Vaio SR businessman is strong in entertainment

Sony Vaio SR, an alternative to the Vaio SZ, debuted in mid-2008 and is one of the first laptops to use Intel Centrino 2 processors .

13.3-inch Vaio SR belongs to Sony's business line and is in the ultraportable segment with a weight of only 1.86 kg. The device is equipped with a good configuration, which not only performs well all basic applications but also effectively handles popular entertainment programs.

The model tested is Vaio SR41M / S, the basic configuration version - Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 2.0 GHz processor, 4 GB RAM memory, discrete ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570 512 MB graphics card and 320 GB HDD, with a price of 1,200 euros (VND 31.5 million).

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Sony Vaio SR is simple but beautiful. Photo: Sony .

Vaio SR is designed simple but beautiful in a subtle way. Featured on the silver case is the shiny chrome logo while the ribs and bottom are black, made of high quality plastic material. The inside is still the main bright silver tone, contrasting with the black keyboard. Surface roughness helps users feel more comfortable is the trend of "ball seven" is prevalent although the material is mainly used as high-quality plastic.

The lid and screen cover are slightly under pressure. When using strong pressure on the surface of the lid, the displayed image will be deformed. In addition, the palm rests on the right where the "rickety" optical drive usually places "crack" sounds when strong.

The modern highlight in the design of the Vaio SR is the striking cylindrical hinge with a 135-degree screen opening angle and LED display system on the left edge of the front edge.

The Vaio SR has only 2 USB ports located on the right flank, the outside is the DVD optical drive and the inside is the RJ-11 modem pins, the RJ-45 LAN with the protective plastic cover. On the left side are VGA, HDMI, FireWire (Sony i.Link) video outputs, ExpressCard / 54 expansion card slots, the outer Kensington lock and audio Headphone / Micro jacks located in the same. Front edge of the machine is 2 SD / SDHC / MMC card slots and separate MemoryStick Duo. The dedicated dock slot Sony puts on the bottom can expand the connectivity of 3 USB 2.0, VGA, DVI-D, and LAN ports (Gigabit Ethernet). However, users will have to pay an additional 199 euros, about VND 5.2 million for this group of devices. The device is also fully equipped with Wi-Fi connectivity (Intel Wireless WiFi Link 5100 AGN), Bluetooth, and Webcam (MotionEye CCD) integrated.

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Sony Vaio SR with characteristic chiclet keyboard. Photo: Sony .

The chiclet-style keyboard is typical of Vaio laptops. Floating keys, spacing, spread out to the edge of the machine, but the length of the keys is reduced to fit the 13.3-inch body. The keys are very smooth and responsive. It also has a large touchpad 82 x 49 mm, very comfortable to use with the dot surface.

Vaio SR uses the 13.3-inch X-Black LCD LED screen, with high brightness, up to 247 cd a m² (0.54 cd black color brightness), 457: 1 contrast for color Fresh, lively. The use of outdoor machines is feasible thanks to the high brightness of the screen but limited by glossy mirror screen easily cause glare. Similar to most laptop screens, the vertical viewing angle of Vaio SR is very limited.

The device integrates 2 stereo speakers just above the keyboard, but the volume is large enough, but the bass is weak. So, to enjoy a perfect sound quality - "top notch" music should use an extra headphone.

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Trial version: SR41M / S. Photo: Sony .

SR41M / S is equipped with Centrino 2 platform processor manufactured with 45 nm technology - Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 2.0 GHz (800MHz front bus, 2 MB L2 cache) with 35 Watt power consumption. The performance of the machine is on par with Dell Adamo using CULV SU9400 CPU.

The ATI Radeon HD 4570 512 MB discrete graphics card is among the average among the graphics card models for laptops, and supports the DirectX 10.1 graphics platform. Benchmark test evaluated the ability to handle machine graphics with Cinebench R10, Vaio SR41M / S was 2,974 points, 14% higher than the Acer Aspire 5536 (2,598 points). Plus RAM memory capacity of 4 GB can handle good multimedia entertainment applications or 3D games but is only average. Playing World of Warcraft on SR41M / S at 1,024 x 768 pixels and setting the display details in "medium", the image "smooth" with an average speed of 52 frames per second .

The Vaio SR runs a 6-cell Lithium-ion battery, 4800 maH 54 Wh with a continuous working time of about 5 hours (294 minutes) if setting the lowest screen brightness, running power saving mode on Windows Vista and turning off Wi -Fi. When surfing the web using Wi-Fi, the battery run time is about 4 hours 13 minutes with the same settings. Vaio SR watch DVD movies at an average brightness of 155 minutes (2 hours 35 minutes). To improve battery life by 50%, Sony offers an additional option of 9 cell 7200 mAh battery with a "terrible" price of € 249, equivalent to VND 3.5 million.

Vaio SR is pre-installed with 32-bit Windows Vista Home Premium operating system, but can easily "downgrade" to Windows XP because Sony provides a set of Drivers for this operating system online and users only have to enter the serial number to download. . Comes with the machine without the "rescue" disc Recover instead of a partition on the hard drive available with the operating system and commercial softwares ready for the recover user whenever needed. But this is also a "double-edged sword" if the machine cannot reboot or have a hard drive problem.

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Sony Vaio SR in Vietnam costs about 22 to 25 million VND. Photo: Sony .

In Vietnam, Sony Vaio SR is popular with the new version SR490, of which SR490PAB stands out for about VND 22 million with Intel Core 2 Duo T6670 2.2 Ghz CPU, 2 GB RAM, 250GB HDD and graphics Integrated Intel GMA 4500MHD. More advanced, the SR490JBB costs VND 25 million for Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 configuration 2.53 Ghz, 3 GB RAM, HDD 250 GB for ATI HD4570 512 MB discrete graphics card.