Skip to main content

Vaio laptops are back, and they’re surprisingly affordable

The Vaio laptop brand is dipping its toe into the affordable space with a new series of notebooks featuring several impressive specs at prices under $950.

The new Vaio FE Series are currently selling at Walmart and Walmart.com and will also be available at Sam’s Club.

Two Vaio laptops against a black background.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

You might remember the legendary Vaio brand from a bygone era, known for its high-end build quality and cutting-edge design. The new Vaio is no longer owned by Sony, however, but that hasn’t stopped the brand from attempting a comeback.

The 14.1-inch notebook comes in three models, with Full HD anti-glare screens, two built-in speakers, a front-facing camera with a privacy shutter, a fingerprint scanner, and a precision touchpad, the brand noted.

The series is powered by 12th-gen Intel Core processors, which power many of the highlight features of the Vaio FE notebooks. These include THX Spatial Audio technology, which allows for a 360-degree sound experience that can be enjoyed over speakers, earbuds, or headphones, the brand added. The processors also allow for up to 46% energy conservation, which supports a battery life of up to 10 hours on each model.

The Viao FE series will be available at Walmart at Sam's Club.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Running Windows 11 Home as its operating system, the Viao FE Series benefits from such features as password-free unlocking, Focus Assist to block notifications, Microsoft Photos, and Snap layouts to better organize apps and windows. The system also features an Xbox Game Bar, which allows gamers to chat, track performance, and screen record.

The base model Vaio FE sells for $700 and features a 12th-gen Intel Core i5-1235U processor, 512 GB Solid State Drive, and 8GB memory. It comes in Black, Blue, Silver, and Rose Gold color options.

The mid-tier Vaio FE model sells for $800 and features a 12th-gen Intel Core i5-1235U processor, 1 TB solid-state drive, and 16GB memory. It comes in Black, Blue, Silver, and Rose Gold color options.

The top-tier Vaio FE model sells for $950 and features a 12th-gen Intel Core i7-1255U processor, 1 TB solid-state drive, and 16GB memory. It comes in Black, Blue, Silver, and Rose Gold color options.

This isn’t the first Vaio laptop to make a resurgence. The Vaio Z launched last year as an attempt to recapture the premium branding of the original line.

Editors' Recommendations

Fionna Agomuoh
Fionna Agomuoh is a technology journalist with over a decade of experience writing about various consumer electronics topics…
Gaming Chromebooks with up to 144Hz panels have arrived, but they’re not what you think
Three gaming Chromebooks with games on them.

Google has announced three new Chromebooks specifically designed with cloud gaming in mind. Acer, Asus, and Lenovo each have their own models, each sporting an assortment of gaming features, such as 120Hz refresh rate screens, higher=resolution displays, RGB lighting, improved audio, and faster processors.

Of course, unlike a standard gaming laptop, these new Chromebooks don't actually have hardware inside since they're meant to game primarily using game streaming services.

Read more
The first AMD Ryzen 7000 CPUs are here, but they’re not what you’re expecting
AMD Ryzen 7020 processor on a black background.

AMD is introducing a new range of mobile processors -- the Ryzen 7020 series. Although they're technically the first Ryzen 7000 CPUs, they don't share much in common with the upcoming desktop range that AMD is releasing on September 27.

Instead, they use the Zen 2 architecture -- the same design AMD used with its Ryzen 3000 desktop processors. That's because they're built for portability and battery life, topping out at only 15 watts for the most powerful chip in the lineup. There are three new processors, allow of which come with Radeon 610M graphics built in:

Read more
Acer Swift laptops get latest Intel chips, new color options
Acer Swift 5 equipped with Intel Evo Chip.

Acer has announced two new updates to its Swift notebook lineup, the Swift 5 (SF514-56) and the Swift 3 (SF314-512), which will both be available in June in North America.

While both Windows notebooks feature 14-inch displays, the current 12th Gen Intel Core processors, and Iris Xe graphics chips, the Acer Swift 5 is being marketed to the professional sector, with the Acer Swift 3 touted as an easy-to-carry device.

Read more