Sony VAIO VPCEB14EN Review
A brief history about my brush with Sony before I start reviewing this gorgeous peice of gadgetry. I’ve been on the lookout for a laptop for a long time for my dad and my sister. Dad firmly believes that since I’ve got my over-the-top desktop, we should not spend that much on the laptop.
Till sometime back, dad was pretty happy with the Dell Inspiron given by the company, so all was well. But, I was convinced we needed something better.
You know the feeling when you want to perfectly balance style and the VFM factor of a product and you search high and dry? Sadly the links you open all point to Newegg or some website abroad which has the product of your dreams with the pricing you would want to see on it. This was the same story with me. I had nothing against Acer or Zenith or any of these companies which sold VFM laptops. But, whether you agree or not, it didn’t excite me like a Sony did.
Everyone’s heard the tag line “It’s a Sony!â€. But it is very true. No matter which VAIO I came across, be it the tiny 10†one or this one I currently bought, there is a finesse and build quality that simply leaves you speechless. Be it the chiclet keyboard or the beautiful screen, every detail is covered and built to perfection.
With that thought in mind, let me start my humble evaluation of this awesome laptop. The specs first:
• 15.5†@ 1366x768
• Core i3-330M @2.13GHz
• 3GB DDR3 RAM (can be upgraded to 8GB)
• 320GB HDD @ 5400RPM
• ATI 5470 with 512MB RAM
• Windows 7 Home Basic (64-bit)
• Gigabit Ethernet (wired)+802.11 n (wireless) inbuilt
• Intelligent touchpad
• Full size keyboard (103 keys)
• Motion Eye sensor webcam @ 640x480
• Instant web access button
• VGA + HDMI out
• eSATA port
• 3 USB ports
• Built in speakers and mic
• Standard array of headphone, mic, SD slot etc.
• 369.8mm x 36.7mm x 248mm (WxHxD)
• Weighs a solid 2.7 kgs.
Okay, enough regarding the specifications. I was so blinded by the presence of HD 5470 that I completely forgot to see many of the special features. We shall touch on all of them in a while.
PS: Also it is to be noted, with a bold marker perhaps, that this entire review has been written on the VAIO. And no, I've not been paid by Sony to write this.
[BREAK=Packaging, Build Quality and First Impressions]
I saw this laptop and immediately I knew it was going to be mine. I know that sounds a bit impulsive but the funny part is that I’m not an impulsive buyer. A VAIO had always been on my to-buy list and at this price range it seemed too good to be true.
The packaging was standard, nothing too special about it. Simplicity is the key word, as you can see from the pics. But, that was not reflective of the beauty inside. This is simply one of the most gorgeous looking laptops I’ve seen in a while, Dell and HP included. Be it the finish on the outside or the keyboard everything was perfectly complementing each other. A very thoughtful and well laid out design.
And the keyboard is one of the main reasons why a VAIO gets me hooked. I’m a touch typist and hate looking down while typing. My dad’s previous Dell laptop used to drive me nuts. I couldn’t get the key right without looking down at the keyboard. Same is with the Razer Tarantula I got on my desktop. Rugged, but shitty for long duration typing. The VAIO’s keyboard is like heaven for me. I barely commit any typos since the keys are so nicely spaced out. And the feedback is really good. I recently used a Dell Studio and found the VAIO’s keyboard to be much better than the Dell keyboard which was pretty good too. Apart from that, we have a full keyboard which is a bonus for me since I use the numpad extensively. The best part is they have not made the keys small to fit the whole 103 keys. Only the arrow keys are smaller than usual but still more reassuring than the one on Acer 5 series full size keyboard.
The laptop commands a sense of respect. You cannot treat it badly. I couldn’t think of using it anywhere except on a table sitting upright in a chair. I know it sounds a but weird, but I couldn’t help myself. It is solid. Have no doubts about that. It is not flimsy in any aspect. Feels like it’s carved out of stone. Which brings us to the disadvantage. It is a bit on the heavier side. Actually, quite heavier than you’d expect. I used to easily carry my dad’s old Inspiron in one hand from one room to another. Not a chance with this laptop. Weighs a solid 2.7 kgs.
