It was deja-vu all over again when the folks at Vaio asked us to take a look at the new incarnation of the VAIO S ($1,199 – $2,199), The last time we put this notebook computer through its paces was in November 2016. To sum it up: they’ve come a long way, baby.
Speed and performance have been amped up due to its upgrade to Intel’s Coffee Lake processors (you can get it with a Core i5 or i7 eighth generation chip and various storage and RAM combinations). They’ve also added a fingerprint scanner for increased security.
The backlit, tilted keyboard is still there, which was one of the greatest features of its predecessor and it had no problem seeing and connecting to our one-gigabit network via WIFI. In fact, WIFI speed exceeded 450 mbps, which is almost twice as fast as the speeds the folks at Comcast say we should get.
The VAIO S still lacks an USB C port and DVD drive, but it does feature a gaggle of connection options including:
- A 1000Base-T/100Base-T/10Base-T LAN port
- A Super Speed USB 3.0 w/charge port
- Two additional Super Speed USB 3.0 ports
- A HDMI port
- A VGA port
- A headphone and microphone port
Although there’s no rear-side camera, there is a one megapixel front-side camera that is adequate for video chats, etc. There’s also a secure digital (SD) slot and an integrated HD microphone. We would have preferred a 5-in-1 digital media slot for folks with devices that use other types of storage, but we do concede that SD is far more popular than its competitors.
The lack of a DVD drive makes the VAIO S ultra light weight, tipping the scales at 2.34 pounds plus its 13.3-inch full HD screen makes it compact enough to carry around in a briefcase or backpack.
Other key specs worth noting include:
- Up to eight hours and 45 minutes of battery time before you need a charge
- Integrated HD audio
- Bluetooth 4.1 compatibility
- Intel UHD graphics 620
- RAM from eight to 16 gigabytes
- The processors can be boosted to four gigahertz
- You can get either a 256 GB, 512 GB or one terabyte solid state drive
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