Sony VAIO EC Series review (VPCEC25FX/WI)
By Joanna Stern 
posted July 7th 2010 12:51PM
posted July 7th 2010 12:51PM
Look and feel
Sony has kept things pretty simple with the design of the EC Series. There's no longer a glossy lid like previous VAIO desktop replacements -- instead there's a very classic brushed silver cover (it's also available in black) that's adorned with a mirrored VAIO logo. Under the lid, things are kept just as minimalistic – the entire deck is covered in white plastic, and the palm rest is shiny with a slight speckle to it. There's an Assist, Web and VAIO button, but unfortunately – or fortunately depending how you feel about them – there's no multimedia buttons on the deck. All media controls are along the function row on the keyboard.
Surrounding the machine are pretty much all the ports you could ever dream of – there are three USB jacks, an eSATA/USB combo, VGA, HDMI, microphone, headphone and an Ethernet socket. There's also an ExpressCard/34 slot on the left side along with a MagicGate and SD card readers on the front. The right edge is home to the EC's 4x Blu-ray drive.
Keyboard, touchpad, screen and speakers
The VAIO EC's touchpad is positioned left of center and directly beneath the space bar rather than smack in the middle of the deck. Honestly, we don't know why this sort of thing has been happening on larger systems, but we did get used to the positioning after some use. The braille-like touchpad does support multitouch gestures, but oddly didn't respond to two finger scrolling – the left side of the pad does function as a scroll strip, however. The right and left mouse buttons are a bit mushy, but comfortable.
The heart and soul of the system is its ultra wide 1,600 x 900-resolution, 17.3-inch display. Since we spent much of our time sitting in front of a 13- or 15-inch laptop, the wider screen made a huge difference when keeping multiple windows open at the same time. We actually wrote this entire review with Microsoft Word on one side and Firefox on another. The quality of the screen is also impressive – it's glossy, but not too much so. Watching No Country for Old Men on Blu-ray was a pretty stunning experience with colors appearing bright and crisp, however we would have obviously preferred a true HD display for watching 1080p content. We have few complaints about the horizontal viewing angles of the screen as we were able to comfortably watch an episode of Mad Men with a friend; vertical angles on the other hand were a letdown.
Flat out (pun intended), the speakers above the keyboard deck are, well... flat. For a multimedia machine, the dual speakers don't provide anywhere near the quality of those on the HP Envy 15 or Pavilion dm4, both of which are smaller systems. They're loud enough, but we just expected to hear a fuller sound when listening to tunes and watching videos.
Performance, graphics and battery life
Either way, the Core i3 processor in our system scored higher than some Core i5-powered machines on the benchmarks, and in everyday use it was very snappy. We never saw any slow down when running multiple applications, including TweetDeck, Microsoft Word, Google Chrome, Skype, Trillian and GIMP. When we started up Corel WinDVD BD to watch a Blu-ray disc it took a number of seconds for the movie to load, but overall system performance didn't slow when playing. Obviously, Core i7 laptops will best the EC on benchmarks and in real-world use, but this system's Core i3 CPU is nothing to shrug at.
That impressive performance is met by some equally nimble graphics thanks to the EC's ATI Mobility Radeon HD5470 graphics card and 512MB of VRAM. The card aided in outputting some stunning Blu-ray and YouTube 1080p videos to a 40-inch TV. Gaming-wise, the HD5470 took to the task of running our WoW gnome around the forest at 33fps and Batman through Arkham Asylum at 20fps.
| PCMark Vantage |
3DMark06 | Battery Life | |
| Sony VAIO EC (2.13GHz Core i3, Radeon 5470) | 5308 | 4094 | 2:33 |
| Gateway NV5933u (2.13GHz Core i3, GMA HD) | 4784 | 1725 | 2:35 |
| Toshiba Satellite E205 (2.2GHz Core i5, GMA HD) | 5187 |
1920 | 3:30 |
| Acer Aspire 5738PG (2.55GHz Core 2 Duo, Radeon 4570) | 4049 |
3098 | N/A |
Like any desktop replacement, the EC doesn't get more than three hours of battery life. On our video rundown test, which loops the same standard def video at 65 percent brightness, the EC ran for two hours and 33 minutes. That's not good by any measure, but honestly we don't anticipate many leaving home with this machine anyway.
