Review: Sony Vaio SA

If it does use carbon fibre reinforced plastics in the lid it is always going to be mixed with something else. The percentage of cfrp would be so small and it's more aesthetic than anything.
I think doing that test is not going to determine anything.

 

I'll leave the metal slapping to someone else =P

But I've come to realized that the SA and SB lids are different. The SB lid is definitely metal (aluminum?), whereas the SA's lid feels like it's been coated with something (I kind of rmb the SB lid's feel from when I saw it at an electronics store). So there *might* be some truth to the carbon fiber lid idea, though I don't know why they would paint over the carbon fiber, it looks so cool =)

How does carbon fiber vs metal alloy affect the screen anyway?

*btw* someone posted some time ago about this SB skin and asked if it fitted the SA: SGP Sony Vaio SB Skin Guard Set Series - S Series - Sony - Laptops. I've sent an email query to them and they've told me it won't fit the SA and SC screens. Which seems weird since the screens look the same, but I'll trust them on that.

 

you don't have to use force, i just suggested using metal to make a clear metal/metal sound, but you can obviously use your nail...i think everybody can hear if a sound is ftom plastic or from metal.
in terms rigidity and stiffness(don't know if the engish terms are correct), we should know what carbon fibre mesh and what polimer have been used....but in general, it offers good strength-to-weight ratio and reasonable rigidity for less weight. so the most important advantage would be in weight

 

i don't think so, it would be senseless doing a modular lid.....you would lose rigidity. cfrp are not just cosmetic materials they're structural. so, if the lid is metal, is metal...if plastic, then all plastic...but be sure, one single piece( shell to be precise).

 

It's been discussed on this board in the past that Sony's cfrp is just plastic with a sprinkling of cf. It's been used in other series before, SZ, VGN-Z and of course the VPC-Z. It's not just aesthetic (visual etc) and i didn't say it was, but if the proportion of the cf is really quite minuscule it might amount to not much more than that.

 

i don't want to be boring, but maybe i don't speak english very well and i could be misunderstanding you. to be clear:

Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastic is PLASTIC, a polymer to be precise, reinforced molding it with a thin layer of carbon fibre , thus obtaining a so called "composite material". carbon fibre is just a roll of tissue, is not a structural material, and you can't use a polymer alone to make a structural part. so CFRP i a structural composite material. so it's not"just plastic with a sprinkling of cfrp " it's just plastic molded on a fibre tissue, to give the material interesting properties, one of wich is anysotropy....but it's the same thing with glass fibre, kevlar and so on....there are tons of composite materials.

and just to be clear it's not just used on small equipments and racing cars.... they also make structural elements or reinforce existing one (i.e. retrofitting bridges, reinforcing concrete pillars' weak sections and so on )


we can also mention the good heat transmission offered by the carbon fibre ......but that's another story


***edit**** ahahahahaha lost in my boring explanations: the sum of all is: with cfrp you have, same rigidity offered by heavier metal alloy, and great heat transmission. that's why in some laptop (z21 for example) the entire chassis is made of cfrp .

and sure, is a cool material to look at

 

Btw, i made a typo in my post and corrected it before you posted. This topic can run and run with people having different opinions as we can see in this past thread.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/437443-black-carbon-fibre-black-plastic-lid-my-new-sonyz.html

I understand what you're saying now.
saying this before was a little confusing-

 

sorry for beeing unclear. i'll explain my position: if you do my sound test and the lid sounds like plastic, then the lid is made of CFRP for sure, assuming that sony engineers are not so stupid to trade aluminium alloy for cheap plastic XD.also if it doesn't have the hexagonal mesh, in fact they could have painted the lid, hiding it. if it sounds metal, then is made out of metal, and i assume it's the same lid used in SB(then going back to my first post, they could ha ve just fotgot to remove the spec from the site).

BTW, i just ordered the SA, asa it arrives, i'll check too

 

Yes, that could be one way of identifying it.

Edited to add:
Like i wrote earlier if the SA has got cfrp lid then for me that is a plus. Not because i really see it as offering me more strength or durability though. My Sony TX notebook that had a cfrp lid was quite fragile. The SZ is not the most robust notebook out there but my TT seems quite robust but when compared to a similar ultraportable say with a MA lid i don't necessarily think that my TT will be any more durable.

