Sony's new 14- and 17-inch VAIO E laptops invite you to taste the rainbow

Was Sony's last VAIO E laptop, the blue one with a pink keyboard, not garish enough for you? Maybe these new models will saturate your questionable color palette. The E series has gotten a bit smaller and also a bit bigger, adding 14- and 17-inch models to the lineup. The 14-inch, 1600 x 900 VPCEA1S1E models include Intel Core i3-330M processors at 2.13GHz, 4GB of DDR3 memory, 500GB disk drives, and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5145 graphics. The 17-inch, 1920 x 1080 VPCEC1S1E moves up to Core i5-430M processors at 2.26GHz, 1TB of storage, Radeon HD 5650 graphics, and replaces the smaller unit's DVD player with a Blu-ray drive. All offer 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth, and HDMI output for your media entertainment. No word on price or availability, but we have confirmed you can get them in black if you're not feeling quite so colorful on a Monday.

Sony VAIO E 14- and 17-inch laptops

[inertone Posted Mar 22nd 2010 10:55AM]

the rainbow looks pretty tasty

[derX Posted Mar 22nd 2010 11:14AM]

@inertone

Well, after all, they are Sony's premium rainbows.

[CJisohsocool Posted Mar 22nd 2010 11:21AM]

@derX

And they come with Sony's PREMIUM price :)

[Hazdaz Posted Mar 22nd 2010 10:56AM]

If these laptops don't carry the typical Sony-tax, they sure would be a nice alternative to all the boring laptops out there.

[juanvaldez Posted Mar 22nd 2010 10:59AM]

@Hazdaz HAH! 17 inch will cost a fortune.

[savarese04 Posted Mar 22nd 2010 3:10PM]

@Hazdaz There hasn't been the "Sony tax" on laptops in years (except their high end model). Their midrange models have always been reasonably priced.

[mnhthebest Posted Mar 22nd 2010 4:10PM]

@savarese04
Exactly! My $650 Sony Vaio NW240F is much better equipped than $1100 Macbook. Plus it has the classic chicklet keyboard that Apple copied from Sony. Also the Sony is much better designed and well made than the competition in midrange (Asus, Acer, HP). So Sony's mid-range really is very awesome!

[guideXD Posted Mar 22nd 2010 9:33PM]

@Hazdaz
IT HAS RADEON GRAPHICS!

One thing i have noticed a trend in is Sony usually has well priced computers when they use Radeon's.

SEE: Vaio FW

Funnily enough, not even the nVidia laptops are rip off's (considering the Vaio Z really is a niche product) It's actually most of the laptops with Intel graphics.

[guideXD Posted Mar 22nd 2010 9:34PM]

@guideXD
Nvidia Geforce equipped computers*

[Atkins Posted Mar 22nd 2010 10:57AM]

Strange, but I do like those colors. Except the green, of course.

[Ricanlegend Posted Mar 22nd 2010 10:59AM]

Cute colors , am getting tired seeing great specs pc with the same boring color

[Leindurstit Posted Mar 22nd 2010 11:00AM]

I'll stick with the matte-on-matte Z-series, thanks.

[ComboBreaker Posted Mar 22nd 2010 11:01AM]

The e series' are nice... im just hell bent on getting that NW series chasis with an i5 in there. Was gona splurge for the CW but they feel so cheap in my hands compared to the NW

[Consigliere11 Posted Mar 22nd 2010 11:03AM]

Looks cool, green, especially.

[clarinetJWD Posted Mar 22nd 2010 12:00PM]

@Consigliere11 Agreed! That laptop is gorgeous

[Palomino Posted Mar 22nd 2010 1:44PM]

@Consigliere11 Beat me to it! I'm not even a fan of the "green" movement, but that laptop just screams SEEEEEXXX!!1 It looks like a freshly waxed and buffed green Lamborghini Gallardo I've seen driving around town. I want that laptop so bad now! It would make a great mobile gaming PC for SupCom, WoW, anything using Source, and CnC3 (so disappointed by 4).

DO WANT!

[PlatinumSkeet Posted Mar 22nd 2010 11:03AM]

@Zueq

I was thinking the same thing. Those bright colors were reminding me of Taffy...

[YpoCaramel Posted Mar 22nd 2010 11:10AM]

They're quite well chosen for colors, and the gradient with the lighter shade in the middle helps a lot. The polka texture might be a bit too harsh, but have to see in person to judge on that.

[unknownsolo Posted Mar 22nd 2010 11:11AM]

Blue FTW

[Galley Posted Mar 22nd 2010 11:13AM]

I'm a sucker for bright colors.

[Dank Dillweed Posted Mar 22nd 2010 11:21AM]

"But the Rainbow has a Beard"!

First person to guess the song and artist wins one of these in your choice of color!!!

[kitsune Posted Mar 22nd 2010 12:53PM]

@Dank Dillweed
Slawbr by cream. Do I give you my coordinates now?

