Sony VAIO SE: An IPS Laptop for Under a Grand
by Jarred Walton on April 3, 2012 5:40 PM ESTSony VAIO SE Gaming Performance
As we’ve noted in the past, we’ve updated our gaming test suite as well as our target settings. We’ve ditched testing at Low/Minimum detail for most laptops, as that often results in a subpar visual experience and we’d rather set “Medium” as our baseline. If you don’t care much for gaming, you can skip straight to the next page, but here are the scores from the VAIO SE. We’ve lumped the Mainstream and Enthusiast results into the Value charts just to save on space, but you’ll want to stick with our Value settings for acceptable frame rates in most titles—and you can forget about 1080p gaming at anything above our Value settings in most games.
* DiRT 3 run in windowed mode on VAIO SE because of driver issue
* ASUS G74SX tested pre-1.4 patch with older NVIDIA drivers
There’s really not much to say. At our Value settings, only Battlefield 3 fails to break 30FPS—possibly because the VAIO SE has an older driver and AMD has definitely improved performance in BF3 with later driver releases. Also worth mention is that DiRT 3 has a problem with the current drivers and refuses to run in full screen mode, so we tested in a window. That probably knocks off at least 20% from the performance, but until/unless Sony releases an updated driver this is all you’ll get. 1080p Value incidentally has almost the same “playability” result as 768p Value—only BF3 and Civ5 can’t break 30FPS, and in the case of Civ5 it’s still fast enough since turn-based strategy games aren’t about twitch reflexes.
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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. :-)