VIZIO CN15-A2 15.6-Inch Laptop

This is the first review I write about a product in my entire life.

I bought this laptop from Amazon and it just arrived yesterday. (CN15-A2)

Screen

******

Absolutely gorgeous. Full HD. Colors are vibrant and exact. It is very bright too and its anti-glare (IPS)

Keyboard

********

It doesn't look like any keyboard you've ever seen before which makes it look weird at first, but the keys are wide and it is a pleasure to type on it with time.

Trackpad

********

I have to admit it was a bit bad at first. But as soon as I started the machine, I went to VIZIO's website and downloaded the TouchPad driver update and now its good.

Sound

*****

The SRS technology definitely makes a difference, whether you're listening through the speakers or headphones. Sound quality is superb. I've been listening to music on it since yesterday.

Body and Design

***************

This is a beautiful machine. It feels light (especially next to my HP G61 lol ) It is very thin (0.86 inches) and the ergonomics of the design make it look wider which is nice.

Cooling

*******

I've been playing HD videos, doing a bunch of heavy load tests and the fan is almost barely noticeable. It didn't overheat at all and having it on my lap the whole time was not an issue at all.

Processor

*********

It is fast! It is the fastest component on the machine (7.6 on Windows Performance Tool)

Harddrive

*********

Slowest component in this notebook but the 32 GB of SSD definitely gives it a boost. I feel like the SSD technology is still a bit too young to be asked for in all laptops. I'm looking for space and I definitely cannot afford buying an SSD of 512 GB. Note that this machine comes with 1 TB (1000GB)

Battery Life

************

You'll get around 4:30-5:30 hours on a single charge depending on your work load which I'm more than happy with considering that this laptop can literally replace a desktop.

Bottom line: Recommended.

Thanks for reading!

As a professional photographer and web developer who insists on using a PC, picking a new laptop turned out to be a pretty big challenge. As a father of two small children I also have to be budget minded. When I seen the Vizio concept computers announced I thought they looked cool, but who knew what the actual product would be like and how much they would really cost.

When looking for a new laptop I knew it had to have an i7, 8gb+ of ram, good screen, USB3, and a decent size hdd and possibly an ssd. When the actual production specs and prices were released I knew the CN15-A2 was going to perfect, especially for $1200.

I made my mind up and once it came in stock on Amazon I ordered it immediately. They were not in stock on MS site, Vizio's site or Walmart and I felt I was pretty lucky to get one as soon as I did. On to the review.

I was impressed with the laptop as soon as I seen the product packaging. Once I took the laptop out of the box I was blown away. As a budget alternative to a $3000+ Mac Book Pro I expected some noticeable "budget" cutting, but the build quality is truly impressive. The aluminum body feels great, and has a slightly darker color compared to the Mac's which makes it look a little cooler IMO. The design itself is also really sweet looking with just subtle Vizio logos being used. I even love that the shape of the brick power cord mimics the shape and bevel of the outside of the laptop. Nice touches like that go a long way towards selling the idea of a premium product. Even my business partner with his brand new $3000+ Mac Book Pro was surprised. The keyboard initially feels and types great. However, I must admit that it does screw up every once in a while and double types some letters at random. I know it's the laptop because I've never experienced this with an other laptop or keyboard. The trackpad is also both impressive and flawed. While it works pretty well, it could use some better calibration as doing some gestures like swiping and two finger scrolling requires a little bit more effort then Mac's I've used. Those are really the only two minor complaints I have about it. The Windows 7 Signature was a huge selling point for me and I am indeed impressed that it didn't come with all the crap like most pc's you get from Best Buy, etc. As far as performance goes, this thing is fast. I have NO problems using Lightroom, Photoshop, Photomatix, etc etc processing RAW files and larger PS files. I have yet to edit any video with it, but the i7, 8gb of ram, and invidia video card will do the job fine, although this isn't the ideal platform for editing video obviously. It'll do in a pinch. I also have to commend the screen. I calibrated it with an X-Rite Pro calibrator and the factory settings are the best I have ever seen out of a monitor including a $1000+ Dell Ultrasharp monitor. I can feel confident color correcting photos on this screen.

