Sony - VAIO Laptop with Intel® Core™ i5 Processor - Jet Black

I'm very knowledgeable about computers. When people first look at the price, they think Sony is overcharging them again. But most people don't compare the actual specs of each computer. They say this Sony is $950. They say to themselves, I could get an HP, Gateway, Toshiba, Dell for less than $700-800. Well if you compare the real specs on this computer, you can see why $950 for this Sony is considered a very good deal. Lets go over the specs first. This laptop has the lastest intel core i5 (the 520M model). That means it's got the 2.4 intel processor with turbo boost up to 2.93. The "cheaper competitors" either have the low end intel core i3 (no turbo boost) or the lower end intel core i5 (430m model which is 2.26 with turbo boost up to 2.53). You are getting a much better processor. The only mobile processors better are the intel core i7 but you are going to pay $200-300 more for the i7 model. I would avoid the i7 720qm model (you can see some models for $1000) because they run on the 45nm chip and kill your battery. The newer i7 models that were released Jan 2010 and run on the 32nm chip will cost you $200-300 more. Next the screen resolution is 1600x900. Most laptops in the 13-15 inch range run a screen resolution of 1366-768 resolution. That means you get to see more on your screen than your average laptop. You are getting the screen resolution of a 17 inch laptop in a 14 inch laptop body. But you save on the weight. This laptop weighs 5.3 pounds. The 17 inch laptops will weigh 7-8 pounds. You get discrete dedicated graphics. The Nvidia 330M is a dedicated graphics chip with 512MB memory. That means games will play better. Videos will encode faster etc. Sure there are better graphics chips for gamers. But those laptops are very expensive. This graphics chips is very good for the average consumer. The keyboard of this sony laptop reminds me of my macbook. The palm rest is so comfortable. I could type foreover and not feel fatigued. Most people ignore the keyboard when purchasing a laptop even though it is one of the main features. The only thing I don't like about this laptop are it's tiny speakers. It's manageable but I've seen laptops with better equipped speakers. But overall, I would recommend this laptop if you budget is in the $800-1000 range. It's got the most features for the buck. When you look that you are getting a better resolution screen, a better intel core i5 (520M) processor, a dedicated graphics Nvidia graphics chip PLUS it has a Blu Ray player and DVD/CD burner. You are getting a lot of laptop for the money. Get this laptop, uninstall some of the crapware Sony had pre-installed (other manufacturers install crapware also so Sony isn't the only guilty party). You will love this laptop. I highly recommend this laptop. It's a very good "mainstream" laptop that should satisfy almost every laptop user. At 5.3 pounds, it's not superlight for the elite travelers. But it's not that heavy. You can move it around easily. And it's got the performance of a desktop replacement in a 5.3 pound body.

Got my Sony from Bestbuy.com in only 2 days.....its sweet, alittle bigger overall than expected when you hear 14" screen, I have a 15.7" dell which size wise seemed almost perfect but still alittle large 14" just said netbook to me but this should actually be a perfect combo of size and portability.. also what your gonna love about the portability is that it does run cooler than most laptops which i believe is the BIGGEST benefit from the new Intel® Turbo Boost Technology because it doesnt just speed it up when you need it but it slows it down when you dont need it. It seems to idle at 1.197Ghz x9 multiplier and then the multiplier changes to speed up the processor to what you need, ive only got it to 20x which is 2.66Ghz and thats running SuperPi and a bluray and a couple of web browsers... but task manager shows it onlly needs 32% of the CPU and 2G of memory to do all that!!! wow so maybe when i get my video editing stuff on here it'll go to the rates 2.9Ghz. But the more you use the hotter the laptop will run. . anyways heres a few quick specs for you all.. Windows Experience Index scores Processor: 6.7 Ram: 5.9 Graphics: 6.4 Gaming: 6.4 Disk: 5.8 These are all pretty nice scores for this price range. I originally was going to order this laptop directly from the manufacture but after i found this deal thanks to a Notebook review website it really was a no brainer. This combo on BB have a 330M video card thats not available on the manufactures website and neither is the 1600x900 screen. So at this price with these options and throw in the bingcashback, and WOW the perfect deal. This thing is fast too of course and should handle everything most users would need it too, as a reference heres a quick speed check - SuperPI 1M = 16.67 secs which is great, my AMD Athlon x4 OC'd to 3.6Ghz is at 22 secs I watched 3 Blurays last night without a hitch or updates needed, although there is an update available via VAIO update for the corel player. I watched 2 on my HD tv via HDMI cable.... looks fantastic. I watched one on the laptop itself, you can hear a quiet disk drive noise as your watching but you forget about it pretty quick- but it is there... atleast on mine... another things you'll need headphones if your trying to watch a movie anywhere but a quite room, these speakers SUCK... volume wise. Thats why i gave it a 4 on convience because you'll need to bring headphones if your planning on watching a movie in public. The movie looks great on the laptop though but if you've got a 1080p with 120hz or smoothmotion TV then you wont be using the laptop screen. also yea very pretty low heat even during the movie, and the "display off" button is perfect when you use your laptop as a player....(but i'd rather be able to just close the laptop) I'll update the review again later with more benchmarks and video editing performance.

