Sony Vaio CB35 Unboxing and Review.

[dashing.sujay]

Introduction- Hello guys, this is my first ever review, so treat me liberally . This lappi has made me wait for more than a year and half. And I kept on researching about the various options of my future baby monster, and my career seeder, then finalized this one .
Coming to laptop, Vaio needs no introduction. You feel something premium by just holding it in your hands, and that’s how I’m feeling now . Sony has been known for its overpricing and to some extent I agree with this. But this piece is something which kind of breaks this age old belief. My aim was to get a balanced laptop with some of the ineluctable features, which included a backlit keyboard and 7200rpm HDD, and this Vaio fitted perfectly.


Finding the best deal- This was a hectic task. Sony site quotes it for 54.99k, Sony showroom quoted 53.99k, the best I could bargain in my city (Bhopal) was 53k. To my surprise when I asked a dealer in Patna, he quoted 51.7k without any bargain . But I got one offer which was very hard to resist. It was from letsbuy. See the maths-
MRP- 53,340
Coupon- 5% flat
Final cost- 50,670 INR appx.
And that too with a WD elements 1TB 2.5” USB 3.0 free, which is worth 5.3k as of now!



Plus a 200 rs discount coupon was also given as diwali gift.
So Net cost- 45,300 appx ! What more could I have asked for.

Unboxing - I ordered on 24th night, and letsbuy mailed me shipping info on 26th night. My shippment came to Bhopal on 1st Nov, but due to courier company's pathetic service, I had to go and get it personally! (Aramex sucks). I felt so miserable about my laptop after watching the pitty condition of goods kept there. Anyways, packaging was fine as per HANDLE WITH CARE standards. It took me a good 5 min to open it.









Manuals, papers, reciept.




Jai Vishwakarma Bhagwan Jee & Career God too



Built - Sexy, this is the first word which I uttered on first glance of my black hot chick! The laptop is pretty well built with a full gloss finish which is sadly a finger print magnet, but I keep rubbing it with my hanky to make it shine . The lid is stiff and firm. Keyboard is chiclet style with backlit which is the real beauty of this lappi. The keys are ultra-smooth to touch and slide. Some may find it too smooth to type, but it helps me a lot to type fast. The backlit light is bluish white which is very cool. The touchpad is a bit left aligned which is not liked by some people, but it helped me in typing without resting my wrists on the touchpad as it happens on conventional touchpads. Also the touchpad is too smooth to roll the fingers on. I wish it was a bit less smooth.











The screw was a bit loose there I guess, as a gap was left and I was able to press it, though it posed no serious worries.




Specs

Processor – Intel Core™ i5-2430M 2.4 GHz up to 3.0 GHz
RAM – 4GB * 1 DDR3
Graphics - Radeon 6630M 1 GB/Intel HD3000
HDD – 500GB SATA 7200rpm
Display – 15”6, 1080p (Vaio display plus)
Keyboard – Chiclet Styled, Backlit
1.3m HD web cam powered by Exmor

Spoiler:

The left panel has ports as charging, LAN, exhaust fan, VGA, HDMI, USB 3.0, USB 2.0 respectively (L-R).



The right panel has audio ports, 2*USB 2.0, DVD drive, Kensington lock (L-R).



The front panel has Multi Card reader, usage indicators, Wireless on/off switch.




Connectivity – IEEE 802.11 b/g/n*7, Bluetooth 4.0 + HS


Display – The LED backlit 15”6 inch boasts of true 1080p which is very crisp and color reproduction is fantastic. The screen glow is fabulous even with half brightness, but a bit too glossy and reflective.

3/10 Brightness




Performance – This is the real test of this piece to be actually called as baby monster.

Windows Experience Index

Update: Discrete graphics score.






Graphics score was a let down, I guess it was using HD3000 rather than 6630M and there's no way I could assign WPE to use 6630M, though I could assign other applications which graphics to use. It should have been somewhere 6.7 as 5650 scores similar, and 6630 is a faster clocked version of the older 5650.

CPU benchmark

1)Cinebench R11.5



2) Super Pi M 1.5



3) SiSoft Sandra

Spoiler:

USB 3.0 speed





Graphics benchmark

1) Unigine Engine

Spoiler:

2) 3D Mark 2011

1080p performance-



720p performance-





HDD Benchmark

1) HDtune Pro



Battery - Battery backup is definitely good, I guess 3hrs+. But charging is too slow. It took nearly 3 hrs to fully charge the battery, still not 100%.



