Notebook and Laptop Blog

Sony VAIO FE Review

Overview and Introduction

The Sony VAIO FE is a 15.4″ multimedia full featured notebook. This review covers a Core 2 Duo and Nvidia Go 7600 powered VAIO FE-91S purchased in Japan.

Reasons for buying


Over the last few months I have been spending a lot of time searching for which laptop to buy. I have never owned a laptop before, but I wanted a computer with everything integrated. I wanted a sturdy case, outstanding performance (enough to last a long time), portable size, good battery life and of course as cheap as possible. When I started searching I didn??™t know which category size I wanted exactly, but I excluded 17 inch and 12 inch displayed sizes. The 17 inch because it would be too hard to carry around and the screen resolution of the 12-inch size laptop would not be enough.

After a time my requirements became clear. I wanted a fast Core 2 Duo processor, a quality brand, and dedicated graphics card capable of running DirectX 9c as I use this for programming purposes. I didn??™t care about the speed of the graphics processor, just the hardware compatibility with DirectX 9c.

Searching was a big problem due to the fact I??™m Hungarian and the variety of laptops we have in Hungary is much narrower than in the US. Furthermore, the price of laptops that reach Hungary are much more expensive than those in the US ??“ often double the price. As fate would have I found out I??™d soon be moving to Japan and so decided to make a laptop purchase there instead. After researching laptop options in Japan I finally settled on Sony??™s 15.4??? VAIO FE-91S. The VAIO FE can be considered as a desktop replacement style notebook while still being portable. One cool thing is that this model in Japan even includes Sony??™s FeliCa system, which can be used for money transfers using certain bank cards.

Specifications: Sony VAIO FE-91S

* Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T5600 1,83GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 667MHz FSB
* Chipset: Intel 945PM chipset
* Memory: 1GB DDR2-533 DDR2 SDRAM
* Screen: 15.4″ WXGA “glossy” screen at 1280×800 resolution.
* Graphics: nVidia GeForce Go 7600 128MB (up to 512MB with TurboCache) at 350/700MHz core/memory speeds
* Harddrive: TOSHIBA MK1032GSX 100 GB (5400rpm, 16MB cache, SATA)
* Optical drive: 8x Super Multi DVD?±RW and DVD-RAM optical drive (PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-K16M)
* MemoryStick Pro Duo reader
* Express Card slot
* PC Card slot
* Wireless: Integrated Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG 802.11a/b/g + Bluetooth
* LAN: Intel(R) PRO/100 VE Network Connection
* Battery : 53280 mWh battery
* Weight: 2.8 kg

Where and How I Purchased

I purchase the VAIO FE on the Sony Japan website as I wanted to configure it to my needs. The final cost was 214,000 Japanese Yen, which is around $2,000 US dollars. This included the computer and a Sony Protection plan of 3 years. If something were to happen with the laptop Sony would pickup the machine and return it upon fixing the problem. It seemed like a good deal for the latest technology, and a better price than I would have got in Hungary. After I ordered the laptop online it took 2 weeks for delivery.

Build and design

As you can see in the pictures, the look of the machine is quite elegant. You can take it anywhere you go and be proud of the look ??“ be it a meeting or coffee shop. The body is constructed of a high quality rigid plastic. It feels very sturdy, it is not like some Fujitsu laptops I??™ve seen where you can push the plastic in at the front of the keyboard.

The color of the keyboard and the surrounding area is silver and black. There is a white keyboard option, but if you select the GeForce Go 7600, then you have to go with black.

The closing mechanism is quite unusual in my opinion, but it works well. If you close down the lid then you have to set the switch to lock mode which causes a clamp to come up and lock the lid firmly. It is comfortable even with one hand to close it. It is neither hard nor easy to close it is just optimal.

Screen and Webcam

Before buying I was afraid of getting a glossy screen because I have seen the reflective nature of some of my friends laptop screens, some are like sitting in front of a mirror. But after getting it the glossy screen is fine, I don??™t even notice any reflections most of the time and the colors come out bold and beautiful. The screen resolution is 1280×800, which is fairly standard for widescreen displays.

The viewing angles are pretty good horizontally, but not so good vertically. This is a common down side, but usually we don??™t watch from wide vertical angles anyway. The brightness level of the screen is very good.

I was a little afraid of dead-pixels, as you can??™t see the computer before buying it. But luckily I didn??™t have any.

