Sony Vaio F Series VPC-F115FM/B – lacks Bluetooth
Laptops — By Ricky on April 5, 2010 at 12:05 amThumbs Up:
Solid graphics with 1080p display format; Core i7 processor; Blu-ray drive; affordable price.
Thumbs Down:
Short battery life, mediocre speakers.
The Whiz Kid Speaks:
The Sony Vaio F Series VPC-F115FM/B is powered with 1.6GHz Intel Core i7 I7-720QM processor, Intel HM55 Chipset, and 6GB DDR3 RAM. The operating system is Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit. It has DVD±RW (±R DL) / DVD-RAM / BD-ROM Blu-ray drive and 500GB hard-drive.
16.4 inches LCD display has 1920×1080 pixels that feature high-definition wide-screen. The laptop has 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 330M graphics card and High Definition sound card. The sound card supports Dolby Home Theater. Its integrated camera supports Face tracking technology.
The card reader accepts Memory Stick Pro Duo, Memory Stick Pro, Memory Stick Duo, SD Memory Card, and Memory Stick cards. The networking adapter supports wired networking standards of Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, and Gigabit Ethernet. The Wireless NIC supports wireless standards of IEEE 802.11 b/g/n.
The connector set includes 1×Storage – Hi-Speed USB / eSATA – 11 pin USB/eSATA , 1×Audio – SPDIF output – TOSLINK, 1×Headphones – Output – Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm, 1×Microphone – Input – Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm, 2×Hi-Speed USB – 4 pin USB Type A, 1×IEEE 1394 (FireWire) – 4 pin FireWire, 1×Network – Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T – RJ-45, 1×Audio / video – HDMI output – 19 pin HDMI Type A, 1×Display/video – VGA – 15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15).
The Sony Vaio F Series laptop is ENERGY STAR qualified and has six-cell 5000mAH lithium ion battery. The preinstalled software are 60days trail Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007, 30 days trial of Norton Internet Security 2010, Sony Picture Motion Browser, VAIO Help and Support, VAIO Media Gallery, VAIO Care, VAIO Media Plus, and Microsoft Works 9SE.
Razzle Dazzle:
The Sony Vaio F Series VPC-F115FM/B is 1.6 inches tall, 15.3 inches wide, and 10.4 inches deep, and weighs 6.8 lbs. It has thick and a bit tapered body, but still manages to stand out from the crowd of large laptops. The black matte outer lid has “Vaio” chrome logo in the center. However, it captures the fingerprints and smudges. The uniform dark gray and black color scheme, crisp angles, and plain lines provides an appealing look to the F Series laptop.
Inside Dope:
If we asks you to imagine the specification of an ideal high-profile laptop then what is should be. You may reply that excellent graphics card, Blu-ray drive, large and high resolution screen, high definition audio, and so forth. This is the story of the Sony Vaio F Series VPC-F115FM/B laptop. It features speedy Core i7 processor, 16.4 inches 1080p screen, Nvidia GeForce 330M GPU, Blu-ray drive, and wide keyboard that is comfortable like the back seat of a Town Car. However, this high-end Sony Vaio laptop has an extensive price tag of $1349. It also suffers from some drawbacks such as low battery life and average quality speakers.
In contrast, $829 priced Samsung NP-R580-JSB1US features Core i5 processor, less powered Nvidia graphics card, and Blu-ray drive. Now, if you need a high-end graphics performance then the Sony Vaio F Series VPC-F115FM/B is a good choice. However, the Samsung R580 laptop provides good configuration and average performance at $500 less price.
The media button/speaker bar dashboard and textured palm rest are raised above the surface. The chic-let style keyboard with separate numeric keypad is also raised. All the keys are covered with soft rubberized surface. They are well-centered and spacious that provides better typing experience. The smooth trackpad is a bit recessed from the palm rest. The touch buttons are flush with the pad and are plain in shape. However, these buttons are very easy to work.
The overall design of the Sony Vaio F Series VPC-F115FM/B is user focused, looks professional and provides a solid feeling. You will find the some dedicated media playback keys including display Off/On, and quick launch buttons for Vaio Help Center and Media Gallery software. You have to hit the F4 and F3 keys while holding the Fn button to control the volume. We will prefer the manufacturer to include the dedicated volume control buttons.
16.4 inches LED-backlit glossy display has 1920×1080 pixels resolution. We appreciate the Sony Vaio to include a high-resolution screen with 1080p format for a Blu-ray player. There is no edge-to-edge glass over the lid, which reduces the glare. Therefore, the screen reflects the bright objects and light. We are disappointed that the display was not bright and did not provide color accuracy while watching movies and playing games. In addition, it was a bit hard to read the text in complete 1080p resolution. We will advise you to keep the resolution below.
The inbuilt speakers of the Sony Vaio F Series VPC-F115FM/B are located beneath a grille above keyboard. While testing, the volume was not so loud and its depth and clarity was less than that of television speakers. This is not so good for game playing and watching movies over Blu-ray player.
The connectivity options are two USB 2.0, memory card reader, mini-FireWire, Express Card/34 slots for upgrade, HDMI, and eSATA-cum-USB port. We are disappointed that the Bluetooth is not included in such a high-end laptop.
The Sony Vaio F Series VPC-F115FM/B is one of the fastest laptop that we have tested. It also surpassed the Asus G73JH with single term. It performed better than Asus G73JH-RBBX05, and Dell Adamo XPS in multi-tasking, graphics, and multimedia applications.
The Sony Vaio F Series VPC-F115FM/B laptop uses Nvidia GeForce GT330M graphics processor that is not better than that of Alienware M11x notebook. It is not worth for 1080p display format gaming, but it can easily handle low resolution games and graphics. We played the high-end games on both the laptops. As you can expect, the Alienware model had performed better than Sony Vaio F Series.
The annual power consumption cost of the Sony Vaio F Series laptop is $9.24, which is less than $14.98 for the Asus G73JH. However, Dell Adamo XPS and Sony Vaio VPCS111 FM/S have less annual cost.
The six-cell battery has a life of two hours continuous video playback. This battery life is very short as compared to its competitors.
Sony provides one-year standard warranty with the Vaio VPCF115FM/B laptop with 24/7 toll-free phone support. The company has also published the necessary drivers, tutorials, and manuals.
Nitty Gritty:
If you need an affordable laptop with 1080p display, fast performance, and Blu-ray drive, then go for – Sony Vaio F Series VPC-F115FM/B.
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8 Comments
Sony Vaio is great in laptops but only problem is with the charger. This problem is in every laptop of vaio
Affordable price is the greatest asset for everyone. None of the Vaio laptops are affordable for general public.
Sony and affordable! I’m sure there will be something missing in it. Vaio cannot be cheap at all.
For the 1st time I’ve ever seen that Vaio is affordable. This blog should be kept in records!
This laptop is really simple in looks. Not much hyped or stylish. The blu ray drive is also an advantage for Vaio.
Blu Ray drive is really good and the configuration of the laptop is also quite high. It is really affordable!
Bluetooth is not that much usable in laptops. people have got data cable, SUB, card readers to use it.
Blu Ray drive is really good thinking for future but at present very few people are using it and all its DVDs are very costly.