A few weeks ago we told you about the VAIO UX280 that was modded with the 1.2GHz U7600 ULV processor and scored an impressive 30,069 in the Crystal Mark benchmark program. This time it is a UX490, the latest UX model, which was modded with the U7600 and the Crystal Mark scores are something to behold. MicroPCTalk forum member Ahn did the modification to another forum member’s UX490 (computercowboy), which involved removing the 1.2GHz Core 2 Solo CPU, and putting in its place the 1.2Ghz Core 2 Duo U7600 ULV. After putting the unit back together, the unit scored an incredible 45,999 in Crystal Mark!

Take a look at the graphs comparing the UX280 U7600 to a factory UX490 and the modded UX490 U7600. The biggest reason that the UX490 U7600 scored a higher total than the UX280 U7600 is the zippy 32GB SSD (compared to the UX280′s 40GB HDD). As you can see in the graphs below, the UX490 U7600 did some serious work in the FPU category and scored much higher than the UX280 U7600. I’m not quite sure what factor caused the large jump in FPU score. The most likely bet seems to be the contrast of SSD vs. HDD, but to my limited knowledge, FPU is all done on the CPU so the SSD shouldn’t have a large affect on the FPU score. Does anyone have any other guesses?

I think I can say for sure that computercowboy’s UX490 is the fastest (non-overclocked, thanks Brett) UMPC out there, and probably has a higher power:volume ratio than many full sized computers out there. Are there any challengers to compete for the throne?

[Micropctalk]

Jenn from Pocketables.net notes that the Sony VAIO UX490 has gone missing from SonyStyle.com. This isn’t abnormal for Sony. It’s been seen before, however this time it seems a bit different as Sony has completely removed the UX section from their website. This is the first time that there hasn’t been at least one UX model for sale on SonyStyle. Without the UX490 there is nothing under that category, so the whole section has been removed from the site.

I think the big question is whether this is an indicator of Sony moving away from the UX line and instead replacing it with the netbook. Sony is rumored to be taking advantage of VIA’s OpenBook design which would help them bring a low-cost netbook to market in a relatively short period of time. Does that conflict with the UX line? I would say no. The two are in completely different categories. The netbook is a low-power, low-cost device targeted toward first time PC users or users who don’t need a lot of power. The UX line, on the other hand, is a high-power premium device targeted toward mobile professionals. Sony managed to pack enough power into the UX490 to make it one of, if not the most powerful UMPC to date, and in one of the smallest packages.

So what could explain the removal of the UX490 from SonyStyle.com? Sony is often very mechanical about the way it does things when it comes to pricing and online sales. When the UX180 was first released it was only on shelves for a few months before it disappeared entirely and was replaced with the UX280. The UX280 sold for the same price as the UX180 but had double the RAM and a larger HDD. Then of course came the UX380/90 models which were slightly upgraded versions of the UX280 for the same price. Consequently the UX280 faded off into the background. The same thing happened with the UX380 before the UX490 came out. If anything, I would say that removal of the UX490 from SonyStyle.com has more to do with marketing and sales than telling us whether or not the line is going to be discontinued in favor of a netbook. It’s quite possible that Sony stopped producing the UX490 because they new a new model would be coming to market soon, but something has prevented them from bringing the new model on board at the right time.

So the way I see it, the two are not going to interfere with each other. Sony will probably continue its incremental updates of the UX line. Sony is large enough that it can experiment with a netbook while continuing to manufacture the UX series of computers. Its anyone’s guess as to when they will update the platform that the UX runs on. They have been using the same powerful Intel hardware since the series started with the UX180. There has been some fishy activity on Sony’s support website which may hint at new models. I’ll be keeping an eye on that and keep everyone posted.