Pros:* Thin + Light
* Bigger display (14'' as opposed to 11'' or 13'' ultra-books)
* HD display (1600 x 900)
* Fast fast fast (just ~5 seconds to shutdown or start-up). Wow, my office think-pad can't even resume from sleep that quick.
* No nonsense pre-installed crap. Nice and clean right out of the box.
* Liked the quality of webcam.
* Speakers are good, definitely powerful/better than two think-pads I own.
Cons:
* Had some minor issues with trackpad initially but after installing the new driver, its running fine.
* There is no VGA or ethernet port on this machine.
* No backlit keyboard (my biggest complaint)
* If I am not wrong, memory is limited to 4GB and can't be upgraded.
Overall, very happy with the laptop and Amazon service.
Update:
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I have been using this laptop for last 2 months. I have to say this is an amazing laptop. After coming back home, I hate to touch my Lenovo office laptop. I may in-fact buy one more for office and return the office laptop back to my employer. This laptop is about screen + weight + performance and at 599 I couldn't ask for more.
Regarding keyboard, I agree there is some issue with it but its like 1-2 misses in 1000 keystrokes. I have linux installed on it as VM and I do write code everyday using this laptop. I love coding directly on this laptop so much that I stopped using my external 24 inch monitor/keyboard/mouse setup. I don't get why others are making so much fuss about it, may be its my typing style.
If I would have to rate this laptop again, I would upgrade it to 5 stars.
This Ultrabook could have been perfect, but unfortunately has a major defect that makes me not recommend it. I'll start with the good, however. As for as laptops go, it is ridiculously thin and light, almost bordering on too thin. (It is ever so slightly difficult to open; you almost have to use your finger nails.) And unlike the netbooks of yesteryear, it flies. Windows 8 boots in about 5 seconds from a cold start. Its Toshiba SSD has 400+ MB/s sequential read/write speeds, and great random read/write as well. Overall, it's very enjoyable to use, and subjectively feels very fast. The 1600x900 screen is excellent resolution wise, though it is glossy, and exhibits some vertical "screen door" effect that a lot of new laptops seem to have.
From a hardware standpoint, Vizio gets major points for making an extremely accessible system. Just remove a number of torx screws on the base, and the bottom half of the case practically falls off revealing access to everything. There is no glue or harrowing plastic clips to deal with. RAM is soldered on and not upgradable (boo!) but the wireless card and SSD are. Unlike the 11.6 Asus Vivobook I looked at recently, the wireless card has two antennas instead of just one. The SSD is mSATA. The power jack is a separate board attached to the mainboard by a detachable cable, so breaking the jack does not necessarily mean junking the system. (Though, good luck finding the part anywhere...)
Now for some of the so-so. As far as general driver availability goes, Vizio is showing just how young they are to the PC market. They have no BIOS updates available for any of their systems, and they also do not have any Vizio specific utilities and drivers for download, such as the Fn key / OSD utility. (See below for their response to this.) The way they provide drivers is probably the worst I have ever seen. Each driver is an EXE, which is a Vizio wrapper of the actual manufacturer's installer. This is not too uncommon. But rather than just extracting the mfg's installer, the Visio wrapper actually installs each and every mfg installer to C:\Program Files (x86)\VIZIO\My Product Name, complete with an Add/remove programs reference for every driver before you've actually installed anything. These are somewhat minor issues, but are still a tad on the annoying side.
So what could ruin an otherwise decently favorable laptop? One word: the keyboard. Typing on this in any serious capacity is an exercise in frustration. Firstly, missed key presses abound. In fact, if you push very lightly on purpose, you can make any key depress and "click" but not actually register a press. This should be impossible on a well designed keyboard; any key that is depressed, no matter how lightly, should always register. Second, mysterious double presses occur far more frequently than random chance would allow. That seems to contradict the first issue, but somehow Vizio used their incredible engineering capabilities to create a keyboard that is both not sensitive enough and too sensitive.
Overall it is a slick system with a lot going for it, but the keyboard is bad enough that I would recommend looking elsewhere for an Ultrabook if you do any serious typing.
Windows 7 Notes: I did a successful fresh install of Windows 7 on this system, but ran into some issues along the way. First of all, they do provide Windows 7 drivers on their site, but they neglect to mention that the Win 7 model of this laptop has slightly different hardware from the Windows 8 version, even though it has the same model number. For instance, you need to get the touch pad driver straight from Synaptic, as the Win7 driver on Vizio.com is for a different manufacturer's touch pad, and the Win8 driver does not contain bundled Win7 drivers.
The Intel rapid start technology driver is also a pain to get working. I'll post a link in the comments to a Dell PDF that shows what you need to do to get it installed. In short, you need to use diskpart to create a hibernation partition, otherwise the Intel installer will say your system does not meet requirements. The Vizio provided driver also does not work, and again I had to go to the mfg's website (Intel).
