Sony VAIO VPCEB1Z0E 15.5-inch Laptop (Intel Core i5-430M 2.26 GHz, 4 GB RAM, 500 GB HDD, Blu-ray Combo, Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit, Black)

I bought this when i finally decided to stop buying cheap, bargain
laptops from Acer and go for something more expensive, but something
i hoped would provide a better experience, and last much longer.
Here is what i liked about my new Vaio:

== PRICE ==
Its £374 more expensive than my previous Acer laptop which, on paper
sounds like a lot, but taking into consideration what you get for that
extra money, and the experience it provides i think this is well worth it.

== DESIGN ==
At thus price you'd expect something cool i guess, similar to Macbooks.
And the Sony does look very nice. Nice rounded edges, sort of elegant in a way.
The keyboard is fitted together perfectly and looks great. Also, no clicky sounds
from the body when typing which shows it is made to a good standard. The shiny front
case of the laptop feels smooth, not plasticky like my previous Laptop. The black
and grey colours were not to my taste, a bit dull but im sure i can live with those.

== SPECS ==
The first thing i noticed was the screen, the glorious screen! Its full HD, 16:9 with
1920x1080 dpi resolution. Everything looked tiny on it, but you'll get used to it in no time.
(its tiny because of the higher resolution which provides more detail etc). It is amazing at playing
HD movies, the 512mb ATI Mobile graphics card handles everything fine, especially as the system has 4GB ram.
Connectivity is great with 4 USB ports, an e-SATA, b/g/n wireless card, gigabit ethernet, bluetooth 2.1+EDR
(enhanced data rate), CD/DVD drive which reads and writes CDs and DVDs, but also plays Blu-Ray discs, Microphone
and headphone port, Memory stick slot, HDMI and VGA output. Built in webcam was OK quality for making the odd
Skype call (has a resolution of 640x480). The intel core i5 at 2.26ghz is pretty powerful and ensures everything
runs smoothly. Coupled with Windows 7 64bit its perfect, as you may know Win7 is a bit lighter on resources than
its predecessors. 500GB hard drive is a bit small for me personally, but no problem as it can be easily upgraded.
The system also supports maximum of 8GB RAM so in the future you could add 4GB more if you so wish to.

== PORTABILITY ==
This could easily be used as a desktop replacement for many people, but it is a laptop and portability is an
important consideration. It weighs 2.7kg (with the battery inside) which is oddly enough the exact same weight
as my old Acer model. So there should be no problem in taking it with you, and the wide range of connectivity options
make it great for portable use.

== BATTERY LIFE ==
Stated as having a 3hr battery life, which considering everything that has been crammed into it seems OK. Of course you
can increase this within Windows by lowering screen brightness and disabling odd things you might not want to use. I think
you could squeeze almost 4hrs out of this. Recharge time is 3.5 hours from 0% to 100% battery.

== CONCLUSION ==
Weighing exactly the same as my old Acer im surprised how much Sony managed to fit inside this. It looks great, perfect for
travelling around with, but powerful enough to use a desktop replacement. Plays HD movies perfectly and supports full HD res.
Huge amount of connectivity options, and the potential to be upgraded in the future should you need to. Great value for money.
I'd highly recommend this, so im gonna give it 5/5.

Fairly new to this laptop, but these are my views:

Pros

- Absolutely lovely keyboard. I tried every manufacturer, and none was better. No flex, well-spaced keys, lots of palm space, easy to clean, nice action. The best there is.
- Ample power (though please note I'm not a gamer - so i5 and 4gb wasn't going to show any limitations for my user patterns)
- Amazing screen (and you can easily lower power settings to extend battery range)
- Great looks (I would have preferred matt black to minimise fingerprints, but Sony seems to offer very few models with this colour off-the-shelf)
- Portable and very solidly constructed
- Blu-Ray included, which is not the norm at this price point. I have to say, though, that I don't care too much about this
- Plenty of ports, nicely spaced
- Quick web access (ie you can surf without booting up properly). Don't use much as I tend to hibernate

Cons

- Speakers really are poor. This I find frustrating. I know that any laptop will be a compromise, but I'd have happily paid more for upgraded/branded components. I save myself from annoyance by almost never using them. (Please bear in mind that I bought this in the full knowledge that the speakers were poor, so this isn't a post-purchase gripe)
- Trackpad is dimpled. I may get used to this. But for now it is a bit irritating, like running the fingernails down canvas
- The usual wad of unwanted software pre-installed (though I haven't marked it down for this, as it is the industry norm)
- Vaio Gate. This is Sony's version of a Mac-style pop-up navigation bar. A bit "me-too", but I suppose it offers choice. Anyway, it's closeable, so no biggy
- Low-res camera, though I'm not a fan of video calling so don't mind this one bit

[For comparison, my final shortlist included the Acer Timeline X 5820t and the Dell Studio 1749. The first I decided against after finding the keyboard flexed too much and the looks rather offensive. The Dell I actually bought, but had to return as there is a fan fault (known to the company, well discussed in the forums) that means the very noisy fan turns itself on and off even at idle. Infuriating. This is a big shame, as it seemed a lovely machine with great audio. Please check the forums before you buy this model].

So, in summary, definitely recommend. Would love Sony to work on the speaker issue, though I gather there are no plans. This is crazy, especially as the (refreshingly honest) guys in the Sony Centre and I were laughing about the fact they weren't much better than my Blackberry. Talking of retail, I bought this off Amazon (Sony didn't have the stock). The usual good service. I shopped in Currys too. The usual farce. No product knowledge and even some flamboyant lies. Oh, and no facility to test sound other than playing some dumb little mp3 on a loop. Still not quite sure what the point of such stores is. Nice to see nothing changes... John Lewis were informative and pleasant. Plus there's the 2 year guarantee. But their stock is limited and there's a lot of end-of-line stuff.

I've had my VAIO E series for more than 2 months now, and I am extremely pleased with it. It can basically handle anything that you throw at it.

Pros:

>1080p Screen is excellent, definitely worth the extra money.
>Core i5 processor is FAST!
>E Series looks expensive.
>Build quality is good.
>ATI 5650 graphics card can handle some serious gaming.

Cons:

>Battery life isn't great, between 1 and 2 hours depending on what you're doing. This is the price you pay with any powerful laptop.

Overall:

This is the best value for money high-end laptop out there at the moment. The only laptop that I think is probably better than my E Series is the Apple MacBook Pro, but that's more than twice as expensive to buy. Make sure you buy a high-spec E Series (especially graphics card), and you'll never look back.