

Design

We don’t typically expect much in terms of pizzazz from a $599 notebook. But the VGN-NR310E stands out with its classy, modern look and sturdy feel. The VGN-NR310E measures 14.2 x 10.6 inches and is 1.2 to 1.5 inches thick. Its full-size keyboard sits below a 15.4-inch widescreen display and has good punch to it; typing felt natural. The trackpad continues the silver, brushed-metal design, and we appreciated its large size.

The VGN-NR310E has two USB 2.0 ports on the left, along with a 8X DVD±RW drive. On the front of the unit are two card-reader slots: one for SD Cards and one for Memory Sticks. On the right is a 34mm ExpressCard slot, two more USB 2.0 ports, an i.LINK Interface (FireWire port), headphone and microphone jacks, and a VGA output. The Ethernet, modem, and power inputs are on the back. There are few bells and whistles on this value-priced VAIO, which means no webcam or quick-launch media buttons.

Display and Audio Quality

While the whole of the VGN-NR310E feels sturdy, the DVD±RW drive felt flimsy, and we needed to push a bit aggressively to close it. Once we had Two for the Money playing, the picture looked quite good on the 15.4-inch display (1280 x 800 pixels), so long as we were sitting right in front of the system, though we noticed some graininess. The screen will serve its purpose for just one or two on a love seat, though: Vertical viewing angles were good, but if you’re sitting eye-level with the display and lean just 20 degrees left or right of center, the image begins to turn negative. The speakers were loud, but as is typical with laptops, the sound was tinny and thin on bass.