14 DAY TRIAL // Since AMD Fusion went official, we saw a large number of notebooks based on the Brazos platform enter the market, Sony also having such a model ready to be introduced in the following weeks, this yet unnamed laptop making its appearance at CES 2011.
The netbook is an 11.6 inch machine that is powered by an AMD Zacate E-350 APU paired together with 4GB of RAM, a 500GB hard disk drive, 802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity.
In addition, the screen can display 1366x768 pixels, quite adequate for a panel this size, the notebook also carrying an HDMI output.
This will indeed come as a useful feature, since AMD's Zacate series processors are able to handle Full HD, 1080p, video content.
The E-350 APU, used inside this laptop, is AMD's fastest accelerated processing unit and includes a CPU and a GPU on the same silicon die, in a similar way to Intel's recently launched Sandy Bridge CPU.
According to Engadget, who spent some quality time with this Vaio notebook, the laptop feels pretty light and is easy to carry around with just a hand.
Furthermore, construction seemed up to par, with little to no flex in the keyboard and a sturdy display hinge.
Disappointing, however, was the battery life displayed by Windows once the notebook was unplugged from the mains, as it reported the 3500mAh power pack can only deliver a tad over three hours of juice.
This value was measured while running an Internet Explorer-based graphical benchmark, so this could explain the measly battery life.
According to an AMD representative, all Zacate-based laptops should be making their way into the market in the next six weeks, including this Vaio model.
This notebook was expected for quite some time as, apparently, Sony wants to drop out of the low-profit netbook market and go for the speedier AMD Brazos platform that will enable them to sell higher priced laptops.