Sony VAIO SVE15115EN review

Beauty with brains

My ratings: 3.5/5

 

I used HCL laptop satisfactorily for 4 years and it was still working ok till I decided to purchase a new laptop. It was really a big task to choose a laptop among so many brands and their models. I started out with a basic requirement list.

Requirements

1.       Processor- Intel i3. Though i5 was in market but I decided against it as I use my laptop only for multimedia and browsing. Also, i5 is known for huge battery consumption.

2.       RAM- Minimum 4GB.

3.       Storage capacity- Minimum 500GB. I already have 1TB external hard drive and another netbook with 500GB capacity so storage was not much concern.

4.       Ports- Minimum 1 USB 3.0 port along with all the usual ports. Since my external hard disk was USB3.0 compatible so I want to optimize the performance.

5.       Looks and color- I wanted something that looks attractive and is in white color. The color choice was absurd but I am infatuated towards white colored gadgets.

6.       Screen size- 15inch. The portability was not of much priority as I already own a netbook of 11.6in. I wanted a big screen so as to enjoy the downloaded movies.

7.       Audio quality and loudness- It became a priority because I faced lots of problems in my last HCL laptop due to its very low sound quality.

8.       Pricing- With in 40k.

With these basic requirements in mind, I searched extensively and finally zeroed on Sony Vaio E series SVE15115EN laptop. Even though it was providing less battery backup when compared to similar products in market but I was bitten by its looks and also all my basic requirements were getting satisfied.

Specifications

·         Intel Core i3 processor, HM76 chipset, 2.4GHz speed

·         4GB DDR3 RAM, expandable upto 8GB

·         500GB SATA HDD, 5400rpm

·         Windows 7 Home Basic 64bit OS

·         1GB AMD Radeon HD 7650M graphics processor

·         1.3MP webcam

·         Intel high definition audio chip with xLoud feature

·         Bluetooth 4.0, Wireless b/g/n

·         1 USB3.0, 3 USB 2.0, HDMI, LAN, VGA

i3 vs. i5

It is always a big issue while choosing a processor for our computers. We have a tendency to go with the latest release in the market; sometimes we don’t even require that. In case of Intel Core processors, there are three types of processors: i3, i5 & i7. I would like to share basic differences between these types so that it would be easy to take decisions’. Simply speaking, i7 is better than i5, which in turn better than i3. These numbers have no relevance with cores but are simply indicative of their relative processing powers.

Let us start with cache memory that provides quick access to those entities that are frequently needed by the user.  i3 has 3MB cache memory storage, i5 has a 6MB and i7 has 8MB storage. A 3MB cache memory is sufficient to provide high definition video and good quality gaming of low end to moderate animated video game content. Whereas higher cache of 6 or 8MB is preferred for those into designing high end games or is into architectural design part. 

Let us discuss in term of hyper threading that enables single core to serve multiple threads. It is to be noted that only one thread can be served by one core at a time. So if a CPU is a dual core, then supposedly only two threads can be served simultaneously. Core i3 & i7 supports hyper-threading whereas Core i5 doesn’t.

This makes i3 a perfect solution for sophisticated home computing which includes quality audio-visual effects, programming and frequent internet access.

Style

This laptop has a unique wrap design with curvy edges and matt finish body. It has isolated type keyboard having 103 keys. I don’t know that why manufacturers have started including numeric keypad in laptops though it is not required as such. This additional numeric keypad have also increased the screen size from 15in to 15.5in and this increment is felt in length of the laptop (width is still the same). There is ample space between the keys and the wide palm rest area provides speedy and accurate touch-typing. The smooth-surfaced touchpad is attractive and it handles multi-touch controls such as pinch to zoom, two fingered scrolling and rotation. The scrolling is very smooth but sometimes didn’t work well on edges.

It has 15.5-inch LED-backlit TFT color display having HD resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels with 16:9 aspect ratios and is a real pleasure when watching movies on it. The top panel sports the VAIO logo in silver that is embossed on the middle of the lid.

Features & Performance

This VAIO notebook is built on Intel HM76 Express Chipset and is capable to give you superfast performance. It runs on Intel 2nd Generation Core i3 2370M processor, which has 2.40 GHz clock speed and 3 MB cache memory.

It has 4 GB DDR3 RAM that is expandable up to 8 GB. In the near future there is no need for increment in RAM size but can be considered later on. The storage capacity is 500 GB with a speed of 5400 RPM.  This notebook is equipped with AMD Radeon HD 7650M graphic processor to offer superb gaming experience and immersive entertainment with maximum energy efficiency. The GPU has a dedicated 1 GB DDR3 graphic memory and is equipped with AMD Eyefinity technology that delivers better graphics and amazing performance.

It comes with stereo speakers powered by Intel High Definition Audio chip. Also, it is equipped with Sony proprietary Clear Phase and xLOUD sound technologies to boost the audio performance to produce crystal clear sound. It is equipped with 1.31 megapixel HD web-camera, which is powered by Exmor.

There are three USB2.0 ports on one side of the device and one USB3.0 on other side. There are other standard ports for VGA and Ethernet. There is one HDMI port that will let you to play multimedia on large screen digital television or home theater system.  There is faster Bluetooth 4.0 to enable swift wireless data transfer with minimum power consumption.

It is loaded with Lithium-ion battery to give a backup time up to 2.5 hours. The Rapid Wake + Eco feature boots up the system faster. Bundled with utility software like VAIO Control Center, VAIO Gesture Control, WebCam Companion, Magic-i and VAIO 3D Portal, this affordable Sony notebook is a ready to use product.

The notebook comes with preloaded Windows 7 Home Basic. I have upgraded the OS to Windows 8 at a very reasonable price of Rs.699 under their promotional scheme. The Windows 8 have further enhanced the performance of this notebook and the boot up time has reduced to less than a minute. I have no complaints regarding the performance slogging of it. It is buttery smooth experience as per my expectations. 

Positives

1.       Wakeup speed of laptop is very fast that is further enhanced after upgrading OS to newly launched Windows 8.

2.       Multi-touch touchpad makes life simpler with two-finger page scrolling, image flipping, pinch-to-zoom etc.

3.       If you fond of gadget appearances, you will surely be mesmerized by its looks. It is better to try white color but you have to maintain it a lot.

4.       Unused RAM slot that may be used to increase the RAM from 4GB to 8GB.

5.       1GB AMD Radeon graphics card that will surely satisfy the gamers in you. 

6.       High quality sound by Sony’s proprietary “xLoud” and “Clear Phase” technology.

Negatives

1.       Comparatively low battery backup of only 2.5hrs.

2.       DVD tray is very irresolutely attached to the notebook and feels that it may detach at any time.

3.       All the three USB2.0 ports are on the same side with very little gap between each other. It creates problem when using two large sized USB devices.

4.       There is no need of numeric keypad. It unnecessarily stretches the size of screen.

5.       Many of the VAIO proprietary software don’t work on Windows 8. Sony is yet to launch the updated versions.

Pricing

I purchased it for Rs.38k last year but prices have reduced now and it is available in the range of Rs.36k.