Sony VAIO VPCEA36FG - any good?

Click here for mini review.

Hey guys,

i'm looking at buying this laptop:

Sony VAIO VPCEA36FG - i5-560M, 14" 1366x768, HD 5650, 4GB Ram.
Click here for full specs

It's probably the best laptop i've seen so far that combines portability with a decent CPU and GPU (unless anyone has any better suggestions)?

My question is - does anyone have one? Any reliability issues? I've never owned a Sony laptop before so I want to make sure it's going to be reliable.

Comments on build quality, etc?

 

No comments?

 

yeah.. im going to buy that laptop too.. really like the way its look plus the grphc card.. but dell studio also good choice when offer i7 with ati 5470 at the same price.. now make me confuse to choose

 

Me too..

The only down side about this laptop is just the battery live.. I don't own it but from other saying it just 2- 3 hours..

What I want to know too can this model switch between integrated GMA HD with Radeon 5650? I dont ask for OPTIMUS just a sofware switch(screen flick or closing application doesn't matter) so you can switch between graphic without reboot it.

 

No, it can't switch at all. The Intel GPU is disabled.

 

Ok thanks! This is a very good laptop but a bit low on battery live plus it cannot use integrated graphic make it much worse on the battery live.

You save me man, thanks again

 

Hey guys,

just thought i'd let you know that I decided to get this laptop. Here are my thoughts...

The overall look and feel of the laptop is great. It is extremely stylish and it feels very well built. Unfortunately the glossy finish shows up a lot of fingerprints.
The keyboard has no flex at all when pushed. It feels extremely solid when typing and the keys are well spaced and easy to use.
The touchpad is a tad small in my opinion. Sony had a lot of room to work with so it could be bigger, but i'll get used to it. Otherwise it is nicely textured and very nice to use.

The performance is good. I'll probably put an SSD in it soon as I don't need the 500GB hard drive. I kind of wish integrated graphics could be switched on, but it's no biggy for me as I can usually have it plugged in.

I just benchmarked it with 3DMark Vantage. Because of the native resolution, I had to plug it into an external monitor to meet Vantage requirements.
All settings were default.

Score: 2810
GPU: 8388
CPU: 2300

If anyone has any questions, let me know.

 

Please give me a review of its battery life in various working conditions. Thanks!