Sony Vaio CB35 Unboxing and Review.

Introduction- Hello guys, this is my first ever review, so treat me liberally

. This lappi has made me wait for more than a year and half. And I kept on researching about the various options of my future baby monster, and my career seeder, then finalized this one

.
Coming to laptop, Vaio needs no introduction. You feel something premium by just holding it in your hands, and that’s how I’m feeling now :hyper:

. Sony has been known for its overpricing and to some extent I agree with this. But this piece is something which kind of breaks this age old belief. My aim was to get a balanced laptop with some of the ineluctable features, which included a backlit keyboard and 7200rpm HDD, and this Vaio fitted perfectly.

Finding the best deal- This was a hectic task. Sony site quotes it for 54.99k, Sony showroom quoted 53.99k, the best I could bargain in my city (Bhopal) was 53k. To my surprise when I asked a dealer in Patna, he quoted 51.7k without any bargain :-o

. But I got one offer which was very hard to resist. It was from letsbuy. See the maths-
MRP- 53,340
Coupon- 5% flat
Final cost- 50,670 INR appx.
And that too with a WD elements 1TB 2.5” USB 3.0 free, which is worth 5.3k as of now! :hyper:

*i.imgur.com/Gykp5.jpg

Plus a 200 rs discount coupon was also given as diwali gift.

So Net cost- 45,300 appx ! What more could I have asked for.

Unboxing - I ordered on 24th night, and letsbuy mailed me shipping info on 26th night. My shippment came to Bhopal on 1st Nov, but due to courier company's pathetic service, I had to go and get it personally!

(Aramex sucks). I felt so miserable about my laptop after watching the pitty condition of goods kept there. Anyways, packaging was fine as per HANDLE WITH CARE standards. It took me a good 5 min to open it.

*i.imgur.com/HHxmE.jpg

*i.imgur.com/5QzI5.jpg

*i.imgur.com/XFgIq.jpg

*i.imgur.com/DGVz6.jpg

Manuals, papers, reciept.

*i.imgur.com/MVRMA.jpg

Jai Vishwakarma Bhagwan Jee & Career God too

*i.imgur.com/CyOoM.jpg

Built - Sexy, this is the first word which I uttered on first glance of my black hot chick! The laptop is pretty well built with a full gloss finish which is sadly a finger print magnet, but I keep rubbing it with my hanky to make it shine

. The lid is stiff and firm. Keyboard is chiclet style with backlit which is the real beauty of this lappi. The keys are ultra-smooth to touch and slide. Some may find it too smooth to type, but it helps me a lot to type fast. The backlit light is bluish white which is very cool. The touchpad is a bit left aligned which is not liked by some people, but it helped me in typing without resting my wrists on the touchpad as it happens on conventional touchpads. Also the touchpad is too smooth to roll the fingers on. I wish it was a bit less smooth.

*i.imgur.com/TgUiD.jpg

*i.imgur.com/S39gY.jpg

*i.imgur.com/F15nb.jpg

*i.imgur.com/OWcEP.jpg

*i.imgur.com/XhxCU.jpg

The screw was a bit loose there I guess, as a gap was left and I was able to press it, though it posed no serious worries.

*i.imgur.com/XTryT.jpg

Specs

Processor – Intel Core™ i5-2430M 2.4 GHz up to 3.0 GHz
RAM – 4GB * 1 DDR3
Graphics - Radeon 6630M 1 GB/Intel HD3000
HDD – 500GB SATA 7200rpm
Display – 15”6, 1080p (Vaio display plus)
Keyboard – Chiclet Styled, Backlit

1.3m HD web cam powered by Exmor

*i.imgur.com/NHWdp.png

*i.imgur.com/YPAtK.png

*i.imgur.com/G03aH.png

*i.imgur.com/ORS2h.png

The left panel has ports as charging, LAN, exhaust fan, VGA, HDMI, USB 3.0, USB 2.0 respectively (L-R).

*i.imgur.com/1NoAf.jpg

The right panel has audio ports, 2*USB 2.0, DVD drive, Kensington lock (L-R).

*i.imgur.com/Q4m9s.jpg

The front panel has Multi Card reader, usage indicators, Wireless on/off switch.

