Sony VAIO E Series SVE15115FXS 15.5-Inch Laptop (Aluminum Silver)

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Sony VAIO E Series SVE15115FXS 15.5-Inch Laptop (Aluminum Silver)
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3.7 out of 5 stars
(12)
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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars High quality laptop June 29, 2012
By Arcadian
The Sony Vaio E15 is an excellent mid-level laptop. I use mine for a variety of functions including music production (Cakewalk Sonar), gaming (Steam games such as Team Fortress 2), and standard work-related tasks. It runs everything quickly and smoothly thanks to the generous RAM and the dual core i5 processor. To be honest, I custom ordered mine directly from Sony, which wasn't a bad deal. I upgraded the RAM to 8 GB and got the color of my choice (black). They give you free quick shipping (took about 4 days to ship from China), but they do charge tax unlike Amazon.

The default graphics card is the Intel HD 4000, which is surprisingly good for an integrated (as opposed to dedicated) graphics card. I am able to play TF2 with most of the graphics settings on high, and there is never a hitch in the framerate. If you order from Sony, you can also upgrade to the Nvidia Geforce GT 640M with 1 or 2 GB of dedicated graphics processing.

One of the finest qualities is the keyboard. The keys are soft and silent, and they are backlit as well. This is extremely useful for typing at night when the lights in your room are turned off.

It comes with Windows 7 64-bit (with Service Pack 1). After using Windows Vista 32-bit for several years, the upgrade is noticeable. W7 is cleaner, less error-ridden, and has a nicer interface. Some of the pre-installed Vaio software is actually useful, like Vegas Movie Studio and Sound Forge, but it's easy enough to uninstall the crap you don't want.

For $700, this is a great value. It probably performs as well as any $2000 Apple laptop...just a guess.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Almost perfect... July 8, 2012
By J. Shipp
Amazon Verified Purchase
Received my new Vaio yesterday, returned it today, but more on that later.

Fit and finish: The first thing that struck me as I un-boxed my new Vaio was that it is a very handsome machine. This computer is not for Rocket Boys or Pink Ladies - it has a distinctly adult look to it. The lid is dark, almost pewter-toned brushed aluminum with the deeply engraved Vaio insignia. The inside deck is dark grey plastic but rigid and very attractive. The hinges have a solid, high quality feel, just enough resistance. The Vaio was completely free of dust, fingerprints, scratches, gaps, misalignments and rough edges, with one exception: the upper left quadrant of the keyboard was not completely seated into the deck. A little finger pressure around the edge of the keyboard and it literally snapped into place.
The trend among higher-end laptops these days is toward a seamless machine, one that appears to have been carved out of a single block of aluminum. This is not one of those machines - it is made of many pieces of plastic and metal but they all fit together well and look good.

Keyboard: All of the keys worked well, they have a softer and shallower touch than I am used to but the feel is perfectly acceptable. I don't use the touchpad so I can't speak to that issue. The keyboard backlight is quite bright with no brightness adjustment. The control panel menu offers several options for the backlight - on all the time, off all the time or it will turn on when you touch any key and turn off after 15 seconds of no activity (my preference). It is a little brighter than I am used to but lighted keys are essential to my happiness so, once again, no problem.

Display: I really like the display. Colors are rich and accurate (reds are deep red, blues are true blue). The screen is plenty bright for me. Script is sharp and clear. The screen is glossy which helps insure a vibrant picture but also reflects ambient lighting so I wouldn't advise outdoor use. I belong to a tiny minority that believes 1080P is too many pixels for a 15" screen - everything, especially script, gets very small with full HD. 720P works just fine for me. The new Intel HD 4000 graphics are also a major improvement over the older 3000 version.The 4000 control panel offers more picture quality adjustments and (most importantly) allows you to save a list of presets for various uses such as browsing, streaming, DVD, etc.

Performance: The new i5 Ivy Bridge CPU is very quick. It is noticeably faster than the first generation i5 in my 3 year old HP. I'm not a gamer so I can't talk about high performance issues but then this is not a gaming machine by any stretch of the imagination. The sound quality is better than I expected, good for dialogue but not so much for music (hey, it's still a laptop).

And the bad news...I use my laptop mostly at home with an ethernet connection and the RJ45 (ethernet) port on my new Vaio is defective. The ethernet cable connector is very loose in the port and the slightest movement causes loss of internet connection. Unacceptable. Rather than bang heads with Sony (their nearest repair facility is 200 miles from my home) I am returning the Vaio to Amazon for a replacement. Otherwise, I really like the computer and I hope everything works out.

Update: Amazon got my replacement to me within 4 days. I have had time to dump the bloatware, set up the computer the way I like it and, quite honestly, I couldn't be more satisfied with the product. I ordered a keyboard cover from Sony - expensive but a perfect fit and it allows the keyboard lighting to shine through. Of the 4 laptops I have owned, this Vaio is the most quiet and cool running.