 

I checked out the SC at Best Buy which is basically an SB. There's some flex on the lid of the screen. Not as sturdy as the MBP 13'' but lighter. The material feels like a mix of aluminum and plastic. It's not the hard aluminum on the MBP but it's not cheap plastic like on those old plastic dells. SOO yeah... the material is a composite!

The palmrest and keyboard felt solid. Typing felt like any good chiclet keyboard. However the thumb side of my palms kept touching the touchpad which caused the cursor to jump. I was really surprised since I have small asian hands.

The screen was adequate. It wasn't as bright as the MBP right next to it on display. Even the glossy Samsung next to it was brighter. I couldn't change/test the screen brightness since BB disabled those features. But the screen was matte! The bezel was too big for my taste.

 

I don't think the lid is a mix of aluminium and plastic... the paint used just makes it feel that way. It's piano black without the gloss.

 

Detailed review
Sony VAIO S Series VPC-SA21GX/BI Review - Watch CNET's Video Review

 

With regards to the CNET review, I think they shouldve given the laptop a solid 4 stars. Their complaints were only about the hinge and the design of the laptop, which wasn't to their tastes.

They even complimented the screen...

 

Wait, 20 fps in Street Fighter IV with the 6630? Something sounds off, even at 1600x900

 

I think the testing as wrong. They were probably using STAMINA mode since the Dell Vostro 3450 has the exact same card and gets ~86 FPS on High.

 

Hello enthusiasts, I've been following this thread very closely and seriously appreciate the information and excellent reviews people have left.

My Quick question; Does anyone own a brown/gold SA? I've been looking at it and really like the colour combo, but I fear in 'real life' it'll look different to the generic photo's that lurk on the internet. Anyone know where I can see one in 'real life' photos, does anyone have any snaps of their own they can share?

PS, I live in the south east of England, visited the Sony centre in Lakeside and they didn't even have a SB on display, let alone a SA.

Also, has anyone ever had an issue with the colour of these laptops fading, I saw a colleague of mine with an old Z that had completely discoloured palms rest (besides the touch-pad) does anyone know if Sony addressed this issue? A SB in Brown with faded palm rests would look awful.

Thanks

 

tcpdump, if you don't get a response in this thread try the SA/SB/SC...owners' thread. It's most likely that someone will own it that posts in that thread.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...al-sony-sb-sa-sc-sd-series-owners-thread.html
Btw, i was told by a staff member in the Sony Tottenham Crt Rd branch that they should have a display model soon. I'm not sure really if that is the case and may be it would be too far to travel for you anyway.

May be a VPC-SA2C5E may be displayed in store?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-VPC-SA...1_5?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1310139394&sr=1-5
I might ring them later to check.

Edited to add:
I just called them at the Galleria Tottenham Crt Rd store they do now have a brown SA model available on display. I'll have to go down there soon and take a look at it myself.

 

Thanks Rachel, the guy at the Sony store in Lakeside did mention Tottenham court road, but I didn't get a chance to head down there.

Thanks for phoning too, hopefully I'll get a chance next week sometime when im back in the UK. I've seen those Amazon pictures too, my only slight concern is whether the keyboard and screen bezel brown may be too, orange?

I'll have a snoop in the owners area, cheers.

 

I found this video today. For anyone still on the fence becasue of the screen, I think this will put things into perspective.

YouTube - ‪?VAIO Z?SA??Z?OS??????‬‏

 

I was in that very same shop on Tottenham Court Road this afternoon and can vouch that the brown SA is there on display now. IMHO it looks a bit horrid though (the colour, not the laptop itself) - not my style at all but that's not to say someone else may love it... I'll be sticking with black myself.

One thing worth bearing in mind is that if you order an SA from the Sony store it's still treated like a CTO order, so it's built to order and takes a few weeks before its shipped to the store where you then pick it up. Obviously though you don't pay the delivery charge in that case - I'm guessing you could also have it delivered where you want at the standard cost.

