Sony Vaio CW27FX i5 Review

by Erik Anderson

The Sony Vaio CW is one of a few notebooks released this year featuring the new Intel Core processor series. It competes with Dell’s Inspiron 14, HP’s Pavilion dv4i, Toshiba’s Satellite E205 (Toshiba only available at Best Buy), and Lenovo’s not-yet-released IdeaPad Y460 in the 14-inch-display and around 5-pounds category. With the optional Blu-ray and dedicated (but unfortunately not switchable) graphics in the form of NVidia’s new 330M graphics card, all for $949.99 (at BestBuy.com), This Sony CW Review will take a closer look at this formidable computer with an excellent graphics card and processor packed into its small 14” chassis.

Sony CW Series Notebook Review (2010 Model)

Model: VPCCW27FX

Intel Core i5-520M Processor (2.40 GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 2.93 GHz (3MB L2 Cache)
4 GB DDR3 RAM
500 GB SATA HDD (5400 rpm)
NVidia GeForce GT 330M GPU w/ 512 MB GDDR3 dedicated VRAM
14” Widescreen backlit LED (1600×900)
Double-layer DVD±RW/Blu-ray Disc/CD-RW
Wireless B+G+N
Bluetooth enabled
Synaptics Multi-touch trackpad
Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter
HDMI Output
3 USB 2.0 Ports
IEEE 1394 FireWire (iLink) Port
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Webcam
6-cell Lithium Ion Battery
Height: 1.5”
Width:13.4”
Depth:9.2”
5.3lbs

$949.99 BestBuy.com

Sony CW i5 Review – Build and Design (9/10)

The first thing you will notice when you take this notebook out of the box is that this machine really shines. The lid is made from high-gloss plastic and sports a metallic “VAIO” symbol. The palm rest is also made from glossy plastic. While appealing at first glance, you may resort to carrying around a microfiber cloth to clean off fingerprints. With a quick wipedown however, the Vaio CW will impress in the classroom or a board meeting. Even though it is a 14″ model, it is fairly thick at 1.5″.

Avoid the jet black color to avoid the fingerprint problem. Sony also offers the CW in red, white, pink, aqua blue, royal indigo and “Crystal Rain White”—white with a light grey pattern only reminiscent of rain printed on the front.  Both the Crystal Rain White and the pink options cost $30 extra on Sony’s website. Also be advised that the royal indigo may appear more purple than blue.

The plastic chassis of the Vaio CW feels pretty sturdy. The only problems with flex are over the optical drive and around the screen. Pressing too hard on the display lid to tilt the screen back will cause distortion in that area of the screen. The most disconcerting aspect of its build is that the battery rattles even when locked into place. It’s not bad enough that I would be concerned with it falling out but there is the potential for the battery connections to get bent or damaged over time. Battery aside, the build of the Vaio CW is exceptional.

Sony CW i5 Review – Screen (9/10)

The 14-inch widescreen (1600×900) display on the Sony Vaio CW is impressive. I’ve had a chance to compare both the 1366×768 and 1600×900 screen resolutions. The 1600×900 is a definite improvement. If you will be working with photo editing or graphics software you’ll probably want to consider the higher resolution. A word of caution on the 1600×900 resolution: it will make onscreen text small. That may be an issue if your eyesight is less than 20/20, although most things can be resized.  The 16:9 screen ratio is great for watching movies but rather limiting when editing Word documents on a 14-inch screen. From bottom to top, the screen is only 6 ¾ inches. In full screen mode, a Word document is more margins than document. Nevertheless, the 16:9 ratio is the new industry standard, and we may as well just get used to it.

Horizontal viewing angles are good enough for two people, maybe even three, to comfortably watch a movie together. Vertical viewing angles are very poor, but not atypical of a backlit LED. If you are apt to move around often in your chair the poor vertical viewing angle may be distracting. The screen is just as glossy as the rest of the laptop, which can be annoying in well lit environments.

Sony CW i5 Review – Speakers (4/10)

By far, the greatest weakness of this laptop is its speakers. As can be expected, the sound quality is just okay with almost no bass; however the volume is very poor. You’ll probably have the volume turned all the way up even in a quiet room, and hearing anything in a noisy room could be a challenge. I definitely recommend buying desktop speakers with the Vaio CW.

Sony CW i5 Review – Keyboard and Touchpad (10/10)

On a more positive note, the keyboard is a pleasure to type on. The chiclet style keys (similar to a Mac) have just the right amount of resistance, perfect spacing, and a little texture to prevent your fingers from slipping. You have to press really hard to get any kind of flex anywhere on this keyboard. Space is limited on the Vaio CW so some keys have to host multiple functions. The page up, page down, home and end keys are on the arrow keys, and require you to hold the Fn button to work. The volume keys are on the top function keys row, and also require you to hold the Fn button. For some, not having dedicated media buttons (like volume, play and pause) is an issue, but I have not found it to be a problem.

