Sony VAIO S Series: All Day Consumer Computing
by Dustin Sklavos on September 9, 2011 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
- AMD
- Intel
- Sony
- Sandy Bridge
- 6000M
- VAIO S
- Switchable Graphics
Gaming Performance
The Sony VAIO S' AMD Radeon HD 6470M is going to be good enough for light gaming (really, the lightest of gaming), but as you'll see from our test results, I still really have to question the point of even including it along with the muxes and additional hardware and cooling complications it brings. Intel's HD 3000 integrated graphics aren't spectacular, but the 6470M isn't either. A downclocked HD 6630M would have been a far better choice for a discrete GPU.
At no point in our "low" testing suite does the VAIO's HD 6470M mean the difference between playable and not playable compared to the HD 3000, and in every situation but the notoriously CPU-limited StarCraft II it falls behind Llano. I think what may really be damning are the results for the entry-level NVIDIA GeForce GT 425M (slower than the current generation GeForce GT 525M), which consistently outpaces the 6470M and offers Optimus technology, allowing the ASUS U41JF to eschew muxes entirely.
At our "Medium" settings the 6470M starts to separate from Intel's HD 3000, but it's still never quite enough to really justify its inclusion. If gaming on the VAIO S is going to be any kind of priority, you'll likely be better off investing in the offered AMD Radeon HD 6630M upgrade as the 6470M is just too meager for any serious use. Like the old GeForce G 310M and the current GT 520M/520MX, we just don't see much point in continuing to include barely-faster-than-IGP discrete GPUs. Hopefully when Ivy Bridge hits, we'll finally see the end of discrete mobile GPUs below the GT 525M/HD 6630M.
One other item we need to mention with regards to gaming is the drivers. Our test suite is sufficiently old at this point that we didn't encounter any difficulties, but we'll be revamping our games list in the near future. Why that matters is that Sony isn't participating in AMD's mobile driver program. More to the point, AMD's reference drivers won't work with their switchable graphics solution regardless. You need a single package that contains both the Intel and AMD graphics drivers, along with knowledge of Sony's switching hardware, and the only place you're going to find that is at Sony's support site. We haven't tested newer titles with the VAIO S, but we'll be looking at another laptop with AMD's switchable graphics in the near future, and we're going to be testing a bunch of newer titles for compatibility.
Long-term, we're more than a little concerned for gaming prospects with the HD 6470M, and the HD 6630M may only see one or two driver updates over its lifetime (if we're lucky). With every month that passes, the chances of a new title having a graphics bug that requires a new driver increases, and if you can't get updated drivers you're basically at a dead end. So for gaming enthusiasts, we'd be very cautious about considering the VAIO S.
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Rookierookie - Friday, September 9, 2011 - link
$200 is 10 times $20, and yes I do need more than 120GB of space.On desktops I'll gladly do a boot SSD + storage HDD. On laptops I'm not quite ready to do that.
JNo - Friday, September 9, 2011 - link
You might well be able to do boot SSD + storage HDD on this (and other) laptops too, so long as you don't mind losing the ODD.One solution I'm becoming aware of is to google/ebay "optical hard drive bay" for your laptop model and you can usually then get a bay to slot in to the lappy's optical bay which can hold a mechanical HDD instead...
Then bingo - fast SSD + spacey HDD in a laptop
tmensonides - Friday, September 9, 2011 - link
I was thinking of ordering a Sony because there one of the only manufacturers that offers what they call a "fresh start" option when cto... it is supposed to be vaio/sony, demo, game free....Looks like it is still in the cto options....
Do you know anything more about that option?
hp79 - Friday, September 9, 2011 - link
You have to upgrade your Windows to a Professional version and pay more in order to be able to select "fresh start" which really sucks. Other manufacturers business lines such as Dell's Latitude or Lenovo's Thinkpad lines doesn't come with demos and stuff.tmensonides - Friday, September 9, 2011 - link
Yeah but you still get that thinkvantage stuff (dells got their own suite of junk..i have both a thinkpad and latitude at work)...at least the option is there....Zoomer - Saturday, September 17, 2011 - link
Yeah, they have had that option for some time. I guess they need to make money somewhere.Think of it as a "can't fix my own computer" tax. ;)
docp - Friday, September 9, 2011 - link
Dustin,Thanks for awesome review as always clear and very well detailed.
brought back my old memories of sony crapware.
I have been vaio FZ user right when vista came out and this new series got announced,
I have been formatting the any new laptop that comes in family,Install clean windows 7 and then update essential programs to make all extra utilities working and security software that all and performance is amazing after this ritual.
Regarding HDD also,I got 200 gb Toshiba 4200 rpm HDD(that times biggest HDD) to 7200 rpm hitachi 500 GB and its running as it is supposed to.fast and quiet.
I dont know why sony installs so much of crap and why bog down pretty good hardware with stupid software.
Its hurting their own business .
Just plain stupid of sony .
docp - Friday, September 9, 2011 - link
their is this little program which does backup and restore your windows 7 activation .it came out for vista and it works beautifully for windows 7 as well.this is completely legal and no shady grey tricks for activation.
Saidas - Friday, September 9, 2011 - link
ABR?docp - Friday, September 9, 2011 - link
yes ABR,awesome software.on side note,sony does allow you to debloate your laptop for additional 50 $ in form of windows 7 business upgrade.
so only home premium version targeted at home users is bloated most.
wrong strategy.