Chatting with a very helpful assistant, the in-store price was apparently the same as the Sonystyle web price, including the cheaper £70 price for the battery slice if bought as part of a CTO. Not a huge advantage of buying it from the store rather than web... one thing to be aware of in-store, the SA I looked at had had its battery removed and was running on mains, so felt unnaturally light in the hand - the other SBs in the store had their batteries intact so were more representative of the weight.

Still, all in all a nice looking and feeling machine for the price. The hinge issue didn't seem to be a problem TBH - the unit I looked at seemed fine. I had a good look at the screen and it wasn't at all the nightmare that some have said - in isolation it seemed absolutely fine, particularly for the sort of work I'd be using it for. Reasonably bright, not too hard to find a usable angle, text looked sharp enough etc - I'm sure the new or old Z is visibly far superior in colour accuracy and reproduction (they had none on display to compare it to) but for my work (mostly Word documents) the SA should be sufficient.

 

Thanks for the video.
The screen looks definitely better on the Z.
Boy the old Z is slow compared to the SA and new Z.

 

Don't take the boot-up times too seriously. My SA boots in < 14 seconds. All 3 are fast laptops!

 

Perspective - An extra $5-600 will get you a better screen.

 

I priced up the new Z in the UK - without the silly-priced dock but with 3G data WAN, 8GB RAM, backlit keyboard and extra battery slice options it was about £1720. That's £600 more than the 4GB SA and battery slice - a shade under $1,000. Way too much extra for me to justify it... and even then there's no onboard discrete graphics and optical drive, and I'm not keen on the new Z trackpad or buttons either... for that price difference I can live with a less-than-perfect screen on the SA.

 

As can I My black SA arrives Monday and I can't wait to tear into it!

 

I've had my black SA for a couple of weeks and love it! FYI, amazon.com carries a 4GB DDR3 stick that uses the same chips as the onboard RAM.

 

noddycat, thanks for this, I will definitely head down to the store when im back in town, as for the colour, I really like it, just hope the lid is not too glossy and the actual frame is brown rather than orange, let's see what it's like in real life!

 

Hey guys, finally got my Vaio SA. After toying with it for about 2 days, I have decided to post my thoughts on it for the benefit of perspective buyers. First of all, a little context. I am a college student, who will be using this notebook for college (assignments and whatnot), a little gaming (COD series, Need for speed, etc, etc), movies & programming (although I am pretty much a beginner). Also, I am coming from a Macbook Pro 13 inch (2009 2.2 Ghz version) and before that a DV4 - 1299 ee. I will first start of my impressions with why I chose this laptop in the first place and all the positive things about it & then move on to all the negative points (and yes there are quite a few of these as well).

So the specifications of my Vaio SA are: Jet black, i7, Radeon 6630, 650 GB (5400 rpm) Hdd, 1600 * 900 aspect ration, with fingerprint scanner, without WWAN and without external battery. Oh and just a regular CD/DVD drive (no blu ray for me ). I plan to upgrade the HDD to Intel 510 160 gb in the near future and quite possibly also upgrade to a blu ray drive.

The reason I chose this laptop is fairly obvious - there is simply no other laptop in the market like this. This laptop packs some serious power and manages to be slim and portable with a decent battery life while at it. The other options that can be compared to this laptop for me were the Dell XPS 15z, Apple Macbook Pro 13 2011, Samsung series 9 & the Lenovo X - 200 (or something like that...). The MBP, Samsung series 9 and the Lenovo were eliminated because of their lack of a dedicated graphics card. As I have said, I intend to do some casual gaming with this laptop and as such a decent to good gpu was a must. However, so was portability cause I also intended to use it for college. This is where the XPS 15z failed, because at the same pricepoint, it was offering me a laptop with similar specifications but in a larger and less portable package. And hence, I chose the Vaio SA. It is a good all rounder - portable and powerful.

