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Review: Sony F Series - Huge screen, nice lappy

Faisal Alani
UK at eBay

The first thing you’ll notice about the F series is the amazing 16.4 inch HD screen, complete with anti-glare, well that’s what the top of the range model lower models have full HD 1920×1080 resolution.

This is a beast of a machine as it comes with a quad-core Intel® CoreTM i7 processors (Quad Core, 8 Threads), a Blu-ray disc writer, plus 8GB of DDR3 main memory which should be able to handle heavy video editing.

Sony F Series VAIO - lower res.jpg
It’s also got a NVIDIA GeForce GT330M graphics – combined with 1GB of GDDR3 VRAM with CUDA – mean the VAIO F Series delivers detail-packed graphics and smooth HD video playback.

The F Series is also energy efficient, with the Sony light sensor (automatically adjusts screen illumination levels). There’s also a nice ‘Display Off’ button that cuts consumption when you’re listening to music or watching Blu-ray movies on a connected television.

My only negative point is that as with all Sony laptops this will cost a bomb. If you want powerful and stylish and money isn’t an issue when you’re buying a laptop then this is definately one to consider, especially for gaming and video editing.

But if you’re an average joe then you can probably find similar spec for half the price.

The new range of VAIO F Series multimedia computers is available in stores from 18th January 2010. It comes with Windows 7 Home Premium software.

Specifications:


Model

VAIO VPCF11Z1E/BI

Processor

Intel® Core™ i7-720QM

OS

Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium

Memory

8GB DDR3 SDRAM

HDD

500GB Serial ATA

Screen

VAIO Display Premium

41.6cm (16.4″) Full HD (1920 x 1080)

Anti-glare 100% Adobe RGB coverage

Graphics

NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 330M

(1GB GDDR3 VRAM)

Optical drive

Blu-ray Disc™ Writer

BD-R/-RE/-ROM/ DVD+-RW/+-R DL/RAM

Weight & size

3.2kg (with supplied battery);

263 x 31-41 x 387.2 mm (D x H x W)

Others

WLAN 802.11b/g/n; Bluetooth®;
Display Off button; premium black finish

 

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I've been pricing similarly spec'd laptops recently and the comment about how you can find a similarly spec'd laptop for half price is just not true at all. The Dell Studio XPS16 is about the same price or more depending on the configuration. The HP Envy and Sager Gaming laptops are similar as well. The Asus model is the only big core i7 latop I've seen that's cheaper, but I think you get what you pay for.
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i can't find a similar spec'd laptop either. i've tried. next time post the half-priced ones, and link to a review you've made on their performance. you could become a great reviewer of laptops that way!
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Got my £1200 Vaio F Series in Feb 2010 which I configured online and waited three weeks while it was built in Japan. I am very dissapointed with the battery life and that it often discharges overnight. The Sony support was the biggest dissapointment. After completing various overnight battery tests I was advised that the advertised battery life of 2 hours thirty minutes could only be achieved when absolutely everything was turned off - so who runs a laptop like this?? Eventually spoke to a supervisor but support level did not improve. I would therefore not recommend this product and will not buy Sony again.
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Re March 1 comment on battery life. Disappointed to hear that, as my Vaio VGN-Z21VN suffers from the same problem. i.e. with everything switched off can go from 70% battery life to zero in 7days; 11% to zero overnight. I thought it was a faulty laptop as I could leave my previous Sony Vaio for weeks without it loosing battery power. Sony support say the difference is that the new system is "soft off" compared with "hard off". Their recommended solution was to remove the battery when not using the laptop!! not a very elegant solution!! I had thought a new model would have sorted the problem.
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You can't find a laptop with similar specs for half the price? Where have you been looking? HP I know for a fact will match this computers specs for a much cheaper price. My dv6t is as loaded as they come and was a few 100 cheaper then what it would have been if I went with this Sony. Sony is just too expensive sometimes, even if their build quality is amazing.
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I agree. I just purchased this computer.. just waiting for UPS. I did a lot of research and Sony actually had great pricing for what they were offering.. also They had some of the best prices on their warranties.
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I just bought this VAIO laptop 2 weeks ago and had numeric keyboard problems from the begining. The numeric keypad seems to not work as if the numeric lock was on all the time. This computer in my opinion is over priced and the mouse pad is too far on the left. Makes it slightly difficult to get used to. I contacted customer support and they will have to send someone to check it out. Seems is a hardware issue. (brand new and already giving me problems) If you buy one make sure to get the extended warranty. You probably will end up using it.
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Bought one of these in March from the UK site using the Customise option to get full spec. Have had nothing but problems ever since - 1)battery lucky to last an hour, 2) I use an external monitor and there is constant flickering, 3) The processor is very noisy and overheats, 4) It has trouble capturing streaming data when online and frequently drops it. (I have since found out that the SSD would have improved this but sales assistant said this would only speed up the booting up/closing down). The after sales customer support has simply been incompetent bordering on negligent. Its taken me 3 months dealing with numerous people from differing out-sourced locations to get them to take the unit to the service centre and when I complained they said I would get "VIP" customer treatment and it would be fixed in 3 days. I am currently in Poland so they arranged for it to be serviced in Prague. 10 days later I hadn't heard anything so checked the tracking number with the courier (UPS). Found out its been around Poland, to 2 places in Germany and is currently languishing in Frankfurt with no indication of when it will be returned. Hope this acts as a warning to others who may be thinking of choosing Sony. Personally I'll never buy a Sony product again.
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Bought one of these in March this year (2010), the screen failed after 6 weeks. Sony service has been terrible, they claim it is user damage, however the laptop was on a desk overnight, it was OK at night and faulty in the morning without anyone touching it.To cause that amount of damage would leave marks on the casing or the screen itself. Cost of repair is almost one and a half times the cost of the laptop. Still not resolved and still no usable laptop. Would never buy another Sony product ever. Supplier was no help either, so won't be using them again either.
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This Sony F series is bit expensive. Its features are so amazing if money doesn't matter
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I bought a lower model F series than the one reviewed for what I thought was a great price (reduced at my local Sony Style shop). Half the price of the same spec Mac and I haven't seen another machine cheaper for this spec. I was so impressed I bought another at Heathrow on my way out to a job. HOWEVER, I do presentations for a living and am unable to use this machine because of the flickering it causes on an external monitor (mentioned by another user here). I have checked the drivers are the latest etc and can not stop it causing this flickering. Sony deny there is a problem. Luckily I could send the Heathrow one back (60 day return policy), but am stuck with this one. I have had similar problems with other laptops and they usually get sorted in the end by someone updating a driver, but I thought Sony would have it sorted from new!
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