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Sony’s latest take on the low-powered ultraportable form factor is the Sony Vaio YB3V1E, an update to the VPC-YB2M1E which was launched just six months ago. It weighs the same as the average netbook, but has a bigger, higher resolution screen.
The dual-core AMD E-45 processor runs at a lowly 1.65GHz (just 50MHz faster than the older model’s E-350 chip), and it’s paired with 4GB of RAM as before. However, Sony has stuck with the 32-bit version of Windows 7 Home Premium, so you’ll be able to use around 3.2GB. This meant it could only manage a meagre 11 in our multimedia benchmarks – exactly the same as the YB2M1E.
The E-45 can’t beat an Intel Atom for speed, and unfortunately it doesn’t have the advantage when it comes to battery life either. In our light use test, the YB3 managed six hours away from the mains: commendable, but still several hours short of the longest-lasting netbooks.
As the processor is a Fusion chip, graphics are built-in. The Radeon HD 6320 is far more capable than Intel’s on-chip graphics, and the older Radeon HD 6310m. It might not show in our Dirt3 test, which only managed 12.7fps, but older titles will still be playable at reasonable detail settings. You’ll also be able to watch 720p video on the laptop, or 1080p content on an external display using the HDMI output.
The screen itself has a 1,366×768 resolution, which is about as high as we’ve seen in a 12in laptop. Both images and text looked crisp, and we had no trouble working on two documents at once. Colours were accurate, although slightly muted, but viewing angles were excellent. There’s not a lot of screen tilt, and the glossy finish could make light reflections a problem, but this is one of the best screens we’ve seen on a netbook-sized laptop.
We could type comfortably on the Chiclet-style keyboard: each key seems slightly smaller than full-size, but not small enough to affect our ability to type quickly and accurately. The compact touchpad beneath the keyboard tray is less impressive – it’s too small to span the desktop in a single movement at the default sensitivity. The buttons are placed very close to the edge, but at least produced audible clicks when pressed so we were always sure if our actions had registered.
Despite being slightly larger than the average netbook, the YB3V1E has only average connectivity. Three USB ports, HDMI and VGA outputs plus a multiformat card reader are all very useful, as is Bluetooth support, but you’ll need an external optical drive to read discs. The 500GB hard disk is generous though.
The v is difficult to recommend at this price. It’s only £50 less than the Lenovo ThinkPad X121e (review soon), which is much faster and has a longer battery life. In spite of its great keyboard and high resolution screen, it’s oddly positioned between cheaper netbooks and faster laptops.