When I got my Vaio SA, the first thing I noticed is how light it is! It is significantly lighter then my MBP 13 and its weight really makes a difference. I mean its no Air or Samsung 9, but its pretty light and considering what its packing, its weight is really less. Also, the Vaio SA is a looker (although that is subjective). Its got a subtle yet classy appearance and its definitely a refresher from the MBP look that manufacturers seem to be so keen on replicating these days. Also, the port selection on this laptop is very good, although I do have some quibbles with the placement of ports. Another thing I really like about this laptop is the ability to switch between Intel's integrated gpu and Ati's dedicated gpu manually. I have not used this extensively, so I cannot confirm some of the problems that other users have talked about. But I do prefer this to Optimus because reportedly, Optimus tends to switch towards the wrong GPU at times (I have seen this being said in several of Engadgets reviews of laptops with Optimus). Also, the trackpad on this laptop is pretty good.........for a pc. Its not as responsive as the one on the MBP, but it does a good job & I personally enjoy having dedicated buttons for once. Although, yet again, there are some problems with the trackpad. The chicklet style keyboard is quite spacious and the blacklit keyboard is also a good option but its got its own annoyances.

A little bit about the display....its pretty okay, good even. Yes, I think the SA's display is good. But then again, I am not very picky when it comes to displays. The one on the vaio is definitely better then my old DV4's display as the colors are more vivid on the vaio. However, it does loose on against the MBP but honestly, it does not bother me at all. The vertical angles are bad, but the horizontal ones are pretty good, as is the contemporary belief in this forum. I like the resolution of the display, but not the aspect ration. Its 16 * 9 and as a result, it looses on some height. Now again, this is subjective and perhaps the only reason I am not so fond of this aspect ratio is because I am coming from 2 prior laptops that both had 16*10 aspect ratio. It just 'feels' a little smaller while browsing. However, it does feel good to watch movies without the black bars for a change.

Now for the negatives. First off, this laptop feels flimsy. The laptop flexes quite a bit (in comparison to both the Aluminum made mbp and the plastic made DV4) at all points in the palmrest. The hinge is also pretty bad as compared to the mbp. I don't know why sony did this considering this laptop is designed for portability. The hinge is loose and yes it does have different resistances at different angles. What I did notice is that at 100 degrees +, the screen holds much better, but is very flimsy at around 90 degrees. So if you are sitting it on your lap, its will not shake and move much and is pretty good. But if you are on a desk, the hinge will not hold as well. But then again, if you are on the desk, you don't need a very stable hinge, so in a way, the hinge works pretty well. It still could have been better had it been like the Macbook pro. The next thing about this laptop is the touchpad. As I said before, its pretty good, but there are somethings that could have been better. For starters, the buttons are quite hard and make it uncomfortable to touch. Heres to hoping they become better with time. The second thing is that while the touchpad supports multitouch, it fails to recognize two finger scrolling. Dedicated side scrolling works fine, but if you are coming from a Mac, it might take some getting used to. I don't get it why Alps has not implemented it yet (prob some patent issue). Now for the keyboard. The keyboard is quite recessed and hence button presses tend to be short. Its not bad but it will take some getting used to. Its quite a change from an mbp. Next is the back lighting of the keyboard. There are no dedicated or function keys to adjust it and its kinda annoying cause the ambient light sensor often turns it up even when I don't need it. Waste of battery. You actually have to go into the Vaio control center just to control the back lighting and thats kinda annoying and unnecessary. There are two function keys F8 and F11 that have no other function. These keys could have been used for the better purpose of providing us more direct control of the back light via the function key. Next up.......the ports. The only port that i have a problem with, is the headphone jack. its located in front of the ODD and becasue of that, when you open the ODD, it might get stuck up in front of the HDD pin. Also, it kinda takes away some of your wire length.

So far, this is all that has come to my mind. I will test more things like battery life & gaming performance soon enough. So in conclusion, this laptop is great! It is definitely one of the better (possible the best) laptop I have ever got. If you want an all rounder (performance and portability) then you might not be left with many (or even any) options as the vaio SA delivers that promise. But whether you can live with its many weaknesses, thats the question. If you are picky about your display, this might not be for you. But otherwise, one can easily get used to the trackpad and keyboard. So, I hope this helps you in some way in making your decision.

 

Could you post a link?

