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Sony VAIO laptops have always been some of the most stylish around, and the CA1S1E is no exception. The smooth plastic body feels sturdy and the transparent keyboard surround looks great, but this laptop is more than just a looker – it’s also the first we’ve seen with one of Intel’s newest mobile processors.
Previously known by the codename Sandy Bridge, the new chips offer greater performance but confusingly keep the same Core i3, i5 and i7 branding as the old ones. The Core i5-2410m in the CA1S1E runs at a modest 2.3GHz, but can use Turbo Boost to increase this to a healthy 2.9GHz. It’s a dual-core chip that also supports Hyper-threading, so multitasking shouldn’t be a problem.
Paired with a respectable 4GB of RAM, performance was unsurprisingly a step up from the previous generation. It easily outpaced an original Core i5 processor despite having a slower clock speed. In our multimedia benchmarks it managed an impressive 109 overall, which is faster than a quad-core desktop PC. The laptop’s battery life is below average, though, lasting just over three and a half hours in our light-use test.
Intel may have improved the performance of the integrated graphics chips in Sandy Bridge processors, but that hasn’t stopped Sony from adding a dedicated graphics card to the CA1S1E. The ATi Mobility Radeon 6470 is more than powerful enough to play high definition video and games will make good use of the 512MB dedicated memory. A 25fps average in our Call of Duty test is respectable, but turning off anti-aliasing produced a more playable 38fps.
Image quality on the 14.1in screen was reasonable, with good brightness levels and great contrast. Colours also looked vivid and detailed. The 1,336×768 resolution is big enough for most desktop tasks or watching 720p video, and an HDMI output lets you connect to an external display.
Like a lot of VAIO laptops, the CA1S1E’s QWERTY keyboard has flat, chiclet-style keys with gaps in between. They’re all big enough for easy typing, and each key has a firm, crisp action with plenty of feedback. A light sensor activates a backlight that illuminates the entire keyboard tray in the dark; it’s a novel idea that we’re used to seeing in expensive gaming laptops, but the effect is unobtrusive and can be turned off to save battery power.
The new mobile Core i5 in Sony’s CA1S1E doesn’t have quite the jump in performance over the last generation that we saw from Intel’s new desktop processors, but it’s still a definite improvement. Raw performance aside, it’s also a great laptop. It packs a lot of features into its small 14in body, including a DVD re-writer and a USB3 port, and its excellent keyboard is a joy to use.
A word of warning: with the current trouble surrounding Intel’s chipset, you may have trouble getting hold of any Sandy Bridge-equipped laptops. However, Sony’s CA1S1E is worth the wait. We’ve only held off giving out an award until we’ve seen the calibre of the competition.