Funnily enough, there are no CDs/DVDs in the box. Not even one. No drivers CD, no OS DVD, no softwares, no nothing. I was hoping for atleast the drivers CD. How much they managed to save by doing this, only Sony knows. But, a really cheap move. I think the drivers from the Sony USA website should work fine, but that’s an assumption at this stage. Could not find anything on the Sony India website too.
Windows Basic is really.. basic to say the least. No Aero even after having a dedicated graphics card. Okay for the novice user, but an upgrade is imminent. Since, I’m not sure about the drivers at the moment, going to create a recovery disk and then only take the risk.
[BREAK=Display and Sound, Keyboard and Touchpad]
The display is a standard 15.5†LCD running at 1366x768 resolution. But, there is only one word to describe the screen – gorgeous. I know I’ve been pretty liberal with the word, but that’s the word that comes to mind. The quality is simply amazing. Be it videos or pictures, the colors are vibrant and consistent.
The speakers are pretty loud and clear. Only get a bit distorted if you crank them all the way up. More than sufficient for 2 people watching a movie or listenting to light music.
I’ve already spoken great lengths regarding the keyboard and will not reiterate again. But, one word of advice from my side. If you are in the market looking for a laptop, do give this a try. It’s really worth it.
The touchpad is somewhat different. Instead of the usual polished surface, you get a checkboard patterned touchpad which feels somewhat like sandpaper. But, that improves the experience since you can feel that you are moving the cursor. And it’s absolutely accurate. Has not skipped on me even once. Same is for the scroll bar on the right. With the Dell earlier, there used to be lots of hits and misses. Not with this. Another interesting thing about this is that it recognizes two fingers when you want to pinch and zoom. It works with photos, browsers and other applications like MS Word etc. Pretty neat.
There are 3 dedicated keys on the laptop, namely the Assist, Web and Vaio key.
The Assist key opens up VAIO care which is a pretty handy tool for the novice user. You can do regular maintenance, schedule it, get updates etc. Useful and simple to navigate and use.
The second key, which is the Web key opens up your default browser when you are in the Windows environment. But it has a greater purpose. This is present to provide you immediate web access without loading up the bloated Windows first. Yes, when the PC is switched off. I tested it three times with a watch and the time it took to load the browser was under 20 secs and closing time was around 5 seconds. That’s not jaw-dropping impressive but it is atleast 4 times faster than the usual method. Moreoever, you get a full-fledged browser with the ability to save bookmarks etc. I was pretty impressed.
The third key opens up Media Gallery which is the media manager software. Quite similar to Windows Media Center. But offers certain other options and is quite good looking. Offers suggestions for similar tracks on your computer or videos on the web plus the usual media management abilities. Not bad at all.
If you look at the onboard indicators, there is not much going on. Just one light for the power on/off on the right and 3 extremely small indicators on the front bottom side for the battery wireless and hard disk access. No bling here.
[BREAK=I/O Ports]
Maybe this doesn’t deserve a whole page to itself, but I wanted to make special mention of the ports provided on this laptop.
We get 3 USB ports on the right side. All placed towards the user, so no fumbling there. However, they could have been more spaced out as some devices are bigger in size and then there is a fight for real estate. But, there is always the easy way out of picking up a cheap USB extender.
The left side is all about flexibility. You have a standard VGA 15-pin output so that you can connect it to a bigger screen or projector. You also have a HDMI output, which is an excellent inclusion. Last but not least, you also have a e-SATA port.
The inclusion of these ports makes you realise how thoughtfully this product was concieved. You got a full-blown media machine on your hands. Again, as earlier, these ports are placed towards the user. Very nice.
For testing purposes, I connected the laptop via the VGA output to the 40†LCD I have. We watched Kung-Fu Panda HD and it ran absolutely without any issues running at the resolution of 1920x1080 (default for the LCD).
