- Conclusion Get the lowdown
- Features How it compares
- Performance Real world benchmarks
- Differences Technical showdown
- Reviews Word on the street
- Competition Others to consider
- Discussion Answers and opinions
Sony VAIO S Series
- 13.3"
- 2.3 GHz Dual core
- 8 GB
- 500 GB HDD
Released June, 2011
Rated 78% by by c|net (Jul, 2011)The 15.5-inch display has a native resolution of 1,920x1,080 pixels, which is perfectly suited for Blu-ray and 1080p HD video.
Conclusion Check out the Sony VAIO S Series
First reviewed December, 2011
Features Key features of the Sony VAIO S Series
2.3 GHz
Rated 78% by by c|net (Jul, 2011)Sony has added a slot-loading drive and a larger touch pad; more RAM is included, and the hard drive is larger; there are a new, faster Intel CPU, better Nvidia graphics, and an integrated battery, which gives much improved battery life over the previous generation's $150 slice battery add-on, sold separately and practically a requirement for good battery life the last go-around.
screen size
13.3"
15.6"
15.6"
VAIO S Series by Shawn-Corrill (Apr, 2012)Otherwise I love the backlight on the keyboard, the large screen.
VAIO S Series by M.-FUSCO--yawnmower (Mar, 2012)It is streamlined with an extraordinarily thin profile, and incredibly light weight - a truly portable laptop with a large screen.
screen resolution
VAIO S Series by LaptopMag (Jul, 2012)Click to EnlargeAlthough the 1366 x 768-pixel resolution is standard fare for a 13-inch laptop, the VAIO S Series 13 plenty bright.
VAIO S Series by c|net (Jul, 2011)Tew/CNET). The 13.3-inch matte display does a good job of keeping glare away in an office; the screen's 1,600x900-pixel resolution is a step up from the average 1,366x768-pixel resolution of most 13-inch laptops, and colors and text alike pop vividly.
cpu speed
| 0 GHz | 1.65 GHz   | 3 GHz |
VAIO S Series by LaptopMag (Jul, 2012)In addition to the $919 configuration we reviewed, which includes a 2.5-GHz Core i5-3210M CPU, 6GB of RAM and 640GB HDD, the S13 can be customized to include up to a 2.9-GHz Core i7-3520 CPU, an Nvidia GeForce GT 640M LE GPU with 1GB of VRAM, a 1TB 5,400-rpm hard drive, 12GB of RAM and a 4,400-mAh sheet battery.
VAIO S Series by J.-Watson (Apr, 2010)As far as the specs go, they look great on paper, but aren't any faster than a Core 2 Duo 2.1 GHz.
processor
VAIO S Series by c|net (Jul, 2011)It's not quite in the ultrabook category, but this is still a reasonably thin and light 15-inch laptop, especially considering the powerful components inside, such as the quad-core CPU and Nvidia GPU.
VAIO S Series by c|net (Jul, 2011)With a quad-core Intel Core i7-3612QM CPU, the Vaio S is pretty much ready for anything, from HD video editing to heavy-duty multitasking.
memory
| 0 GB | 4 GB   | 8 GB |
VAIO S Series by M.-F.-Makala (Mar, 2011)I have owned a Vaio laptop before even though the RAM was only 2GB, and 6 years older its performance was a lot much better than this one.
VAIO S Series by J.-White (Aug, 2011)The unit comes with 4GB of RAM soldered onto the motherboard, so you can upgrade to 8GB with just one 4GB chip.
Performance Real world tests of Sony VAIO S Series
battery life
15 hour
4.5 hour
5 hour
VAIO S Series by Khalil-Al-Hayek (Feb, 2012)I love the battery life in STAMINA, it is up to 4 hours.
VAIO S Series by Paul (Sep, 2011)I haven't done a precise measure of the battery life, but it suffices to say that i can go the entire school day in stamina mode without a charge.
Our analysis How does it stack up against its top 10 competitors
pros
-
15 hour -
8 GB -
138 ppi -
1,655 g -
23 mm -
1600 x 900
cons
-
13.3" -
can't read a camera or phone memory card -
Jun, 2011
Reviews Word on the street
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 |  Rated by 108 users at amazon.com Rated 80% by by Real-Name™-╦⌠≥---æ¢ç╡ (Aug, 2012) Rated 80% by by rkent78 (Aug, 2012) Rated 80% by by Real-Name™-╦⌠≥---æ¢ç╡ (Aug, 2012) |
Body
Sony VAIO S Series 13.3", 2.3 GHz, 8 GB, 500 GB HDD | Rated 40% by by m244 (Apr, 2012)It has sleek designs, and everything else seemed to be working fine.
Sony VAIO S Series 13.3", 2.3 GHz, 8 GB, 500 GB HDD | Rated 100% by by peoplebites--peoplebites (Apr, 2012)As for the exterior body...the black magnesium alloy feels absurdly elegant and expensive.
Sony VAIO S Series 13.3", 2.3 GHz, 8 GB, 500 GB HDD | Rated 100% by by Mark-J.-Tierney--coastie-1980 (Dec, 2011)1/8". Not a big deal, but again, I liked the old style Sony hinge better personally.
Durability
Sony VAIO S Series 13.3", 2.3 GHz, 8 GB, 500 GB HDD | Rated 100% by by D.-Lao--Domin8r (Dec, 2011)The build quality and layout of the SA3 are top notch, and are by far the best aspects of this laptop.
Sony VAIO S Series 13.3", 2.3 GHz, 8 GB, 500 GB HDD | Rated 100% by by J.-White (Aug, 2011)Overall, I would say that the build quality is pretty good.
Sony VAIO S Series 13.3", 2.3 GHz, 8 GB, 500 GB HDD | Rated 80% by by RbstrI find it stylish enough and it's got pretty god build quality.
