Sony VAIO VPCS11V9E/B review
Intel's innovation has allowed Sony to refresh several of its most popular families, and the VAIO S Series is no exception. Aimed at the business user who also likes a little entertainment here and there, the S11V9E is a tough but lightweight 13.3in laptop that also packs a discrete graphics chip.
The big step forward is the move to Intel's HM55 Express chipset and Core i5 processor. The Core i5-520M in this machine runs at 2.4GHz, with the Turbo Boost feature dynamically pushing either of the two cores up (to a maximum of 2.933GHz) or down depending on your needs. It's one of the new batch of 32nm processors, and supports Virtualisation Technology and Hyper-Threading.
Memory
Paired with 4GB of DDR3 memory, the VAIO S Series coasted through our application benchmarks with a score of 1.55 – just a fraction short of the 45nm Core i7-720QM inside the Dell Studio 15, which demonstrates just how advanced these latest CPUs are.
But speed isn't the only intended benefit. The 32nm Core i5s have a TDP of just 35W, and Sony has opted for a six-cell, 5,000mAh battery in the S11V9E, so we were hopeful of good battery life to go with that performance.
We had to disable Sony's Battery Saver option, which restricts the charge to 80% of capacity to prolong the battery's life – we'd rather get the extra 20% and take our chances in the long run – and without this limit, the Sony managed more than five hours in our light-use battery test, and 1hr 24mins under full load.
The latter figure is partly down to the more power-hungry GeForce 310M graphics chugging away – Sony hasn't made the graphics switchable, despite the latest Core i5 processors having Intel graphics built into the chip. It does give the Sony another dimension as an entertainment system – it effortlessly decodes HD video and managed an acceptable 56fps in our Low quality Crysis test – so it's perfect for a bit of light gaming after work.
Gorgeous
We're unsurprised to find the rest of the laptop every bit as gorgeous as the VAIO Z Series. The grey finish is more moody than dull, with a rock-solid wrist rest, a smooth hinge and a lid that flexes a little but never to the point of concern.
The 13.3in screen is excellent, with vibrant colours, deep blacks and a 1,366 x 768 resolution that, if we're being really picky, fits the screen size a little more comfortably than the Full HD of the Z Series. There's a rather stingy 0.3mp webcam in the bezel, and the hinge neatly houses the power connector and the power button at each end.
Sony is one of the few manufacturers to have perfected the Scrabble-tile keyboard, and it's a joy to use here. There's no unnecessary miniaturisation of keys, the travel is ideal, and the backing is firm and even across its whole width. The large touchpad and buttons are responsive, and there's a fingerprint reader between them – although without a corresponding TPM module for hardware-level security.
It boasts a tough magnesium alloy body for durability and some sensibly placed mottling for extra grip, yet the S Series weighs just 1.97kg. Sure, that's not close to the 1.4kg of the Z Series – even with its quad-SSD setup – but it's portable enough to bring home from the office every night, and the pre-installed Windows 7 Professional 64-bit suits that purpose.
Inside
Inside, the S Series isn't quite as flamboyant as its cousin, but one could argue its single 500GB mechanical hard disk is more useful than a fancy SSD array of only half this capacity. There's also a DVD writer on the right side, which can be set to power down to conserve the battery, and a 3G modem for wireless web access away from Wi-Fi hotspots.
The S11V9E also comes with a dual-band 802.11agn adapter and Bluetooth chip, as well as an ExpressCard/34 slot on the right side, card slots for SD, MMC and Memory Stick formats on the front edge. Three USB ports are spread around the chassis, with HDMI and D-SUB outputs for external displays, and there's a mini-FireWire slot too.
The Sony VAIO S11V9E/B ticks all the right boxes for an 80% work/20% home laptop, and for once there are at least a couple of proprietary software applications that we didn't immediately delete. But the best news is that the usual VAIO spanner in the works – the price – is only a small one here.
At £953 exc VAT it's around £150 dearer than our previous business favourite, Lenovo's ThinkPad T500, but it bests its ageing rival in almost every area of specification. To be fair to Lenovo, we haven't yet seen its Core i5 and i7 ThinkPad updates, but until we do, the Sony VAIO S Series takes the business laptop crown with ease.
Price when reviewed: £953 (£1,120 inc VAT)
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