The heat vent is on the left side, away from the user. And this laptop throws out some really hot air. Especially while gaming. You could probably keep your tea warm keeping it next to the vent. Thankfully the battery doesn’t get too warm. So you can keep it on your lap if you are comfortable with the weight. Also, no ports on the backside of the laptop. Which is definitely a good thing.
We also have a port for the ethernet cable which you can use if you are using a wired connection. It has Gigabit ethernet, so if you have a Gigabit ethernet setup, you can easily expect copying speeds of 35-40 MBps. Gigabit ethernet networks are yet to become common but nice to see that you already have a future proof device on your hands.
Same goes for the wireless adapter. It supports 802.11 n which is the latest and the fastest wireless standard out there. You can expect copying speeds of 7-10 MBps which I tested with my Belkin N router copying from a wired PC.
Just a reminder: You have to have the underlying network to take advantage of these above mentioned speeds.
[BREAK=Performance (Gaming, Battery and General Use)]
Core i3 is a respectable processor when it comes to tackling the daily tasks of any laptop user. The laptop is all that it should be - fast and nippy.
I did not run any synthetic benchmarks but I did all the things that are expected of this laptop. I watched HD movies, did browsing, listened to music, played games and nowhere did I feel that this laptop could have done better when it comes to CPU performance. I’m never going to be using this for video encoding so there is no point in testing how well it can do that.
3GB is more than enough to run this puppy without hiccups. With all the bloatware from Sony and some multitasking from my side, I never managed to reach the 2GB mark, let alone 3GB.
Microsoft, apparently, thinks pretty high of this laptop because it got a cool 5/7.9. My desktop gets 5.9 . I know it’s not a true performance evaluation but still makes me happy when I show it to my buddies with integrated graphics and a 3 score. Before you scoff more, remember what the wise man said.. Geeks will rule the world!
720p and 1080p streaming over Wi-fi was flawless (recall the N discussion I did earlier). For 720p, the CPU usage stayed around 20-25%. For 1080p, it stayed under 40%. No lag, no jitter no audio loss. The experience was more or less like watching it as if it was stored on the laptop itself.
Basically, throw whatever can at this laptop and you still expect it to be standing and it will be. That is pretty obvious from the solid configurations. So, please don’t have any worries on that end.
Coming to the main attraction on this machine – The ATI HD5470 512MB card on it. This was the first thing that caught my eye (after the price tag, obviously). At the moment, except Acer there is no manufacturer who offers this card on a laptop priced so less. This makes the laptop VFM.
Now HD5470 is a decent mid-range card that can run major games at medium-high settings without any issues. Now, if you are not planning to use this as a desktop replacement, it is perfect for those occasions where you have some time to kill and no desktop to kill it with. More than perfect actually.
Now, I’m a major TF2 addict, as you can see from my avatar. I don’t have the patience to sit through all the long single-player games. So, obviously, TF2 was the first game I tested on this laptop. It ran at medium settings with around 30-45 fps @ 1366x768. There is more tweaking that could have been done but I didn’t get to spend that much time on it. But it runs. And smoothly at that.
Other game that I tested was SF4. It gave me around 35-40 fps @ 1366x768 with the AA off and other details at low-medium. If any of you really want, I’ll install other games like COD 6, Crysis (really now..) and give you the updates. But, I’m pretty sure that it will handle the not-so-taxing games with ease. TF2 has become rather heavy after the recent updating spree that Valve is on. Not that I’m complaining though.
Coming to the battery life. This is probably the only drawback from my side. It could have been much better. On an average the laptop lasts for around 1.5 – 2.5 hours. So, your power adaptor will be a frequently used accessory. I’m not sure whether this is because of the graphics card or just a sub-standard battery but this could have been better. Guess you can’t ask for everything. You have the option to upgrade to an expensive and longer lasting batter though.
