Last month we wrote a article on our favorite budget ultraportables. The two least expensive options on our list were the Sony Vaio VPCYB15AG and HP Pavilion DM1-3016AU. We thought we would do a head to head.
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| Sony Vaio YB |
Where the two are identical. Both the Sony Vaio VPCYB15AG and HP Pavilion DM1-3016AU are 11.6-inch ultraportable laptops with a 1366 x 768 pixel resolution screen. Both are powered by AMD's 1.6 GHz dual core E-350 processor. Both come with 2GB's of RAM and 320 SATA hard disk drive for storage. For connectivity, both have 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, 2.1 + EDR Bluetooth, USB 2.0 ports and HDMI out.
As you can see, essentially, these two laptops are nearly identical. Lets looks at what distinguishes them.
1. Price. The Sony Vaio YB is offered at a suggested retail price of Php29,999, and at this price you can pay for over 12 monthly installment. If you pay in cash or do a straight payment through a credit card, you can get it for Php26,999. The HP Pavillion DM1 is offered at a suggested retail price of Php22,990, and at this price you can pay for over 12 monthly installment. If you pay in cash or do a straight payment through a credit card, you can get it for Php20,999.
Depending on how you pay for it, the HP Pavillion DM1 is a 6-7K cheaper.
Winner - HP
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| HP Pavillon DM1 |
2. Battery life and endurance. The HP Pavillion DM1 comes with a 6-cell 4400 mAh battery. The Sony Vaio YB comes with a 4-cell 3500 mAh battery. Having identical innards, it is no trick guessing that the HP Pavillon DM1 wins this round. According to Laptopmag, the HP Pavillion DM1 has 6.5 hours of battery life, while the Sony Vaio YB will provide a tab under 5 hours.
Winner - HP
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| Sony Vaio YB |
3. Graphics performance. While both units have AMD Radeon HD Graphics cards, the Sony Vaio has 384MB of dedicated video memory while the HP Pavillion DM1 relies on shared memory. Laptopmag in its review of the Sony Vaio YB said:
While we wouldn't recommend the VAIO YB as a gaming machine, it's capable of playing World of Warcraft. With the special effects turned down, the VAIO YB managed a strong 29 fps, a bit below the ultraportable category average but much stronger than the Lenovo ThinkPad X120e (21 fps) and the HP Pavilion dm1z (24 fps).
Winner - Sony
4. Size and weight. The Sony Vaio YB dimensions are 8 x 11.4 x 1.2 inches and it weighs in a 3.2 pounds. The HP Pavillion DM1 dimensions are 8.4 x 11.4 x 1.2 inches and it weighs in a 3.4 pounds. The Vaio weighs less, but only because it has a smaller battery. We will call it a draw.
Winner - None.
5. Operating system. We would have preferred Windows 7 Home Premium, but neither comes with that. The Sony Vaio YB comes with Windows 7 Starter while the HP Pavillion DM1 come with Windows 7 Home Basic.
Winner - HP
In the end, the HP Pavillion DM1 is the better choice, trading some graphics power for longer battery at a lower cost. Objectively, that is what I would recommend and it is the clear winner in this head-to-head.
Subjectively, the HP Pavillion DM1 does not look and feel like an HP Pavillion. It looks like a large HP netbook. The Sony Vaio YB feels and looks like a Vaio. For my money, I would splurge a bit and get the Sony Vaio YB.
Great article!
ReplyDeleteI just have my Sony Vaio E-350.Reformat it and installed Windows 7 Ultimate.
"Subjectively, the HP Pavillion DM1 does not look and feel like an HP Pavillion. It looks like a large HP netbook. The Sony Vaio YB feels and looks like a Vaio. For my money, I would splurge a bit and get the Sony Vaio YB."
ReplyDeletei still don't understood, why ?
oh i see, actually i feel so,
ReplyDeletethank you for answer..
i'm really confuse to pick these two . In my country the price have around $50 different , a quite lot . With that i could buy dvd external .
ReplyDeleteFrom design i'm prefer vaio . But i want a long life battery , i have compaq presario cq20 . It has 4cell bttery . But if i use it for watch vid,it just 1,5 hours life.
. . I want to use for watch vid(HD),At least 1200x640,and sometime 1600, could these 2 play it?,integrated with modem, editing pic,watch from dvd . Could you give me a reccomendation?between vaio and hp? Thank you so much.
for what this? E-450 APU . I'm doesnt know much about that.
ReplyDeleteMaybe this is stupid question . But do you think vaio better that compaq presario cq20? . Actually i satisfied with this compaq , except the battery, 12'' and have dvd internal .
But it doesnt sale again , if i want it would be second T.T
. Or you have reccomendation about other 12'' that have a greater or same feature? , the budget around $400 or $500 . Or this vaio or hp best choice?
. Thank you so much , you help me a lot .
thanks for the helpful review. About the prices both cost more or less the same now , at least here in India.
ReplyDeletei have sony vaio yb series with E-450 APU,1.65ghz2gb ram and 320gb hdd but i am not satisfied with the performance..first it comes only in 32 bit,2nd poor battery life,3rd no switch buttons for play,pause,forward,and back,4th poor and lousy speakers..it is not what i expected from an expensive laptop..compare with the hp pavilion dm1 E-450,1.7ghz,4gb ram,500gb hdd it comes with 64bit..long battery life,with play buttons,and the most i like is the speakers it comes with the beats audio speakers very nice!!!
ReplyDeleteVery helpful blog! Thanks for sharing this and have bookmarked!
ReplyDeleteReview Acer Aspire One 532 Netbook (Part 2)
http://eiffellaptop.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/review-acer-aspire-one-532-netbook-part.html