Sony VAIO EC Review

Our review unit of the Sony VAIO EC (VPCEC3BFX) has the following specifications:

• Intel Pentium P6100 2.0GHz dual core processor
• Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• 17-inch LED-backlit display (1600x900)
• ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 (512MB)
• 4GB DDR3 (1066MHz) system memory
• 320GB hard drive (5400rpm)
• Blu-ray player/DVD burner
• Bluetooth (2.1 + EDR)
• Ethernet: 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T
• Wi-Fi: 802.11/b/g/n
• Standard Capacity Lithium-ion Battery (5000mAh)
• Dimensions: 16.1(W) x 1.2(H) x 10.7(D) inches
• Weight: 7.3 pounds
• Color: Lava Black
• Starting price: $749
  

Build and Design
The Sony VAIO EC is a 17-inch mainstream and multimedia laptop from Sony. The E-series notebooks are the most affordable full-featured notebooks in the VAIO product line and you can probably argue that the "E" stands for "Economy class." The laptop body is made of a combination of matte and polished black plastics. All of the plastics feel firm with creaking sounds when you apply pressure to the chassis. That said, given the size of the notebook, those plastics are spread out over such a large area that the notebook exterior bends and flexes under firm pressure. Despite this, we aren't too concerned about the overall durability of the chassis ... particularly since this is a desktop replacement that will rarely leave the your desk. The screen hinges offer enough resistance to hold the display in place yet aren't so tensioned that opening the laptop is difficult.

The screen lid and notebook base are made of matte plastics while the palmrests and keyboard surround are covered in glossy black acrylic. The overall look is fairly understated, but the end result is a clean design. For better or worse, that's the heart of the VAIO EC's style: clean and simple. This notebook will fit in on your desk in your dorm room, your living room, or your office desk. Just don't expect it to turn too many heads based on looks alone.

Users looking to upgrade or tweak the VAIO EC will find plenty to keep them happy once they look at the bottom of the notebook. Sony engineers were kind enough to include two access panels on the bottom of the chassis that allow you to replace the RAM or the hard drive with whatever you want. Our review unit came with 4GB of system memory (upgradeable to 8GB) and a slow 320GB hard drive (more on that later). Most performance-focused owners will probably want to add more RAM and a faster hard drive or solid state drive (SSD) after purchasing this notebook.

Ports and Features
Port selection on the VAIO EC is good but not great for a 17-inch notebook. The system has three USB 2.0 ports, one additional eSATA/USB combo port, a headphone and headset jack, VGA output, HDMI output, Ethernet, and both SDHC card and Memory Stick slots. Given that this is the same layout we've seen on the smaller VAIO EB and VAIO EA, we would have liked to see at least one USB 3.0 or even a FireWire port just to fill the unused space and make owners feel like they get more for the money.

Front: SDHC and Memory Stick slots and audio jacks	Rear: No ports
Left: Power jack, Ethernet, VGA, HDMI, eSATA/USB 2.0 port and ExpressCard slot	Right: Three USB 2.0 ports, tray-loading optical drive, Kensington Lock slot