[BREAK=Conclusion]
The conclusion to any product purchase should be a simple question. Am I happy with it for the hard-earned money I paid for it?
In this case, it is a resounding yes! Let us have a look at the pros and cons before I give my final pearls of wisdom.
Pros:
1. Sony build quality, brand value and ruggedness.
2. Gorgeous display.
3. Full sized keyboard and very responsive touchpad.
4. ATI 5470.
5. HDMI + e-SATA port.
6. Dedicated Web access button.
7. Core i3.
8. Windows 7 Home Basic.
9. Fantastic price.
Cons:
1. Pathetic battery life.
2. Windows 7 Home Basic.
3. No driver disk. Zero.
4. Gets a bit hot. Same for the adapter.
5. A bit on the heavier side.
It’s pretty obvious that I’m in love with it. Maybe because the battery life is not a deal-breaker for me. It is going to stay at home for most of the period and my dad/sis are going to be the main users. In all fairness, I did not know about the battery life and it should have been better. But it’s not going to affect me that badly.
Second bit, which I find more amusing than the low battery life is the omission of any DVDs whatsoever. How can they sell the laptop with a geniune OS but no DVD? I’m not aware whether this the standard with all Sony VAIO laptops but it is really unpardonable from my side. Now I think I understand why the sales guy was so adamant that I create Recovery disks ASAP. Smart fellow.
Apart from the above 2 glaring issues, there is not much to complain.
The laptop cost me Rs 38,000 plus a Sony VAIO laptop bag and 9 other free accessories. For the price, there is absolutely nothing to complain. Great going Sony.
The final decision regarding the purchase is what the person looks in a laptop. All the points have been laid out to the best of my knowledge, pick and choose!
A brief history about my brush with Sony before I start reviewing this gorgeous peice of gadgetry. I’ve been on the lookout for a laptop for a long time for my dad and my sister. Dad firmly believes that since I’ve got my over-the-top desktop, we should not spend that much on the laptop.
Till sometime back, dad was pretty happy with the Dell Inspiron given by the company, so all was well. But, I was convinced we needed something better.
You know the feeling when you want to perfectly balance style and the VFM factor of a product and you search high and dry? Sadly the links you open all point to Newegg or some website abroad which has the product of your dreams with the pricing you would want to see on it. This was the same story with me. I had nothing against Acer or Zenith or any of these companies which sold VFM laptops. But, whether you agree or not, it didn’t excite me like a Sony did.
Everyone’s heard the tag line “It’s a Sony!â€. But it is very true. No matter which VAIO I came across, be it the tiny 10†one or this one I currently bought, there is a finesse and build quality that simply leaves you speechless. Be it the chiclet keyboard or the beautiful screen, every detail is covered and built to perfection.
With that thought in mind, let me start my humble evaluation of this awesome laptop. The specs first:
• 15.5†@ 1366x768
• Core i3-330M @2.13GHz
• 3GB DDR3 RAM (can be upgraded to 8GB)
• 320GB HDD @ 5400RPM
• ATI 5470 with 512MB RAM
• Windows 7 Home Basic (64-bit)
• Gigabit Ethernet (wired)+802.11 n (wireless) inbuilt
• Intelligent touchpad
• Full size keyboard (103 keys)
• Motion Eye sensor webcam @ 640x480
• Instant web access button
• VGA + HDMI out
• eSATA port
• 3 USB ports
• Built in speakers and mic
• Standard array of headphone, mic, SD slot etc.
• 369.8mm x 36.7mm x 248mm (WxHxD)
• Weighs a solid 2.7 kgs.
Okay, enough regarding the specifications. I was so blinded by the presence of HD 5470 that I completely forgot to see many of the special features. We shall touch on all of them in a while.
PS: Also it is to be noted, with a bold marker perhaps, that this entire review has been written on the VAIO. And no, I've not been paid by Sony to write this.
