Hands-On with the Sony Vaio C-Series 14-Inch Notebook

Each and every time summer arrives, Sony is quick to update its Vaio product family with a series of new notebook models that build on the success of their predecessors, and during a local press event we had the chance of getting up close and personal with one of the company's colorful C-series devices.

The Vaio C-series laptops are available in five different colors, black, white, pink, green and orange, but all of these models feature the same exact specifications and exemplary build quality.

At the heart of the C-series stands Intel's second-generation Core processors, also known as Sandy Bridge, and the notebooks can be configured to feature various i3, i5 or i7 CPU models.

The most powerful of these is the Core i7-2620M, which is equipped with two processing cores and Hyper-Threading support, and comes clocked at 2.7GHz (3.4GHz in Turbo mode).

This is seconded by 4 or 6 GB of DDR3 system memory and Sony has even fitted the C-series with Radeon HD discrete graphics cards, the HD 6470M or HD 6630M with 512MB or 1GB of dedicated video buffer, respectively.

Storage can go up to 500GB in capacity, and the notebooks also come fitted with an 1.3MP Exmore webcam, a multi-format card reader, 802.11n and Bluetooth 3.0 connectivity.

Users can also choose between a DVD and a Blu-ray burner, and can connect various other external devices thanks to the four USB ports provided (one is USB 3.0). The notebook packs an HDMI video output.

 

The LED display used in the Vaio C-series notebooks measures 14-inch in diameter and sports a 1366x768 resolution.

Other features that are worth mentioning are the backlit keyboard (which looks rather nice in the dark), and the Web button that almost instantly boots a special OS optimized for Internet navigation.

   

The C-series notebooks are already available in Sony's offer and pricing starts at £649.00 (£540.83 without VAT). The company also has released a series of accessories, such as mice and carrying bags, just as colorful as the notebooks.