 

Sure, here you go:

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-MV-3T4G4-Laptop-1333MHz-PC3-10600/dp/B004BDOT7C/ref=lh_ni_t

 

Found a good video of the SA Brown in the flesh, I like

Suggest you mute your audio too

 

Thanks! 10char

 

My pleasure - glad to share.

 

Just to clarify for those who are doing research, the SA and SB are identical in terms of build quality, I am typing on a SB right now and compared to the 2008 vaio SR, the entire top keyboard cases has ZERO flex. There is one spot, where the cd-rom drive is where if you physcially press down on the case(not while typing) it will flex. The top case is made out of aluminum, despite various conflicting news sources saying otherwise. Further, I can confirm this because it gets cold like the rest of the computer when it's near my air conditioner.

I agree with you on the display, it's pretty good. It's MUCH MUCH brighter then any laptop I've ever used, but the colors are a "bit" washed out compared to the SR from 2008. Someone posted a color profile he configured with a Spyder 3 on the forums and it made the screen a good amount better.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions on the SB or SA.

 

Did anyone else notice that the refresh rate is set by default @ 40hz? Updated this and noticed that the screen quality is significantly better... I have a Signature Laptop from the MS store so perhaps this is a setting that no one else has to change...

 

Hello everyone, I've been looking for a ultra-portable laptop for school and been doing research for a couple of days. I have narrowed down to either Vaio SA, Lenovo X220, or Samsung Series 9.

On first glance I really like the Series 9, but the weak CPU and integrated graphics gpu is holding me back.

Then, the Lenovo X220 is almost perfect for what I am looking for. At around $1500(before tax) you have a super thin, super sturdy(which is a big plus for school), light weighed laptop with IPS LCD, SSD, and optical drive. Yet I found on forum that it has a noisy fan issue, which I think is a deal breaker for me as I'll be using it in lectures/classroom. Also it only has a 12.5" display.

I also like Vaio SA alot, but as mentioned in this thread, it has a weak display and not so sturdy build... To get all the options I want, it would cost around $2k, which I think is way too expensive.

So, when I got really frustrated as I could not decide which I should buy, I found a listing on ebay yesterday! It is a pre-configured VPCSA25GX/SI with bids below $1000!!! It has:

i5 2410m
4GB RAM
2x 128GB SSD(total 256)
AMD Radeon 6630m

It is only lacking a Blu-ray but it is not a necessary feature for me. So, I followed the auction and at the end I got it at just $1400usd, without tax! It is selling at $1949(before tax) at Sony website. I am just so happy cause I don't have to keep thinking which one to get! Money-wise I would say I got the best bang per buck, and therefore it is the best laptop lol!

It is from a 100% positive rating laptop seller, so I hope everything will turn out fine.

By the way, does anyone know if I still have the manufacturer warranty? Or can I get this machine a service plan from Sony Style? Thanks.

 

That is an unbelievable price! The 25gx has been available for only a few weeks, and it's quite interesting that someone is discounting a new one for $500. I gotta wonder where it came from. Re warranty - for new products like this, I always ask for a copy of the original bill of sale as proof of purchase. You can always just try to register it once you receive it. Hope it works out for you. Good luck!

 

Rainzquall,

I am in a similar position to you. I am tossing up between a Sony SA (or even a Z) or a Lenovo x220.

The Lenovo would be perfect because it has a great keyboard and form factor, but I could not live with the noisy, pulsating fan problem that many people have experienced on the x220. Months have gone by and Lenovo have still not been able to fix it. If they did I would by the x220 immediately.

So in the meantime, I am leaning towards a Sony SA or Z - even though the Z has a very shallow keyboard.

 

Well according to my experiences with the SB the fan noise isn't particularly favorable either. Not quite sure how it compares to the x220, but under moderate load it can go *insane*.

The Z2 is better than the x220 in most aspects though, but you sacrifice some graphics power of the SA. If you don't really need a graphics card, go for the Z, that's what differentiates them (and the only advantage the SA has over the Z).

 

I wrote up my experience setting up an SB model for a friend in the owner's thread, in case any one is looking for information of that sort.

 

I could not take the screen. Its on its way back tomorrow. I guess once you have a good screen (Z or Mac) its hard to use anything else.

