Friday 20 January 2012

Sony VAIO VGN-CS190

I've seen my share of pink laptops, but nothing epitomizes "pretty in pink" like the Sony VAIO VGN-CS190 that I reviewed. Clearly it's aimed at those who can't get enough of the color. (Luckily, it also comes in red, white, and black versions.) Although its drop-dead-gorgeous design is its focal point, the CS190 is also highly configurable. You can dress it up with the best parts and pay a hefty price, or budget yourself and still get a Blu-ray-equipped laptop for around $1,200, as is the case with this review unit.
There are other nifty design elements in the interior as well. The touch-sensitive buttons—the playback and volume controls—simulate white scanning lights when pressed. For some reason, it calls to mind the scanning lights on the front grille of KITT, the artificially intelligent car from the Knight Rider series.
The keyboard is tastefully decked out in a lighter shade of pink, providing a nice contrast to the palm rests. It resembles the keyboard on the Apple MacBook, in which the keys are raised, with proper spacing in between them. The keyboard, however, is only 96 percent of full size—which is surprising because a 14-inch screen typically can fit a full one. The keyboards on the HP Pavilion dv5t, the Dell Studio 15, and the MacBook are full size. However, the CS190's slightly smaller keyboard didn't hinder my overall typing experience.I could easily fill an entire paragraph with Barbie references, but the CS190 is anything but a cheap knockoff and its audience is clearly not limited to kids. The design is carefully conceived, because the worst thing Sony could have done is touch it up with floral patterns, splash art, or some sort of pink fabric. It's not subtle, either. The lid, the palm rests, and the borders around the screen use a reflective coating over their pink surfaces, similar to the technique used in automobiles. The perimeter of the cover is lined with chrome plating, a really nice touch, while underneath the bezel is a bright, glowing LED that indicates when the laptop is asleep or in hibernation. The VAIO logo on the cover isn't backed by LEDs, though. Had that been the case, one could easily call the CS190 a mock-up of a pink Apple MacBook 13-inch.
The 14-inch screen uses Sony's XBrite-ECO technology, which means it uses a single fluorescent lamp (CCFL) rather than dual tubes that drive up the brightness of the screen. It's a delight when viewing photos and movies nonetheless, but I wish there was more than one resolution option. The screen's 1,280-by-800 resolution is baseline—underwhelming for a system that bundles a Blu-ray drive. Making matters worse is the omission of an HDMI port. Although a 14-inch screen with minimal resolution isn't the ideal setting to watch a Blu-ray movie, an HDMI port would've allowed you to connect the laptop to a bigger display—for instance, a 1080p, 50-inch LCD. You're better off saving $150 by downgrading the Blu-ray reader to a dual-layer DVD burner. By contrast, the Studio 15 and the Pavilion dv5t have 15-inch screens, two resolutions to choose from, and an HDMI port.

The rest of the features are typical of a mainstream laptop. There are three USB ports and a FireWire port. The CS190 uses an ExpressCard 34 slot, whereas the Studio 15 and the dv5t house an ExpressCard 34/54 combo slot. And in typical Sony fashion, there are two separate memory card slots for SD and Memory Stick. A 1.3-megapixel webcam is situated above the screen. Although a 250GB hard drive sounds impressive, this capacity can already be found in $800 laptops like the Gateway T-6828 and the Fujitsu LifeBook A1110. The Fresh Start option that is available from Sony's configuration page at sonystyle.com rids the operating system of all the junk applications, and trial and proprietary software. Too bad Sony is charging $50 to "upgrade" from Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit to a 32-bit version in order to take advantage of this Fresh Start feature. (Fresh Start doesn't run with the 64-bit OS, hence the "upgrade").
The performance you get from the CS190 depends on how much you're willing to spend. My review unit comes with a 2.0-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5800, an older-generation processor, and 4GB of memory. I recommend upgrading to a 2.26-GHz P8400 CPU, as it is part of the new Centrino 2 platform and more energy efficient. To offset the cost of upgrading the processor ($100), you can probably get away with downgrading the memory to 3GB. Before doing so, however, consider that the huge advantage of running a 64-bit operating system is that it can fully utilize the entire 4GB of memory. The CS190 does not offer a discrete graphics solution, another area where it trails the dv5t and the Studio 15. If you won't be playing 3D games or watching Blu-ray movies but plan to stick to general computing tasks, the Intel integrated graphics chipset is sufficient.
The CS190 took 11 seconds longer than the Studio 15 to complete our video-encoding test, a big reflection on the Sony's slower processor. Although the 4GB of memory is a commendable amount, it, too, was limited by the processor, as evidenced by Photoshop CS3 scores. The 44 seconds that the CS190 took to complete the scripts was slower than the 31 seconds that both the Studio 15 and the dv5t required. And because the CS190 runs a 64-bit operating system, the SYSmark 2007 Preview tests won't be compatible until BAPCo releases a 64-bit patch. However, BAPCo has released a patch for its MobileMark 2007 battery test. Despite having a smaller battery than the Studio 15 and the dv5t, the CS190 managed a score of 3 hours 39 minutes—coming in second, just behind the MacBook's 3 hours 41 minutes. This increased battery life is due mostly to the CS190's slower processor.
Like Apple, Sony is a huge proponent of winning customers over with well-thought-out designs. Both companies' laptops could benefit from following the lead of the Studio 15 and the Pavilion dv5t on bundling features, and for that matter, Dell and HP could learn a thing or two about industrial design. Nevertheless, the Sony offers a highly configurable, well-designed laptop that would have received a better rating had Sony included an HDMI-out port and quit charging money for its Fresh Start option.

Specification Data
Type: General Purpose, Media
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo T5800
Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
Processor Speed: 2 GHz
RAM: 4 GB
Weight: 5.3 lb
Screen Size: 14.1 inches
Screen Size Type: Widescreen
Graphics Card: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD
Graphics Memory: 32
Storage Capacity: (as Tested) 250 GB
Rotation Speed: 5400 rpm
Networking Options: 802.11n
Primary Optical Drive: DVD+/-RW DL with Blu-Ray
Battery Type: 44 Whr (Watt hours)
Tech Support: 1 year parts and labor
MobileMark 2007:  Standard Battery Productivity Load (hrs:min) 3:39
MobileMark 2007: Performance score 150
PRICE:$1,200

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