• Review: Sony VAIO S (VPCSB16FG) Review

    Review: Sony VAIO S (VPCSB16FG) Review

    Jayesh Limaye, Jun 15, 2011 1332 hrs IST

    Leaner, meaner and faster.

    Good performance; Ergonomic keyboard; Design; Battery life

    Poor display quality; Hard touchpad buttons; No ExpressCard slot

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Sony VAIO S (VPCSB16FG)
MRP: Rs 56,990

Sony VAIO S Series of laptops has always catered to the student and business segment, but with a touch of style and elegance. The latest generation in this series comes with Sandy Bridge processors from Intel, to make things even more interesting. Naturally, it is expected to be more energy-efficient and powerful, thus having better performance and a longer battery life. We have the latest Sony VAIO S 13.3" laptop with us. Let us see if it is really better than its predecessor.

Sony VAIO S


Sony VAIO S

Design and Features

The new Sony VAIO S no longer sports the thick and curvy plastic casing of the previous generation, but instead goes at least half way in the direction of the VAIO Z in terms of design. It instead comes with a black magnesium-reinforced chassis and keyboard rest made of a single aluminium sheet, which gives it a classy look as well as ruggedness and adequate protection against wear and tear. Weighing just 1.69 kg and with a thickness of just 24 mm, this truly portable enough to carry anywhere. The overall build quality is good, though it did seem flimsy at times, such as when you try to lift the laptop by holding on its left side and the optical drive door cover comes off.

Keyboard and surroundings


Keyboard and surroundings

The Chiclet-type keyboard is just the right size for a laptop and is comfortable to use for long working hours. There is enough play to give you just the right amount of tactile feedback. There is no separate keypad, but this is not expected in this size range. Function keys double up to take care of multimedia and shortcut functions. Moreover, the keyboard is backlit with ambient light sensor, which automatically lights it up when it senses a dimly lit environment. This allows you to use it in dark environments such as in your car or in the airplane. The multi-touch touchpad is sufficiently large for comfortable use, while the buttons below it are uncomfortably hard to press and certainly seemed out of place where everything else is so ergonomically designed. Two tiny slits present on the left and right near the top are the openings for speakers beneath.

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Discussion Board
(6) Comments
Neel
,Mumbai , on Oct 19, 2011 04:40 PM
Well, something wrong with this review. Thank God I didnt go by it. Checked this laptop yesterday, I need it for my business trip and series is the premium business series. It has LED screen , so no question of bad display as has been mentioned in the review. Yes, the battery life is good and the multimedia display is too good. Good news price has come down to 54k and new colours are also available. Also, there was EMI option readily available for anyone to chose from
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chacha choudhry
,mumabi, on Jun 18, 2011 05:55 PM
um....is this a 'preview' or a 'review' ???
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assanghey
,rome, on Jun 17, 2011 02:06 AM
Please test the battery out properly and atleast state basic things like how long it lasts when wi-fi browsing and the like. this is weak sauce.
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Gaurav Vyas
,Mumbai, on Jun 16, 2011 07:36 AM
Sony is famous for charging high for outdated products, though the quality remains satisfactory.
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Sid
,Kolkata, on Jun 15, 2011 02:22 PM
Seriously? A 3-page laptop review? And a few questions: 1) If this laptop has a Sandy Bridge processor, why is the sticker from the old Arrandale series (The yellowish thing is on the corner) 2)There is no graphics chip called 6620M. There is however a 6630M. What happened to you guys? Did everyone leave and now newbies are using fake names and writing articles under them? And you would be better off spending your money on a 13.3inch Macbook than this piece of junk with a 6470M card (according to flipkart). The graphics card is just as bad as intel integrated HD3000. If you want to spend 56K on a 13.3inch lappy, get a Macbook. Also, if you have even an iota of intellegence, get the HPs DV6 series with an i7 and a 6770M graphics. The performance rivals that of the alienware m14x.
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Sanditech
,Mysore, on Jun 15, 2011 03:23 PM
I was trying to avoid this...but I also feel there is something wrong with techtree since past 6 months...all news come after long time no reviews..nothing gr8 in terms of opinions...I had tt as a bookmark for 5 years on every single machine..deleted it from my phone last week...get it together guys.
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