So, as far as bang for your buck goes, you almost can't beat this thing. There are some minor flaws, but I can live with them considering I saved over $2000 on a comparable Mac product.

EDIT: I updated the trackpad firmware yesterday after reading another review and it's greatly improved. I also increased the sensitivity and it works a LOT better then before. Maybe, not Mac good, but a lot closer.

Pro's

-Great build quality and design

-Great specs and bang for your buck

-Trackpad and Keyboard

-Display!

-Windows 7 Signature

Con's

-Keyboard and trackpad could use some calibrating from Vizio

-Hard to find online still

Buy VIZIO CN15-A2 15.6-Inch Laptop Now

We purchased the Vizio CN15-A2 about three weeks ago which gave us a reasonable amount of time to try it out. I do like the laptop but we had to return it for several key reasons.

Pros:

Looks nice, HD screen and it's non-glossy, awesome hardware specs, relatively light weight, decent battery life, it doesn't get too hot and there are no fan vents on the bottom to get easily restricted.

Cons:

Track pad is unpredictable and in our case it would freeze up to where you couldn't move the cursor. I downloaded the update from Vizio which seemed to improve it but with enough use it was still freezing up. If I closed the lid allowing the computer to go to sleep then opened the lid and started it, the cursor would work again but it's annoying.

The keyboard often misses a letter typed or it double types it. Also, only the middle region of the space bar works, if you press the last 10mm of either edge of the space bar, it won't register the type.

Something is rattling inside Vizio offered to service it but then we'd miss the return window available.

My palms sometimes rub across the track pad and change the location where I'm typing but I'd say this is minor and user dependent.

Because of the price and the fact that the cursor locks up and keys miss or double type and something is sliding around inside, we regretfully are returning the product. Vizio customer service was great but I didn't want to risk getting the laptop back and still having the same issues and no longer be able to return it. I think Vizio is developing a great product but needs to work out a few things.

Read Best Reviews of VIZIO CN15-A2 15.6-Inch Laptop Here

Bought for $700, worth more.

Very fast and can be sued easily for gaming.

The battery life goes down fast because of the major power requirements from the ram/cpu/graphics.

If i'm lucky, i may get 3 hours out of a full charge.

Want VIZIO CN15-A2 15.6-Inch Laptop Discount?

Keyboard stinks. When you type it double types characters, or misses the key altogether. Touch Pad is flaky. The wireless card is really bad. I replaced the wireless card already with an Intel one.

Performance is good. Battery life is good. Screen is good. To bad they went with a cheap keyboard, touch pad, and wireless card. It would be a killer machine.

I am living with it as I didn't want to pay the restocking fee thinking I would just get use to it. Its been a month now and I wish I would have sent it back and got a Thinkpad.

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Update: I had the the notebook for about 2 months now. I have since upgraded to Windows 8. All of the problems I had before with Windows 7 I still have with Windows 8. The keyboard is bad. It mistypes all the time. Either double characters or missed characters. The touch pad is decent when it works. It just randomly stops working. Also the cursor will just randomly jump somewhere. For instance typing this review...all of a sudden my cursor will be in a different sentence!!! Still does this after I went to Windows 8. When I went to Windows 8 the first time I was lazy and just did an upgrade over the top. Things still didn't work right. So then I did it again by wiping the machine with a clean install of Windows 8. Not much if any improvement.

I've tried getting use to it. Figured it was just different then what I was use too. However now my Hard drive just went. Then I made the mistake of verifying the drive was bad. I had computers from other major vendors before and they always want to verify the part is bad. So I opened the cover and took the drive out and put in an external drive encloser I have and tested it on another computer. Drive is completely dead. I contacted support. They would not replace the drive for me as since I opened the cover I voided all warranty!!! After chatting with a manager they still would not budge on giving me a new drive since I opened the cover.

So after getting the system re-installed for a 3rd time and buying a new hard disk. There is no improvement. I am changing my review from 3 stars down to 1 star. I would strongly encourage anyone thinking about a PC from Vizio to pass and go with a Dell or Thinkpad. The notebook just is too junky, and the fact you cannot even open the cover to upgrade anything, or troubleshoot without voiding the warranty is not worth going with this company. DO NOT buy this machine!