*i.imgur.com/EO8Jc.jpg

Connectivity – IEEE 802.11 b/g/n*7, Bluetooth 4.0 + HS

Display – The LED backlit 15”6 inch boasts of true 1080p which is very crisp and color reproduction is fantastic. The screen glow is fabulous even with half brightness, but a bit too glossy and reflective.

3/10 Brightness

*i.imgur.com/O8fRb.jpg

Performance – This is the real test of this piece to be actually called as baby monster.

Windows Experience Index

Update: Discrete graphics score.

*imgur.com/UFdnq.png

*i.imgur.com/LuB5t.png

Graphics score was a let down, I guess it was using HD3000 rather than 6630M and there's no way I could assign WPE to use 6630M, though I could assign other applications which graphics to use. It should have been somewhere 6.7 as 5650 scores similar, and 6630 is a faster clocked version of the older 5650.

CPU benchmark

1)Cinebench R11.5

*i.imgur.com/Rqnwl.jpg

2) Super Pi M 1.5

*i.imgur.com/HRquJ.png

3) SiSoft Sandra

*i.imgur.com/Vo4k0.png

*i.imgur.com/XLFAC.png

*i.imgur.com/X5RFL.png

*i.imgur.com/V3Dcz.png

*i.imgur.com/TOk8M.png

USB 3.0 speed

*i.imgur.com/FJJM4.png

*i.imgur.com/MgAkJ.png

Graphics benchmark

1) Unigine Engine

*i.imgur.com/4eqrh.png

*i.imgur.com/KGh2Z.png

2) 3D Mark 2011

1080p performance-

*imgur.com/Hr6TR.png

720p performance-

*imgur.com/3VhTM.png

HDD Benchmark

1) HDtune Pro

*i.imgur.com/GIMR3.png

Battery - Battery backup is definitely good, I guess 3hrs+. But charging is too slow. It took nearly 3 hrs to fully charge the battery, still not 100%.

*i.imgur.com/IxI0g.png

The bottomline is that, as I expected the laptop to be, it satisfied me very well. I got my all expectations fulfilled from this baby monster

.

I hope I included all the points to make this review "complete". Any suggestions and comments are welcome.

Awesome buddy ...very nice review .Well done.

Thanks TeniDa

Great purchase mate!Congratulations!!
The screen is a real stunner!!!
One complain_Why did Sony stick so many stickers?

Thnx mate

Sony provides stickers with all its laptops. For me they are fine untill and unless they're hiding the lappi's beauty. Like the black triangular sticker was originally placed on screen which was very odd, so I just sticked it down

F

Me too brought a VAIO ! ! ! on 4th Nov..... EH 28

See the sig

^^Congos mate

A

Congratulations! Indeed awesome laptop

Yep mate thanx :clap2:

G

pandaga chesko mama

gopi_vbboy said:
pandaga chesko mama

G

It means enjoy dude....in telugu

pandaga chesko mama Sujoy

gopi_vbboy said:
It means enjoy dude....in telugu

How am I suppose to know?

Tenida said:
pandaga chesko mama Sujoy

pandagaing chaska mama TeniDa

hey nice review mate, in detail

have you compared xps's 1080p side by side ?

Thnx bro

Nope I don't have any xps in my reach.

and about the deal
*in barney's tone* Niice

D

Awesome lappi bro..
really looks sexy..
have a blast..

Graphics score was a let down, I guess it was using HD3000 rather than 6630M and there's no way I could assign WPE to use 6630M, though I could assign other applications which graphics to use. It should have been somewhere 6.7 as 5650 scores similar, and 6630 is a faster clocked version of the older 5650.

You should get much higher score even with HD3000 maybe it is because of bloatware installed after a fresh install it should improve.

BTW Congratulations. Also how about some gaming benchmarks?

J

JESUS! X_X Thats a complete steal for the price. And you god a 1TB external HDD for free in these cursed times. Seesh! Congrats mate.

debroy said:
Awesome lappi bro..
really looks sexy..
have a blast..

Thnx

Niilesh said:
You should get much higher score even with HD3000 maybe it is because of bloatware installed after a fresh install it should improve.