I will say that the performance was good for the dollar. Didint notice much of a size difference from the Z1 and was actualy thinner. I would be willing to revisit it if they offered a premium screen upgrade.

 

The new Z has just hit the US web site, now I have to rethink againg

 

I just got my SA yesterday, so far very happy with it! It's perfect for my needs, and I got a great deal on it at the Microsoft Store (see http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/592613-sony-sa-microsoft-store-deal.html for details).

The screen did seem inadequate at first glance, and I'm coming from an Asus W3J, so nothing special. I ran the Spyder3 config from the owners thread and it looks much nicer now. I also noticed that vertical viewing angle is very important for a good image, it has a much tighter "sweet spot" than what I'm used to.

The touchpad does take some getting used to, both in size and sensitivity. There seems to be enough settings in the control panel to fine tune it though.

 

Any pictures of the SA with an extended battery? I want to see how thick it is with it... How much does it weight with the extended battery?

 

there were some pics of it in the owners lounge, you should also ask there more chances of a good reply

the reviews, I think have some with it

 

Sony VAIO S VPCSA290X (2011) Notebook Review | Ultraportable Laptop Reviews | Laptop Reviews

weight of extended sheet battery is exactly 510g. adds close to 0.5 inch.

 

I'll see if I can ask my question correctly.....When you lift the SA lid from the closed position to about 90 degrees, obviously the hinge feels secure. You can feel the firmness/tension of the hinge. However, from about a 90 degree angle, when you then closed the lid, it feels loose - from say 90 degrees to 80-70 degrees, from 70 on down it feels firm all the way to the lid closing. Is this normal?

This is a double post from the SA-BCD thread. Since its an SA I'm asking about, perhaps, this question is best fit for this thread. Thanks.

__________________________________________________________

With a purchase of an SA at MicroCenter, they've offered the sheet battery for only $75.00 through, I think, mid-September.

 

Mine feels the same way Geeee. Strange design feature, makes the hinge feel flimsy and not really sure what the purpose is. It may be more than a simple hinge (which may be required seeing how the hinge recesses in when closed), if there is a multi-bar linkage that would explain the change in resistance.

 

Hey guys, heres some of the games I played with the VAIO SA (i7, 6630, 1600*900, 640 GB 5400, 6 GB ram).

Burnout Paradise (High settings with Anti aliasing @ 4x) using 6630 - I didnt benchmark this but the game ran fluidly with no lag whatsoever at any point of the game. So I can safely assume that the frame rate was always above 30. The laptop didnt stress much either, the fan noise was at a minimum (barely audible without headphones) & the temperature was not alarming (to touch).

Counter Strike Source (all settins set to max and anti aliasing @ 8x) - Benchmarked at 60 fps (approx). No temperature or fan trouble.

But ofcourse, these games are easy, so I also put it through something more challenging.

GTA 4 - Ok so first let me point out that the laptop does throttle down the gpu in battery mode because when I played the game the first time, it was in battery mode and I was getting frame rates as low as 12. Disheartened, I thought the vaio sa could not handle GTA 4, although the 6630 should ideally be able to just manage this game at high settings. Then, I came accross this thread and read some user's post that the gpu was being throttled in battery, so I tried again only this time with the power cord connected. At settings set to High, Antialiasing @ 4x, v-sync on and full resolution, I was getting average frame rates of 27. The game was noticably lagging too. So I dialed it down to 1280 * 720 resolution @ 50 hz, medium settings, vsyinc on and antialiasing @ 2x. The frame rates came out to somewhere in the 40's. The game stopped lagging completely, but the laptop screamed and temperatures at the bottom right side were VERY hot to touch. I think that I am just going to play casual games on this thing (mostly Burnout, CSS typish) cause GTA4 could seriously cause some damage at the temperatures its resulting in. But then again, considering my previous laptops (DV4 & Mbp 13 2.26) had trouble with even CSS, I think this is a fairly better laptop. Guess we got to wait another couple of years (perhaps we have to wait for nano tech to come into play) for ultraportables that have it all.

 

I wouldn't put too much stake into what GTA4 runs at, it only runs good on the highest end desktops. It's a very poorly designed/ported engine.