Sony Vaio F Series overview
By Alexis • Aug 17th, 2010 • Category: Laptops, Mobile Computer News
- Photo: Sony
The Sony Vaio F Series of laptops is Sony’s flagship range. These are commendably well engineered, exceptionally powerful and eye-wateringly expensive. Are they good enough to justify the usually painful sticker price? Let’s find out.
The price of beauty
Starting at $999 (about £650), the Sony Vaio F Series scales all the way up to a mind-boggling $2299 (£1,430). Ouch. But the core guts are undeniable.
All the F Series laptop configurations ship with a 16.4-inch full HD LCD screen. Minimum RAM out of the box is 4GB, scalable up to 8GB and the hard drive capacity starts at 500GB. All of the Sony Vaio F Series laptops ship with Intel Core i7 chipsets (740Q and 840QM variations) which means from a processing perspective, you won’t be left wanting and the graphics are provided by the very capable nVidia GeForce GT330M. An added bonus is that for media lovers, especially those who still carry physical discs, all the Vaio F Series laptops ship with a Blu-ray player/writer for high def viewing.
In short, work-wise, this laptop puts in the hours and the legs. What about how it looks?
Aesthetics
- Photo: Sony
What’s odd about the Sony Vaio F Series – and all of Sony’s recent Vaio laptops, to be honest – is it lacks the design flair (or is that eccentricity?) Sony once had when it came to their laptops. The clean lines make for an aesthetically attractive laptop, but it doesn’t stand out the way Sony laptops from yesteryear did. The lid is matte – which is an awesome change from the gloss we’ve become accustomed to – with a bold Vaio logo on it. The fact that they ship in almost militaristic all-black further cements the seriousness with which Sony treats this range, and not being a fan of the two-tone designs in contemporary laptops, I appreciate that.
Verdict
In short, the same conundrum that’s always existed with Sony’s laptops exists now. They look great – even if not as out there as they used to – and they work hard, but they’re not cheap. If price is not a concern, jump in.
Tags for this article: sony vaio, sony vaio laptops
