Sony VAIO T13 review

After many months of waiting, Sony has finally unveiled its first Ultrabook, the VAIO T Series. The real surprise isn’t just how long it’s taken to materialise, however – it’s the price. With the entry-level model starting at £679, Sony has delivered its Ultrabook at the lower end of the Ultrabook spectrum.

Those expecting a bargain-basement lump of plastic may be surprised. Sony has got the look of the new VAIO T Series just right. There isn’t the wow factor of Samsung’s pretty Series 9, but the blend of clean, crisp lines and chamfered edges make for a slim, smart laptop. The plastic underside cheapens the effect somewhat, but it’s more attractive than Acer’s Aspire S3, which is a similar price.

At 1.52kg and 19mm thick, the VAIO T13 is by no means the most portable Ultrabook we’ve seen. Build quality is generally good given the price – the base only flexes once you really exercise those forearm muscles – but the display on our review unit was less reassuring. Under gentle pressure the screen housing bends from side to side, but press harder and the plastic bezel actually clicks apart.

Getting the price down below the £700 mark has left Sony pinching the pennies elsewhere. The CPU on our model was one of the older Sandy Bridge Core i3 models, the Core i3-2367M, and without the Turbo Boost of its Core i5 and Core i7 cousins, it runs at a maximum of 1.4GHz. Equally, there isn’t room in the budget for a full-sized SSD. Instead, Sony has used a 32GB SSD caching drive as per Intel’s requirements, alongside a mechanical 500GB hard drive.

Performance is fine, though. The result of 0.45 in our Real World Benchmarks puts it a little way behind models with Turbo Boost-equipped Core i5 processors, but it’s more than adequate for general use. As ever, the weakling Intel HD Graphics 3000 chipset isn’t up to the challenge of our Crysis tests, with the VAIO T13 struggling to an average of 22fps even at the least demanding resolution and quality settings.

Away from the mains a removable 4,050mAh battery powers that modest specification. It isn’t the biggest we’ve seen – Asus’ Zenbook UX31E has a huge 6,800mAh capacity – but it’s still enough to keep the lightweight Core i3 CPU ticking over. It lasted 7hrs 25mins in our light-use test, while under heavy load that figure fell to 2hrs 33mins.

We’ve baulked at some manufacturer’s attempts to mimic Apple’s buttonless touchpad, but Sony has made a good stab at it with the VAIO T13. The wide, squat multitouch surface is hinged at the top, allowing you to click the pad almost anywhere, and although light taps occasionally fail to register, it’s easy to get used to the amount of pressure required. The keyboard is good, too. There’s barely any travel to the keys, but they’re firm to the touch and make typing a pleasure.

If there’s one major disappointment, it’s the 13.3in display. As with many of its peers, this Sony Ultrabook has a low resolution of 1,366 x 768, and there’s no getting away from the fact that it makes for a cramped Windows desktop.

Image quality is also on the mediocre side. Admittedly, it’s no worse than most of its rivals, but with a maximum brightness of 188cd/m2 and a contrast ratio of 214:1, it’s simply incapable of mustering the solid blacks and vibrant colours of a MacBook Air or a Samsung Series 9.

It’s a shame Sony doesn’t offer any display upgrades, but the online configuration options provide welcome flexibility. First and foremost is the ability to upgrade to the latest Ivy Bridge processors. Add £100 to the price, and the Sandy Bridge Core i3 can be swapped for an Ivy Bridge-class Core i5-3317U CPU. A Core i7-3517U costs another £40 on top of that. Replacing the mechanical hard disk with an SSD is £120 for the 128GB, £140 for the 256GB and £900 for the 512MB. Thankfully, upgrading the system memory is more reasonable: going from 4GB to 8GB costs only £40.

Still, for around £300 less than its fancier peers this a usable Ultrabook, and even with an Ivy Bridge upgrade the price is lower than the competition. Screen quality remains disappointing, as it is with all the other low-end Ultrabooks, but if you’re craving a thin-and-light laptop on the cheap, the Sony VAIO T13 is the best of the current crop.

Related Posts

How To Add Apps to a Sony Smart TV Sony TV Remote App for Android How to Connect a Sony TV to a Laptop The Best iPhone Remote Apps for a Sony TV How to Update the Firmware on a Sony TV How to Connect to WiFi on a Sony TV How To Fix a Sony TV Error Code with 4 Blinks How To Turn on a Sony TV Without a Remote How To Turn On VRR on a Sony TV