14 DAY TRIAL // Sony's VAIO E Series of laptops was launched back at the beginning of February and drew the attention of end-users interested in a mobile multimedia platform though the integration for both Intel's Core CPUs, as well as AMD's ATI mobility Radeon HD 5000 Series graphics. Now, it seems that the already varied line has been successful enough to warrant an expansion, with Sony unveiling a pair of new notebooks, one measuring 14 inches and the other 17 inches.
The 14-inch model is known as the VAIO VPCEA1S1E and runs on an Intel Core i3-330M, which has a clock speed of 2.13GHz. This chip is backed by 4GB of DDR3 SDRAM, with a frequency of 1,066 MHz, as well as a 5,400RPM HDD with 500GB of storage.
The notebook also features the ATI mobility Radeon HD 5145, which has 512MB VRAM and feeds video to a 16:9 LED-backlit VAIO Display, whose maximum resolution is of 1,600x900. Other specs include a DVD drive, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, three USB ports, an eSATA connector, HDMI out, stereo audio with Dolby Home Theater v3 and a MOTION EYE camera.
The VAIO VPCEC1S1E is the 17-inch VAIO E notebook and runs on the Intel Core i5-430M 2.26GHz CPU. This model has the same storage and memory capabilities as its sibling (though it can reach up to 6GB RAM), but its graphics capabilities are provided by an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 with 1GB VRAM. The LED screen itself is also of higher quality, with a maximum resolution of 1,920x1080p. The rest of the specifications are identical, except for the fact that the 17-inch model has a Blu-ray drive instead of a DVD.
The 17 incher comes in either matte black or matte white colors, whereas the 14 incher is more colorful, being available in pink, blue and green. They will become available in late March and early April, respectively, at prices that have not yet been specified.