Sony Vaio VPCEC490X

Specifications

Reviews for the Sony Vaio VPCEC490X

70% Sony VAIO EC Series (VPCEC490X)
Source: Laptop Mag
At $749 the VAIO EC is affordable for a Sony notebook, but is it a good deal? There's no denying that the keyboard is top-notch, and there's enough muscle here for both productivity chores and mainstream games. However, there are better deals out there. A Dell Inspiron 17R with similar specs (Core i3 CPU, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5740 graphics, 4GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive) can be had for $50 less, as can a Toshiba L670 with a more powerful Core i5 processor, integrated graphics, 4GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive. We wish the screen had better viewing angles and that the speakers were more powerful, but overall the VAIO EC is an attractive notebook that provides solid performance for the price.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 02/03/2011
Rating: Total score: 70%

Comment

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470: Entry level DirectX 11 chip with GDDR5 support but only 80 shader cores. Supports Eyefinity (up to 4 monitors) and 8-ch HD audio over HDMI. Performance on par with the old GeForce 8600M GT.

Non demanding games should be playable with these graphics cards.

» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Graphics Cards and the corresponding Benchmark List.

380M: The Core i3-380M is a fast clocked Core i3. The TurboBoost, AES, VTd, and Trusted Execution functions are deactivated in the i3-series. Therefore, it always clocks with max. 2.53 GHz (of course Speedstep is included). Thanks to Hyperthreading, 4 threads can be processed simultaneously. An integrated graphics card (GMA HD) and a DDR3 memory controller are also included in the package.» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Processsors.

17.3": Meanwhile the 17 inch display size is a more frequently offered standard format for desktop-replacements. The DTR-laptops can't be carried easily, need much energy but on the other side texts can be read easily and high resolutions are no problem. DTR mainly are intended for stationary usage on desks, where the weight and the energy need are unimportant.
» To find out how fine a display is, see our DPI List.

3.5 kg: This laptop is heavy below average, compared with the average of notebooks. Therefore especially desktop replacements fit in this class of weight.

Sony: Sony Corporation is a multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Japan. Sony is one of the leading manufacturers of electronics, video, communications, video game consoles, and information technology products for the consumer and professional markets. Its name is derived from sonus, the Latin word for sound. The company was founded 1946 with another name and renamed in 1958. Sony Corporation is the electronics business unit and the parent company of the Sony Group, which is engaged in business through its five operating segments—electronics, games, entertainment (motion pictures and music), financial services and other. Sony is a notebook manufacturer of medium size according international market shares.

Sony reviews

70%: This rating is bad. Most notebooks are better rated. This is not a recommendation for purchase.

» Further information can be found in our Notebook Purchase Guide.

Notebooks from a different Manufacturer and/or with a different CPU

Laptops with the same GPU and/or Screen Size

Notebooks with the same GPU