[BREAK=Packaging, Build Quality and First Impressions]
I saw this laptop and immediately I knew it was going to be mine. I know that sounds a bit impulsive but the funny part is that I’m not an impulsive buyer. A VAIO had always been on my to-buy list and at this price range it seemed too good to be true.
The packaging was standard, nothing too special about it. Simplicity is the key word, as you can see from the pics. But, that was not reflective of the beauty inside. This is simply one of the most gorgeous looking laptops I’ve seen in a while, Dell and HP included. Be it the finish on the outside or the keyboard everything was perfectly complementing each other. A very thoughtful and well laid out design.
And the keyboard is one of the main reasons why a VAIO gets me hooked. I’m a touch typist and hate looking down while typing. My dad’s previous Dell laptop used to drive me nuts. I couldn’t get the key right without looking down at the keyboard. Same is with the Razer Tarantula I got on my desktop. Rugged, but shitty for long duration typing. The VAIO’s keyboard is like heaven for me. I barely commit any typos since the keys are so nicely spaced out. And the feedback is really good. I recently used a Dell Studio and found the VAIO’s keyboard to be much better than the Dell keyboard which was pretty good too. Apart from that, we have a full keyboard which is a bonus for me since I use the numpad extensively. The best part is they have not made the keys small to fit the whole 103 keys. Only the arrow keys are smaller than usual but still more reassuring than the one on Acer 5 series full size keyboard.
The laptop commands a sense of respect. You cannot treat it badly. I couldn’t think of using it anywhere except on a table sitting upright in a chair. I know it sounds a but weird, but I couldn’t help myself. It is solid. Have no doubts about that. It is not flimsy in any aspect. Feels like it’s carved out of stone. Which brings us to the disadvantage. It is a bit on the heavier side. Actually, quite heavier than you’d expect. I used to easily carry my dad’s old Inspiron in one hand from one room to another. Not a chance with this laptop. Weighs a solid 2.7 kgs.
Funnily enough, there are no CDs/DVDs in the box. Not even one. No drivers CD, no OS DVD, no softwares, no nothing. I was hoping for atleast the drivers CD. How much they managed to save by doing this, only Sony knows. But, a really cheap move. I think the drivers from the Sony USA website should work fine, but that’s an assumption at this stage. Could not find anything on the Sony India website too.
Windows Basic is really.. basic to say the least. No Aero even after having a dedicated graphics card. Okay for the novice user, but an upgrade is imminent. Since, I’m not sure about the drivers at the moment, going to create a recovery disk and then only take the risk.
[BREAK=Display and Sound, Keyboard and Touchpad]
The display is a standard 15.5†LCD running at 1366x768 resolution. But, there is only one word to describe the screen – gorgeous. I know I’ve been pretty liberal with the word, but that’s the word that comes to mind. The quality is simply amazing. Be it videos or pictures, the colors are vibrant and consistent.
The speakers are pretty loud and clear. Only get a bit distorted if you crank them all the way up. More than sufficient for 2 people watching a movie or listenting to light music.
I’ve already spoken great lengths regarding the keyboard and will not reiterate again. But, one word of advice from my side. If you are in the market looking for a laptop, do give this a try. It’s really worth it.
The touchpad is somewhat different. Instead of the usual polished surface, you get a checkboard patterned touchpad which feels somewhat like sandpaper. But, that improves the experience since you can feel that you are moving the cursor. And it’s absolutely accurate. Has not skipped on me even once. Same is for the scroll bar on the right. With the Dell earlier, there used to be lots of hits and misses. Not with this. Another interesting thing about this is that it recognizes two fingers when you want to pinch and zoom. It works with photos, browsers and other applications like MS Word etc. Pretty neat.
There are 3 dedicated keys on the laptop, namely the Assist, Web and Vaio key.
The Assist key opens up VAIO care which is a pretty handy tool for the novice user. You can do regular maintenance, schedule it, get updates etc. Useful and simple to navigate and use.
