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Andrew Wolffing Howls For The Sony Vaio E Series Second, the 200 GB Hard Drive runs at a sluggish 4200 RPM, producing a speed bottleneck when searching through files and folders as well as running large applications. Also, with a two year old Pentium Dual-Core processor, it's going out of style and I could use a bit more power and better graphics Enter the Sony Vaio E series (model:VPCEB23FX/WI), a moderately priced, middle-of-the-road Windows 7 notebook that happened to suit my purposes perfectly. I didn't need a $1000 desktop replacement machine, just something to play movies, stream video, perform some light image manipulation and handle my usual web development environments. The Vaio VPCEB23FX/WI retails at just a hair under $650 at Best Buy where I picked it up. This particular Vaio is a great mobile work machine that should serve me well for at least a few years before I need to upgrade again, thanks to solid hardware and build quality. Let's take a look at the numbers. My Sony Vaio came with the newest line of Intel processor, sporting a Core i3-350M with a clock rate of 2.26 GHz, 3 MB of L3 cache, Hyper Threading and Intel VT-x. It that sound like Greek to you, rest assured it's a very fast, modern CPU. It supports up to 8 GB of snappy DDR3 RAM, and this model comes standard with 4 GB, which is plenty for most users. As far as graphics are concerned, the Vaio relies on the on-board Intel HD Graphics chip, which works very well with the i3 and features HDMI output for incredibly clear picture quality to any external monitor. The screen is a 15.5" wide format display with 1366 x 768 resolution. It's more than enough screen real estate for just about any work. As for that Hard Drive I mentioned earlier, this model runs at 5400 RPM. It's not the 7200 RPM that I'd hoped for, but I was on a budget and that typically kicks the price up a bit. It doesn't seem to impact performance at all, as this PC is fairly fast even under heavier workloads. As far as connectivity is concerned there's 3 standard USB ports as well as a USB/eSATA combo port and an SD media card reader that satisfies all my peripheral needs just fine. For the money, this is a fine laptop with all the latest hardware from an often overlooked brand. I only bought it recently so the long term verdict is still out, but if you're in the market for a new, middle of the pack laptop, this incarnation of the Sony Vaio shouldn't disappoint. One thing though if you're looking for extreme portability the E Series Vaio VPCEB23FX/WI may not be for you, as it tips the scales at a solid 5.9 pounds. By Andrew Wolffing for Cheaperlaptop.com Thursday, July 22, 2010 More 15 inch laptops: - Why I Like My Cheap Toshiba L305 Laptop - Eva Reviews Her Acer Aspire 5515 - Dig Deep in the Bargain Basement - Gateway MX6650 - Site map |
