Sony Vaio F series: A Preliminary Review (Updates to follow)
Note: I have only had this laptop for a week which really isn't enough time to speak on longevity durability or performance for several applications/programs. I will update this review periodically to let you know how it handles gaming (still haven't bought any games as I have been strictly a console gamer for a while now) and other high-end computing tasks.
First I'd like to write a little on how I decided on this laptop as I found such descriptions to be helpful when I was first starting to research. I was looking for a powerful desktop replacement that would have the processor speed to satisfy my computing needs for at least the next three years. I also wanted a multimedia machine (i.e.: sufficient screen size with high resolution large HDD). I looked extensively at ASUS Sony and Toshiba the three companies with the highest rated customer service and reliability. Based on product reviews and articles I have read these are the only three notebook companies that were even worth my consideration. Hands-on testing at Best-buy confirmed this. The build quality in those three brands just seem to be on a whole other level. Customer feedback seems to support this. Search the web and I'm sure you'll come to the same conclusion.
At first I fell in love with the Toshiba Satellite P505-S8980 18.4" Notebook - Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 2.2GHz / 6GB RAM / 500GB HDD / Blu-ray Read / Built-in webcam / Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit with it's HD screen blu-ray capabilities and awesome speakers. However I really wanted to be able to use this as an actual "lap"top and this massive machine would hardly be comfortable in your lap. Throw in the unlikelihood that I would ever be willing to take this out of the house and I began to look for a smaller solution.
So I checked out that laptop's little brother: Toshiba Satellite A505-S6004 TruBrite 16.0-Inch Laptop (Black/Silver). It looked good and was getting great reviews from online publications. But ultimately the glossy finish of that machine and lack of blu-ray caused me to look elsewhere.
That's when I came across this Sony F Series. This laptop seemingly had everything I could ask for from a laptop: blu-ray HD and the core-i7. The backlit keyboard was icing on the cake. And let me tell you this is the nicest keyboard I have ever used on a laptop. It's even better than the famed macbook's (although that's probably just a matter of preference). It's hard to describe just how nice it feels to use this laptop. If word processing is going to be a regular part of your normal uses for your new laptop I highly recommend checking this baby out. The keys have great feedback and presence. I really can't think of a single aspect of the keyboard that needs improvement. The backlight can be a little blinding if you are viewing the laptop from too shallow an angle. You can see the LED light source under the keys unless your eyes are positioned pretty much above the keyboard and it can be a little distracting. It's not a huge issue but I felt it was worth mentioning. Using proper posture and/or using a laptop stand or lapdesk (such as Logitech Comfort Lapdesk) should completely eliminate this minor complaint.
When I received my new laptop it was immediately evident just how well built this product is. This machine is sexy. I love the understated design and textured chassis which is very smudge resistant. Nothing too flashy (except for the backlit keyboard but it's more cool than anything else) just solid efficient construction and design. It feels extremely well constructed. Absolutely no flex in the keyboard or chassis. The lid is also very solid and no matter how hard I press on the back of the lid there is no discoloration or distortion in the corresponding section of the screen nor is there any flex to the lid whatsoever. I feel like I could step on this with the lid closed and not hurt it a bit. Probably not the case but this laptop just screams quality.
It took me a little while to get used to the left of center touch pad especially when lying down one the couch or in bed. It causes you to hold your right arm closer to the center of your body than your left and that causes a bit of strain in the right shoulder and in that area of the back. I quickly got used to this design (which admittedly is found in nearly all 15-inch or larger notebooks on the market today) and honestly won't be using this one while lying down too often unless I'm just watching video or doing light browsing and reading.
The heat is hardly noticeable something I wasn't expecting with the quad core i7 (which was rumored to run quite hot in most reviews I read for other laptops). I can attribute this to the ventilation and fan system another plus on this laptop's design and construction. It never became uncomfortable even after hours of use on my lap.
Now for performance. WOW! This thing blazes through any task with lightning quick response times. When I click on a youtube link the video immediately plays. The buffering is complete even on huge video files within seconds. It's really incredible. It's the equivalent of changing channels on a tv. The video is immediately playing with no lag no waiting no loading. Awesome. I used to never have more than a few windows open on my old dell because it would just get too sluggish. Not so on this MACHINE. I have literally dozens of firefox tabs open along with many programs and applications running. Nothing slows this thing down. This laptop should serve me well for an extended period of time (which is why I splurged for the 3 year squaretrade warranty; more on that later). I can't even imagine where processors go from here. CAN it even get faster than this?
