Well, you will fall in love with this laptop's apperance. And, it's Sony brand, what can go wrong. So far I used it for almost a month, here's my feeling toward it.
1. Speed = pretty fast. It boots windows and shuts down as advertised. i haven't really compare it with other ultrabook but to compete over 0.5 second to me is silly.
2. Weight = 3.5 lb is a bit heavier than I like to. Toshiba portege that I played with at Bestbuy was awesomely light. But there were reports about it being filmsy so I hesitated to get that and end up with sony. Personally I like this to be another 0.5 lb lighter to have that real ultrabook feel.
3. screen = man i wish this would be 1600 x 900 that would make this world a much happier place for me. i have this urge to get a S serie and just swap the screen.. :(
4. power = ok now. there is a problem. as we all know, ultrabook was suppose to compete with macbook air but macbook air can be on standby mode for days. i had this laptop fully charged in the morning and put on sleep mode but by the time i'm writing this review, 10:40 pm, battery is down to 9% ... something is not right. i will try it again and if the result reversed, i will revise this part of my review. Also the default 5 hour use time is somehow exaggerated. i think 3.5 4 hours are more realistic.
5. durability = i baby this laptop. i have no intention to rough test it so i'll pass this to someone else to provide.
6. accessories = bought a keyboard skin for 2.99 from ebay instead of 19.99 + tax from sony direct. very happy about this.
7. upgrades = i added 4gb to make it 8gb. removed the default 500gb hdd with a intel 120GB ssd. i recommend all to do the same. :) i also had to re-install clean windows + office to speed things up.
8. keyboard = not a big fan here. the key location is not comfortable compare with thinkpad. and the feel of the click feel i am going to poke a hole in it. but after a while i do get use to it. not happy here but acceptable. no backlit here.
thank you all for bare with me. to sum it all up, i like the name sony , the way it looks, and perform for the most part are satisfactory. some minor upgrade such as better screen resolution, led backlit keyboard, would be nice.
This is a nice looking machine, suitable for home users and business types, but not for serious gamers due to its lacking a dedicated graphics processor. It is very solidly built, with no creaking or flexing, and feels very nice to the touch. The touchpad is responsive and has a full area click feature, with the right-hand lower corner reserved for right-clicks. A slight downside is that while clicking, the mouse sometimes drifts away slightly as you are still on the touch surface; I found tapping the touchpad more reliable.
The screen is bright and has good viewing angles for this type of device. The screen is glossy and not matte, so it can act like a mirror in bright environments. The resolution is also fine for a screen of this size. It is no retina display for sure as close inspection of letters reveals the step-like stagger of pixellation. However, the key word there is close: at the normal screen to eye distance the stagger is smoothed away naturally not a deal breaker for me.
The webcam is great and produces good colour representation from what I have seen. I have not tried it in low light conditions yet. The microphone also picks up sound very well, so no shouting required.
The speakers are surprisingly good and completely hidden. My wife bought an albeit-cheap ($9), USB-powered pair of external speakers before she tried the laptop's and she really should not have bothered: the laptop outperformed them in every way.
Speaking of sound, then cooling fan is audible at full throttle, but is is acceptably quiet.
Ports-wise, this laptop is well-endowed, especially given its ultrabook form factor: LAN port, VGA, full HDMI, SD & Pro Duo card slot, headphone port, 1x USB 2.0, 1x USB 3.0 (also a sleeping-charge port for external devices).
The keyboard is clickless and has that nice resist and collapse feel, so no sponginess.
All of this for $800 is an absolute bargain frankly. If you plan on getting Windows 8, get Windows 7 Home Premium as Microsoft offers an upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for $15.
Buy Sony VAIO T Series SVT13114GXS 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Silver Mist) Now
The three previous reviews generally echo my impressions. However I wanted to clarify some of the specifications. The weight is variously listed as 3.3 lbs, 3.4lbs and 3.54 lbs. I believe there is confusion as to whether the number after the decimal point is in tenths of a pound or in ounces. I have weighed the Vaio T on a digital postal scale and it weighs 3 lbs 5.8 ounces. In terms of lbs this equates to approx. 3.36 lbs. The power brick is surprising small. It weighs 5.2 ounces (the brick and the nondetachable cord that goes from the brick to the computer.) The brick dimensions are 3.5" long, 1 3/8" wide and 1" high. The review that lists a "Con" has the Vaio being .5 lb overweight may be overstated as I noticed that the specs for the soon to be released Asus Zenbook Prime UX32A (with a hybrid drive) lists its weight as 3.2 lbs. If that is pounds and tenths of pounds then the difference is actually less than 2 tenths of a pound (or less than 3 ounces).
The Vaio T has a 500GB hard drive plus a 32GB SSD in what is listed as a 532GB hybrid drive. This compares favorably to the announced slew of other ultrabooks with hybrid drives. The competition (Samsung series 5, Asus UX32A and Acer S5) generally has only a 24GB SSD. In addition the Vaio has one expandable RAM slot which can take up to 4GB of additional RAM. I bought a 4GB chip for about $26 and installed it and it worked without any hitches.
Hope this helps.
Read Best Reviews of Sony VAIO T Series SVT13114GXS 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Silver Mist) Here
This ultrabook looks great, feels great, solidly built
and is very responsive. I had it so far only 3 days.
Easy to setup and quick to start because of 32GB solid state memory.
I read some questionable reviews about the display and the keyboard.
The display is very sharp and the keyboard is good, considering that this
product weighs less than 3.5lbs and is quiet thin. If you are not a major
gamer or graphic designer, you will have all the speed you need with the
3rd generation Core I5 processor. I have not tested the battery, but based on
the indicator I don't think that it will give you 7 hours unplugged.
If your eyes are on the weaker side, you should go with a 15.4" display,
if PC is your comfort environment this is your notebook, especially for
travel... If you can afford and feel comfortable with the MAC go for the
Notebook Air or Notebook Pro, they give you a faster processor that will
serve you further in the future.
But overall this notebook met and exceeded most of my expectations.
Want Sony VAIO T Series SVT13114GXS 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Silver Mist) Discount?
Bought this from Amazon using my friend's prime account
Likes
1. Very tiny power brick (fits in the palm of my hand)
2. Quick start up from hibernation (4-8 seconds as opposed to 2-4 seconds when brand new)
3. Sleek and light
4. Nice sound from speakers
5. No heating problems
6. nice light and firm keyboard (thankfully not too much innovation has been done here by adding funky stuff)
Dislikes
1. only 2 USB ports located on the left of the machine. Very inconvenient for mouse. (I am right handed)
Additional Notes:
1. web-camera is standard
2. battery lasts 4-5 hours
We ordered this machine because of the excellent specs for the given price point. However, we encountered blue screen issues for our first unit, and also on the second unit we ordered as replacement.
