Sony VAIO J12 review

£899
Price when reviewed

The VAIO J Series is well established, so it’s no surprise that Sony hasn’t tinkered much with a winning formula. Thus, the VAIO J12 does little to externally update its predecessor, the J11. It has the same glossy black frame with its cut-out base, and it leans on an adjustable arm that slides to suit any viewing angle.

It also has the same 21.5in Full HD screen, set back from the main bezel to make room for the optical sensors that control its multitouch interface. We won’t go into the pros and cons of touchscreens on a desktop again, but suffice it to say it’s there for the occasional useful hands-on moment rather than as a new way of using your PC. It’s responsive, and to make it as useful as possible, Sony’s application dock pulls down from the top edge of the screen, complete with finger-friendly icons.

Sony VAIO J12

We’re more interested in the quality of the panel itself, and in this regard Sony has again lived up to its own high standards. The brightness is impressive without being blinding on white screens, while the evenness of the backlight was impeccable. As with many VAIO screens it sits closer to the side of oversaturation than professional colour accuracy, but for a home all-in-one such as this, it makes sense. Videos look splendid and the jungles of Crysis are as lush as we’ve seen them.

Not that you’ll get much opportunity to explore them. This VAIO J12 has an Intel Core i3-370M processor, complete with its own integrated graphics chip – and it isn’t really one for gamers: in our Low quality Crysis test at 1,366 x 768, it averaged only 15fps.

The processor is capable, though, as evidenced by a score of 1.39 in our application benchmarks. It’s a mobile chip, and is supported by the now-standard 4GB of DDR3 RAM. The J12 never felt sluggish during our testing, and it’s fair to say it won’t blanch at more intensive tasks. We often say all-in-ones make good second PCs, but this has the muscle to be your main system.

Warranty

Warranty 1 yr return to base

Basic specifications

Total hard disk capacity 1,000GB
RAM capacity 4.00GB
Screen size 21.5in

Processor

CPU family Intel Core i3
CPU nominal frequency 2.40GHz

Motherboard

Wired adapter speed 1,000Mbits/sec

Memory

Memory type DDR3

Graphics card

3D performance setting Low
Graphics chipset Intel HD Graphics

Hard disk

Capacity 1.00TB

Drives

Optical disc technology DVD writer

Monitor

Resolution screen horizontal 1,920
Resolution screen vertical 1,080
Resolution 1920 x 1080

Additional Peripherals

Speaker type Stereo

Case

Case format All-in-one
Dimensions 525 x 185 x 398mm (WDH)

Rear ports

USB ports (downstream) 5
FireWire ports 1
PS/2 mouse port no

Operating system and software

OS family Windows 7

Performance tests

Overall application benchmark score 1.39
Office application benchmark score 1.08
2D graphics application benchmark score 1.54
Encoding application benchmark score 1.34
Multitasking application benchmark score 1.62
3D performance (crysis) low settings 15fps
3D performance setting Low

Disclaimer: Some pages on this site may include an affiliate link. This does not effect our editorial in any way.

Todays Highlights
How to See Google Search History
how to download photos from google photos