Just bought a new Sony F series

Meatball · 27 Sep 2010 at 18:11

My current Acer's battery has had it and Sony just updated their Sony Vaio F series, perfect excuse for a treat

. I ordered the following:

Sony Vaio F Series: VPCF13V5E Black finish
Processor: Intel Core i5-560M 2.66Ghz
Chipset: Intel PM55
Hard Drive: 500Gb 7,200RPM
Display: Premium 16.4", 1920x1080 +webcam
Optical: Blu-Ray reader, DVD burner
Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 425M 1GB
Memory: 6 GB 1066MHz DDR3-SDRAM
Network: Wifi-N + Bluetooth
Ports: 1xHDMI, 2xUSB 3.0, 1xUSB2.0, eSATA

Total: £1200

I'm expecting delivery in 2-3 weeks so I'll post some pictures on arrival. I was going to go for the i7 but (imo) I think it's overkill for a laptop, god knows how it would effect battery life.

Any one else thinking of treating themselves?

olivier renault · 27 Sep 2010 at 18:42

I'd go for i5 as well, i7 in laptops is overkill (literally, as it will heat up pretty quick and eats batteries). Although if Sony are still skimping on batteries, I don't think it would matter much. It's a real shame as a i5 + optimus has good potential for decent battery life, even though it's not really what a 16'' laptop is for.

Otherwise, it looks really good. Sony makes good screens, and the GPU looks pretty good. I'd also consider the Envy 14 (with radiance screen) in the same ballpark category.

Meatball · 27 Sep 2010 at 19:32

olivier renault said:
Otherwise, it looks really good. Sony makes good screens

I demoed the screen in my Sony Store today and it was like night and day compared to my current laptop (15.4", 1336X768.) Everything was so crisp and defined and colours popped without looking oversaturated. I look forward to watching Blu-Rays on it

.

Olivier Renault said:
The GPU looks pretty good. I'd also consider the Envy 14 (with radiance screen) in the same ballpark category.

I haven't read any reviews on the new mobile 4 series, I assume the 425M is a bottom range one but it should be fine for my casual gaming (Sims 3 etc.) I purposely waited for the Vaio refreshes so I could get the 4 series GPU over the 3 series and the USB3 ports.

olivier renault · 28 Sep 2010 at 00:34

according to notebookcheck, it's in the same ballpark as the GT335M. It's suppose to compete with the HD5650, which is the go-to chip for midrange gaming (not too hot, good performance). That's what NBC says anyway.

ninja2000 · 28 Sep 2010 at 10:53

I have had a nvidia 335m and ati 5650. They are both very similar.

The 425 should be slightly better than the 335m as it has more shaders and hopefully should clock well so could be an amazing mid range card.

I am currently using an Envy 14 imported from the states as I wanted the radiance screen. The 5650 in the envy is only clocked at 450mhz and is undervolted so only OCs to 500

gaming wise it still plays everything I own at 900p. I just have to lower a few settings in BFBC2 and SC2 to keep the fps over 30

supafly · 28 Sep 2010 at 17:50

I was looking at the F (X) Series in the sony shop, it has a premium MATTE (not glossy!) 1080p screen - it only comes with i7 processor though - but the screen was way better than any other Sony laptop screen in the shop. Guy said it had Adobe 98% color gamut or something.

ninja2000 · 28 Sep 2010 at 19:56

did you by any chance test the speakers?

Meatball · 28 Sep 2010 at 22:00

No. I've been given an estimated delivery date of 05.10.10-10.10.10. I'll post a mini review up once it's received.

iGiDK · 28 Sep 2010 at 23:47

I spent about the same amount the other day on a F12(S) with the vaio display premium (primary purpose is for image editing)

Enjoy :cool:

Crimefighter · 29 Sep 2010 at 06:21

Congratulations on your purchase!

I bought an F11-ME (i5-520M, 4GB RAM, GT330) in May, very happy with it so far.

That said, Im a bit jealous of your better specs =)

deus3x · 29 Sep 2010 at 06:48

Thats a good spec'd laptop at a good price.

Sony quality really is one of the best out of all the laptops ive seen.

Meatball · 29 Sep 2010 at 08:27

supafly said:
I was looking at the F (X) Series in the sony shop, it has a premium MATTE (not glossy!) 1080p screen - it only comes with i7 processor though - but the screen was way better than any other Sony laptop screen in the shop. Guy said it had Adobe 98% color gamut or something.

How would know if it's glossy or matte? My spec sheet doesn't say!

.

supafly · 29 Sep 2010 at 11:10

Look for the words: VAIO Display Premium

Model numbers I saw in the shop: VPCF12S1E/B, VPCF12Z1E/BI

And these new ones: VPCF13Z1E/B, VPCF13S1E/B, VPCF13S0E/B.

kona786 · 30 Sep 2010 at 00:19

An ssd is all that missing...otherwise nice spec

Meatball · 30 Sep 2010 at 14:59

I've got the premium display, apparently all the 1920x1080 displays are. It's being built as we speak, can't wait for delivery

.

Peve · 30 Sep 2010 at 15:32

I really like the look of this laptop, nice and simple.

supafly · 30 Sep 2010 at 17:52

Pretty much perfect spec then besides adding a costly SSD.

When it arrives could you let us know the noise level when web browsing?

Might be selling a Dell 1749 soon...

Meatball · 30 Sep 2010 at 21:16

I'll add/replace the HDD with an SSD aftermarket, will be cheaper

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supafly said:
Pretty much perfect spec then besides adding a costly SSD.

When it arrives could you let us know the noise level when web browsing?

Of course

.

RSR · 2 Oct 2010 at 18:41

I've been trying to track down somewhere that has the new F Series in stock, both my local Sony centres are saying mid to end of the month.

kg648 · 2 Oct 2010 at 18:56

Glad to see the Acer down the pan