This is hands down the best 14" laptop for the money, performance is top notch and handles applications like a breeze. Do not pay attention to the negative reviews about the screen frame being too flexible, novice users or competition wrote these. I am Dell, IBM and Sony certified for laptop repair and while there is some flex to the bezel I wouldn't worry about screen breakage, unless you are rough on equipment and then it doesn't matter what brand you buy the screens going to break and you should probably be using a Toughbook. I have an Acer and an Asus sitting right here in front of me and they all have the same screen flex. That aside for the price you get lots of options that can't be matched by anyone, including bluetooth. The speakers aren't the greatest and are adequate, but it's a laptop, use external or headset if you want better sound for music and gaming. As for gaming I ran Wolfenstein, Mass Effect 2 and BioShock 2 with most of the settings on high without any problem. The best thing I like about this laptop is the screen resolution 1600x900, I wanted a 14" screen with a high resolution and tried to find one, Lenovo has one but doesn't use the Geforce graphics card and gaming is close to impossible, viewing angle is pretty good looking straight at it it's perfect.

This is a great laptop over all for the price. It has a fast processor and a very nice hi-res display. Window 7 startup was fast, and the blu-ray disc drive is great especially when you can take your laptop to someones house that have no blu-ray player. The bad things about the laptop is no fingerprint reader, the spearker not the best, battery life questionable and black leaves finger marks.

My decision to purchase this laptop came after a very painstaking process of considering all different types of portables, including netbooks, ULV processors, and brands including the Macbook Pro and the varying Sony lines including the SR and Z series. Money was not really an object, so long as not to be wasteful. Laptops all use similar internal components, including specified Intel processors, RAM manufacturers, and hard drive manufacturers. It is surprising that the limited parts laptop manufacturers do make themselves vary so much without an objective consensus of end-user experience. There are still many manufacturers including HP, Compaq, and Asus, for example, that do not place the trackpad centered between the G and H keys such that the palms cause unwitting cursor movement. What an unthoughtful inattention to an important detail. This laptop has perfect placement of the trackpad. Also, the feel of this trackpad is exceptional, even better than on that of the MacBook Pro. It is smooth, while allowing just enough traction, even with sweaty fingers. This is in sharp contrast to the feel of the trackpad on the HP or Compaq computers, which are overly slick without traction for dry fingers, while being sticky for perspirated fingers. Asus and even other models of the Vaio have trackpads that have raised bumps which cause sore fingers after extended use. Everyone has gotten these from the raised notches of mouse scroll wheels. Some manufacturers like Toshiba just went and got rid of the ledge between the trackpad and the palmrest, which is necessary to quickly feel where page scrolling happens, but the ledge on this Vaio is clearly pronounced. This Vaio got the trackpad right. This is the best video card you will find on a 14" and under laptop. I was seriously considering the Macbook Pro at one point but the graphics card on that wasn't even a dedicated card. This card blows away even anything on a Dell XPS or anything you can configure on a Dell Studio 14. It is nice to have a processor you know will boost up to 2.9 GHz. However, honestly, I don't feel a speed difference with everyday tasks compared to my old Core 2 Duo laptop. No matter how fast the components are, there are still the bottlenecks of internet bandwidth (even though I have 10Mbps download) and the hard drive seek time (which seems a little slower than my old Scorpio Blue) The battery life lasts 2 hours on wifi and 4 hours with wifi turned off. I have not tested the battery life while watching movies or playing games. There has been a lot of praise about the 1600x900 resolution. This has not been a bonus for me. At this resolution, the text is prohibitively small, and there is no difference in picture and movie sharpness. I have reverted back to a 1360x768 resolution. This laptop runs very cool, as mentioned by other reviews. This is in large part to placement of large air vents openly accessible on the side of the laptop as opposed to hidden underneath the screen hinge of the Macbook Pro or inaccessibly at the bottom of the machines on HPs. The decision of placement of air vents is a critically important one, as poor cooling causes overheating and CPU failure. It is obvious which companies care more about looks over function by these poor decisions. Almost every review here knocks the speakers. They are not as poor as what the other reviews imply. I expected to not be able to hear a streaming news broadcast while in my room, for God's sake. They are fine. Just don't expect to watch and listen to a movie at a movie-watching volume while on a couch 10 feet away. That's what a stereo receiver is for. I also expected to hate having to press FN every time I wanted to mute the sound or change the volume. This has been unfounded, as these keys have been considerately placed almost directly above FN, so that volume can be changed with one hand. I also expected the monitor to be very glossy and that I would have to put up with seeing my reflection through the screen most of the time. This is not the case since you can almost always adjust the screen angle so that this is not a problem. The screen brightness and colors are brilliant. I do appreciate the feel of the keyboard. Typing is very comfortable. However, I would try out the keyboard of a lower Vaio CW model that is sold in-stores at Best Buy. It is easy to run into the edge of the keys which could lead to more typing mistakes, but that is personal preference. In summary, I loved the thoughtfullness in the design of this laptop and am satisfied with my purchase especially when compared to all the other options available.