The multi-touch trackpad from Synaptics is another great feature on the Vaio CW. A matrix of slightly raised dots give the trackpad a texture that takes some getting used to but that I have come to like very much. Out of the box, the trackpad is responsive and accurate. Its functionality is multiplied by downloading the new Scrybe drivers from the Synaptics website. The Scrybe drivers allow you to launch applications right from the trackpad and really changes the way you will interface with your laptop. (The Scrybe drivers are still in testing mode and are only offered for a limited time on a trial basis. Go to synaptics.com for more information.)

The dual touchpad buttons offer firm resistance and are slightly noisy. You may become acutely aware of the noisy buttons as you’re scrolling through a PDF document in a quiet library. Alternatively, you can just tap the trackpad to click and use the dedicated scroll areas instead.

The power button is located on the top of the keyboard just above the hinge. Next to it are three hotkeys: an ‘Assist’ button which loads Vaio Care, Sony’s troubleshooting software; a useful ‘Display off’ button which turns off the backlit LEDs, making the screen black; and a ‘Vaio’ button that loads Sony’s media gallery.

Sony CW i5 Review – Ports and Features (9/10)

The Vaio CW comes with 3 USB 2.0 ports, VGA and HDMI video out ports, FireWire (what Sony calls iLink), Memory Stick Duo media slot and SD memory card slot, Ethernet jack, ExpressCard /34 slot, Headphone and microphone jack, and a CD/DVD-RW drive with a Blu-ray option. It also has a Kensington Lock slot. Above the display is a 1.3 megapixel webcam.

Sony CW i5 Review –  Performance (9/10)

The Vaio CW boasts the new Intel processor family and latest NVidia 300 series graphics card. Intel’s TurboBoost technology in the i5 allows the processor to run faster than the base frequency if necessary. Also in the i5, Hyper-Threading technology allows two parallel threads to run in each processor core for improved multi-tasking. The new processor should also run cooler and use less battery power than previous processors.  This configuration came with the Intel i5-520M processor (2.4GHz with TurboBoost up to 2.93GHz) and 4GB DDR3 RAM.

Windows 7 and typical programs like word processors, web browsing and photo management all respond snappily. The NVidia GeForce 330M with 512 MB GDDR3 dedicated VRAM handle Windows’ Aero (which provides previews of minimized windows from the taskbar and other new visual capabilities to Windows) without a hitch. HD videos on YouTube and Hulu all play seamlessly. Most modern videogames should be playable at medium resolution or better.  On the Windows Experience Index, this configuration receives a score of 5.8.

Booting up Windows takes 30 seconds to get to a log in screen and 50 more seconds to bring up a useable webpage. Sony did away with the Splashtop browser on the older CW models in favor of the far less useful (in my opinion) ‘Vaio’ hotkey which takes you to a slideshow of your pictures set to your music. However, Windows 7 loads so fast I don’t know that I would ever actually have used that feature anyway.

Sony CW i5 Review – Heat and Noise (10/10)

In the heat and noise category, this laptop is a cadaver. It just lays there cold and silent, even after hours of working on it. When the fan does start spinning, it is very quiet and doesn’t run for long.

Sony CW i5 Review – Battery (7/10)

On Sony’s recommended ‘balanced’ power settings, the battery will last 2.5-3 hours running standard programs like a web browser and word processor even with 100% screen brightness. Battery life is a little less than 2 hours when watching a movie. For the processing power, the battery is relatively pretty good. The biggest knock against it is that Sony has not yet fixed its infamous battery drain problem. A 100% charge will dwindle to about 80% if you leave the CW unplugged overnight, even when powered down. One nice feature is that there are settings to stop charging the battery at 80% even when its plugged in, which should extend the life of the battery.

Sony CW i5 Review – Conclusion (9/10)

Coming in at just under $1,000, the VAIO CW is a sizeable investment but worth serious consideration. With the newest Intel processor, NVidia graphics card and the improved DDR3 RAM, the CW should be able to handle almost anything you need it to do even three years from now. The Blu-ray player is a definite bonus. Few of its competitors can offer the same value at that price. Even long-time Mac Book users may find the CW’s specs attractive. What little it lacks in design and build quality in comparison to a Mac, it quickly makes back in processing power. If it wasn’t for its terrible speakers, it would have received a higher score.

If you’re interested in buying it, I recommend going to BestBuy.com where you can select from a few different configurations at an unbeatable price. Newegg.com offers the same configuration as in this review for $1,119 and customizing it yourself at Sony.com costs about $1,049—and that’s for a much less powerful graphics card and lower screen resolution. There are no guarantees on how long that BestBuy.com price will last, however. The other competitors also constantly raise and lower their prices so keep your eyes open for good deals.

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