I was really happy that the VAIO FE came with a webcam so you don??™t have to carry a web cam around seperately. The picture quality is very good and you also get the Vaio Camera Screensaver, which is fun.

Speakers

The speakers are located above the keyboard. I think they are better than many other laptops, this is meant to be a multimedia laptop after all. They??™re not loud enough to disturb your neighbors of course, you will need good external speakers to be able to do that! The integrated sound card, hasn??™t fulfilled my requirements, so I bought a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 NX USB external card. If I??™m at home, I absolutely do not use the built-in sound system.

Keyboard and touchpad

As I bought the VAIO FE in Japan the keyboard is Japanese, with a lot of extra buttons for Japanese language typing. If you are buying your computer in Japan, you can also get an English keyboard and English operating system for some extra money.

At first look the keyboard seems good, but after using it, it turned out not to be so sturdy. The M key does not work sometimes. The interesting thing is that the guys at Sony know about this problem, as I read an article on Sony??™s website about it.

Otherwise the location of the keys on the keyboard is good, and the typing is comfortable. I only have issues with the location of the direction keys. They should have separated them more from the other keys. On the other hand, I like the large size of the Enter key.

The machine has 6 hardware buttons. There is a Power ON, Mute, Volume-up, -down key and then two more customizable program launcher keys. I setup one of these keys as a brightness switch where I can switch from maximum brightness to 2 notch brightness.

Heat and noise

I expected that this machine would be hot everywhere due to the processor and graphics card. But I was surprised, after hours of working on the computer, only around the fan outtake at the back of the machine became hot. The keyboard was only mildly warm to cool. The under side of the machine becomes warm after excessive use, but not uncomfortable.

Noise is also not an issue with this machine. It has only one very silent fan. It only turns on when I??™m using really resource hungry applications. So far I haven??™t heard the fan turn on when using the laptop on battery.

Processor, Performance, benchmarks

The processor clock frequency is 1.83 GHz. This is the second lowest possible speed for the Core 2 Duo, but I didn??™t want the fastest as it consumes more power. Of course the official TDP (Thermal Design Power) is 34W, but if you have a different clock frequency, then the actual power consumption is a little different.

I was not fully satisfied with the benchmark results. The machine is fast in applications (discussed later), but the slow hard drive and the junk programs on the machine ruin some of the performance. The bootup is relatively slow, which is a result of the above mentioned circumstances.

Add comment March 9th, 2007

Sony VAIO VGN-N130G laptop review

The Sony VAIO VGN-N130G proves that Apple isn??™t the only company that can turn notebooks into design statements. Available in your choice of white, black, or like ours, wenge brown (picture coffee with too much cream), the minimalist, angular machine is intriguingly appealing.

The clean, uncluttered design continues under the lid, with a white keyboard (with characters in pleasing blue and orange) set into an expansive deck. Of course, the lack of clutter also means a lack of dedicated multimedia controls, but we suppose that??™s the price of visual simplicity. The keyboard and touchpad are comfortable to use, though the mouse-button clicks are a bit too noticeable.

The 15.4-inch glossy widescreen delivered rich, vibrant colors and did well with DVD playback. Viewing-angle performance was good side to side, though we noticed a bit more glare from this screen than with other glossy panels. Sound quality is very good, though we would have preferred a bit more volume at the maximum setting.

Sony includes the most complete software bundle of this group, a nice bonus for a budget-minded machine. The VAIO Recovery Tools restore preloaded applications and drivers; the VAIO Backup Utility backs up your system; the VAIO Hardware Diagnostics tool checks the health of system components, and DVGate Plus video-editing software lets you make your own movies and burn them with the included multiformat DVD burner. The Media Center Edition OS on our unit can be upgraded to Windows Vista Home Premium at no charge.

The VAIO includes the usual ports, though the memory card reader supports only Memory Stick formats and SD. The 1.6-GHz Intel Core Duo T2050 processor delivered a score of 196 on MobileMark 2005: not terrible, but not great. Battery life, too, was merely okay, at 3 hours and 45 minutes. Wireless throughput (15.2 Mbps) was good, and if you dial back the display settings, you can get a playable 44 fps on F.E.A.R.

The Dell Inspiron E1505 edges out the VAIO with its better performance, but if you want to trade some speed for a classic??”as opposed to trendy??”design statement, the VAIO is the better choice.