That brings me to the aspects of this notebook that I didn't really like:
1. It is a little difficult to get a perfect viewing angle on this screen in dim lighting. It really is only an issue when I'm using it in a room with the lights turned off. I believe part of the issue comes from the ambient light sensor which automatically dims the screen. It immediately becomes difficult to get an optimal viewing angle but it is possible at just the right angle and viewing distance (being too close to the screen increases the difficulty). Either the top or the bottom of the screen is too dark in this situation. It's a minor complaint for me since this screen is almost too big to focus on all at once anyway and it really only occurs when the room is pitch black. Additionally the screen gets way too dark for my tastes when the light sensor causes the screen to dim. The aforementioned backlight that seeps from the edges of the keys doesn't help this situation as it makes the screen seem all the more dim in comparison. I haven't yet found a way to override this feature. I'll try to call Sony's support line and update accordingly if I find a solution (feel free to post a solution if you have found an answer).
2. The speakers are notably tiny sounding with absolutely no low end. This too is a minor issue for me since I use Shure SE530PTH Sound Isolating Earphones with Push-To-Hear Control for almost all situations. It would be nice to have a better set of speakers for watching videos or listening to music with others. External speakers are absolutely essential if this will be used as a true desktop replacement.
3. The battery life is lacking. This is unavoidable with a quad core processor like the power sucking intel core-i7. You really have to know what you are going to be using your laptop for to determine how much this will be an issue for you. I for one began to immediately regret my decision. It gets anywhere from 2 to 3 hours during browsing with wi-fi (it's closer to 3 unless I am watching videos or streaming music). When I was watching blu-ray movies it became apparent that I wouldn't be able to finish an entire movie in High Def (except for maybe the shortest comedies). This made me feel I had made a mistake and I began to consider returning the laptop. What's the point of having blu-ray playback if I can't get through a single film? I began to look at high battery life alternatives and I really came close to buying the following:
ASUS UL50VT-A1 Thin and Light 15.6-Inch Black Laptop - 11.5 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Home Premium)- This laptop was an attractive choice with up to 10-12 hours of battery life. It also has switchable graphics which would be able to handle moderate gaming. ASUS also has the best warranty in the industry with 2 years plus 1 year of accidental damage protection. I was about to buy this laptop even considering it didn't have blu-ray playback and had a lower resolution. I still think I would be very happy with either choice but after a lot of time thinking over it I decided to keep the Sony. This laptop will rarely be far from an outlet so I decided the ridiculous battery life wasn't an acceptable trade off for the F series' high end performance. Also I read a couple of reviews that really frowned upon the UL50vt's build quality stating there is a lot of flex in the keyboard and referencing the cheap high gloss plastic chassis. I had really become so in love with the Sony's design and overall comfort of use that I couldn't see myself being happy in the end by sending it back for a laptop of inferior quality. Of course it would be essential to have a long battery life if you plan on traveling with your notebook a lot or need to use it for extended periods away from an outlet. But I simply don't see myself needing the portability enough to justify returning this awesome laptop. If I ever absolutely need additional battery life I'll buy a high capacity battery (although I will definitely be waiting for them to drop in price).
That's all I can really comment on at this time. I really love this laptop. It's as close to perfect as I was able to find. It just feels right is lightning fast and the build and design quality are unparalleled at this price (I paid 1059.99; it looks like it has already gone up since I bought it).
A word about the square trade warranty: I love SquareTrade! I called before ordering and spoke at length with a very helpful and knowledgeable representative who answered all my questions and really made me feel comfortable buying their product. I went with the 3 year warranty for 129.99. This seems like a good idea especially with a newly released machine with cutting edge technology. If the core i7 fries my computer down the road I am covered (and I don't think that will happen considering it runs at comfortably cool temp). Even if I never use the warranty the piece of mind is easily worth the price.
