Customer Reviews
Bad investment 
2007-11-26
If you buy this computer you will be sorry. The battery life is terrible. It is suppose to be a portable unit, but if you can't be close to power forget it. My battery only lasted less than 35 minutes when using. Then Sony does not offer a car charger for the thing. Sony should be ashamed !!
Sony did a good job - excellent UMPC 
2007-11-20
I am using it since last 20 days it is consistent; really nice product; This is one of the best PC I have ever worked on; the Cingular edge makes it even more powerful and enables connectivity wherever you go.
I would recommend this device for business users
Finally:
--Compact and excellent performance
--The only problem which I have experienced is with keyboard keys, they are very small
Excellent PC if tweaked a bit 2007-10-23
I've had a 380n for about 2 months now, and am more impressed with it every week. Sony has made some major blunders with this machine, but they're fixable:
(1) The machine runs "okay" on Vista, beautifully on XP. If you're technical, rip out Vista and upgrade to XP. Sony won't help at all with the drivers, but you'll find them in a neat little package (along with a lot of friendly support) at micropctalk.com.
(2) Sony loads up the system with loads of Crapware. Uninstall it.
(3) Sony loads up the hard drive with a hidden recovery partition. If you're technical, create a backup disk (Sony says how, or buy it from Sony), then erase the hard drive and start over without the extra partition.
(4) Increase the display DPI setting to 150%. Makes everything bigger and more legible on the screen.
(5) Install "RitePen," a free and amazingly accurate stylus-to-text interpreter. Now you have a perfectly functional touchpad.
(6) Get an Igo bluetooth keyboard ($50). Now you have a fully-functional keyboard when you need to write that 20-page document.
Once again, a remarkable machine, with great potential. Go for it.
EDIT: To the reviewer who only got 35 minutes on the battery--Sir, you need to charge the battery once in a while. I get about 2:30 on the standard battery, Vista people apparently get about 2:00. You can get a double-size battery from Sony for it, but it's expensive.
Excellent PC 2007-10-19
This is trully a portable PC. Despite a few comments i read before on how it may might be uncomfortable and small, i am really pleased with the size and tha capability it has. I do encourage those who may have second thoughts to buy it and enjoy it.
Clear picture tough handling 
2007-09-01
The unit is an amazing device, small light with all the latest communication features, The keyboard is not easy to use, the keys are small and embedded, so hard to reach for my big fingers, i would suggest a blue tooth add-on. The screen fonts are so small that even with my reading glasses it is straining on the eyes. The hard drive came with a 30 GB partition, the extra 10 are unaccessible (unexplainable with such a small drive. The drive also came cluttered of trial software Which took a while to remove not without some glitches thanks to vista. On the communication side it is exemplary all the latest tech is included and works well, one small problem for cingular wan, when traveling abroad you cannot use sim cards from other carrier so it is expensive to use, the device seemed locked to cingular network. Mine came without a user manual so i had to discover its workings the hard way. Blue tooth devices connected well, and the wifi worked fine. overall it is worth the price i paid for it on amazon.
beautiful but slow 
2008-06-24
(+) very nice design
(+) touchscreen functions work well
(+) decent screen size. very nice screen with high resolution.
(+) provided accessories
(-) slow. needs cpu upgrade & faster disk. more RAM would be nice.
(-) weak antennas. needs "n" upgrade.
(-) have to carry peripheral devices, so defeat the small size.
(-) small & crampy keyboard. typing is hindered by the raised edge.
(-) feel thick in your hands. should be slimmer like the OQO-2
(-) I HATE SONY BLOAT WARES. had to format hard drive and reinstall everything (make sure you have all drivers when do so).
(-) i wish the memory slot is SD.
(-) short battery life (1.5-2.5 depending on settings). need extended battery for meaningful on the road use.
(-) sliding screen scratches keyboard.
*** unless you absolutely are a technophile who love Sony products, i would not advise purchasing this UMPC. i had both this and the OQO-2. personally, i like the OQO-2 more. BUT i barely used these due to the slowness, the small screen size, and syncing data. having an EDVO-enabled WM cell phone or the iPhone takes away the ultramobility functionality of these UMPC.
i bought this + the extended battery + MemoryStick. big mistake / waste of money. sold them both on eBay.
