Whatever we say, whether Vaio costs heap or Blu-ray is dead, Vaio notebooks are one which make a lasting impression on a user. With Several features and fantastic accessories and savings schemes while buying, plus full high definition video with Blu-ray technology and 1080p resolution in most of its series, they just simply rock. The Xbrite technology is beautiful and the clarity and video quality that you enjoy on Vaio notebooks is simply luxury. Plus Sony’s international customer care facility is also good (you get international travel warranty with higher end models). Sony being a recognized international brand offers good customer support unlike HP Customer care which sucks. Sony Vaio CS Series is quite a good one with options in models ranging from basic to high end ones. Also Sony Vaio had limited editions of notebooks recently which had fine paintings as design in notebook instead of just glossy colours and i swear they were worth having a look to just lust for them. Yeah, they were limited editions and no cheap ones.
In Hard Disk, the common RPM (Revolutions per minute) is 5400 rpm. But there are also 7200 rpm HDD. I would like to tell you here that you will be likely finding this 7200 rpm mostly in Sony Vaio series. Like LT 28 model and few other models in Vaio too. Vaio is only such brand which offers 7200 rpm than traditional 5400 rpm. 7200 rpm will give you better performance of your HDD, much faster than 5400 rpm one. So try to go for 7200 rpm HDD models because you will experience in your HDD usage.
Sony has several series with each series notebooks having some sort of speciality. LT series is for them who like entertainment in PC’s. So one thing is obvious, you need a lot of storage to store your favourite high quality movies and videos.
Configuration – Intel Core 2 Duo 2.1 Ghz, 500 GB HDD with 7200 rpm, 2 GB DDR2 RAM (Can be expanded to 4 GB). 22 inch Wide screen WSXGA (1680×1050) clear bright LCD, 256 MB Dedicated Video RAM, Blu-Ray Disc drive, inbuilt webcam and also TV Tuner card so that you can turn this 22″ into a TV also. No bluetooth. NVidea GeForce 8400M GS graphics card.
OS - Windows Vista Home Premium.
As this is mean to be complete entertainment set of PC, you will have wireless keywords and mouse too. 2.1 Ch powerful speakers with woofer system. There are lot of other specs related to audio and video software so that you can get best for entertainment experience from this Vaio model. Also the look of this PC type is wide and sleek and simple looking but does make an impact. Plus the screen has wall mounting feature by which you can put it hanging on wall like other LCD supports. So it can be perfect TV-cum-Monitor.
If you have good budget and willing to go for Vaio, then LT is the best option in Vaio for complete entertainment experience. Reviews also say Sony has good customer care support as it is a recognized international brand.
Sony Vaio LT 28 model can be available for Rs. 1,60,000 ($3500).
This laptop would be a great xp laptop. The Sony VAIO VGN-AR605E is not a bad laptop for the price. The 17” WXGA+ LCD screen has great resolution. Has a Built-in 1.3 megapixel camera. 160GB SATA hard drive is plenty big enough. the GeForce video card has 256MB dedicated video memory you cant beat that in a laptop. Has a Intel Core 2 Duo T7100 1.8GHz processor not bad.
With only 1 gb of ram there is no why this laptop will run Vista. This laptop just needs one things a ram upgrade.
In laptops, you can’t get the best of all features like as in assembled or high branded desktop. But you can of course get that feature special model. Sony Vaio AW series has some cool new feature. The screen of the laptop is 18.4 inch, high quality LED backlight and 1920 X 1080 display ! It is best piece for playing Blu-ray disc movie disc on it and watch sensationally high colour definition video and audio sound. The only drawback is that it has 4200 rpm instead of 5400 rpm. It is priced at around $4000.
Processor – Intel Core 2 Duo with 2.8 GHz, 4 GB RAM and dedicated memory of 512 MB for Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT. I can recommend this to you only if you are die hard fan of high quality video and can afford to spend for it.
In Vaio, CS Series is the one that comes in lower price range. There are 5 models in it, CS 12,14,15,17,18 with increasing price respectively. Major differnece in them is Processor GHz and RAM.
Configuration – Intel Core 2 Duo Processor 2.2 Ghz. 160 to 320 GB ATA HDD. 2 GB DDR2 SDRAM. Only model CS 17 and 18 have both dedicated 128 MB Graphics card memory. Mobile Intel Graphiocs accelerator. DVD Writer/Player. All have built in Bluetooth feature and built in webcam 1280 X 1024 effective pixels.
