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Sony Vaio SB 13.3in notebook

Handy dandy

Under-performer

The processor inside the SB is a dual-core Intel Core i5-2410M running at 2.3GHz, and while 4GB should be considered a minimum spec these days, there were no signs of a slowdown when the SB was being asked to think fast. There's a spare SO-Dimm memory slot ready for more Ram if you find you need it.

PCMark 7

Acer Timeline X 5830T 15in laptop PCMark 7

Longer bars are better

PCMark Vantage

Sony Vaio SB 13.3in laptop PCMark Vantage

Longer bars are better

3DMark 06

Sony Vaio SB 13.3in laptop 3DMark 06

Longer bars are better

PCMark Vantage returned a decent score of 5820. Neither of the SB's two GPUs qualifies this laptop as a gamer’s machine, but a final score of 5084 in 3DMark 06 suggests you should be able to get reasonable framerates on older games if you can keep image quality in check.

However, within an hour of getting the SB out of the box it was clear that it has a bit of an Achilles Heel. Like almost all laptops, it needs active cooling to stop the processor going into meltdown, but unlike most others the fan is pretty loud - when it’s working hard you’ll easily hear it from the next room if there’s nothing else going on. Not only that, but it doesn’t take much to prompt the fan into life, either.

PCMark Vantage Battery Life

Sony Vaio SB 13.3in laptop PCMark Vantage battery life

Battery life in Minutes
Longer bars are better

It may have been the hyper-active fan - along with choosing Speed mode - that produced the SB’s shocking intensive use battery result of just 89 minutes, which makes it of limited use for those who really push their laptops during their commutes.

Sony Vaio SB 13.3in laptop specs
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