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SONY VAIO PRO 13 - A BRIEF REVIEW

Wondering why there is so much fuss about the Sony's Vaio Pro 13! 

     
 SONY VAIO PRO 13 is the lightest 13-inch touch-screen notebook in the world. If that is not enough to astound you, this WINDOWS 8 Ultrabook also bravado's a world-beating SSD with PCI Express technology and Intel's new Core i7 Haswell processor, promising extensive battery life. Starting at $1,249 ($2,219 as configured), on paper, the VAIO Pro 13 looks like the furthermost machine for road warriors, but how does it hold up in the real world?
     It has a slimline design which is so attractive to everyone. It measures just 17.2 mm at its thickest point, and has a weight of only 1060 g. It is quite less than the 1350 g of MacBook Air. It is so light and well balanced. It outsmarts the MacBook Air in the screen resolution too. Vaio gives a much brighter and colorful image.

     The Vaio Pro 13 comes with a NFC - near-field communication, which pairs with other devices quickly. It also has a intelligent Wi-Fi router dongle that plugs in to one end of the power supply. This helps to connect the Vaio to 5 more devices giving an impromptu Wi-Fi network. This comes helpful while travelling and in hotel room which gives only a wired Ethernet connection.
    
     The laptops performance speed is 4575 in PC mark 7. This is more than enough for web browsing and running Microsoft Office, and photo editing. This feature is also available in the i5 processor Pro 13. So you can order for that model too. It will save you a 100 pounds for sure.

SOME CRITICS:



  •  Though Sony claims that the CARBON FIBRE chassis is tougher than the normal aluminium one, it is not. The carbon fiber may be light in weight but it is very flexible. If you apply pressure on the keyboard and the screen it  bend's very easily. 
  • The touch screen also moves when you prod it. This is gives an icky effect.
  • The life of the battery was not very promising. It lasted only for little less than 7 hours. But the battery of MacBook Air lasted for 12 hours. Sony claims that the life of the battery can be extended to 18 hours with an optional 80 pound battery pack.

So it is clear that the ultra-light weight design of the Vaio Pro 13 does involve some compromises in terms of build quality and battery life.


MODELS:     

     The starting rate of the basic version of Pro 13 is 859 pounds, which comes with a Core i5 processor running at 1.6 GHz, with no touch screen. The next model has a much faster Core i7 running at 1.8 GHz, 4 GB memory and a 128 GB SSD. That has a cost of 1039 pounds.


PROS:

Weightless Ultrabook with touch; colorful full-HD touch display; Robust sound; Superfast SSD; Very good battery life.

CONS:

Pointed front corners; Poor webcam; Bottom runs hot; and desultory fan noise.

VERDICT:

The Sony VAIO Pro 13 delivers Intel Haswell power,long battery life and one of the world's fastest SSD's in the lightest 13-inch touch Ultrabook. And  it is also clear that the ultra-light weight design of the Vaio Pro 13 does involve some compromises in terms of build quality and battery life.