Sony VAIO SA, SE and SB get Early 2012 Updates

By on January 23, 2012


Sony has made some minor updates to its S series line of premium laptop.  The VAIO SA will get a slight processor speed bump, with slight being the key word here.  The Core i5-2430m 2.40GHz currently offered as the base level on the VAIO SA should get a bump to the 2.50GHz Core i5-2450m – a whopping 0.10GHz improvement.   The same upgrade goes for the 13” VAIO SB and 15” VAIO SE.  In addition, Sony is updating their Media Gallery software to a 2.0 version, that’ll come loaded on the new 2012 versions of the S series.Sony VAIO SA 2012 Update

Other than that everything remains the same on the S series.  For those unfamiliar, the VAIO SA is a popular 13” laptop due to the fact it offers a high resolution 1600 x 900 display, the only 13” laptop to do so.  We reviewed the VAIO SA recently and found it be an excellent portable laptop with just a ton to like in terms of design and performance.  It comes with an Intel Core i5 or i7 processor, AMD 6630M graphics and optional SSD or Blu-Ray.

The Sony VAIO SE is a 15.5” version of the S series, it comes with an IPS 15.6” screen, IPS screens are great features that offer wide viewing angles and are tough to find on many laptops today.  The VAIO SE also comes with an Intel Core i5 or i7 processor and can be configured with either an AMD 6470M or 6630M graphics card.  The VAIO SE comes with a high resolution 1920 x 1080 IPS screen by default.

Pricing on the VAIO SE starts at $999 right now on Sony.com, the VAIO SA starts at $999 and the VAIO SB a more budget friendly $799.  Look for another 2012 update to the VAIO S line when Intel releases the 3rd generation Ivy Bridge family of Core i5/i7 processors.

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2 Responses to Sony VAIO SA, SE and SB get Early 2012 Updates

  1. Jonathan January 25, 2012 at 3:32 pm #

    Wait, since when did the VAIO SE 15-inch have an IPS screen! Did it always have one, or are they adding it now? Is it available for sure in the configure-to-order version that’s being sold now? Sony.com makes no mention of the IPS screen, except for the one blog post talking about the Spring refresh.

    Reply
    • Andrew January 26, 2012 at 4:00 am #

      Jonathan, it’s supposed to be the same / very similar to the panel used as that in the Envy 15. Part number for the VAIO SE IPS screen is LP156WF4-SLB1, an LG IPS panel. It suffers from the same reds look orange as the Envy 15 owners are griping about.

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