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Battery Life
SONY rechargeable battery pack,VGP-BPS26 11.1V 11.1V 7950mAh 5300mAh 4000mAh Li-ion
Many manufacturers have already shown that even a small 44 Wh battery in conjunction with an energy efficient system can produce considerable battery life. Unfortunately the Vaio SV-E1712 does not meet these conditions, as we already described in the Power Consumption section.
We begin with Battery Eater Reader's test (minimum brightness, energy saving mode, wireless modules off): without any load, the battery is out in just under 4 hours. There can be no comparison to the Pavilion g7, which easily lasts double that time.
Even in the more practical WLAN test (150 cd/m², energy saving mode), the Vaio does not fare better. Although the difference with the competitor from HP shrinks, the 2 hours and 36 minutes is not an excellent value.
In order to increase battery life, the manufacturer has restricted the clock frequency of both the core and the memory of the graphics card to 400 MHz. Despite these measures, the Battery Eater Classic test (maximum brightness, high performance mode, wireless modules on) finished in just 52 minutes. You should therefore give up the idea of playing games on battery power.
Case
Similarly to its small sister model, the SONY Vaio SV-E1712 comes in an interesting, two-color look: black and white plastic (other combinations also available) make for a diverse combination that distinguishes the notebook from the usually dull masses. Apart from the color, Sony has chosen not to experiment with the rest of the design - unfortunately that includes the dirt-prone glossy surfaces.
Without the use of light metals such as aluminum, the Vaio cannot score points with compact dimensions (38 mm thickness) or low weight (3.2 kg). The mobility is not among the notebook's strong points, but it has, for this price range, a properly good stability and workmanship. Pressure on the case is met with minimal deformation, for example, in the area of the DVD drive. In detail, some gaps and material transitions could be improved, but overall we found no major shortcomings to be criticized.
The display is held in position by two tight hinges, which wobble a bit after opening. Both the base unit and the display lid are made of simple, but solid plastic, which leads to a proper rigidity. Overall, the SV-E1712 places just ahead of the HP Pavilion g7, but still has room for improvement. (CF-VZSU43 batteries)
Connectivity
It took a couple of years, but now USB 3.0 is standard even for the cheaper notebooks. The Vaio SV-E1712 is limited to only one port, although this should suffice for the connection of fast USB sticks and external hard drives. The three USB 2.0 ports provide more than adequate transfer rate for most peripherals.
Beyond that, Sony has included the essentials: HDMI and VGA for video output, Gigabit LAN, and the mandatory audio jacks (3.5 mm) - all located on the sides of the notebook. The rear is left empty, while the front houses the two card readers for MS (Pro Duo) and SD memory cards. Annoyingly, the distances between the interfaces are too small, which leads to the HDMI and VGA blocking each other. (SONY VGP-BPS26A batteries)
Keyboard
A good keyboard is not restricted to just being found on expensive business notebooks: the affordable Vaio convinces us with a crisp, medium-strength stop and excellent feedback thanks to the brushed surface of the keys. The bad workmanship and loud noise we criticized last time are now gone. Only the slight wobble during energetic typing is still present.
Touchpad
The 10 x 5.6 cm small touchpad is somewhat lost in the 40 cm wide palm rest; in order to move the cursor from one end of the screen to the other, one must lift his finger a couple of times. However, the Synaptics device has above average precision and excellent gliding properties. The mouse buttons, integrated below in the touchpad, could have had a slightly firmer pressure point, but otherwise perform their task perfectly.(VGP-BPL26 batteries)
Display
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 panel itself is manufactured by Samsung and is of the conventional TN type. With a contrast ratio of 268:1 it easily beats other entry-level notebooks, although the black level seems mediocre at full brightness (0.92 cd/m²).
Sony's Vaio SV-E1712 counts among the consumer notebooks and does need to have an extensive color space coverage - at least if the customer does not use graphics application or Photoshop too much. The sRGB color space is covered to about 75%, which does not hinder the everyday use of the device.
Since the Vaio is a large multimedia notebook, it is supposed to rarely be used outdoors. Thus, Sony has chosen to go with a glossy surface. If you venture outside, the viewing experience is quickly affected by disturbing reflections. However, thanks to its high brightness, the display is appropriate for use in the shades away from direct sunlight.
As is the case with most TN panels, the Samsung display in our test candidate has poor viewing angles. Even slight deviations up or down cause the decrease of contrast and the distortion of colors. Horizontally, the viewer again has very little freedom of movement - poor conditions for a movie night.
Speakers
Large grills, but with nothing behind them: the stereo speakers of the SV-E1712 can be described this way (slightly exaggerated). They are relatively loud, but not particularly good. The sound lacks bass and is flat. If possible, external speakers or headphones should be used. Too bad - we expected more of a multimedia oriented notebook. We must note here that the competitors offering higher quality speakers are in at least one price class above our test candidate.
Verdict
The Sony Vaio SV-E1712F1EW did not run through our test course perfectly, but showed rock solid overall performance, and proved: nowadays, there are attractive notebooks that do not cost a lot and have sufficient capabilities for a number of everyday tasks.
Many budget notebooks lack acceptable workmanship or stability. Sony also had to make economies here and there and has not used expensive aluminum. Nonetheless, the simple, but not cheap-looking, case manages to surpass many similar or higher priced alternatives. In combination with the properly good input devices, the Vaio makes for a good office notebook as well.
More info: laptop-batteries.com.au , laptop-battery.org.uk , battery-store.eu
