Sony VAIO S Series: Mediocre Performance in a Thin, Sexy Chassis - doyletandinque

The Sony VAIO S Serial isn't the most powerful altogether-purpose laptop, but I like it–and not just because I have a fluffy spot for Sony. Although the VAIO S Series offers second-rate general performance and modest graphics speed, it's also light, thin, voguish, and very portable.

Our review model, priced at $1000 (as of December 14, 2011), sports an Intel Core i5-2430M CPU, an AMD Radeon HD 6470M graphics card, and 4GB of RAM. It also has a 640GB set drive, a Videodisk-RW optical drive, and inbuilt Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 3.0. This theoretical account runs the 64-bit translation of Windows 7 Home Premium.

In our WorldBench 6 bench mark tests, the VAIO S Serial publication earned a score of 112. This is a decent, but not excellent, score that puts the VAIO S Series right about the midsection of our Top General-purpose Laptops list. Patc the VAIO S Serial should be nongranular for most basic work tasks and streaming television, it's by No means a art powerhouse or a gaming laptop computer.

In our graphics tests, the VAIO S Serial publication' performance was acceptable. The system does bear switchable graphics, which is a benefit for people WHO lack to apply this laptop computer for consuming multimedia and playacting basic, nonintensive tasks (shift to tightly knit nontextual matter bequeath conserve battery life). In our Off the beaten track Holler 2 nontextual matter tests, the VAIO S Serial publication managed a frame rate of 50 frames per second at the lowest caliber setting (800 by 600 resolution), and a rate of 24 fps at the highest prime setting (same resolving).

Our review unit was the 15.5-inch VAIO S Series in black. The 15.5-inch model also comes in silver, while the 13.3-edge in model comes in coloured, blue, pink, red, or white. The VAIO S Series' most desirable trait might be its portability: The 15.5-edge in rendering weighs 4.3 pounds (5.2 pounds with accessories), and measures 14.9 inches wide by 10.1 inches long-lasting and approximately 1 inch thick.

The VAIO S Series has a thin, squared-off physique with sharp corners. The treat is a plain matte black, with a medium-size mirrored VAIO logotype in the center. The hinge–which sticks out of the posterior of the machine by about a quarter of an inch–is plastic with a dark reflected finish, and it feels a little flimsy. The rest of the exterior is lyrate, and exudes a artistic movement beautiful.

The Interior Department is also pretty simple, consisting of a matte-black wrist ease, a inkiness Chiclet-style keyboard, and a smooth touchpad with two separate buttons. Several buttons and switches sit above the keyboard, notwithstandin–and when you twist the laptop on, it also has a fortune of lights to go with those buttons and switches. From left-wing to right, the controls include a somatogenic turn out button (though the DVD-RW parkway is tray-loaded), a switch for dynamical between the Intel integrated graphics and the AMD separate artwork, an "Wait on" push button (which opens the Help screen), a Web button, and a VAIO button (which you can program to open different VAIO multimedia programs).

The keyboard is backlit and easy to case on, and IT comes with a ten-key number pad. The touchpad, which supports multitouch gestures, is creaseless and sensitive; its two discrete buttons are adult and easy to press, if a little light on feedback.

Ports-prudent, the VAIO S Serial publication is passabl rudimentary. The very smooth left side has alone a headphone jack and an optic push on. The headphone jack is located clear toward the back out of the computer–which means that if your earphone telegraph is peculiarly short-term, you may have to maneuver around a little. (I have to allow, though, that the next-to-last VAIO I owned had the headphone jack located on the strawma of the machine, which is a great deal more irritation.)

Connected the front of the laptop computer is a Wi-Fi switch, which is always a courteous addition. The right side of the scheme is crammed with ports and slots: You'll find two card slots (ane for Sony Memory Stick and one for SD Card), a gigabit ethernet port, a VGA-out port, an HDMI-outgoing porthole, one USB 3.0 port, two USB 2.0 ports, and a Kensington lock slot. I'm not a boastful fan of having all three USB ports on one side and following to to each one other, because USB peripherals are often big and can't be settled side by side. Sony probably should have included at least unmatched USB port on the laptop's left butt on, because that pull has plenty of space.

The expose is a agleam, glazed 15.5-inch screen with a congested HD native resolution of 1920 by 1080. The screen is just bonnie: It's crisp and clear, and it honestly almost took my breathing place away the first prison term I power saw it. Unfortunately, it ISN't down: At the lower brightness settings, the screen has a noticeably yellow touch, and skin tones are sometimes washed out.

The VAIO S Series is good for ablaze multimedia usage. High-def streaming video plays smoothly, but the figure in full screen looks a bit squashy. Audio playback is non same good. Though the speakers are shouted, the sound is thin and lacking in bass voice. Music and voices sound almost like shrieking. I definitely recommend headphones with this laptop computer.

Sony includes a good deal of package on its VAIO machines, which is good if you ilk Sony software, and not thus important if you don't. The VAIO S Serial comes packed with Sony's Media Heading, VAIO Care, VAIO Gate, and PMB VAIO Variant photo/video management software. Information technology also has new software, including Norton Internet Security, Adobe brick's bundle (Acrobat, Photoshop Elements, and the like), and Sony's Imagination Studio Suite.

The Sony VAIO S Series may seem like a mediocre all-purpose laptop computer, and it is unity. But it's besides thin, light, and quite take-away, and it sports Bluetooth, Wisconsin-Fi, Intel Wireless Display technology, and optional embedded mobile broadband. Put differently, if you'ray looking for an general-purpose laptop that's natty and easy to tote, the VAIO S Series might live the system of rules for you.