Product details
Item specifics Condition: Used: An item that has been used previously. Brand: Sony Warranty: Seller Warranty Model: PCG – 61212W SSD Capacity: Not Specified (Others) MPN: Does Not Apply Family Line: PCG Series Operating System: Windows 7 Type: Notebook Screen Size: 14″ Processor Brand: Intel Processor: i3 Touch Screen: No Processor Speed: 2.5 GHz Bundled Items: WebCam Memory: 4 GB Usage Type: Business Hard Drive Capacity: 1000 GB Warranty Details: One Month Warranty Colour: Blue Design If you want a notebook with a conservative look that will fade into the wallpaper, don’t buy the VAIO E Series. However, if you desire a colorful, exciting design that really turns heads, the VAIO E is for you. However, it’s not made for road warriors. At 14.6 x 9.8 x 1.2 inches thick and 6.0 pounds, the VAIO E is more at home on your desk than on your lap or your airline tray table. The notebook is available in the relatively conservative Coconut White, Gunmental Black, and Black Sand or the louder Hibiscus Pink, Caribbean Green and Iridiscent Blue (metallic teal). The shiny lid and deck feature gradient patterns, while the bezel, sides, and bottom all have a metallic hue. Our review unit’s Iridescent Blue color, combined with the green status lights and hot pink writing on the Assist button, reminded us of the television show Miami Vice. Keyboard and Touchpad The 103-key island-style keyboard includes a numeric keypad and plenty of room for your hands. The keys offer an acceptable but unimpressive level of tactile feedback, with no noticeable flex. Using the Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor test, we were able to achieve a strong score of 86 words per minute with a 1-percent error rate, better than our typical rate of 80 words per minute. Rather than sitting in the middle of the deck, the VAIO E’s touchpad is positioned left of center and directly beneath the space bar. This positioning takes some getting used to, as does the high-friction surface on the pad. In our testing, we found navigating around the desktop to be a little jerky because of the rough pad. We were also disappointed to find that the touchpad does not appear tosupport multitouch gestures. The two discrete mouse buttons offered just the right amount of feedback. Heat Throughout our use of the VAIO E Series, we found that the major touchpoints stayed within comfortable temperatures. After playing a Hulu video at full screen for 15 minutes, we measured the keyboard at an acceptable 95 degrees Fahrenheit, the touchpad at a reasonable 94 degrees, and the bottom at a somewhat warm 101 degrees.However, given the size of the notebook, you probably won’t be putting it on your lap much. Display and Sound The VAIO E’s 15.5-inch 1366 x 768 screen provided sharp images and bright colors. However, the glossy surface on the screen ensured that colors looked washed out at any but the most direct viewing angle and, even when sitting right in front of the computer, we had to push the lid back 30 degrees to avoid seeing overhead lights or our own reflection. Every kind of video we played was incredibly sharp, detailed and smooth, from a streaming 720p episode of Fringe to a downloaded 1080p file from Microsoft’s WMV HD Content Showcase to a DVD of the movie Dark City. When we tried playing a Blu-ray disc of Iron Man, images were crisp and colorful, but the soundtrack seemed muted, even at maximum volume. The speakers are a definite weakness. We tried listening to a heavy metal song, a jazz tune, and an R&B track, and all sounded tinny and harsh. Though the notebook’s speakers got fairly loud as we streamed tunes from Napster.com, the VAIO sounded more like a mono clock radio than an expensive multimedia machine with stereo speakers. Ports and Webcam The VAIO E comes with just about every port the average consumer could need. On the right side of the chassis are three USB 2.0 ports, an optical drive, and a Kensington lock slot. On the left side, you’ll find Ethernet, VGA, HDMI, eSATA/USB, and ExpressCard/34 slots. The front lip has headphone and microphone ports and two different memory card readers: one for Sony Memory Stick Pro cards and another for standard SD Cards. Thewebcam provided detailed images and clear video, even in a dimly lit room. When chatting over Skype, our call partner was able to see every pore in our skin. Performance The VAIO E’s 2.13-GHz Intel Core i3-330M CPU and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 graphics combined to give it very strong overall performance. Whether surfing the Web, viewing high def videos, playing games, or circling the globe in Google Earth, the notebook felt extremely snappy, and our benchmark tests only confirmed that impression. On PC Mark Vantage, a test that measures overall performance, the VAIO E scored a whopping 5,449, well above the mainstream notebook category average of 3,587 and the 4,918 returned by the Core i3-powered Toshiba Satellite L505. The 7,200-rpm, 500GB hard drive
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