Sony Vaio SV-E1712F1EW Notebook reviews, specifications and price

Sony Vaio SV-E1712F1EW Notebook reviews, specifications and price, Sony is not a manufacturer that many users would associate with affordable entry-level notebooks - yet the Japanese electronics giant offers inexpensive models in its E-series, varying from 14- to 17-inch form factor.

Now that we have taken a look at the middle 15-inch model (Vaio SV-E1511V1EW), today we review the SV-E1712. This 17-inch notebook comes in various configurations, starting at 500 Euros (~$635). But equip it with a quad-core processor, Blu-ray drive, and a Full HD display, and it can easily go over the 1000 Euros (~$1273) mark.

Such hardware seems to be overkill for a simple multimedia notebook. Our test candidate, a Sony Vaio SV-E1712F1EW, relies on a Pentium B980 CPU, 4 GB of RAM, and a 500 GB HDD, which reduces the price to 550 Euros (~$699). The Radeon HD 7650M is here too - it is standard feature on all of the models in the range.

Sony should not worry about the lack of competition: in particular, the new Trinity APUs by AMD are widely used in this price range and are installed in the HP Pavilion g7 for example. But which manufacturer has put together the most attractive package?

Regardless of the increasingly larger resolution of the smartphones, tablets, and ultrabooks, the 17-inch notebook standard is still 1600x900 pixels. The resulting pixel density of 106 dpi makes for a large enough image, but it limits the available working space.

The display, with LED backlight and 11 adjustment steps, has a good maximum brightness of 244 cd/m². The Vaio is even brighter than most of the competition: the HP Pavilion g7 could only achieve 180 cd/m². The illumination is very uniform across the whole screen, leaving no bright patches or other irregularities.

The Pentium B980 does not promise any miracles, but it delivers good performance in comparison to the competition. In the Cinebench R11.5 the CPU with 1.85 points is placed right between AMD A8-4500M (1.75 points) and the top model A10-4600M (2.0 points). In applications that do not require more cores, the B980 can even perform on par with the Core i3-2370M, running at the same clock frequency. In addition: the full performance potential is also available on battery power.

Sony also offers the SV-E1712 with the Ivy Bridge models Core i3-3110M, i5-3210M and i7-3632QM. Compared to the Pentium B980 and depending on the application, they promise a power increase of 5 to 30 (Core i3), 40 to 65 (Core i5), and 45 to 220 percent (Core i7).

Notebook specifications Sony Vaio SV-E1712F1EW

• Processor : Intel Pentium B980 2.4 GHz
• Mainboard : Intel HM70 (Panther Point)
• Memory : 4096 MB, 1x 4 GByte A-DATA DDR3-1600 @ DDR3-1333
• Graphics adapter : AMD Radeon HD 7650M - 1024 MB, Core: 500 MHz, Memory: 900 MHz, DDR3-VRAM, 8.982.6.0
• Display : 17.3 inch 16:9, 1600x900 pixel, Samsung 173KT02S01, TN panel, LED Backlight, glossy: yes
• Harddisk : Hitachi Travelstar Z5K500 HTS545050A7E380, 500GB 5400rpm 8 MB Cache
• Soundcard : Intel Panther Point PCH - High Definition Audio Controller
• Connections : 3 USB 2.0, 1 USB 3.0, 1 VGA, 1 HDMI, 1 Kensington Lock, Audio Connections: Headphone and microphone (both 3.5mm jacks), Card Reader: 2 card readers (MS Pro Duo, SD),
• Networking : Realtek RTL8168/8111 Gigabit-LAN (10/100/1000MBit), Atheros AR9485WB-EG Wireless Network Adapter (bgn), 4.0 Bluetooth
• Optical drive : HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GT50N
• Size : height x width x depth (in mm): 37.8 x 409 x 278
• Weight : 3.2 kg Power Supply: 0.3 kg
• Battery : 44 Wh Lithium-Ion, 4400 mAh, 10.8 V
• Price : 550 Euro
• Operating System : Microsoft Windows 8 64 Bit
• Additional features : Webcam: 1.3 Megapixel, Speakers: Stereo, Keyboard: Chiclet, Keyboard Light: no, 75 W power supply, pamphlets, Vaio Gate, Vaio Control Center, CyberLink Power2Go, 24 Months Warranty

Disclaimer : Prices and specifications of mobile phones, Notebooks, Tablet also other gadgets that are updated regularly from Mobile retailer and dealers. We can not guarantee the price 100% correct. Mobile, Notebook and Tablet latest launched internationally, are priced based on international bidding without including shipping and tax. Given the specifications we provided purely for reference only gadget lovers and we can not guarantee that 100% correct.