I will be updating this review soon with gaming performance. My friend has Mass Effect 2 and I really want to buy this game (I have a ps3 which this game will not be released for). I am going to install his copy and see if this laptop can handle it first. I will update this review with the performance.
**UPDATE**
I just wanted to mention how easy it is to manage mp3 and other media with this laptop. I was able to transfer a ridiculous amount of music from an external harddrive to a SanDisk Sansa Clip+ 8 GB MP3 Player (Black) in a suprisingly short amount of time. What was really awesome is windows 7 automatically transferred any AAC (unsupported i-tunes format) music files to the proper mp3 format. This saved a lot of time so I didn't have to transfer the files then find the new files. It doesn't save an extra copy of the file and it doesn't require me to go and find the mp3 copy among a list of AAC files. Very simple to manage music files.
**UPDATE 2** I found a cool website that checks your system's information and lets you know if you can run certain games: <[...]>
I checked Mass Effect 2 and Modern Warfare 2 and the website said my system exceeded both games recommended specifications by a ton. That was reassuring. It told me my CPU speed is insufficient for Crysis but everything else met requirements. I find this a little confusing considering this processor overclocks to 2.8 GHz. and is a quad core with ridiculouse processing power. I just may try to run it (although I'm sure I'll have to tone down the effects). I will update with Frame Per Second ratings for each game I try.
**UPDATE 3** I'm happy to report that I have contacted Sony Customer Support regarding the screen dimming issue I referred to in my review and the results were extremely positive. I was not transferred a single time. I went through a few short prompts and the representative who answered my call was extremely helpful.
At first he did not know exactly how to do this on my particular model he stated that since it is so new he was not immediately familiar with the f series and that it was not yet listed in his support software. He had me go to a website that gave him temporary remote access to my computer. He took control of the cursor and proceeded to demonstrate exactly how to adjust this feature. Viola! The screen immediately brightened to max settings. I felt really stupid when he explained the answer. Just type 'Vaio' into the search field on the start up menu. Go to vaio control center> display> automatic brightness settings and turn the automatic brightness off and choose your desired brightness. Also the shortcuts for adjusting brightness on the fly is Fn + F5 for dimmer and Fn + F6 for brighter. He also showed me some other very cool tricks that were features I hadn't yet stumbled upon. It was easily the best customer service experience I've had in a long time.
I have found that adjusting the brightness according to the environment helps to reduce the difficulty of finding an optimal viewing angle. That being said the display is still a bit of a disappointment overall. There is just something about it I can't put my finger on. It could use a little more color saturation I suppose and definitely just lacks the pop that I would like for this price. I did a side by side comparison with my cousin's macbook and it really suprises me that the screen on his looks more defined bright and colorful despite being a much lower native resolution.
It's one thing about this computer that truly deserves to dock the score a bit especially considering this laptop is geared toward multimedia and gaming. So at this point I am going to lower this score a smidge and give it 4.5 stars. It performs fabulously looks slick has a great feel and is a pleasure to type on and use. It feels solidly constructed and Sony support was top notch and resolved my question in one call with one representative. It's a shame the display and speakers leave something to be desired I really wanted to call this my perfect laptop. It's a close as it gets though for the price I paid. A great value considering no taxes. I'm happy.
**UPDATE 4** I have discovered another very helpful hint that will allow you to enjoy media on this laptop. Edit the sound card and sound settings to turn all effects off. I was watching a bluray movie with my Shure 530's to check how accurate the sound was. I was very disappointed at first. There are a lot of effects that come preset that are supposed to provide ambience and depth but it absolutely ruins the sound experience on my headphones making everything seem distant. The same was true when listening to lossless audio (straight from a CD or from a FLAC file). Once I turned all the effects off everything changed. Prestine audio quality with incredible clarity and presence. The sound on blu-ray through the 530's is superb with amazing depth. This is a very important fix for those that will be using headphones.
**UPDATE 5** Mass Effect 2 runs fine. I have the resolution at 720p and just about everything set to high and it is definitely playable. Can get choppy in heavy action but that happens even on my PS3 during some games so it's not that upsetting. This laptop was not purchased with gaming power as a priority it's just a nice perk and goes to show this laptop has some horsepower under the hood. However if you want some serious gaming power opt for the models with better graphics cards and full HD.
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