Sony Revs Performance of Vaio S Series, F Series Laptops

Sony on Wednesday announced updates to its VAIO F Series multimedia laptops and its VAIO S Series general purpose line, including price reductions and major enhancements to features and functions. The CRN Test Center was given an in-person look at the new devices in April, and has been busting a gut to hold the embargoed details until now.

Gamers and multimedia enthusiasts will thrill at updates to Sony's F Series laptops, which start at $1,100 and are available with a 16.4-inch 1920 x 1080 2D screen shrouded in textured case of silver, matte black or white. Prior models, announced in January, were available with 3D panels and required the use of active shutter glasses to view 3D content.

In addition to the standard Intel on-board HD graphics, F Series buyers have the option of adding a discrete graphics controller and switching between the two using Sony's "stamina mode" to conserve battery time when high-end graphics are not needed.

Options are an NVIDIA GeForce GT450M with 1 GB dedicated video RAM or G250M with 512 MB. And the quad-core Intel Core i7 will be running slightly faster, said Sony, but did not specify the exact frequency rate. The line also now includes a Blu-ray drive option and USB 3.0 ports.

Next: Up Close With Sony S Series

Similar updates were revealed to Sony's S Series laptops, which are now lighter, faster and more stealthy. All now less than a inch thick, these 13.3-inch portables also will get an speed bump in their Intel Core i5 and i7 processors and will offer the option of a discreet AMD Radeon 6630 graphics controller with 1 GB of dedicated video memory. Native resolution is 1600 x 900.

There's also a dual-channel SSD option with RAID 0, which could offer a boost to storage performance. We'll certainly look to verify that fact when we get our hands on one in the CRN Test Center.

Pricing for S-Series models starts at $1,370. Additional options include a Blu-ray reader with DVD/CD read/write capability, Intel Wireless Display 2.0, and a sheet battery ($150) that the company claims can extend battery time to as long as 15 hours on a single charge.

We like Sony's charging method, which restores power to internal lithium polymer batteries first, and also allows the sheet battery to be charged apart from the laptop, if desired. S-Series machines are now available in blue and pink when ordered online with traditional colors of brown, black and silver still reserved for Sony resellers.