I love the speed, keyboard, features,display and the size. WHEN are designers going to wake up and get back to form follows function? Why on Earth would anyone want a shinny computer? Fashion statement? Stock in cleaning products? Yes the finish is great out of the box but scratches, fingerprints and smudges do not denote cool or stylish. Other than that it has Sony reliability and design and is a pleasure to work with. The keyboard is a little different but once you get used to it, It's hard to go back. Since I was in the market for a 14" notebook in either an I5 or I7, this machine fits the bill. Thanks to Sony for being one of the first to get such a machine to market at a reasonable price. I looked at ALL manufacturers and noted reviews and comments. The quality of the build was also a big consideration. Best Buy price and delivery were great too.

I ordered this in the store for in-store pickup. It arrived a couple of days earlier than quoted. Other sellers(online) had this same model for almost $200 MORE than Best Buy was selling it for and they still do. I did exhaustive homework because I do not buy Sony because of the premium price they seem to ask. (The only other Sony product that I have purchased new is a Playstation 3.) The new laptops seem to have very small incremental price adjustments with each added upgrade. Unlike the previous models where the price range was huge, but this was by far the best deal out there and it was a Sony. The machine is very solid. The size is right for travel and the 1600*900 resolution is so much better than the standard 1366*768 on most of the laptops out there. When viewing movies, the screen is beautiful to watch and I can take any movie in my library with me when I go on trips. I actually returned an additional bluray player I had purchased for my home office after I decided to buy this laptop. So for me, that brought the 'price' of this laptop down to $800. However when people see it and I tell people what I have on it they think I paid somewhere between $1500-$2000 for it. Well, it does have the Sony name on it. The HDD that came with it is 500GB. Way too big for my usage so I am going to put in an SSD drive with some of the money I "saved" and that will give me the perfect laptop that will last me for a number of years to come. ( I put a SSD drive in a 11.6" net/notebook and I boot into Windows 7 Ultimate in less than 20 seconds / shut down in about 7 seconds). The video card is an Nvidia GT330M that combined with the CPU makes this a pretty good gaming laptop except probably for CRYSIS but you can probably play about 95%-98% of the games out there. This is the most powerful laptop I have ever owned in terms of relative raw power compared to what else is out there and yet there is no heat issue as the unit runs very cool. A big plus it that I do not have to deal with a mail-order company should anything go wrong regardless of where I am in the country and this is a machine that will last well into the future unless there is some killer-app that I just can't live without that takes an enormous amount of computing power way beyond what this can deliver and I do not forsee that occurring in the next few years. Purchasing this will be a cost-conscience investment you will enjoy for years to come.

This laptop is extremely quick, and comes with just about everything you need. It is very portable, and unlike other users, I could really care less if it shows fingerprints. It is lightweight and has pretty good battery length for a 6 cell. For only $150 more you can get this model instead of the i3 model. It is a little bit faster and has a little more memory.