Finally, as I mentioned earlier, Vizio does not provide any Vizio-specific utilities or drivers on their site as far as I can see, so that means I was not able to find a Fn key / OSD utility. Thankfully the brightness and volume keys work, but the key to disable the wifi or switch to an external monitor do not work, and there is no OSD or any of the keys. Not a big deal, but worth mentioning. I just wrote Vizio support, and will report back what they say.
UPDATE: I wrote an e-mail to Visio support on the keyboard and driver issue, and here is their response:
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Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you for contacting VIZIO PC support, I can definitely assist you with your inquiry.
You'll need to press the keys all the way down for the keyboard to register a keystroke, you can also adjust the sensitivity of the keyboard in the keyboard's properties by clicking on Start, then in the search field type in Keyboard and open the properties window. If you have installed a version of Windows 7 that is not the VIZIO image of Windows 7 Home Premium the driver for the function keys will not work.
If you need any additional assistance feel free to contact VIZIO at 1-877-878-4946 or chat with us at
Thanks and have a great day!
Kali Lewis
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So unlike every other PC mfg on the planet, you have to use their image to install because they cannot be bothered to provide all the drivers that are necessary to operate their product. Is that not the point of providing drivers in the first place? The bit about pressing the keys down all the way is really a joke, as is the helpful tip to adjust sensitivity in the control panel. (There is no such ability. You can adjust the repeat rate, but that has nothing to do with key sensitivity) Needless to say, this will be my first and last Vizio PC.
Buy VIZIO CT14-A4 14-Inch Thin + Light Ultrabook Now
Vizio has done a great job in delivering a 14 inch ultrabook with an exceptional simplistic design and construction all in an ultra thin and light form factor. Its hard to come by 14 inch laptops with a 1600 x 900 resolution screen and stunning design especially in an ultra thin form factor. The laptop and two USB 3.0 ports, a full size HDMI port and the cooling vents are hidden beneath the screen hinges and helps it run cool and also aesthetically improves the looks. The 3rd generation Intel i5 processor and the speedy Toshiba SSD makes this ultrabook perform real snappy. Its very light to carry around a has a full aluminium alloy construction with the base comprising of a rubberized covering for extra grip and coolness. The laptop comes with Microsoft signature which means you get a clean version of Windows with no bloatware at all. Its not an easy task to accomplish all this in such a thin and light form factor and I believe this ultrabook serves its purpose well.The Keyboard has wider and shallower keys and takes some time getting used to and the battery life is average with 4-5 hours of moderate usage. The only real complaints I have are the lack of an SD card slot and the below average responsiveness of the mouse pad. I hope Vizio comes up with better drivers to rectify this. I have used a wide variety of laptops and overall, I am impressed with this ultrabook and credit Vizio with coming up with such a product which stands out on its own considering its the company's first step into the competitive laptop market.
Read Best Reviews of VIZIO CT14-A4 14-Inch Thin + Light Ultrabook Here
I also took the plunge on this puppy during Black Friday/Cyber Monday week, paid $599. I don't regret my decision, you get a lot for the money. Notably a nice sized SSD and high resolution screen. Windows 8 is OK, a bit of a learning curve from W7, but have gotten used to the changes. I've used the laptop now for a week, my first impressions are listed below.The Good:
-Feels solid, heavy, but still very slim. Nicely designed.
-Very fast for my use. Boot up, web browsing, excel, email, ect.
-Screen. High resolution, very bright. Exceeded expectations.
The Bad(feedback for the prod dev people at Vizio):
-Hard to Open. Not a deal breaker, but could be a nuisance for some. That said, it does make it impossible to open for my 2yr and 4yr old. An unintentional child proof feature.
-Mouse pad software. Pre-installed software stinks. I uninstalled the Synaptics software and installed the latest version from their website. The mousepad now works fine, not bad and not great. Definitely room to improve overall.
-Batter Life. Ok, it's not bad, just not the 7hrs I was hoping for. I get 4-5 hours tops with avg use(browsing, some video streaming, chatting).
-Keyboard. Feels flimsy. Wouldn't want to type much on this.
Windows 8:
-Like I said, it has a steeper learning curve than previous OS launches. I don't care for the start screen, but once on the desktop I can essentially do everything I need. I kind of get what Microsoft is going for here(integrating all their devices/platforms), but don't think it was done well. Maybe I'm just resistant to change, and this will grow on me, but so far am not impressed. Would have preferred Win7. I won't ding the laptop's rating for this, just a consideration for future buyers.
In summary, the good outweighs the bad and think this is a good machine for a casual user. If you're planning to use this for School or Business, keep looking.
Want VIZIO CT14-A4 14-Inch Thin + Light Ultrabook Discount?
Overall not a bad machine. I get very good battery life and the laptop runs cool. The only complaint I have is the keyboard which is so flat, I have no feel for where I am on the keys. I get tons of typo. You get used to it and it get less of an issue over time. A better keyboard would make this a sweet machine.Save 37% Off
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