Sony Minidisc Notebook

Sony's PCG-NV105 is a Mobile Pentium 4-based notebook, with all the bells and whistles that you would expect. It is also the first system we have seen on a desktop or notebook with a built-in minidisc drive. Using Sony's NetMD branding, the drive slots in under the Matsushita 16-speed CD-RW/DVD combo drive, and runs via a USB connection, making it hot-swappable.

To make full use of this drive space, two other hot-swappable options are included: a floppy drive and, rather strangely, a subwoofer. The floppy was a welcome inclusion but, considering the weakness of the stereo speakers on the notebook, enhancing them with a sub just seems pointless. Regardless, it's the mindisc that we're interested in.

Unfortunately this is not without its faults. It is not recognised as a data drive, and therefore does not show up in Windows Explorer. The only way you can access and transfer files is through Sonic Stage, a basic yet adequate media player application supplied with the notebook. Even then, only wav files can be transferred. Also, the majority of other media players, in particular Windows Media Player, could not see the drive. On the plus side, Sonic Stage does recognise track listings and any assigned track names.

While the minidisc drive is an excellent and long-awaited inclusion, the lack of access through more traditional Windows paths makes it little more than a toy. And a cumbersome toy at that. At 47mm high, the NV105 is chunky to say the least. This comes as no surprise, as the two main drives are placed one directly on top of the other. The size of the minidisc drive is such that it makes the notebook wobble when inserted; two small stands must be popped out from the rear to even the balance.

If Sony had put one bay on either side of the notebook, as on many IBM Thinkpads, the size could have been slimmed down. Alternatively, a second bay could have been put on the other side so more than one of the three optional bays could fit in at one time. We can only presume the internal layout would not allow this.

A multitude of other ports and drives cover the sides. Two Type II PC Card slots, as well as headphone and mic inputs, are situated on the left-hand side, and under a flap next to them are AV out, network, modem and mini-Firewire ports. Three USB ports at the rear are accompanied by serial, parallel and VGA ports underneath a plastic flap. The front has a Memory Stick slot and various shortcut keys such as one-touch email and Internet access. The keyboard feels good to the touch, with all keys present and positioned well. However, it does feel a little low on the ground; you don't have to push very far down in order to register a keystroke, so it feels a little unsettling to begin with.

Inside, the NV105 carries a 1.6GHz P4 chip and 256MB of memory running on Windows XP Home Edition. System performance is slightly higher than we'd expect for such a chip, coming in at an impressive 153 overall.

An ATI Radeon Mobility 7500 chip gave us 3,100 in 3Dmark 2001; more than enough to play Quake III on. The 15in XGA screen is crystal clear with a native resolution of 1,024 x 768.

Battery life is good at one hour 52 minutes, though slightly lower than Sony's previous P4 offerings. This is understandable considering the extra features on the NV105. The battery can also be easily removed, allowing you to recharge one while using a spare.

Besides our criticisms over its size and lack of proper implementation, the notebook as a whole is not only unique and featured packed, but also pretty good value, at £2,000. But a completely external minidisc drive would make this notebook far more practical.