The bottomline is that, as I expected the laptop to be, it satisfied me very well. I got my all expectations fulfilled from this baby monster .

I hope I included all the points to make this review "complete". Any suggestions and comments are welcome.

[Tenida]

Awesome buddy ...very nice review .Well done.

[dashing.sujay]

Thanks TeniDa

[red dragon]

Great purchase mate!Congratulations!!
The screen is a real stunner!!!
One complain_Why did Sony stick so many stickers?

[dashing.sujay]

Thnx mate Sony provides stickers with all its laptops. For me they are fine untill and unless they're hiding the lappi's beauty. Like the black triangular sticker was originally placed on screen which was very odd, so I just sticked it down

[fz8975]

Me too brought a VAIO ! ! ! on 4th Nov..... EH 28

See the sig

[dashing.sujay]

^^Congos mate

[adnan87]

Congratulations! Indeed awesome laptop

[dashing.sujay]

Yep mate thanx

[gopi_vbboy]

pandaga chesko mama

[dashing.sujay]

pandaga chesko mama

[gopi_vbboy]

It means enjoy dude....in telugu

[Tenida]

pandaga chesko mama Sujoy

[dashing.sujay]

It means enjoy dude....in telugu

How am I suppose to know?

pandaga chesko mama Sujoy

pandagaing chaska mama TeniDa

[pratik385]

hey nice review mate, in detail
have you compared xps's 1080p side by side ?

[dashing.sujay]

Thnx bro Nope I don't have any xps in my reach.

[pratik385]

and about the deal
*in barney's tone* Niice

[debroy]

Awesome lappi bro..
really looks sexy..
have a blast..

[Niilesh]

Graphics score was a let down, I guess it was using HD3000 rather than 6630M and there's no way I could assign WPE to use 6630M, though I could assign other applications which graphics to use. It should have been somewhere 6.7 as 5650 scores similar, and 6630 is a faster clocked version of the older 5650.

You should get much higher score even with HD3000 maybe it is because of bloatware installed after a fresh install it should improve.

BTW Congratulations. Also how about some gaming benchmarks?

[Jripper]

JESUS! X_X Thats a complete steal for the price. And you god a 1TB external HDD for free in these cursed times. Seesh! Congrats mate.

[dashing.sujay]

Awesome lappi bro..
really looks sexy..
have a blast..

Thnx

You should get much higher score even with HD3000 maybe it is because of bloatware installed after a fresh install it should improve.

BTW Congratulations. Also how about some gaming benchmarks?

No, 6.4 is highest by HD3000 as one of my online frnd having same laptop (older version), gets 6.1. Although I'll do a fresh install and check later. Also I get 6.7 in all graphics (aero+gaming) when 6630 is selected.

JESUS! X_X Thats a complete steal for the price. And you god a 1TB external HDD for free in these cursed times. Seesh! Congrats mate.

Yep mate, it was really a steal deal Thnx

[Niilesh]

No, 6.4 is highest by HD3000 as one of my online frnd having same laptop (older version), gets 6.1. Although I'll do a fresh install and check later. Also I get 6.7 in all graphics (aero+gaming) when 6630 is selected.

But you are currently getting 5.2 now acc to the pic
I think there is quite a difference between 5.2 and 6.4

Hey how are the speakers?

[dashing.sujay]

But you are currently getting 5.2 now acc to the pic
I think there is quite a difference between 5.2 and 6.4

Hey how are the speakers?

I was talking about 3D graphics re . Sound "quality" is pretty ok, but its far better than what I had heard about it. Volume is enough for living room use. BTW I will update the review adding some more aspects which I have left out including the sound.

[debroy]

Dude what are the multi touch capabilities of this lappy man...??

[Niilesh]

I was talking about 3D graphics re . Sound "quality" is pretty ok, but its far better than what I had heard about it. Volume is enough for living room use. BTW I will update the review adding some more aspects which I have left out including the sound.

Oh!! OK
BTW Nice review

[dashing.sujay]

Dude what are the multi touch capabilities of this lappy man...??

Still to explore, but its good, although page scroller could be better.

Oh!! OK
BTW Nice review

Its ok, thnx

[d6bmg]

Awesome review! Rep added.

[dashing.sujay]

^^Thnx bro

[dashing.sujay]

UPDATE: Added discrete graphics windows performance index scores and 3D Mark 2011 benchmark scores.

PS- The battery life is best as far as I've seen on any laptop I've used.

[arsenalfan001]

Nice purchase sujay.
Great laptop, sweet deal and a very detailed review.
Congrats and repped