Battery Life is less than 3 hours. So bad battery life. TZ series have excellent battery life, as long as 10 hours.
OS – Windows Vista.
Price – There is about similar difference in price between consecutive models.
CS 13 – Rs. 45000
CS 14 – Rs. 50000
CS 15 – Rs. 55000
CS 17 – Rs. 60000
CS 18 – Rs. 70000
CS 17 model has some good colour options available apart from Aroma black like Jet blue, Clear white, Red and Pink also. They look great.
The Vaio CS series is best for budget buy in sony brand. Of course, i can recommend you another brand cheaper than sony a lot and still excellent features at much lower price. This series seems to be designed especially for indian market where people prefer cheaper laptops with better specs. Sony has tried to keep unwanted extras as minimum as possible and this can be best for light home use and not hardcore gaming or such.
Sony Vaio Z Series is better known for a bit of mobility feature with 5 hours battery life. Now that isn’t something great either. Mobility version laptops should have 8 hours battery life and that’s something we yet to see. With development in nanotechnology, i suppose we would see some great surprises in laptops too.
Vaio Z Series has some great features. Aluminium keyboard, carbon fibre body and clear LCD screen.
Configuration – Intel Core 2 Duo processor 2.53 GHz. 320 serial GB ATA HDD. 4 GB DDR3 SDRAM ! That’s something worth looking. Its not DDR2 but DDR3 type. Graphics card is NVidea with 250 MB dedicated Video memory. Built in DVD writer/reader and bluetooth also. Memory stick slot available. Here, built in webcam has 640 X 480 pixels, lesser quality than SR 13 model.
13.3 inch WXGA TFT Screen
OS – Windows Vista
Priced at Rs. 1,25,000 ($ 2730). While another model is priced at INR 1,00,000 ($ 2200) which as 2.4 GHZ instead of 2.53 GHz, 250 GB HDD and 2 GB RAM.
Sony Vaio SR 13 is a bit new series in vaio available in vibrant black, silver and pink colours.
CPU – Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 2.26 Ghz. 250 GB HDD. RAM of 2 GB, extensible upto 4 GB. Has ATI Mobile Radeon graphics accelerator with dedicated video memory of 128 MB. Built in DVD Writer/player. Memory Stick slot and Built in bluetooth.
Built in webcam 1280 X 1024. 3 hours battery life. Not any good either. Its same as Compaq presario c773tu model. 13.3 Inch TFT WXGA Screen.
OS – Windows Vista Business.
Priced at $ 1650 (INR 75000).
Sony Vaio SZ series has some nice configuration. There are 2 models in SZ series of Vaio, i.e SZ 79 and SZ 96. Not much major difference in specs is there between both.
Operating System – Windows Vista Business.
Configuration – Intel Core 2 Duo 2.50 and 2.40 GHz . 250/200 GB HDD. 2 GB DDR2 SDRAM, extensible up to 4 GB RAM. 13.3 inch WXGA LCD screen. Dedicated Video Memory of only 64 MB. So quite less. Not even 128 MB RAM. NVIDEA GeForce 8400M Graphics accelerator. DVD writer/player. Has Bluetooth feature. Built in webcam and Microphone.
Weights less than 2 KB. Battery life about 6-7 hours. Only SZ and TZ series have best battery life of all Vaio series. Rest have only average battery life like 4-3 hours. But bottom line is that it is priced very much high. SZ 79 at Rs. 1,25,00 while SZ 76 at Rs. 80,000. I don’t understand why there is huge difference between 2 models, as much by $1000. This series is best for business users and especially for portability use.
I will share official battery life details of various models in Sony Vaio series.
Vaio BZ 15 – 3 hours
Vaio CR 37 – 4 hours
Vaio CR 363/353 – 4 hours
Vaio 343/323/313 – 4.5 hours
Vaio FZ 35/32 – 2.5 hours
Vaio FW 13/12 – 2 hours
Vaio NR 38 – 3.5 hours (Sony Vaio NR 430)
Vaio NR 37 – 4 hours
Vaio TZ 38/37 – 11/12 hours battery life
Vaio SR 13 – 3 hours
Vaio SZ 79/76 – 7 hours and 6 hours respectively.
Vaio Z 13/14 – 5.5 hours
The best battery life in Vaio notebooks in TZ 38/37 series with massive 10 hours battery life.
