Sony Vaio VPC-CA1S1E review

Image quality on the 14.1in screen was reasonable, with good brightness levels and great contrast. Colours also looked vivid and detailed. The 1,336×768 resolution is big enough for most desktop tasks or watching 720p video, and an HDMI output lets you connect to an external display.

Like a lot of VAIO laptops, the CA1S1E’s QWERTY keyboard has flat, chiclet-style keys with gaps in between. They’re all big enough for easy typing, and each key has a firm, crisp action with plenty of feedback. A light sensor activates a backlight that illuminates the entire keyboard tray in the dark; it’s a novel idea that we’re used to seeing in expensive gaming laptops, but the effect is unobtrusive and can be turned off to save battery power.

The new mobile Core i5 in Sony’s CA1S1E doesn’t have quite the jump in performance over the last generation that we saw from Intel’s new desktop processors, but it’s still a definite improvement. Raw performance aside, it’s also a great laptop. It packs a lot of features into its small 14in body, including a DVD re-writer and a USB3 port, and its excellent keyboard is a joy to use.

A word of warning: with the current trouble surrounding Intel’s chipset, you may have trouble getting hold of any Sandy Bridge-equipped laptops. However, Sony’s CA1S1E is worth the wait. We’ve only held off giving out an award until we’ve seen the calibre of the competition.