VAIO S - Review 2022

The VAIO Southward (starts at $ane,099; $1,399 as tested) is a contemporary ultraportable with a faint traditional streak. Information technology's only equally suitable for business and ability users who desire something thin, light, and attractive every bit it is for those who run into legacy equipment equally part of their daily routine. You won't discover all the newest bells and whistles here, but if yous're a small-scale business owner or worker who needs power and flexibility, or if you can't get along without a laptop that can connect to wired networks and projectors, the VAIO Southward could be for yous.

Blueprint and Features

Made of black-painted magnesium alloy and slightly wedge-shaped, the VAIO S measures 0.71 by 12.68 by 8.53 inches (HWD) at its thickest signal, tapering down to 0.52 inch at the front edge; it weighs in at 2.25 pounds. It'south not quite as thin every bit the Asus ZenBook 3 (UX390UA) or the Acer Swift vii (at 0.39 inch, our current thinness gnaw), but information technology'southward certainly in the same class as the Rose Gold Edition Dell XPS 13 Touch, our latest top pick for ultraportables.

The chiclet-manner keyboard has adept backlighting for use in darkened rooms. Information technology feels good to type on, though there is a flake of flex if y'all press the centre keys hard. The keys are quiet, which will help if your office mates are sensitive to typing sounds. The dorsum of the tiptop lid extends under the bottom lid when open, and raises the keyboard angle a bit for typing comfort. It works well on a coffee store tabular array, but may dig into your legs if you're belongings the system on your lap.

On the blackness-colored brushed metallic palm rest is a multitouch touchpad with concrete left- and right-click mouse buttons, which is a plus if you like physical feedback for clicks. It's a matter of personal preference, just separate buttons let you know you lot're left-clicking instead of right-clicking when selecting a single box in a 200,000-cell spreadsheet, for example. That'southward not always apparent when yous click the middle of a one-piece touchpad. On the other hand, the touchpad is smaller than we've seen on recent laptops like the XPS 13 Bear upon and its XPS 13 ii-in-1 variant. This is contrary to the current trends of wider touchpads on laptops.

The 13.3-inch non-touch display has a full HD (i,920-by-i,080) resolution, which is good for apps that display a lot of data. Sure, a 3K or QHD screen, which you lot'll observe on the Dell XPS xiii Affect and the New Razer Bract Stealth, may be able to show more than information at native resolution, but at full zoom the text in your spreadsheets may look like a 5-point font or smaller. Viewing angles are expert, so you don't accept to turn the laptop besides far to show something to a nearby colleague.

If you regularly need to connect with older equipment, the VAIO S features both Ethernet and VGA ports, so you'll be able to connect to almost any network or conference room projector. There is, however, no USB-C port with Thunderbolt 3 technology, which you'll find on sparse laptops like the newest base model of the 13-inch Apple tree MacBook Pro, the Dell XPS xiii Bear upon, and the HP Spectre 13.

Two USB 3.0 ports and the power jack are on the laptop'due south left side, while the Ethernet, HDMI, headset, and VGA ports are on the right, along with an SD card reader and a 3rd USB 3.0 port. The Air conditioning adapter has some other USB charging port (for your phone) on the power brick, which is a nice touch. Bluetooth 4.one and 802.11ac handle wireless connections.

The VAIO Southward hits the sweet spot for midrange and high-end systems in terms of memory and storage. Information technology has a 256GB SSD and 8GB of RAM, the latter giving you lot plenty of overhead for multitasking, so you tin accept dozens of tabs open in your favorite browser, plus a spreadsheet program, Microsoft Word, a messaging app, an email client, and Spotify for listening to background music. In that location are a few extra VAIO apps on the laptop, mainly for managing power consumption, turning on or off the touchpad, and the like, merely you lot'll still have a lot of space left over for office documents and your personal files. The system comes with a one-year warranty.

Functioning

The system is equipped with an Intel Core i7-6500U processor with integrated Intel HD Graphics 520, which positions it well for twenty-four hour period-to-day role tasks and delivers plenty power that it won't need to exist replaced someday presently. This is confirmed by its above-average score of two,993 points on the PCMark 8 Work Conventional exam. That'southward college than we've seen from ultraportables like the Acer Swift 7 and the Dell XPS 13 Touch on, but below the Asus ZenBook 3, the HP Spectre thirteen, and the HP Spectre x360 xiii-w023dx. On multimedia tasks like HandBrake (two:15), CineBench (324), and Photoshop (iv:30), the VAIO S was in step with competitors like the HP Spectre xiii, the thirteen-inch MacBook Pro, and the ZenBook iii. The VAIO Due south'south 3D scores were in the same ballpark as those of the other laptops here: fine for casual play, simply non for hard-core gaming.

See How Nosotros Test Laptops

The VAIO S lasted 8 hours, viii minutes, on our bombardment rundown test. That's very good, and qualifies as all-solar day computing. But it'due south still a fleck curt when compared with ultraportables that last 11 (the Apple tree MacBook, the Dell XPS xiii Touch), 12 (the 13-inch MacBook Pro, the XPS xiii 2-in-1), or fifty-fifty 14 hours (the Spectre x360 xiii-w023dx). On the bright side, it will encourage you to do a regular 8-hour day of piece of work untethered, and exit the VAIO S in the role to recharge at the cease of the mean solar day.

A Capable, Versatile Ultraportable

An attractive ultraportable laptop that'south set to serve you for the side by side few years as a personal or small business estimator, the VAIO S has the speed to keep upwards with a multipage Excel spreadsheet, and its light weight means it's no problem to carry between your clients' offices and and so back habitation. The Dell XPS 13 Touch remains our Editors' Selection because of its longer bombardment life, ameliorate ergonomics from a more comfortable keyboard and a wider touchpad, its use of more forrad-looking technologies with USB-C and Thunderbolt three, and a college-resolution screen. Withal, If you lot're looking to keep your purchase toll betwixt $one,250 and $one,599, then the New Razer Blade Stealth with Cadre i7 processor and QHD affect screen or the Asus ZenBook 3 are certainly worthy of space on your short list. But if y'all savor its aesthetics, the VAIO S is a good alternative, especially if wired networks or VGA projectors play a major role in the work you exercise.

Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/laptops/14205/vaio-s

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