Sony VAIO E-Series review

Last Tuesday Sony announced the VAIO E Series, a new range of machines targeted at your average consumer. We’ve managed to get our hands on a production sample of the VPC EB1S0E/W1 and are extremely impressed by the performance, usability and features on offer.

The 15.5-inch, 1366 x 768 pixel resolution display is typically bright and sharp, making viewing photos and videos a pleasure. Colour reproduction is also good, although colours are not as deep as we’ve seen on other Sony models.

The VPC EB1S0E/W1’s all new chassis design is very attractive, and the mock metal and white plastic finish looks great, although the glittery effect on the palm rest might put some off.

The VPC EB1S0E/W1’s keyboard is very firm, with only a slight hint of flex, and the cut-out-key style Sony pioneered is in evidence, providing a very comfortable and accurate typing experience. There’s also a dedicated number pad, ideal for those who regularly input data.

Intel’s latest processing power is in evidence courtesy of a Core i3 processor, and works alongside 4096MB of DDR3 memory to produce extremely fast performance. As a result you’ll have no problems running everyday office applications such as email clients, or either more resource intensive programs such as editing suites.

An ATi Mobility Radeon HD 5470 – from ATi’s latest Mobility Radeon 5000 series – gives the VPC EB1S0E/W1 some punch 3D wise, and 512MB of video RAM means you’ll have no issue rendering images in editing suites, for example, and playing less resource intensive games shouldn’t be an issue at all.

The 500GB hard drive is more than capable of holding thousands of files, folders, MP3s and videos, and also provides a good deal of future proofing.

Portability is decent enough, and the 2.6kg the machine weighs won’t be too much of a hassle to carry around, and the 179 minute battery life is just about acceptable.

The VPC EB1S0E/W1 comes with a wealth of features unique to Sony including the new Assist button, which helps you maintain your laptop and diagnose any issues you’re experiencing, a Web button, which allows you quicky onto the internet without booting up the Windows 7 operating system and finally a VAIO button, which gives you quick access to your music, movies and photos.

802.11n Wi-Fi is on board, as is an HDMI port for streaming high definition content to an external monitor and an eSATA interface for backing up your files to an external device at high speed.

The Sony VAIO VPC EB1S0E/W1 is a very impressive machine that provides great performance, power and usability. It’s a great all-rounder with versatile performance, and would make the perfect machine for the whole family.7

Available this month, the Sony VAIO VPC EB1S0E/W1 will cost approximately £610 inc. VAT.
For more information visit Sony here.

For a full review make sure to check out the next issue of What Laptop, on sale 12th March 2010. To buy your copy or subscribe to What Laptop, click here.