Waste of money 2008-02-19
What a disappointment!
The UX-machines keyboard is almost impossible to type on, performance is very weak (very slow). The screen is way too small. There is no wire modem connecton (even on the stand). There is no CD/DVD drive. There is only one USB port. LAN connector is a separate "plug-in" thingy.
I do need a compact computer, so, I got the UX to replace an older 10"-screen laptop. However, when I need to work on the UX, I end up with plugging in an external screen, external keyboard, external mouse, external DVD drive. So, the set-up looks like a spider lying on my desk. I used to have a 10" screen ¾ normal size keyboard laptop, with built-in DVD. That was way MUCH better, than this UX toy! And the regular compact laptop was a lot more convenient to carry - no parts and pieces: all-in-one and ready-to-go, which is not the case with the UX.
In addition, I had to clean re-install the OS, re-partitioning the hard drive, to get rid of all of these Sony garbage programs that clog the memory and dramatically slowdown the computer.
Resume: Get a compact (10"-11" screen) laptop, which has EVERYTHING built into it (DVD drive, LAN, modem, etc), otherwise you will end up with carrying a lot more weight and pieces
Great Machine for Travel 2008-02-07
I'm more than impressed with my Sony VAIO VGN-UX380N 4.5" Laptop. It's surprisingly usable for such a small machine. What I like best about it, is that I a nearly fully usable computer anywhere I go. I use WiFi at home or at hotspots, and when there is no open WiFi, I plugged in my T-mobile SIM card for easy EDGE data access. (You have to call Sony for a SIM card unlock code to get T-mobile to work as it's ready for Cingular, they also have the full unlock procedure on their website.)
I'm used to using a BlackBerry, so the keyboard is no problem for me. I wind up using my thumbs to type mostly. (Plus, You can always add a bluetooth or USB keyboard).
As far as Windows Vista, I have other Vista computers, and I've got to say Sony did an excellent job making sure driver compatibility issues were ironed out. If you are afraid of buggy Vista, never fear this computer runs Vista with no problems.
I'm a computer consultant, and I've seen many small PC's which are built terrible without any consideration of hardware engineering, however this guy has good ventilation and has features like built in hard drive protection when it gets jostled around.
My two complaints are, (1) it comes preloaded with lots of crapware (like many other PCs do). I killed all the crapware, and did some googling for procedures on optimizing Vista, and it runs fast and efficient and (2) It uses Sony's proprietary memory sticks which cost more than traditional SD cards. (Then again everything Sony uses Sony's Memory Sticks).
I also found out that it disables the EDGE modem when you have the cover for the SD card removed. Which had me stumped for awhile trying to get the EDGE modem to work. I suppose that is a safety feature =)
Very good ultra portable COMPUTER.. 2007-12-22
Hi Everybody,
First, let me tell you what it is:
- 1.33 Ghz. Core Solo Intel processor.
- 1 Gb RAM.
- 1 320*200 pixels Motion Eye integrated camera on the front to be used as a webcam (the best i've seen to date. By far better than my Macbook pro's iSight)
- 1 1.x Mega Pixels integrated camera on the back intended to take picture and it even has a "capture" button but... the software leaves something to be desired.
- Biometric reader which beyond letting you login to windows, it's supposed to be used as your password assistance everywhere... i can't make it work the way it should...
- Integrated mouse and keyboard.
- 1 USB 2.0 port
- Microphone and headphones ports
- Memory Stick DUO PRO port
- Dock Port
- Integrated wireless lan, Bluetooth and EDGE wan technology (the same sloooooooooooow service you get on a GSM phone like iPhone when out of Europe to connect to the internet, UMTS should be better but. let's face it, we're far away from Europe in this matter)
Whar comes with it:
- The computer.
- The papers.