BTW Congratulations. Also how about some gaming benchmarks?

No, 6.4 is highest by HD3000 as one of my online frnd having same laptop (older version), gets 6.1. Although I'll do a fresh install and check later. Also I get 6.7 in all graphics (aero+gaming) when 6630 is selected.

Jripper said:
JESUS! X_X Thats a complete steal for the price. And you god a 1TB external HDD for free in these cursed times. Seesh! Congrats mate.

Yep mate, it was really a steal deal

Thnx

dashing.sujay said:
No, 6.4 is highest by HD3000 as one of my online frnd having same laptop (older version), gets 6.1. Although I'll do a fresh install and check later. Also I get 6.7 in all graphics (aero+gaming) when 6630 is selected.

But you are currently getting 5.2 now acc to the pic
I think there is quite a difference between 5.2 and 6.4

Hey how are the speakers?

Niilesh said:
But you are currently getting 5.2 now acc to the pic
I think there is quite a difference between 5.2 and 6.4

Hey how are the speakers?

I was talking about 3D graphics re

. Sound "quality" is pretty ok, but its far better than what I had heard about it. Volume is enough for living room use. BTW I will update the review adding some more aspects which I have left out including the sound.

D

Dude what are the multi touch capabilities of this lappy man...??

dashing.sujay said:
I was talking about 3D graphics re . Sound "quality" is pretty ok, but its far better than what I had heard about it. Volume is enough for living room use. BTW I will update the review adding some more aspects which I have left out including the sound.

Oh!!

OK

BTW Nice review

debroy said:
Dude what are the multi touch capabilities of this lappy man...??

Still to explore, but its good, although page scroller could be better.

Niilesh said:
Oh!! OK
BTW Nice review

Its ok, thnx

Awesome review! Rep added.

^^Thnx bro

UPDATE: Added discrete graphics windows performance index scores and 3D Mark 2011 benchmark scores.

PS- The battery life is best as far as I've seen on any laptop I've used.

Nice purchase sujay.
Great laptop, sweet deal and a very detailed review.
Congrats and repped

Thnx arsenal

congrats buddy...nice purchase....hows the gaming performance???

Thnx abhidev, gaming performance sounds good to me. Till date I have played MW1, GTA:SA and found it to be very fine at respective max resolutions.

UPDATE: Guys, I got the extended warranty cover, will get the new warranty papers in 10 days.!

A

Nice review buddy. Rep added

One thing 6630m is not faster clocked 5650 but higher shaders are there in 6630m
5650- 400 shaders
6630- 480 shaders.

@dashing.sujay : try out some newer games and post the gaming performance...

@adnan- thnx man

I read about that somewhere.

@abhidev- Don't have new games, will try and post performance asap when i get them.

Sorry for jumping on the old thread.
But dashing.sujay,you have posted a very good review,really appreciate it.
Rep added.

aroraanant said:
Sorry for jumping on the old thread.
But dashing.sujay,you have posted a very good review,really appreciate it.
Rep added.

Thanx man

dude gr8 review.. :doublethumb:

with lots of info !!! dis is really awsme..
rep + frm ma side..

Also plz mention about CB35 sound quality.. Does it have same low volume issue like CB15??

anoopjb said:
dude gr8 review..
with lots of info !!! dis is really awsme..
rep + frm ma side..

Also plz mention about CB35 sound quality.. Does it have same low volume issue like CB15??

Thnx man

I have already mentioned sound quality. The volume can not be said low from any angle. Its loud enough for personal use or a group use too. Though its just treble.

B

what are the gaming temps of it???

I have not done hard gaming, but played MW1 and GTA:SA for about 2-3 hours, and the temps didn't crossed 75 I guess. Most of them it was around 65-70. Otherwise, it runs super cool at around 40°.

balkeet said:
what are the gaming temps of it???

i have skyrim,Gta4,BFBC2,AC,Crysis2,tf2,minecraft etc...
normal temps..

ps:i have the same machine,also did a small review sometime back...

