Sony has added a new model to its S series laptops, which at first glance looks similar to the discontinued Apple MacBook. Sony VAIO S13 is a combination of its SA and SB series laptops. According to the company this is the fastest model of this series.
Design:
S13 is a sleek and lightweight model made of magnesium alloy, and the matte finish gives it a sturdy look. Though it looks robust, the lid felt very thin and vulnerable upon opening. With both hands on either side of the lid you can easily bend it with little applied pressure. This might also imply that it would not withstand a slight drop on to a hard surface. Talking about its sleek design, the S13 is slightly thicker than the Ultrabook at 24mm and it weighs just 3.4 pounds.
Keyboard:
The keys in the S13 keyboard are spaciously placed and typing proved quite easy. The backlit keyboard was very comfortable to work with in the dark. If you look at the keys from any angle other than the top, it might look oversaturated.
The 4.7 x 2.5 clickpad is spacious and accurate. The cursor moves from one end to the other very smoothly. It is equipped with Multitouch gestures as in iPads, where two-finger scrolling and pinch-to-zoom work effectively.
Display:
The 13 inch screen with a standard resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels is very bright. This resolution is suitable for watching 720p movies, images and texts. The viewing angles up to 45 degrees on both sides are very good, but beyond that the images are blurred.
Performance:
The S13 is packed with a 3rd generation Intel Core i5 processor and 6GB RAM. Compared to other light weight laptops in this price range, the performance of S13 was above average. The performance of S13’s processor is good enough to beat all Ultrabooks in the market. The performance of its hard drive falls short of expectations in this category of laptops. Slow file transfer rates add to the misery.
Graphics:
The Intel HD Graphics 4000 chip powered S13scored above average in graphics performance. It has the best graphics performance among its S series counterparts. A notable feature about S13 is the graphics switch that is placed on the dashboard above the keyboard. This helps in switching from high graphics display to low graphics display as all programs do not require the same display settings.
For those of you who are interested in powerful graphics, S13 with an Nvidia GeForce GT 640M LE graphics card is available at a slightly higher price.
Battery:
When it comes to the battery life, S13 beats most of the Ultrabooks in the market. S13’s battery lasted 6 hours and 20 minutes, which includes continuously surfing the Web over Wi-Fi. It uses a 4400mAh lithium polymer battery that can be charged independently.
Ports:
The S13 has standard port slots comprising of an Ethernet port, three USB ports, HDMI, SD card reader, memory card reader and a VGA on the right side. The headphone or microphone jack is provided on the left side.
The Sony VAIO S13 comes in three different colors, but the white S13 looks like the MacBook and hence, some might dislike it.
This is a guest post by Teyona Dame of xfinityonline, a site that offers savings and current information on xfinity, as well as xfinity.com services.
Sony VAIO S13 Review,
Martin
Oct 14. 2012
Wow, Great Sony Notebook. Budget?
TechCrates
Oct 14. 2012
Sony Vaio was always far from a standard user budget 😀
Nadeem Khan
Oct 15. 2012
Honestly, the value for money for Vaio series has always been too low. You can get much better specs in HP or Dell for even lesser price than Vaio. The only thing which Vaio outclasses others is nonetheless style and a strong marketing campaign !
TechCrates
Oct 15. 2012
Truly said Nadeem. A lot of friends have the same opinion. A lot is paid for the Sony brand and the name VAIO indeed. Sony VAIO always tried to be perfect quality in notebook and laptop design. And of course, you can get faster hardware with other suppliers with focus of inner hardware alone. Sony tries to deliver an allround quality laptop with its VAIO series. Thanks a lot for your feedback Nadeem!
Eric
Oct 15. 2012
Great article for the new Sony VAIO… Out of my budget but a high quality notebook for real
TechCrates
Oct 15. 2012
Well, for most of us 🙂 I am still using my 5 year old HP notebook as well and currently looking for an ultrabook 😉
Praveen
Oct 15. 2012
Wow so nice & good review for Sony VAIO, this very nice post.
TechCrates
Oct 15. 2012
Thank you very much Praveen 🙂 You are welcome to suggest interesting tech topics or provide us an article of your choice if you love blogging 🙂
entro
Dec 25. 2012
I know computers quite well and I’ve looked through both HP and Dell. Currently the sony Vaio 13 is the most bang for your buck so long as you don’t mind servicing it yourself to add RAM and whatever size HDD or SDD you want. The Dell and HP make you pay for overpriced components and often times heavier more poorly made machines.
Adam
Aug 01. 2016
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Bobby
Oct 09. 2016
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