Add comment February 22nd, 2007

Sony VAIO N Laptop(notebook) Review

The Sony VAIO N series is a bit of a new page in the playbook for Sony. The VAIO N is a 15.4??? widescreen notebook that can actually be called a budget level notebook, in the past we haven??™t seen Sony go after cost conscious customers. The VAIO N is squarely targeted at consumers that want a stylish and suitably powerful laptop just for around the home. This review will investigate whether that goal is achieved.

The packaging for the VAIO N is pretty basic but fits the bill. The box is sized only as big as it needs to be, it??™s very easy to carry and sturdy. Inside the package everything has been wrapped properly to ensure safe shipping from production to the owner??™s waiting hands. The contents of the package are pretty basic as well. You get the laptop, battery, power adapter and cord, a couple of discs (alas, no recovery discs) and a small getting started guide.

The most striking thing about the VAIO N130 you??™ll notice in terms of design is how spartan the overall look is. In a time where we see curvaceous laptops with flashing lights that could drive a disco floor, the VAIO N goes to the other extreme. It is square looking and unapologetically plain. For those that like clean looks, this design will please. I can see the laptop fitting nicely in one of those minimalist type designed rooms with large windows and bamboo flooring.

There are a few color offerings with the VAIO N, our particular model is grey and black. The black hood of the lid and grey case and then black keyboard are unexciting, but pleasing in the cleanliness of how they are laid out.

The build of the VAIO N is decent, I was worried that a budget offering from Sony that is dubbed as a PC for around the home would simply skimp on any type of quality casing. And while the case is certainly of plastic construction, not carbon fiber like more expensive Sony??™s, it is built reasonably well and there is no flex to the case in most areas. The left hand palm rest is the exception here, if you tap on that area you??™ll hear it is hollow and there??™s a mild amount of flex to that area. Not enough to be typically noticed though.

The hinge for the screen is particularly good; it??™s very rigid and holds the screen in place well with no wobble. On the down side, that means it takes quite a bit of effort to open the screen and two hands are needed. There is no latch to hold the screen down, it relies on the stiffness of the hinges to stay closed. For home use that implementation works just fine.

The protection from the lid is adequate. I detected some rippling of the screen when pushing on the back of the lid, so I wouldn??™t stuff this laptop a bag with a ton of books and then throw it around.

One thing I always check for in terms of build quality is whether a company uses flaps or plastic dummies to fill in accessory slots not being used. Flaps are much preferred as they can??™t get lost and keep the look clean; thankfully Sony took this route with the ExpressCard accessory slot on the N130. With the Sony VAIO C I recently reviewed they used the el cheapo plastic fillers, so kudos to the VAIO N design team for making a better decision here!

Processor and Performance

The VAIO N was not made for gaming or tearing through 3D rendering work and so it is not using the most current Intel Core 2 Duo processor or a dedicated graphics card. Rather, it is using Intel integrated graphics and the Intel Core Duo processor that was released earlier in 2006. For the laptops purpose, this is just fine. The VAIO N is meant as a machine to have around the house, likely for keeping a check on email, looking up some recipes on the web or checking the local weather forecast and goings on with news. And for these tasks the Core Duo processor is more than enough.

There??™s not much to write home about this keyboard. It works fine, but it??™s certainly in the middle of the pack in terms of usability. There??™s a bit of flex if you??™re a heavy typist like myself, I tend to pound a keyboard when typing, but most won??™t notice this flex. The key travel could be better and the keys do seem like they??™d be easy to accidentally pop off if you caught a fingernail under one. I??™m just so spoiled by the ThinkPad keyboard I regularly use so I??™m quick to complain in this department. Overall the keyboard is fine, just not great.

The touchpad works as any touchpad does, what??™s disappointing are the mouse buttons. They??™re cheap feeling and annoyingly loud with their click. I??™m sure you??™d get stared at if using this in the library when using a lot of button click action. I??™d really recommend an external mouse with this laptop, just to get rid of having to use the integrated mouse buttons.

The price of under $1,000 for the VAIO N is great for a mainstream laptop from Sony. The VAIO N offers a really nice screen and an appealing, albeit basic, design. The build quality is decent and the power you get from the Core Duo processor enough for Office related tasks and even games like the Sims 2. The VAIO N can’t be configured with a Core 2 Duo processor or dedicated graphics, so it’s obviously not a notebook intended for power users, but for a laptop to be used around the home it fits the bill. I wouldn’t recommend it as a portable notebook to carry around a ton though, it’s not built well enough for that and at almost 7 lbs is a tad heavy.

Add comment February 22nd, 2007