^^What fps are you getting in GTA 4 (SA) ?

dashing.sujay said:
^^What fps are you getting in GTA 4 (SA) ?

gta 4 is not san andreas(SA) if you mean that...
and i don't know the exact fps...but it is perfectly playable at 1366*768

reddead said:
gta 4 is not san andreas(SA) if you mean that...
and i don't know the exact fps...but it is perfectly playable at 1366*728

Thnx for info, I have SA and get 25 fps.

B

25fps is barely playable,r u sure about it?

Yeah I get 25fps but its playable, no lag.

B

6630m is equal to 525m or 540m,which is there in inspiron n5110 n it 10k cheaper than cb35!

balkeet said:
6630m is equal to 525m or 540m,which is there in inspiron n5110 n it 10k cheaper than cb35!

Dude, jog on. You're comparing CB35 with inspiron! :facepalm:

Cb35 positives Vs inspiron-

1)Better built
2)1080p
3)Backlit chiclet keyboard (inspiron keyboard makes me puke)
4)Approx double battery back up. (tested)
5)Design wise also its no comparison.

Now can you tell me a single + point which insipron has over CB35?

B

Only backlit keyboard is a positive,whats the use of 1080p if u have to play at 728p coz 6630m is too weak a gpu for 1080p.Battery life is same.Design may b better but i dont like those 4 stickers near screen and its round elevated power button is weird too!

My lappi plays 1080p videos without any sweat. And the main diff b/w 1080p will be visible on first glance if you keep a 720p/1080p lappi side by side.
As far as battery back up is concerned, my lappi gives 4.5hrs. When did inspiron start giving such back up? My friend has inspiron, and it hardly gives 2hrs.
And you're the first one to comment/dislike power button. (totally irrational IMHO). By the way its not elevated, its leveled to base.
And you can remove stickers any day.

B

If sony give it a 6770m i 'll pick it anyday like dv6t!

^Don't live in imaginary world bro. Sony doesn't gives as good configs as HP but rest everything is better than HP.

M

Good Review

Thanks for sharing

Dell sucks, my brother's Dell Studios battery died after 1 year.Also my cousin's Dell Inspiron motherboard got faulty after the warranty period.So, in my experience Sony is far more trusty brand than Dell

mrintech said:
Good Review

Thanks for sharing

Thanks man

Tenida said:
Dell sucks, my brother's Dell Studios battery died after 1 year.Also my cousin's Dell Inspiron motherboard got faulty after the warranty period.So, in my experience Sony is far more trusty brand than Dell

Same case with my friend's studio (older studio). It hardly gives back up of 1 hr now.

C

Very nice review, Sujay. But I feel Sony should have provided a Blu-Ray drive which would have complemented your 1080p display perfectly.

Chinmay91 said:
Very nice review, Sujay. But I feel Sony should have provided a Blu-Ray drive which would have complemented your 1080p display perfectly.

Thnx man

. Yeah, it'd truly compliment 1080p. But AFAI am concerned, I don't need it actually. I don't remember when did I insert any CD/DVD last time in 3 yrs.

A

Nice review..

Can you tell me what is the cheapest laptop of sony vaio where I can get backlit keyboard,.

arijitsinha said:
Nice review..
Can you tell me what is the cheapest laptop of sony vaio where I can get backlit keyboard,.

I can figure out this- VPCSB25FG. But it has very weak graphics. It will set you back by at least 45k-47k.

V

Awesome Job man, after reading the review i am really convinced of buying this one, eagerly waiting for mine to arrive.
But i am really jealous of the deal you got.. Lucky Guy. :twisted:

viper_ad said:
Awesome Job man, after reading the review i am really convinced of buying this one, eagerly waiting for mine to arrive.
But i am really jealous of the deal you got.. Lucky Guy.

Thanks, I'm glad that my review convinced you to buy the gem

And yeah, the deal was so good that I brag about it till day :))

C

bro...can i know what the sony vaio cb35 extended warranty covers and what it cannot covers....?can anyone plz giv me reply in two days as i was planning to buy cb35 in next week..plz forgive me if there is any mistake as i was a new member tovthis forum.

Extended warranty covers everything except battery and charger. The rule applies to almost every company.

Awesome laptop ever seen For 50k.. Far better than my old dumb HP Pavilion tx1000 Tablet PC

pratyush997 said:
Awesome laptop ever seen For 50k.. Far better than my old dumb HP Pavilion tx1000 Tablet PC

Yes, it is.