The second key, which is the Web key opens up your default browser when you are in the Windows environment. But it has a greater purpose. This is present to provide you immediate web access without loading up the bloated Windows first. Yes, when the PC is switched off. I tested it three times with a watch and the time it took to load the browser was under 20 secs and closing time was around 5 seconds. That’s not jaw-dropping impressive but it is atleast 4 times faster than the usual method. Moreoever, you get a full-fledged browser with the ability to save bookmarks etc. I was pretty impressed.
The third key opens up Media Gallery which is the media manager software. Quite similar to Windows Media Center. But offers certain other options and is quite good looking. Offers suggestions for similar tracks on your computer or videos on the web plus the usual media management abilities. Not bad at all.
If you look at the onboard indicators, there is not much going on. Just one light for the power on/off on the right and 3 extremely small indicators on the front bottom side for the battery wireless and hard disk access. No bling here.
[BREAK=I/O Ports]
Maybe this doesn’t deserve a whole page to itself, but I wanted to make special mention of the ports provided on this laptop.
We get 3 USB ports on the right side. All placed towards the user, so no fumbling there. However, they could have been more spaced out as some devices are bigger in size and then there is a fight for real estate. But, there is always the easy way out of picking up a cheap USB extender.
The left side is all about flexibility. You have a standard VGA 15-pin output so that you can connect it to a bigger screen or projector. You also have a HDMI output, which is an excellent inclusion. Last but not least, you also have a e-SATA port.
The inclusion of these ports makes you realise how thoughtfully this product was concieved. You got a full-blown media machine on your hands. Again, as earlier, these ports are placed towards the user. Very nice.
For testing purposes, I connected the laptop via the VGA output to the 40†LCD I have. We watched Kung-Fu Panda HD and it ran absolutely without any issues running at the resolution of 1920x1080 (default for the LCD).
The heat vent is on the left side, away from the user. And this laptop throws out some really hot air. Especially while gaming. You could probably keep your tea warm keeping it next to the vent. Thankfully the battery doesn’t get too warm. So you can keep it on your lap if you are comfortable with the weight. Also, no ports on the backside of the laptop. Which is definitely a good thing.
We also have a port for the ethernet cable which you can use if you are using a wired connection. It has Gigabit ethernet, so if you have a Gigabit ethernet setup, you can easily expect copying speeds of 35-40 MBps. Gigabit ethernet networks are yet to become common but nice to see that you already have a future proof device on your hands.
Same goes for the wireless adapter. It supports 802.11 n which is the latest and the fastest wireless standard out there. You can expect copying speeds of 7-10 MBps which I tested with my Belkin N router copying from a wired PC.
Just a reminder: You have to have the underlying network to take advantage of these above mentioned speeds.
[BREAK=Performance (Gaming, Battery and General Use)]
Core i3 is a respectable processor when it comes to tackling the daily tasks of any laptop user. The laptop is all that it should be - fast and nippy.
I did not run any synthetic benchmarks but I did all the things that are expected of this laptop. I watched HD movies, did browsing, listened to music, played games and nowhere did I feel that this laptop could have done better when it comes to CPU performance. I’m never going to be using this for video encoding so there is no point in testing how well it can do that.
3GB is more than enough to run this puppy without hiccups. With all the bloatware from Sony and some multitasking from my side, I never managed to reach the 2GB mark, let alone 3GB.
Microsoft, apparently, thinks pretty high of this laptop because it got a cool 5/7.9. My desktop gets 5.9 . I know it’s not a true performance evaluation but still makes me happy when I show it to my buddies with integrated graphics and a 3 score. Before you scoff more, remember what the wise man said.. Geeks will rule the world!
720p and 1080p streaming over Wi-fi was flawless (recall the N discussion I did earlier). For 720p, the CPU usage stayed around 20-25%. For 1080p, it stayed under 40%. No lag, no jitter no audio loss. The experience was more or less like watching it as if it was stored on the laptop itself.
Basically, throw whatever can at this laptop and you still expect it to be standing and it will be. That is pretty obvious from the solid configurations. So, please don’t have any worries on that end.
