- 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"
- Core i3 2.53 GHz Dual core
- 8 GB DDR3-1066
- 500 GB HDD
Released January, 2011
by LaptopMag (Mar, 2010)The only thing missing, some nitpickers might argue, is a dual USB/eSATA port for faster backups.
Conclusion Check out the Sony VAIO S Series
First reviewed December, 2011
Features Key features of the Sony VAIO S Series
2.53 GHz
Intel Core i3 380M
Rated 20% by 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.
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 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.
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.
cpu speed
| 0 GHz | 1.67 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 Jim (Aug, 2011)You can always lower the max CPU frequency settings in the Power Options to keep your temps down while loading the CPU.
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
3DMark06 CPU
VAIO S Series 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.
VAIO S Series by D.-Lao--Domin8r (Dec, 2011)This is the first time I've experienced the performance of an i7 and SSD together, and everything is just incredibly smooth and snappy.
battery life
5 hour
8 hour
7 hour
VAIO S Series 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.
VAIO S Series by Khalil-Al-Hayek (Feb, 2012)I love the battery life in STAMINA, it is up to 4 hours.
cinebench r10 32Bit (Aggregate)
VAIO S Series by thor3 (Nov, 2011)I like this configuration because it's a good mix of features vs. nice price, in that I've read that the performance difference with the i7 isn't worth the extra cost, plus you get 6GB RAM and the Blu-ray drive.
Our analysis How does it stack up against its top 10 competitors
pros
-
8 GB -
2.53 GHz -
3
cons
-
None -
13.3" -
Jan, 2011 -
97 mm -
can't read a camera or phone memory card -
5 hour -
3,084 g -
57 MB/s (USB 2.0)
Reviews Word on the street
 |  
|
|---|---|
 |  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 60% by by R.-Ruddock (Mar, 2012) |
Screen
Sony VAIO S Series 13.3", 2.53 GHz, 8 GB, 500 GB HDD | Rated 78% by by c|net (Jul, 2011)The 13.3-inch matte screen is better than most we've seen, with strong viewing angles and crisp, bright color.
Sony VAIO S Series 13.3", 2.53 GHz, 8 GB, 500 GB HDD | Rated 100% by by Mark-J.-Tierney--coastie-1980 (Dec, 2011)I really like the 1600 resolution option on this particular model, if your wondering about text size, my philosophy is that you can always turn up the zoom of the page to 125% and most web pages still fit on the screen.
Sony VAIO S Series 13.3", 2.53 GHz, 8 GB, 500 GB HDD | Rated 100% by by D.-Lao--Domin8r (Dec, 2011)The overall color of the display is rather cool (bluish), as expected with led screens, but this can be easily tweaked and corrected.
Storage
Sony VAIO S Series 13.3", 2.53 GHz, 8 GB, 500 GB HDD | Rated 78% by by c|net (Jul, 2011)Our $1,299 Vaio SA configuration included a 2.3GHz Core i5-2410M CPU, 4GB of RAM, a 500GB 5,400rpm hard drive, a 1,600x900-pixel screen, and AMD Radeon HD 6630M graphics, but no Blu-ray drive; we had a standard CD/DVD burner instead.
Sony VAIO S Series 13.3", 2.53 GHz, 8 GB, 500 GB HDD | Rated 100% by by D.-Lao--Domin8r (Dec, 2011)I am not looking to replace the existing hard drive with a faster sata 3 SSD since it is already blazingly fast.
Sony VAIO S Series 13.3", 2.53 GHz, 8 GB, 500 GB HDD | Rated 100% by by M.-FUSCO--yawnmower (Mar, 2012)The blu-ray player/software gives the smoothest and most flawless video playback I have ever seen in a blu-ray laptop.
Harddrive
Sony VAIO S Series 13.3", 2.53 GHz, 8 GB, 500 GB HDD | Rated 78% by by c|net (Jul, 2011)Upgrade options are plentiful: you can pick from a trio of Core i5 or i7 processors, Nvidia 1GB or 2GB graphics, up to 12GB of RAM, up to 1TB of hard drive storage or 512GB SSD, and even an optional Blu-ray player or burner.
Sony VAIO S Series 13.3", 2.53 GHz, 8 GB, 500 GB HDD | Rated 100% by by Joe (Jun, 2012)128G SSD is a little small but I adpat an additional 500GD harddisk, now it's perfect.
Sony VAIO S Series 13.3", 2.53 GHz, 8 GB, 500 GB HDD | by LaptopMag (Jul, 2012)If you don't mind opting for a bigger screen, the Dell Inspiron 14z packs discrete graphics and an SSD cache and 8GB of RAM for the same price as this Sony.
Keyboard
Sony VAIO S Series 13.3", 2.53 GHz, 8 GB, 500 GB HDD | Rated 20% by by W.-Anger (Dec, 2011)Lit keyboard is awesome and really the big reason I bought this machine over the Asus 31 series.
Sony VAIO S Series 13.3", 2.53 GHz, 8 GB, 500 GB HDD | Rated 100% by by D.-Lao--Domin8r (Dec, 2011)The backlit keyboard is phenomenal - spacing and depth are perfect.
Sony VAIO S Series 13.3", 2.53 GHz, 8 GB, 500 GB HDD | Rated 40% by by jeremieThe keyboard feels good and precise, and they finally managed to make a screen that you can open with one hand, without holding the keyboard and rest of the laptop down with the other hand!
Cpu
Sony VAIO S Series 13.3", 2.53 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", 2.53 GHz, 8 GB, 500 GB HDD | Rated 100% by by M.-FUSCO--yawnmower (Mar, 2012)It is super fast with an i5 CPU.
Sony VAIO S Series 13.3", 2.53 GHz, 8 GB, 500 GB HDD | Rated 100% by by B-Man (Apr, 2010)I bought this to compliment a desktop computer I recently purchased with an i7 processor and the i5 in the Sony is no slouch.
Competition What else you should consider
 | 1 | Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga OK CPU benchmark score Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga vs Sony VAIO S Series |
 | 2 | Apple MacBook Air 4th Gen Has a light sensor Apple MacBook Air 4th Gen 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 Pro with Retina Display Highest resolution screen Apple MacBook Pro with Retina Display vs Sony VAIO S Series |
 | 5 | ASUS Zenbook UX31E 4-way tie: Really fast internal storage ASUS Zenbook UX31E vs Sony VAIO S Series |
 | 7 | Acer Aspire S S7 Fastest processor Acer Aspire S S7 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 | | ||||
