Sony VAIO SE: An IPS Laptop for Under a Grand
by Jarred Walton on April 3, 2012 5:40 PM ESTSony VAIO SE Application Performance
Sony opted to ship us a higher spec variant of the VAIO SE, which of course helps out with their ranking in some of the benchmarks. Even so, the base model Core i5-2450M is hardly a slouch in performance. The i7-2640M we’re testing is clocked 12% higher and can Turbo Boost 13% higher, so unless you really need every bit of performance you can wring out of your CPU, we’d suggest sticking with the i5-2450M. A far better use of $210 (the cost to upgrade to the i7-2640M) would be to switch to an SSD, as that will add far more than 12% better performance to many mundane tasks, and SSDs aren’t prone to fragmentation and the horrible sluggishness that plagues PCs after a year or so of heavy use.
As usual, we’ve got several laptops with SSDs in the charts below, and those will rise to the top in tests like PCMark. Other tests will focus more on pure CPU or GPU performance. If you’re wondering how the base model VAIO SE might perform, look at the VAIO SB results—the HD 6470M and i5-2410M are close enough to what you’ll get from the SE that it should help set your expectations. We also have a couple higher-end laptops/notebooks in the charts, but the main reason we’re including the HP EliteBook 8760w is for the LCD comparison later on in the review.
There’s not a whole lot to say about the performance. The VAIO SE falls right about where you’d expect given the configuration we’re testing. It’s interesting to point out that the Razer Blade uses the same CPU as the SE, with a GPU that’s certainly faster and a chassis that provides a bit more cooling potential. Optimus also allows you to dynamically switch between the IGP and dGPU, and we’ve used the dGPU results for PCMark 7 so certain tasks that can use Quick Sync (e.g. Computation and Creativity) take a hit. PCMark 7 and Vantage benefit quite a bit from the presence of an SSD; the closest the VAIO SE gets to the Razer Blade is the IGP Computation score, where the Blade still leads by 31%. Some of that most likely comes from drivers as well, but we can’t say for certain how much is drivers, how much is cooling, and how much is the SSD.
Something else to pay attention to in the CPU-centric benchmarks is how the various dual-core i7 laptops stack up. The VAIO SE and Razer Blade both use the newer i7-2640M while the VAIO Z2 we tested has an i7-2620M; that should result in the SE coming in ahead of the Z2, but Cinebench and x264 encoding both have the Z2 and Blade leading the SE by a small margin. This is likely a result of CPU thermals preventing the SE from hitting maximum Turbo Boost frequencies as often, which is quite surprising considering the Z2 is a 13.1” chassis while the SE is a 15.5” design.
As for 3DMarks, again performance is about what you can expect from the HD 6630M. The VAIO SE clearly isn’t intended as a gaming laptop—particularly if you opt for the base model with HD 6470M graphics—but it can still handle most games at lower resolutions and medium detail. There are also a couple odd results where the 6630M in the SE comes out significantly ahead of the 6650M in the Z2. That could be partly a case of different drivers, but more likely is that the external GPU can’t reach maximum performance while piping content back to the integrated 1080p displays. As for what this means for playing games, let’s get to the actual gaming benchmarks and see what happens.
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slashbinslashbash - Tuesday, April 3, 2012 - link
When I look at the MBP review, I see Windows laptops on some of the graphs and charts. Especially the ones about color gamut, etc. I would like to see a straight-up comparison. Put OSX *or* Windows on the MBP, MBA, etc. and include those numbers in the tests for battery life, display quality, heat, etc. I understand that some benchmarks only run on Windows, and even if they are available for OSX then it might not be fair to compare between the two because of the OS differences. I get it. So put Windows on an MBA or MBP using Boot Camp and include them in your comparisons. Some things, like h.264 playback battery life, might make sense to test under OSX and include as a direct comparison with Windows machines. Do that if you feel like it. If not, the same test with the MBP running Windows is good too.Every laptop that is reviewed on AT, I eventually end up comparing to the MBP. Please make this easier for me to do so I'm not switching back and forth all the time. There are plenty of people out there who use a MBP as a Windows-only machine. (I'm not one of them, but I do run Windows 7 in Parallels.) The MBP has a reputation as setting a standard. Please start including it as such. No need for a full article on it, just start including the numbers in your charts. Thanks.
ananduser - Tuesday, April 3, 2012 - link
Let me make it easier. The mbp 13" with a 1280x TN screen, integrated graphics and 4 GB RAM costs 1200$(In Europe it costs about 1500$). Now compare it with this SE and every other suggestion at the end of this review. And if you're thinking about bootcamp, "add" at least a 30% battery penalty.kenyee - Tuesday, April 3, 2012 - link
Besides crap displays, that's my other beef w/ laptops nowadays. I still want to shove 16GB in one for VMs, photoshop, premiere pro...zaccun - Wednesday, April 4, 2012 - link
Then you should be buying a workstation machine with 4 slots for ram like a Lenovo W520!(For real, that's what workstations are there for. And they even have good screen options, too.)
Pirks - Tuesday, April 3, 2012 - link
Hence I immediately ordered it at store.sony.com, came out $1190 total with base + 6630 GPU + windows 7 pro + taxes + express delivery, plus FREE Sony dock station (promotion until April 14, hurry up folks!)Hehe, this is something to pwn a few MacBook 15 toting friends of mine, I gonna have a few nasty surprises for them hehehee like much better IPS screen with better resolution and viewing angles, lighter weight and ability to extend battery life to 12 hours, I gonna enjoy their smug little faces when I'll be demoing this new baby to them hehee :)))
JarredWalton - Tuesday, April 3, 2012 - link
Only thing is that MBP15 is still built better than the VAIO SE, particularly on the cover/display/hinge. But in terms of bang for the buck, it's definitely a good laptop.ananduser - Wednesday, April 4, 2012 - link
The MBP15 is more expensive; pricewise, his acquisition should be compared with the entry level mbp13. I mean come on that entry level is a tough buy until a potential refresh later this year.JarredWalton - Wednesday, April 4, 2012 - link
Which is what I imply when I say, "in terms of bang for the buck, it's definitely a good laptop." No one (sane) buys MBP because of value. You buy for the build quality and overall quality, and you buy to run OS X.Personally, I hate using OS X -- I don't feel any urge to learn how to use it. I'd rather use Linux than OS X, but I don't even want to do that. I'm comfortable and happy with Windows, MacBooks lose battery life and other optimizations under Windows, so unless you want OS X with the option to run Windows on occasion, I'd find something non-Apple rather than going the Bootcamp route.
goobah - Tuesday, April 3, 2012 - link
Wheres the castle in the first display shot ?JarredWalton - Wednesday, April 4, 2012 - link
I wondered if someone was going to ask that... it's from Microsoft's UK wallpapers. They're not enabled by default for the US, but you can find other regional themes in:C:\Windows\Globalization\MCT
Copy the appropriate folders to C:\Windows\Web\Wallpaper and you can use them. :-)