Sony Vaio YB with AMD Fusion reviewed – not as good as the competition

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10 Feb, 2011 3:04 pm

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LaptopMag has reviewed the recently released Sony Vaio YB – an 11.6-inch notebook powered by an AMD Fusion Zacate E-350 processor. Turns out it’s not as good as either the HP Pavilion DM1z or the ThinkPad X120e in terms of features and value. The low points – keyboard is a little cramped, something Sony seems to have a problem with on these small sized notebooks / netbooks. Speakers are tinny and distort at high frequencies and battery life with the standard battery (3,500 mAh) only lasts 4:58 (websurfing with WiFi),  a little over 1 – 1.5 hours less than the competition. There is an extended battery sold separately, however. On the other hand, there’s no heat at all – not even enough to tell that it’s turned on and the display is bright enough that glare from the glossy front is less of an issue.

I still can’t get over Sony’s preference for green and pink over black..

Price starts at $550 for 2GB of RAM and a 320GB HDD, available at Amazon.com. The HP Pavilion DM1 starts $100 cheaper at $450 with an extra GB of RAM (3GB), the same capacity but faster HDD (7200RPM vs 5400RPM on the Vaio YB) and Windows 7 64-bit vs 32-bit on the YB. The Lenovo ThinkPad X120e should start at $399 but I don’t know the specs for the base model.

Hands on video from Notebook Italia (back at CES):

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Video showing of Dirt 2 Rolling demo:

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Source: LaptopMag


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  • Anonymous

    Yes but the competition have bad points so how can you point blank say this is worse. The HP has an awful touchpad and the lenovo battery sticks out the back. Plus Sonys always look the part.

  • Anonymous

    Yes, they all have their own cons more or less like any device.. but the Sony Vaio YB is $100 – $150 more for the same specs without any killer feature.

  • http://www.facebook.com/djteva2010 Tommy Lien

    They all have their bad points but this SONY bad points in important areas in a portable. Why would SONY put in a small battery on a Fusion laptop? 4-5 hours is bad on a Fusion. Hey, at least its pretty looking and the keyboad lights up …i guess thats important too to some people.

  • http://www.facebook.com/djteva2010 Tommy Lien

    its not even the same spec…more like sub par specs: weak battery 3500 mah (4400 mah on hp), weak speaker (loud speaker on hp), 5400rpm hhd (7200 rpm on HP)…need I say more? I was waiting for this to come out and buy it but was so disappointed at SONY. They obviously did not do their homework.

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  • Anonymous

    So I have one of these but you know even the 6 cell battery should provide more life in these lower powered APU then what it does. I get about 4.75 hrs with WiFi and mid setting brightness. I was surprised of such a low life span. One reason I think is that the fan seems to run constantly even though the notebook is cool. Even the air is cool coming from the exhaust. So I wonder why the fan is even running? Is it because AMD has a weak APU and it becomes very unstable even at moderate heat. Or is it poor bios settings by Sony which has a incorrect temp threshold?

  • Anonymous

    I own one and yes I too am disappointed with Sony on this model. A low powered system should be able to compete better with battery life. For what I paid versus what I got. I probably won’t choose Sony again. It remains to be seen how reliable it is.