Sony VAIO SA3 Unboxing Video and First Look Review

There was a great sale on recently at B&H Photo & Video in which a nice config of the Sony VAIO SA3 was priced at $799.  Unable to resist a good deal on a rather appealing looking laptop, I jumped at it.  A 13.3” screen notebook with a high resolution 1600 x 900 screen is hard to find, especially for an under $800 price tag.  Then consider the fact the VAIO SA3 comes with an impressive Intel Core i5-2430m processor and AMD HD 6630m dedicated graphics and the price becomes even more amazing.  At the time of this writing the SA3 VPCSA3AFX config (ugly model number) is now back at $899 at B&H.  The same configuration of a VPCSA390X CTO on Sony.com for the SA3 costs $1,049.  Let’s go over what those specification are exactly shall we?

Processor: 2.40GHz Intel Core i5-2430M with Intel TurboBoostMemory: 4GB DDR3 RAM Storage: 500GB 5400rpm Hard Drive Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 6630M 1GB GPU Screen: 13.3" LED Backlit Widescreen Display, 1600 x 900 resolution, matte (anti-glare) finishOptical Drive: SuperMulti DVD Burner Integrated Webcam & Microphone Wireless: 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR OS: Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)Ports: 2 x USB 2.0, 1 x USB 3.0, HDMI, VGA monitor out, SD card reader, Memory Stick Duo card reader, headphone out, Gigabit Ethernet (RJ-4)Backlit keyboardWeight: 3.7lbsDimensions: 13.04” x 8.84” x 0.92” (Width x Depth x Thickness)

With that out of the way let’s take a look at what the VAIO SA3 looks like fresh out of the box:

If you watch the video you’ll note that I thought the laptop felt light because I assumed the battery was not in, which is often the case when a laptop ships.  However, it turns out the battery is actually sealed in there and I was feeling the entire weight of the laptop upon first holding it, it was much lighter than I expected.  Granted, this is no ultrabook at less than 3lbs, but it is still very light at 3.7lbs.  You also get a lot more with the VAIO SA3 compared to an ultrabook for only a 0.7lbs heavier weight.  Consider you have an optical drive, fully fledged Core i5 processor, dedicated AMD Hybrid graphics, wide array of ports and a removable battery – none of those features come on an ultrabook.  So why are ultrabooks so popular again?  But I digress.

First impressions are lasting, and I think most people will be like me and be struck by the sleek looking design of the VAIO SA.  It has nice chrome accents in places such as the VAIO logo and touchpad buttons.  This contrasts nicely with the solid black finish.  The backlit keyboard is an instant attention getter, assuming you’re in a darkened room that is, and just the thinness of the screen sets this apart from your standard laptop look.  I also like the bright green power button LED lighting.  I think the only disappointment I had with the design is that the optical drive is not slot loading, for some reason I thought it would be.

The build quality of the VAIO SA feels top notch.  The palm rests are flex resistant and the entire chassis feels very rigid and durable.  The screen itself is very thin and therefore has some flex, but it is designed that way and there’s no need to worry about the screen breaking.

The quoted battery life for the VAIO SA is a max of 7 hours with just the internal 4400mAh battery, less if you’re doing DVD playback the whole time.  You can upgrade to using a sheet battery that essentially straps onto the bottom of the laptop to double the battery life.  This is a nice option to have and solves the problem that other laptops with sealed batteries have of what happens when my battery is drained and there isn’t an outlet nearby?  Well, with the VAIO SA3 the answer is just add a sheet battery.  The extra sheet battery retails for $125 on Sony.com.

The screen is nice and bright, but as others seem to have noticed, the viewing angles are so-so and colors tend to quickly wash out if you’re not viewing at just the right angle.  That’s disappointing, but on the bright side the resolution is an amazing 1600 x 900 and you can easily fit two browser windows side by side for viewing at this res.

Though I haven’t done anything in terms of benchmarking with the VAIO SA3 at this early stage, it definitely feels snappy with the Intel Core i5-2430m 2.40GHz processor and AMD 6630 graphics.  This feels like a laptop that’s begging to have an SSD put in to help with bootup times, the only slow part of the experience.  Unfortunately I’ve been reading that with a new BIOS update that’s on the latest version of the VAIO SA3 that SATA 3 is not enabled which means the latest and greatest SSDs that use SATA 3 are incompatible at the current time.

There you have it in terms of first impressions, we’ll continue to play with this laptop some more before coming back with a full review.  Until then, a few more pictures…

VAIO SA right side

VAIO SA left side

VAIO SA in the dark

ThinkPad X220 Vs. VAIO SA

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