.

The charger is covered in warranty in dell

aroraanant said:
The charger is covered in warranty in dell

In normal warranty? Don't say complete cover.

In both

I know its available in CC, but in normal warranty also!

Are you sure ?

It is covered in the normal 1yr warranty which comes with the laptop when we buy it.
Obviously if the charger is damaged then they may not replace it.
And generally a person extends the warranty by purchasing a CC and not just normal warranty.So in that case(CC) it is covered.

^

Every company covers charger for the first yr complimentary warranty. And CC is only available in Dell (& apple), so generally they are not considered.

very good review.........thanks

suvajit said:
very good review.........thanks

Thanks, hope it helped you

Hello Friend,
Can you please Give me the product link of the site(letsbuy) u bought this laptop

pratyush997 said:
Hello Friend,
Can you please Give me the product link of the site(letsbuy) u bought this laptop

If you're expecting a deal like I got, then I'm sorry to say my friend, you won't get such deal now. Try local stores, you may get it for 51k min.

dashing.sujay said:
If you're expecting a deal like I got, then I'm sorry to say my friend, you won't get such deal now. Try local stores, you may get it for 51k min.

Friend I can't figure out differences between this laptop and Asus K43SA-VX041D Asus K43SA-VX041D / 2nd Generation Core i7 / 8 GB / 750 GB / DOS: Flipkart.com: Compare, Review Asus Notebook Laptop Please Suggest me which laptop is better for LITTLE gaming..

Both the laptops are way different.

CB35- 15"6 + i5 + 4GB + 6630M

Asus K43SA- 14" + i7 + 8GB + 6730M

You won't find asus lappi anywhere. And for little gaming, CB35 is better obviously.

dashing.sujay said:
Both the laptops are way different.

CB35- 15"6 + i5 + 4GB + 6630M

Asus K43SA- 14" + i7 + 8GB + 6730M

You won't find asus lappi anywhere. And for little gaming, CB35 is better obviously.

Thanks

And now CB35 is replaced by CB45.

J

Did u get WD Hard drive free as gift or what??

That time there was on offer going on Letsbuy, so he got one in that offer

A

i want to enable hardware virtualization in my cb 45. hope all the configuration is same between cb35 and cb45. Can any1 plz help me. Sony has made the BIOS totally nude... :-?

arijitsinha said:
i want to enable hardware virtualization in my cb 45. hope all the configuration is same between cb35 and cb45. Can any1 plz help me. Sony has made the BIOS totally nude...

What makes you think hardware virtualisation is disabled on your CB45 ?

Its enabled by default on my CB35:

*i.imgur.com/eoN7h.png

Download Intel processor identification tool to confirm its enabled / disabled.
There's a Microsoft alternative application to test it.

If at all its disabled, you can't do it from BIOS. Yeah, Sony's BIOS' are naked.

But there's a register trick to enable it. Check by confirming your BIOS.

Congrats mate..products @ letsbuy are much cheaper than flipkart,which is overrated,though cant complain abt their amazing service..and nyc review too

Nanducob said:
Congrats mate..products @ letsbuy are much cheaper than flipkart,which is overrated,though cant complain abt their amazing service..and nyc review too

Thanks.

A

thnks mate, I am able to enable it, no need to do any trick with BIOS. Only one option that is glowing in BIOS is that Hardware Virtualization. It was disabled there. I did enable it. Thanks for your reply.

A

I have Sony Vaio CB45. I want to add some extra RAM to my lappy.. Which brand should I go for? It is already having 4 GB DDR3 1333 Mhz .. Should I add another 4 GB or shall I replace it with a 1600 Mhz RAM. Which will be better. and will my chipset support 1600 Mhz? Please somebody give some advice.. TIA.

Please suggest me a brand.

I don't think it will support 1600Mhz .

arijitsinha said:
I have Sony Vaio CB45. I want to add some extra RAM to my lappy.. Which brand should I go for? It is already having 4 GB DDR3 1333 Mhz .. Should I add another 4 GB or shall I replace it with a 1600 Mhz RAM. Which will be better. and will my chipset support 1600 Mhz? Please somebody give some advice.. TIA.