Software
Like most PC vendors, Sony loads up the VAIO EC with a good amount of software, but the company has gotten better about it and does offer its "Fresh Start" clean install with Windows 7 Professional. Our unit came with Windows 7 Home Premium and the resulting extra software, but we were actually very happy to see Google Chrome installed and it saved us the step of having to download another browser. (If you haven't been able to tell from our laptop reviews, we're not exactly IE lovers). Additionally, the system comes with Sony's Media Gallery, which organizes all local multimedia into different panes and a timeline view. It's a fairly slick looking piece of software, but there's nothing here that Microsoft Photo Gallery or Windows Media Player couldn't do for ya.
Wrap-up
The touchpads are offset so that they are centered under the spacebar, and they're always that way on keyboards that have the extra numeric keypad. The idea is to keep it centered under your hands when you're typing.
@EY1416
It makes sense.
Why have it centered? thats so silly.
@uckApple When you're typing, you don't want to click or move the mouse accidentally by your wrist. Therefore, the mouse pad need to be at the center.
@tome0124
It is at the center of the main keyboard, if you ignore the numeric keypad. It's located relative to the space bar, which is what your hands are centered around! Jeesus...
@EY1416
When using the mousepad my focus is the screen and therefore I want the pad to be central to the screen. When using an off-centre mousepad I always find myself scrolling rather than moving the mouse.
@EY1416 i hate offset touchpads! i want the wallpaper on the first photo :(
Find it funny that they can call a $20 skin for a keyboard 'whopping' but only say the Bumpers for iPhone 4 are a 'bit much.'
@SarnGate
Atleast you dont HAVE to buy these skins to make the laptop work.
@uckApple
Oh no the reason for dropped calls is a 'software issue', remember ? :P
@SarnGate
And we believe it because our lords said it (apple)
@SarnGate
well, if Sony had called its laptops iViao, then the 20 dollars would be fully justified.
maybe also with an eccentric CEO who tells people to 'retire, relax and enjoy your family... it's just a laptop"???
I fail to see how a core i3 and a 5470 make this in any way even a semi-capable desktop replacement. for $950 core i7s and nvidia 360s or ati 5730s can be had.
Idiots need to stop buying 17-inch laptops. Just build a bloody desktop or buy a desktop. Have any 15 inch or bellow laptop.
@KingFaisal94
How does buying a 17 in laptop make you an idiot? A desktop ties you down to desk. A sub 15in with an external monitor makes you give up your screen real estate whenever you leave your desk. A 17 in allows you bring more screen real estate with you. If that's their priority there's nothing wrong with that.
@KingFaisal94
Well, I'm going to university this year, so I can't afford to move around with my desktop. I also don't want a small screen to look at. I also want specs that won't make me miss my desktop. That's why I got a Dell Studio 17. The portability of a laptop, and the screen being large enough is perfect for me. Maybe not for you. Different people have different tastes. You're not going to tell me what my preferences are.
@KingFaisal94 I prefer 17" laptops. Mine only goes between work and home, and suits my needs quite well. Both places it has a second monitor, and I can take it to lunch or the couch if needed. I also love having a 10 key... maybe I'm a bit of a deviant for that. It is a lot easier to have one 17" laptop than two desktops.
Dave
@KingFaisal94
17" laptops suck, I agree. Theyve got shit battery life, and the specs are matched by smaller more portable laptops.
the off center touch pad is there to prevent the lateral shift of your arms when going from typing to cursor pushin' - I'm sure someone did an ergonomics study and proved that is the most effective positioning for it . . . but it ain't pretty to those who like some symmetry and value aesthetics. so this thing is $949 . . . why bother when you can get an F series. the vaio f is 16.4" and has core i7 and a 1080p display for $200 more if you look around.
@bolezhinkov I actually meant to put that in the review -- the F series is much more competitive in terms of pricing.