Coming to the main attraction on this machine – The ATI HD5470 512MB card on it. This was the first thing that caught my eye (after the price tag, obviously). At the moment, except Acer there is no manufacturer who offers this card on a laptop priced so less. This makes the laptop VFM.
Now HD5470 is a decent mid-range card that can run major games at medium-high settings without any issues. Now, if you are not planning to use this as a desktop replacement, it is perfect for those occasions where you have some time to kill and no desktop to kill it with. More than perfect actually.
Now, I’m a major TF2 addict, as you can see from my avatar. I don’t have the patience to sit through all the long single-player games. So, obviously, TF2 was the first game I tested on this laptop. It ran at medium settings with around 30-45 fps @ 1366x768. There is more tweaking that could have been done but I didn’t get to spend that much time on it. But it runs. And smoothly at that.
Other game that I tested was SF4. It gave me around 35-40 fps @ 1366x768 with the AA off and other details at low-medium. If any of you really want, I’ll install other games like COD 6, Crysis (really now..) and give you the updates. But, I’m pretty sure that it will handle the not-so-taxing games with ease. TF2 has become rather heavy after the recent updating spree that Valve is on. Not that I’m complaining though.
Coming to the battery life. This is probably the only drawback from my side. It could have been much better. On an average the laptop lasts for around 1.5 – 2.5 hours. So, your power adaptor will be a frequently used accessory. I’m not sure whether this is because of the graphics card or just a sub-standard battery but this could have been better. Guess you can’t ask for everything. You have the option to upgrade to an expensive and longer lasting batter though.
[BREAK=Conclusion]
The conclusion to any product purchase should be a simple question. Am I happy with it for the hard-earned money I paid for it?
In this case, it is a resounding yes! Let us have a look at the pros and cons before I give my final pearls of wisdom.
Pros:
1. Sony build quality, brand value and ruggedness.
2. Gorgeous display.
3. Full sized keyboard and very responsive touchpad.
4. ATI 5470.
5. HDMI + e-SATA port.
6. Dedicated Web access button.
7. Core i3.
8. Windows 7 Home Basic.
9. Fantastic price.
Cons:
1. Pathetic battery life.
2. Windows 7 Home Basic.
3. No driver disk. Zero.
4. Gets a bit hot. Same for the adapter.
5. A bit on the heavier side.
It’s pretty obvious that I’m in love with it. Maybe because the battery life is not a deal-breaker for me. It is going to stay at home for most of the period and my dad/sis are going to be the main users. In all fairness, I did not know about the battery life and it should have been better. But it’s not going to affect me that badly.
Second bit, which I find more amusing than the low battery life is the omission of any DVDs whatsoever. How can they sell the laptop with a geniune OS but no DVD? I’m not aware whether this the standard with all Sony VAIO laptops but it is really unpardonable from my side. Now I think I understand why the sales guy was so adamant that I create Recovery disks ASAP. Smart fellow.
Apart from the above 2 glaring issues, there is not much to complain.
The laptop cost me Rs 38,000 plus a Sony VAIO laptop bag and 9 other free accessories. For the price, there is absolutely nothing to complain. Great going Sony.
The final decision regarding the purchase is what the person looks in a laptop. All the points have been laid out to the best of my knowledge, pick and choose!
But the laptop will come with a genuine windows 7 OS, so do you want to dual boot it ? Even I will be trying out Ubuntu 10.4 when its released, that one seems to have some good eye candy, and I like eye candies....
i am considering Sony VPC EB16FG/B for buying.but i am confused with acer 5740g.would gaming on acer 5740g @ 1366x768 and gaming on Sony VPC EB16FG/B @ 1366x768 be same ??as far as i know cpu have minimum role in graphics intensive calculations.so i3 330m v/s i5 430m would not be much difference.and i have read somewhere that sony underclocks its gpu..how true is that??can you confirm same about your VPCEB14N's ATI 5470 .
hyeah: