Sony VAIO Y (YB) Review

Sony VAIO Y (YB)

Review Summary:

A good ultraportable laptop with less-than-stellar battery life.

Pros

• Better performance than a typical netbook
• Small and light
• Attractive design

Cons

• More expensive than competitors
• Less than expected battery life
• Small keyboard keys

Sony VAIO Y (YB) Full Review

 

The team at Sony has completely reinvented the VAIO Y notebook with some help from AMD. The new Sony VAIO Y (technically called the "VAIO YB") is Sony's first laptop to feature the new AMD E-350 processor and graphics. This 11-inch laptop is more expensive than a typical netbook but offers significantly better performance. Take a look at what we have to say about this mighty mini.

Our Sony VAIO Y (YB) features the following specifications:

• AMD E-350 with AMD Radeon HD 6310 Graphics (dual-core CPU at 1.6 GHz and dual DX-11 SIMDs at 500 MHz)
• 11.6-inch 1366 x 768 HD glossy display with LED backlighting
• Windows 7 Home Premium (32-bit)
• 4GB DDR3 memory (1066MHz)
• 500GB, 5400 rpm HDD
• Gigabit Ethernet and Atheros 802.11b/g/n wireless
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
• 6-cell Li-ion battery (38Wh)
• Dimensions: 11.42 (L) x 7.99 (W) x 0.99 - 1.25 (H) inches
• Weight: 3.24 pounds
• MSRP: $549.99

Build and Design
The new VAIO Y is a radical departure from last year's 13-inch Sony VAIO Y. I'm a little unsure why Sony doesn't just call this the "VAIO YB" on the official SonyStyle website, but despite the confusion over the model name this looks like another attractive Sony notebook. In terms of the overall size and shape, the VAIO YB has more in common with the VAIO W netbook than last year's VAIO Y. In truth, the new VAIO Y was designed to replace the Atom-based netbooks in Sony's lineup, and thankfully the VAIO YB has more to offer than those low-performance netbooks.

Build quality is on par with most 11-inch laptops we've tested like the HP Pavilion dm1z and the Acer Aspire 1830T. The plastics are thin yet firm; offering a combination of everyday durability and light weight. Although I wouldn't recommend playing a game of frisbee with this laptop, the plastics used in the chassis are probably strong enough to survivie a year or two of constant travel inside a school backpack. The plastic screen lid provides bends under significant pressure but you really have to press hard to create ripples on the screen. The lid also comes in your choice of silver or pink at the time of this writing. The best description I can give for the paint finish is "metallic matte" since it's shiny but doesn't show off fingerprints like a typical glossy notebook.

The bottom of the notebook features a single access panel secured by three screws. Behind that panel you'll find the RAM and hard drive in case you want to make any upgrades. Granted, most consumers who purchase a $550 laptop like this will probably be content with the 4GB of standard memory and the 500GB hard drive. Still, it's nice to know that Sony made it reasonably easy to replace the RAM and hard drive if you want to do that.

Ports and Features
Port selection on the VAIO Y is pretty standard for an 11-inch ultraportable notebook. You get three USB 2.0 ports, HDMI-out, VGA, Gigabit LAN, a microphone jack and a headphone jack. It also features a SDHC-card slot and Memory Stick slot for loading images off your camera while traveling. I'm a little sad to see there isn't a USB 3.0 port on this notebook (particularly since it costs $550. We're starting to see USB 3.0 on more consumer notebooks and there simply isn't a good excuse for not including it here. Here is a quick tour around the new VAIO Y (YB):

Front View: Memory card slots

Rear View: Battery and screen hinges

Left Side View: AC power, VGA port, HDMI and USB 2.0 port

Right Side View: Audio jacks, two USB 2.0 ports, security lock slot and LAN.

Screen and Speakers
The 11.6-inch LED-backlit screen on the VAIO YB is predominantly similar to the glossy screens found on most 11-inch notebooks and netbook alternatives. The 1366 x 768 resolution is fine for browsing the web, editing photos, or even watching 720p HD movies. Color and contrast are average and the screen doesn't get as bright as the one on the HP Pavilion dm1z. We recorded a real-world contrast ratio of 198:1 in our lab and a maximum screen brightness of 201 nits; that's bright enough for indoor use under almost any artificial lights but you might have trouble viewing this screen outdoors under bright sunlight. If you tilt the screen forward or back, the colors start to look dim or very washed out. Horizontal viewing angles were better; staying visible until roughly 70 degrees.

The onboard speakers are located on the bottom on the notebook next to the left and right front corners. These speakers sound decent for a pair of small stereo speakers but the audio output sounds muffled if you're using this as a laptop. I was able to easily obstruct the speakers against my jeans which resulted in seriously muted sound. In short, music and movie lovers would be better off using a nice pair of headphones or connecting the notebook to a stereo through its HDMI-out port.

Keyboard and Touchpad
Although the VAIO YB has a similar footprint to other 11-inch laptops, the keyboard on this notebook feels small and cramped. The individual keys on this Chiclet-style keyboard are smaller than the keys on many other 11-inch notebooks and that translates into the occasional typo if you aren't prepared for the tiny keys. The keys themselves have a nearly perfect amount of feedback with quiet, cushioned clicks. The keyboard support structure is firm with no obvious flex or "bounce" under heavy typing pressure.

The touchpad on the new VAIO Y is a Synaptics model with good sensitivity, minimal lag and separate left and right touchpad buttons. I feel the need to mention that separate buttons since so many companies are using buttonless touchpads on 11-inch laptops ... most of which aren't particularly good.

My only complaint about the touchpad on the VAIO YB is that Sony could have made it larger if they pushed the keyboard up closer to the hinge and made more room beneath the keyboard for a bigger touchpad. The touchpad isn't "uncomfortably small" but I would have enjoyed using this laptop more if the touchpad was larger.

Performance and Benchmarks
Despite having the same model name as last year's VAIO Y, the new Sony VAIO Y (YB) is more of a direct replacement for the Sony VAIO W netbook. The YB offers significantly better performance than a netbook that uses the Intel Atom processor for a price of $549.

The secret to that performance boost is AMD's new Fusion technology. The AMD "Zacate" E-350 accelerated processing unit (APU) combines a dual-core CPU with a 1.6 GHz clock speed with a Radeon graphics processing unit (GPU) on a single processor die. This not only allows Sony to pack more processing power into a smaller notebook, but it means the VAIO YB offers significantly more video and graphics horsepower than any netbook with an Intel Atom processor.

Although the new Sony VAIO Y isn't designed specifically for gaming, some people reading this review will be happy to know that you can play games likeLeft 4 Dead 2 or Mass Effect 2 on this little laptop. Frame rates aren't particularly impressive in graphics-intense games like this (average frame rates between 16 and 23 fps), but both games are "playable" if you just want to have some fun on the road.

The VAIO YB delivers roughly the same performance as the similarly equipped HP Pavilion dm1z and the Lenovo ThinkPad X120e, but the Sony produced a slightly lower 3DMark score when we tested the graphics performance. Still, it would be hard for the average consumer to notice the performance difference between this laptop and the 11-inch MacBook Air which costs roughly twice as much.

One performance area you might notice is the 500GB, 5400 rpm hard drive. The Sony's hard drive is slightly faster than the 7200 rpm hard drive found inside the HP Pavilion dm1z, but doesn't deliver blazing speed. The hard drive is fast enough to quickly load most applications like Adobe Photoshop or Microsoft Office but it doesn't deliver the same snappiness as the SSD found in the 11-inch MacBook Air.

wPrime processor comparison results (lower scores mean better performance):

PCMark05 measures overall system performance (higher scores mean better performance):

PCMark Vantage measures overall system performance (higher scores mean better performance):

3DMark06 measures gaming performance (higher scores mean better performance):

CrystalDiskMark storage drive performance test:

Heat and Noise
The VAIO YB benefits from the low-wattage AMD E-350 APU in terms of heat output as well as overall performance. The exterior temperature of the notebook barely increased after 30 minutes of serious activity.  The bottom of the notebook barely reached a temperature of 91 degrees Fahrenheit. Under normal conditions at or near idle, the same spots were about 5-6 degrees cooler. The system fan works harder in this notebook when the graphics are being stressed, but it's similar to the fan volume we heard from the HP Pavilion dm1z and Acer Aspire 1830T -- it shouldn't be too annoying for most people in a typical school or office environment.

Battery Life
At the time of this writing the SonyStyle website claims that the new VAIO Y notebook delivers up to 6 hours of battery life with the standard battery. This is far more realistic than some of the battery life claims we've seen from various manufacturers over the years, but we still had to put this notebook through our own tests.

In our tests with the screen brightness set to 70%, wireless active while refreshing a website on regular 60-second intervals, and Windows 7 set to the Balanced profile, the Sony VAIO YB continued running for 4 hours and 32 minutes. That is significantly less than the battery life of the HP Pavilion dm1z or the Lenovo ThinkPad X120e which both have virtually identical configurations.

The lower battery life of the VAIO YB probably has to do with the fact this laptop uses a 38Wh battery compared to the 50+Wh batteries on the HP and Lenovo notebooks. I'm reasonably sure you can extend the battery life past the 5-hour mark if you lower the screen brightness and aren't actively loading pages every 60 seconds, but I don't see how the new Sony VAIO Y can deliver "6 hours" of battery life as described on the SonyStyle website.

Battery life test results (higher scores mean better battery life):

Conclusion
At the end of the day the new Sony VAIO Y is a good netbook alternative that struggles a little bit among the variety of similarly-equipped 11-inch laptops. The new AMD E-350 processor and graphics are fantastic, but we're going to see a lot of small notebooks using this hardware in 2011 and that makes it tough for manufacturers to convince people to buy their product.

The VAIO YB doesn't provide as much battery power as other laptops using the E-350 APU and it costs roughly $50-$100 more depending on the configuration. That's a VERY tough sale in a market with so much competition. Sure, the new Sony VAIO Y is a good laptop, but I suspect many potential customers won't get past the price.

Pros:

• Better performance than a typical netbook
• Small and light
• Attractive design

Cons:

• More expensive than competitors
• Less than expected battery life
• Small keyboard keys

Individual Ratings: *
Software & Support 
Upgrade Capabilities 
Usability 
Design 
Performance 
Features 
Price/Value Rating 

* Ratings averaged to produce final score