@Joanna Stern
how much resistance does that plastic keyboard overlay cause when you're typing? i.e. speed/accuracy reductions.
What.. no stickers
too bad it has a terrible glossy screen.. like every other worthless consumer notebook
@ruby I used my 13'' MBP for an entire day recently which involved a couple of train rides, both times i sat by a window and the sun was shining, i could see everything just fine...
People need to stop hating on glossy screens, the MBP has the glossiest of them all and it's still usable as long as you aren't stupid and point it in direct sunlight (which will make a matte screen pretty unusable too)
@ruby
It's a multimedia/desktop replacement which is where you tend to benefit from glossy screens. A glossy screen is perfectly fine for sitting in a dark room watching porn. That being said I have notebooks with both screen types and I find the differences to be exxagerated in most situations.
is this a division one or division two vaio?
@wupolo
does it really matter since they are most likely both made in China in the same manufacturing plant?
The way you have the power jack in the first photo (bent against the table) is going to put strain on the connector and eventually cause it to fail.
@voodoo Aww so nice of you to consider the review unit. It is true, I don't treat review units with enough care and respect. Don't tell anyone.
I know this is random, but engadget when will we see more amd neo laptop reviews!!!!!!
@Advakit Nice, get your voice heard! :)
I like how the keyboard appears to have been taken from a vtech child's laptop.
@richb93
That's because they have a silicon cover on it (just look at the first set of pictures). Try reading the review next time.
I was joking...
I don't really get these giant laptops that you can't carry around without an Alice pack, set on your lap without 3rd degree burns or use for more than an hour without an AC adaptor... just build a more powerful desktop for less money and a bigger screen and be done with it. A laptop should be able to sit on your lap, run at least 4 hours on battery and be light and small enough to fit in a bag or briefcase... otherwise its just a waste of money.
Stuff like this is the answer to a question no one is asking.
@novawes
Someone must be asking since people do buy laptops of this size. Just because you don't get it doesn't mean no one does.
@novawes I think a lot of people have laptops, but never move them around. Bit pointless, but I suppose laptops in general are often cheaper than desktops.
@novawes
While I generally agree with you. I think a lot of people buy laptops as desktop replacements. They don't leave the house with these laptops, but do move them around the house. When people ask me about buying a laptop, I always ask how they are going to use it. If they plan on taking it out of the house, I don't recommend anything greater than 15 inches. However, I have an old Dell that I bought back in 2003 that is 15 inches and weighs more than this, and I carried it everywhwere, so maybe I should rethink my advice.
@novawes
I don't get the point of iPads. But they still sell, since there is a market for them. Evidently there is a market for desktop replacement laptops, because they sell.
@R94N I think that all things being equal Desktops are much less expensive than laptops.
Yet another "multimedia" large-screen laptop that with
A multimedia laptop with no dedicated multimedia buttons...... fail.
There should be a hyphen between VPC and EC so its VPC-EC25FX. You actually don't have to include the VPC and just say EC25.
Nice laptop. It's the only PC I was considering buying before I got a MacBook.
The lack of 1920x1080 is ridiculous for laptops of this size. I have Sony's older 18.4" desktop replacement with Blu-ray and it works great with a brilliant picture. While you may never use these in your lap, they're great for pulling into a bed or moving from one table or another or particularly a station in another location which is a consideration for those not looking to be stuck with a desktop in one spot.
A VAIO EC review, but no HP Envy 14/17? Get on the stick guys, these are exciting and important PCs.
@FlashFreeze BELIEVE ME I KNOW! I am trying very very VERY hard to get one in. Seriously, call HP PR for me.
Maybe it's just me, but I'd pay an extra $200 for a Sony over a re-badged Acer (Gateway) any day of the week because there really is a difference in quality between Acer and Sony.
Though the largest I would go would be the F series VAIO's, this also looks like an excellent machine
"If you haven't been able to tell from our laptop reviews, we're not exactly IE lovers."
Well, who is?
Thank goodness for numeric keypads... especially on laptops with screens as large as 17 inches.
i3 and a 5470? nty