Please suggest me a brand.

All 1st gen Intel CPUs support upto 1066MHz , 2nd gen upto 1333MHz, 3rd gen upto 1600MHz. Just pick up any 1333MHz RAM and it will work flawlessly; Corsair is a preferable brand. If not available, go for G.Skill / Kingston.

A

Okk.. so please suggest me a good brand for 4GB DDR3 1333 Mhz RAM.

Thanks mate... i am going to order corsair from flipkart.. :lol:

great combination of beauty and power ..!!!!!!!!!!!!

T

Sorry guys for bumping a very old thread. I have this laptop and i love its keyboard a lot. I m not getting comfortable with using any other keyboard but i need to buy a new wireless keyboard. Please suggest me any wirless chiclet type keyboard like the one on this laptop. I have bought belkin and dell wireless chiclet keyboards and they are not even 10% as good as the one on this laptop. Please suggest me something , budget is not an issue. Thanks

techspark said:
Sorry guys for bumping a very old thread. I have this laptop and i love its keyboard a lot. I m not getting comfortable with using any other keyboard but i need to buy a new wireless keyboard. Please suggest me any wirless chiclet type keyboard like the one on this laptop. I have bought belkin and dell wireless chiclet keyboards and they are not even 10% as good as the one on this laptop. Please suggest me something , budget is not an issue. Thanks

I was about to suggest you a Dell keyboard I had used in my company (wired though), which seemed to be the closest I can find, but you already crossed it out.

BTW I really can hi5 you on this keyboard thingy; it's so damn good that I don't know if I ever will be able to replace this with something else.

The peroformance has drastically reduced..it lags sometimes when browsing and sometimes just hangs(only on ms office) , have to force restart.......also changed my HDD couple of months ago, still same performance.

Looking forward to upgrade to win8, did anyone try win8 on cb35? all drivers etc working?

reddead said:
The peroformance has drastically reduced..it lags sometimes when browsing and sometimes just hangs(only on ms office) , have to force restart.......also changed my HDD couple of months ago, still same performance.

Looking forward to upgrade to win8, did anyone try win8 on cb35? all drivers etc working?

I'm yet to face any performance degrade, except that the battery back up has reduced to just an hour. Don't use stock windows, it's highly bloated.

Never tried win 8 but drivers are available so you might want to try.

dashing.sujay said:
I'm yet to face any performance degrade, except that the battery back up has reduced to just an hour. Don't use stock windows, it's highly bloated.

Never tried win 8 but drivers are available so you might want to try.

stock windows is highly bloated? did you mean the other way round?

reddead said:
stock windows is highly bloated? did you mean the other way round?

Here, by stock, I meant the pre-loaded windows.

However, I myself have recently stuck to it because of driver issues.

dashing.sujay said:
Here, by stock, I meant the pre-loaded windows.

However, I myself have recently stuck to it because of driver issues.

yeah...non-vaio version gives me problems too...actually i have left my DVDs at home, can i find the vaio version online?

reddead said:
yeah...non-vaio version gives me problems too...actually i have left my DVDs at home, can i find the vaio version online?

What do you mean by Vaio version ?

dashing.sujay said:
What do you mean by Vaio version ?

The stock sony wondows 7, i created recovery disks when i bough it but left it at my homtown...i was looking for a recovery version of windows 7 online.

reddead said:
The stock sony wondows 7, i created recovery disks when i bough it but left it at my homtown...i was looking for a recovery version of windows 7 online.

I never created discs, in built recovery ftw !

Did anyone try windows 10 on this?

reddead said:
Did anyone try windows 10 on this?

Yes. Don't know why it was way too sluggish. Reverted to good old 7.

Anyway, there is still no official driver nor there's any hope.

Sony eSupport - Windows 10 Information for Sony VAIO P

dashing.sujay said:
Yes. Don't know why it was way too sluggish. Reverted to good old 7.

Anyway, there is still no official driver nor there's any hope.

Sony eSupport - Windows 10 Information for Sony VAIO P

Same experience with me when i tried it long back, i thought i'd try it again, but meh...lets stick to win7