SONY VAIO S SERIES VPCSB36FG REVIEW FULL
SONY VAIO S SERIES VPCSB36FG REVIEW SOFTWARE
SONY VAIO S SERIES VPCSB36FG REVIEW WINDOWS 7
SONY VAIO S SERIES VPCSB36FG REVIEW SERIES
SONY VAIO S SERIES VPCSB36FG REVIEW TV

We were easily able to move between two windows in Internet Explorer, one of which had six tabs open.

SONY VAIO S SERIES VPCSB36FG REVIEW SERIES

The E205 performed equally well, although the MacBook's 5,400 rpm hard drive is faster than both, completing the same file transfer test at a rate of 27.8 MBps.Дuring our testing, we used the S series as our primary laptop.

SONY VAIO S SERIES VPCSB36FG REVIEW SOFTWARE

The 1:15 boot time isn't impressive, although that could have more to do with the bundled software than the speed of the components. The Vaio S' 500GB 5,400-rpm hard drive transferred a 4.97GB mixed media folder at a rate of 21 MBps, which is typical (the category average is 21.9 MBps). However, the Toshiba Satellite E205, which costs less ($899) and also has a Core i5 CPU, scored 5,396 and even lasts longer on a charge. The $999 Apple MacBook, which we reviewed in the fall, and does not include Intel's latest processors, did not fare as well, notching 2,160 when we ran PCMark Vantage in Boot Camp. As you'd expect with a state-of-the-art Core i5 machine, it blows past the thin-and-light category average of 3,133.

SONY VAIO S SERIES VPCSB36FG REVIEW WINDOWS 7

This could be a reflection not necessarily on either of the notebooks, but on network interference.ДЄrmed with a 2.26-GHz Intel Core i5 i5-430M CPU, 4GB of RAM, Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit), and a 5,400-rpm 500GB hard drive, the S series notched a score of 4,950 on PCMark Vantage, which measures overall performance. We observed some lag that day, although the video quality was smoother. When we tested the same WiDi technology on the E205, the connection between the laptop and set-top box also took about 10 seconds.

SONY VAIO S SERIES VPCSB36FG REVIEW TV

The playback was mostly smooth, but at times the picture on our TV froze while it continued to play normally on our laptop. In our tests, the VAIO S took 10 seconds to connect from a foot or two away. You don't need to configure your wireless connection: so long as your laptop is already hooked up to a wireless network, just turn on your television, press the Wireless Display button in the upper left corner of the chassis, and watch for an on-screen message confirming the connection is in progress. It's easy to set up: just plug the box into the wall, and then into your TV using an HDMI cable for high-definition sets (or those colorful composite cables for standard-def TVs). Like the E205, the S series comes bundled with the Netgear Push2TV box, a $99.99 value. Note that you can mirror your notebook display on the television, but not extend it. It supports resolutions as high as 720p, and does not work with games at the moment. Music lovers might want to plug in external speakers.Д¬lick to enlargeLike the E205, another Best Buy Blue Label notebook, the S series packs Intel's new Wireless Display technology (WiDi), which lets users wirelessly beam photos and videos from their notebook to a monitor or television. The speaker strip located above the keyboard produced loud enough sound, but the quality, on everything from Queen's 'Under Pressure' to the Who's 'Won't Get Fooled Again' sounded tinny. However, we needed to tilt the display back a bit to get the best picture. And despite having a glossy finish, we enjoyed decent viewing angles from the sides and reflections were bearable. The bright 13.3-inch (1366 x 768) glossy display on the VAIO S delivered good image quality when we watched a Saturday Night Live clip from Hulu. The sound was loud and accurate, though, and the audio and video were in sync with one another. The webcam's 1.3-megapixel photos and VGA video both showed bland, muted colors and not very sharp image quality.

The S series has dual memory card slots (for SD Cards and Memory Sticks), as well as an ExpressCard/34 slot on the right. By comparison, the $899 Toshiba Satellite E205, also a Blue Label notebook, has eSATA, a slot-loading (as opposed to a tray-loading) DVD burner, and a USB port that charges gadgets even while the notebook is sleeping. The only thing missing, some nitpickers might argue, is a dual USB/eSATA port for faster backups. The Vaio S series' selection of ports include three USB, HDMI and VGA out, Firewire, an Ethernet jack, and headphone and mic ports. Many other systems reach well over 100 degrees. We measured 90 degrees on the touchpad, 95 in the center of the keyboard, and 98 on the underside of the laptop.

SONY VAIO S SERIES VPCSB36FG REVIEW FULL

The S series remained cooler than many other notebooks after we played a Hulu video at full screen for 15 minutes.

Sony vaio s series vpcsb36fg review