[XRX Posted Mar 22nd 2010 11:22AM]

love it............... sony vaios have the best build quality ihve ever seen on another laptop.

[AlexSanchez Posted Mar 22nd 2010 11:25AM]

@Zueq I think I just found my new laptop. This thing has secks written all over it.

[grandmainger Posted Mar 22nd 2010 11:27AM]

That is so January 5, 1999...

[prrbill Posted Mar 22nd 2010 2:22PM]

@grandmainger

Seems to me that Sony, Acer, HP, Compaq, Dell along with others derided Apple for 5 colors. At least Apple's 5 colors had soul!

[barac Posted Mar 22nd 2010 11:34AM]

The price is on their site : http://www.sony.co.uk/product/vn-e-series

[DoctarPeppar Posted Mar 22nd 2010 11:35AM]

Would have been nice to have the i5 option on the 14" models.
Blue ftw :)

[JakeInDC Posted Mar 22nd 2010 11:36AM]

The 17-inch model will cost almost as much as a car.

[Raikiri Posted Mar 22nd 2010 11:53AM]

@AlexSanchez

Pretty sure that says Vaio.

[blue Posted Mar 22nd 2010 11:58AM]

If only these things had better battery performance. 3.5 hours isn't very good (and real-world performance will be lower).

[rbernard80 Posted Mar 22nd 2010 12:04PM]

Those look delicious.

[Organic Jerk Posted Mar 22nd 2010 12:07PM]

Ugh.. where are all the 12 inch netbooks with ION2 and long battery life?

I heard about the coming onslaught of small and powerful net/notebooks, and then silence...

Arrgh

[Brother Unit No 4 Posted Mar 22nd 2010 3:26PM]

@Organic Jerk

We're gonna have to wait for AMD to get competitive in that sector. They're supposed to be revamping their ultraportable line sometime this year, IIRC with an even bigger overhaul next year.

[SmilinGoat Posted Mar 22nd 2010 12:12PM]

I really want that green one. im a sucker for bright green portable electronics. same goes for mugs, but thats a bit different.

[backwerds Posted Mar 22nd 2010 12:34PM]

I like the Sony Keyboards more than any other thing really. I'm about to buy the 15" model of this laptop from costco for 799.

[HikaKao Posted Mar 22nd 2010 1:01PM]

I wouldn't mind a white or a black one, but really, bright green? My eyes almost bled when I saw it.

[meeku Posted Mar 22nd 2010 1:10PM]

The black laptop looks suitably handsome, even if I don't understand why Sony has decided to place the trackpad in a different timezone to the rest of the machine. Very odd.

[alex2792 Posted Mar 22nd 2010 2:14PM]

If these are hackintosh compatible I would definitely consider the 14in to replace my mbp since Apple refuses to update them.

[savarese04 Posted Mar 22nd 2010 3:11PM]

Since apparently the SR series is gone from Sonystyle, I'm wondering if the 14 incher is designed to be a replacement for that. Specs would line up...

[NewL Posted Mar 22nd 2010 3:30PM]

@savarese04 - the S- & Y-Vaio's replace the SR afaik...they're a little more "business-like" than this one imho...

[savarese04 Posted Mar 22nd 2010 3:58PM]

@NewL You might be right about the Y, but I see no mention of the S. I think that's been long gone for a while. Unless they're bringing it back again?

[aschettler Posted Mar 22nd 2010 3:52PM]

What's with this lame 1600x900 resolution I keep seeing on most laptops out there? This is the first 17 inch notebook I've seen with a Radeon 5600 or higher GPU and a true HD screen... except for that Asus laptop that's ugly as sin. If I can put an i7 in that bad boy, it may just be my next laptop!

[msatlas Posted Mar 22nd 2010 9:01PM]

@aschettler 1600x900 is at least better than the usual even-lamer 1366x768 that 95% of all the 16:9 laptops out there are stuck with. Going up to a full 1920x1080 resolution on a 14" screen would be almost too much, IMHO. With the i3 on this bad boy if the price is $800 or less that'd be a solid pickup.

[aschettler Posted Mar 22nd 2010 9:13PM]

@msatlas That would be great, except my current laptop of four years has 1680x1050. 1600x900, all I can find on most current 17" laptops, would be a step down, in my opinion.

[ThoseGuys Posted Mar 22nd 2010 5:44PM]

Gosh can't I just have a 15" laptop with hi res screen i7 620, gt 335m or better, and bluray without it being hideous?? Any suggestions? Oh yeah and not hp...

[msatlas Posted Mar 22nd 2010 9:11PM]

@ThoseGuys Dell Studio XPS 16 has an ATI HD 4670 1 GB; or the Studio 15 has an ATI HD 5470 1 GB and weighs a little less but is kinda plasticky.

[Inspector Gadget80 Posted Mar 22nd 2010 9:26PM]

I'll either take the Green one which is cool, or the white one which is also cool. Also the 1TB is even cooler.