- One Wired Lan and VGA out port in case you need it on the run (it connects to the dock port and it's a reasonably small cable). I spent hours trying to know if i could attach an external projector to do a presentation or to connect to LAN or both.... well with this included adapter you can and because you're reading this, if this was a concern now you can use those researching hours for something more productive like... sleeping? :)
- One port replicator Dock station with 3 USB 2.0 ports, 1 VGA port, Wired Lan RJ-45 ethernet port, A/V out, 1 four pins IEEE 1394 firewire port.
- A very practical carrying case that you can attach to your belt (i didn't know this and bought the very unpractical and expensive leather case which i won't use anyway)
What i like:
- It's ULTRA sharp screen... make no mistakes, it's wonderful. I just can't emphasize it enough.
- It's design, let's face it... it looks great!
- It's usability, despite it's small sized keyboard ,it's designed to be used by your thumbs just like the rest of the computer.
- Finally... It Works!
What i don't like:
- It's an ultra portable computer but lacks of worldwide assistance and warranty.. which is a veeeery stupid policy from Sony... My MacBook Pro has Worldwide coverage like almost any premium priced portable just because it's portable so you can be here today and there tomorrow... and still be covered. but let's face it, Sony it's not a monopoly in consumer electronics just because the stupidness of some of their management. :(.
- Battery Life.
- Memory Stick instead of SD which adds no value but anyway... this is a Sony product and has to be as proprietary as it can be.
- Time you spend explaining almost all the people around you that it's not a PDA... yes... it works with Vista... Yes it has a Hard Drive... Yes, it's a complete computer.... No, it doesn't works with Windows Mobile nor Symbian... but anyway it's not the product's fault... it's just because it's so small which is it's main advantage.
My final comments:
- With the Dock, you can have a complete computer in your hands when on the road and a desktop PC when you're in home or office, even both. Just connect your monitor, wired or wireless keyboard/mouse and everything you should connect to USB/Firewire ports and you're done!
- The keyboard as well as the computer itself it's veeeeery well designed to be used with your thumbs. You can manage the mouse, the typing and everything with your thumbs and believe me, it works, most people complaints about it's tiny keyboard because it's small for their fingers and bla bla bla... but it is not designed to be used like your everyday keyboard, it's designed to be used on the road, while walking, etc. If you need to have a better keyboard with you when you're on the road and you can spare a table, i really recommend iGo stowaway bluetooth keyboard (formerly a think outside product). I have it and it couple veeeeery well with this computer... it even has an stand for the computer while typing.
- Prepare psychologically to explain to people what it is (the computer) everywhere you go but, if you like showing up... it's a very good tool for that. (i don't particularly like that)
Final words:
- If you like it and understand what it is... just buy it, you won't regret!
- If you need top performance because you're a serious gamer, just don't bother looking, at least for that use, buy a PSP which is cheaper and made just for doing it (gaming)
- If you want to have a veeeeeeery advanced iPod or i might say... Walkman... remember it only has 40 gigs and Microsoft Vista which is HUGE... but you can find 1.8" toshiba hard drives from 100 gigs to 120 gigs and maybe when you read it 200 or more gigs that you could use to upgrade your Vaio. Just as a curious comment, it uses the very same type of hard drives iPods uses.
- if 40 gigs are not too much, just imagine 30... because it has a 10 gigs restore partition. My recommendation, make your restore DVDs and then reduce this partition to it's minimum... BTW, this partitions lies hidden somewhere...
If only Sony had ears to listen to their customers... This should be a 7 stars product, even on a 5 star scale but... even when i like Sony, i can't understand why such an advanced and innovative company can make earing aid buds at least for internal use.
PP
Unpleasent 2007-12-21
I bought the SONY VGN UX 380N 4.5" Notebook.
This was the worst think that I have had .
The 380 is not powerfull enought to run VISTA and the 1G Memory (maximum) is not enought also. The computer is VERY SLOW and crash or freeze all the time when I launch 2 applications. It is impossible to have the camera with SKYPE.
I am realy disapointed because all my computers until today were SONY VAIO.
I will check with SONY the possibility to install WindowsXP