Cpu
Sony VAIO S Series 13.3", 2.3 GHz, 8 GB, 500 GB HDD | Rated 78% by by c|net (Jul, 2011)This $1,199 Vaio S Series fits a nonultrabook (meaning, faster) third-gen Core i5 processor, a 640GB hard drive, 6GB of RAM, a slot-loading DVD drive, Nvidia graphics, and a higher-res 1,600x900-pixel display into the package.
Sony VAIO S Series 13.3", 2.3 GHz, 8 GB, 500 GB HDD | by LaptopMag (Mar, 2010)Armed with a 2.26-GHz Intel Core i5 i5-430M CPU, 4GB of RAM, Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit), and a 5,400-rpm 500GB hard drive, the S series notched a score of 4,950 on PCMark Vantage, which measures overall performance.
Sony VAIO S Series 13.3", 2.3 GHz, 8 GB, 500 GB HDD | Rated 100% by by M.-FUSCO--yawnmower (Mar, 2012)It is super fast with an i5 CPU.
Lid
Sony VAIO S Series 13.3", 2.3 GHz, 8 GB, 500 GB HDD | Rated 100% by by N.-Stevens--Snivets (Apr, 2012)Although I was skeptical of this at first (you'll see why when you set it up, should you choose to buy it; it pretty much seems to blow straight into the hinge instead of a nice unobscured airflow you'd think would be necessary), it seems to work quite well.
Sony VAIO S Series 13.3", 2.3 GHz, 8 GB, 500 GB HDD | Rated 78% by by c|net (Jul, 2011)Tew/CNET). The upgraded premium version of the Vaio S bears a carbon fiber lid: it feels rigid, but still flexes as much on its center hinge as previous models.
Sony VAIO S Series 13.3", 2.3 GHz, 8 GB, 500 GB HDD | Rated 20% by by Fionn-MacCool (Sep, 2011)The single hinge display doesn't bother me, it wobbles a little more when you adjust the angle then other laptops with 2 hinges.
Student
Sony VAIO S Series 13.3", 2.3 GHz, 8 GB, 500 GB HDD | Rated 20% by by Paul (Sep, 2011)I'm a grad student and a gamer.
Sony VAIO S Series 13.3", 2.3 GHz, 8 GB, 500 GB HDD | Rated 100% by by J.-White (Aug, 2011)Between promotions and student discounts, I was able to snag a VPCSA, with the sheet battery, for just under a grand.
Sony VAIO S Series 13.3", 2.3 GHz, 8 GB, 500 GB HDD | Rated 40% by by K.-Anderson--KA (Aug, 2011)This seems silly but for students it may matter.
Competition What else you should consider
 | 1 | Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga OK CPU benchmark score Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga vs Sony VAIO S Series |
 | 3 | SAMSUNG Series 7 Chronos Largest amount of storage capacity SAMSUNG Series 7 Chronos vs Sony VAIO S Series |
 | 4 | Apple MacBook Air 4th Gen Has a light sensor Apple MacBook Air 4th Gen vs Sony VAIO S Series |
 | 5 | ASUS Zenbook UX31E 4-way tie: Fast RAM ASUS Zenbook UX31E vs Sony VAIO S Series |
 | 8 | HP ProBook 4530s OK 3DMark06 CPU HP ProBook 4530s vs Sony VAIO S Series |
New duel?
Let the battle continue or dare to compare.
Editions Editions of the Sony VAIO S Series
| Price | Edition | Battery life | Internal storage random access time | Supported card formats | Manufacturer code | Compare | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | | 4 hour | 10 ms | None | VPC-S111FM/S | | ||||
 | | 5 hour | 10 ms | None | VPCS135FX/B | | ||||
 | | 5 hour | 10 ms | None | VPC-S137GX/B | | ||||
 | | 5 hour | 10 ms | None | VPCS134GX/B | | ||||
 | | 5 hour | 10 ms | None | VPCS132FX/S | | ||||
 | | 5 hour | 10 ms | None | VPCS132GX/B | | ||||
 | | 5 hour | 10 ms | None | VPCS137GX/S | | ||||
 | | 5.75 hour | 10 ms | MMC | VPCSE13FX/S | | ||||
 | | 5.75 hour | 10 ms | MMC | VPCSE13FX/B | | ||||
 | | 5.75 hour | 10 ms | MMC | VPCSE16FX/S | | ||||
 | | 5.75 hour | 10 ms | MMC, Memory Stick Duo, SD | VPCSE17FX/B | | ||||
 | | 5.75 hour | 10 ms | MMC | VPCSE16FX/B | | ||||
 | | 7 hour | 10 ms | MMC | VPCSA3AFX/SI | | ||||
 | | 7 hour | 10 ms | MMC | VPCSA33GX/SI | | ||||
 | | 7 hour | 10 ms | MMC | VPCSA3AFX/BI | | ||||
 | | 7 hour | 10 ms | MMC | VPCSA33GX/BI | | ||||
 | | 7 hour | 10 ms | MMC | VPCSA31FX/BI | | ||||
 | | 7 hour | 10 ms | MMC | VPCSA31FX/SI | | ||||
 | | 7 hour | 0.1 ms | MMC | VPCSA35GX/SI | | ||||
 | | 7 hour | 0.1 ms | MMC | VPCSA35GX/BI | | ||||
 | | 15 hour | 10 ms | None | VPCSA21GX/SI | | ||||
 | | 15 hour | 10 ms | None | VPCSA2FGX/BI | | ||||
 | | 15 hour | 10 ms | None | VPCSA21GX/BI | | ||||
 | | 15 hour | 10 ms | None | VPCSA25GX/SI | | ||||
