It’s that time of year when Sony’s VAIO laptops queue up for a specification bump, and Sony’s F Series has now reached its third generation. You’d be hard-pressed to tell from looking at it, though. From the outside, Sony’s 16.4in desktop replacement hasn’t changed a bit.

It isn’t that it’s in dire need of a ground-up redesign. It’s no match for Apple’s MacBook Pro in the looks department, but it’s still a fine-looking laptop, and the F Series has an air of quality that many would do well to emulate. Its chassis feels stout and flex-free, and is worth paying the weight penalty for – this 3kg laptop is unlikely to be a welcome travelling partner on all but the shortest of journeys.
That sturdy build is matched with superb ergonomics. The Scrabble-tile keyboard is simply superb, with a spacious layout, great feel and, unlike Asus’ similarly sized N53JN, not even the slightest hint of undue squish. Spreadsheet fans will be mighty glad of the numeric keypad alongside.
Despite appearances, Sony has made a few tweaks here and there, the most interesting of which is the introduction of USB 3 on the F Series. The two ports on the laptop’s left-hand side now reach up to USB 3’s nippy transfer speeds, which is a welcome sight for a desktop replacement. Now, at least, backing up the 500GB hard disk won’t be a painfully slow process.
The processor and graphics chipset have been upgraded too. The processor in question remains one of the older 45nm Core i7s, namely the 1.73GHz i7-740QM. It’s quick, but despite having four cores to the two of the newer Core i5 and Core i7 models, it lags a little behind the newer generation. Still, a result of 1.54 in our benchmarks is still pretty fast by any standard, and few are likely to find themselves limited by the amount of power on tap.
Warranty | |
---|---|
Warranty | 1 yr return to base |
Physical specifications | |
Dimensions | 387 x 262 x 43mm (WDH) |
Weight | 3.050kg |
Travelling weight | 3.5kg |
Processor and memory | |
Processor | Intel Core i7-740QM |
Motherboard chipset | Intel HM55 |
RAM capacity | 4.00GB |
Memory type | DDR3 |
SODIMM sockets free | 0 |
SODIMM sockets total | 2 |
Screen and video | |
Screen size | 16.4in |
Resolution screen horizontal | 1,600 |
Resolution screen vertical | 900 |
Resolution | 1600 x 900 |
Graphics chipset | Nvidia GeForce GT 425M |
Graphics card RAM | 1.00GB |
VGA (D-SUB) outputs | 1 |
HDMI outputs | 1 |
S-Video outputs | 0 |
DVI-I outputs | 0 |
DVI-D outputs | 0 |
DisplayPort outputs | 0 |
Drives | |
Capacity | 500GB |
Hard disk usable capacity | 466GB |
Spindle speed | 5,400RPM |
Internal disk interface | SATA/300 |
Optical disc technology | Blu-ray reader |
Battery capacity | 5,000mAh |
Replacement battery price inc VAT | £0 |
Networking | |
Wired adapter speed | 1,000Mbits/sec |
802.11a support | yes |
802.11b support | yes |
802.11g support | yes |
802.11 draft-n support | yes |
Integrated 3G adapter | no |
Bluetooth support | yes |
Other Features | |
Wireless hardware on/off switch | yes |
Wireless key-combination switch | no |
Modem | no |
ExpressCard34 slots | 1 |
ExpressCard54 slots | 0 |
PC Card slots | 0 |
USB ports (downstream) | 2 |
FireWire ports | 1 |
PS/2 mouse port | no |
9-pin serial ports | 0 |
Parallel ports | 0 |
Optical S/PDIF audio output ports | 1 |
Electrical S/PDIF audio ports | 0 |
3.5mm audio jacks | 2 |
SD card reader | yes |
Memory Stick reader | yes |
MMC (multimedia card) reader | no |
Smart Media reader | no |
Compact Flash reader | no |
xD-card reader | no |
Pointing device type | Touchpad |
Audio chipset | Realtek HD Audio |
Speaker location | Above keyboard |
Hardware volume control? | yes |
Integrated microphone? | yes |
Integrated webcam? | yes |
Camera megapixel rating | 0.3mp |
TPM | no |
Fingerprint reader | no |
Smartcard reader | no |
Carry case | no |
Battery and performance tests | |
Battery life, light use | 2hr 30min |
Battery life, heavy use | 1hr 20min |
Overall application benchmark score | 1.54 |
Office application benchmark score | 1.23 |
2D graphics application benchmark score | 1.83 |
Encoding application benchmark score | 1.47 |
Multitasking application benchmark score | 1.65 |
3D performance (crysis) low settings | 71fps |
3D performance setting | Low |
Operating system and software | |
Operating system | Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit |
OS family | Windows 7 |
Recovery method | Recovery partition |
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