| The good | High-resolution screen with good viewing angles; powerful Ultrabook-class hardware; good connectivity options; extended battery option. |
|---|---|
| The bad | Expensive; design compromises make for subpar laptop experience; battery life could be better. |
CNET Editors' rating
Rating breakdown
Sony's entry for the Windows 8 convertible category is the Vaio Duo 11, a slider design with a 11.6-inch full-HD touchscreen. It transforms between tablet and laptop forms with an audible snap, but this hybrid device is simply too heavy to be used as a conventional tablet.
As a laptop, it boasts high-end hardware that's the equal of the best Ultrabooks in the market, but sadly, the experience is affected by design compromises. For what it's worth, Sony's design language has been consistent on the Vaio Duo--it looks and feels like a Vaio, warts and all.
If you can ignore its flaws, the Vaio Duo 11 is surprisingly capable as a business machine. Not only does it have sufficient horsepower for the typical office workload, the connectivity options include VGA and Ethernet, both mainstays in the corporate environment. The included digitizer stylus and its integration with some applications comes in handy in certain office scenarios, too.
Battery life, though, isn't as good as we like, which makes the sheet battery option almost mandatory for serious users.
More importantly, Sony is charging a premium for the Vaio Duo 11. No doubt, many PC vendors are pricing their Windows 8 convertibles higher than a normal laptop--the addition of a touchscreen raises the cost of production--but at S$2,699 for the Core i7 version that we reviewed, it's pretty expensive. A Core i5 version, which comes with only 4GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD, is slightly more palatable at $1,999 .
Design
The screen on the Duo 11 slides up to reveal its keyboard. You can even do it with one hand, though from our ancedotal experience, it takes about 10 seconds for first-time users to figure out how to open up the keyboard.
(Credit: Vincent Chang/CNET Asia)
Compared with another Windows 8 slider, the Toshiba Satellite U920t, the Sony implementation is not as stiff. However, it also feels less sturdy, an impression not helped by the exposed components underneath the screen--we could see the ribbon cables connecting the screen to the rest of the device. Sony assured us that the hinge for the sliding mechanism, given the fancy name--"Surf Slider"--has been built to last.
(Credit: Vincent Chang/CNET Asia)
The Vaio Duo 11 is made using both aluminum and plastic--the screen and the top half of the keyboard is mainly brushed aluminum, while the bottom of the convertible is plastic.
It's pretty light at around 1.3kg, though when used as a tablet, we still found it too heavy to hold comfortably, even with both hands. At just under 18mm, it just about meets the requirements for an Intel Ultrabook.
The power button is flush with the right side of the device, which makes it difficult to locate without looking. There are also controls for the volume and a screen rotation lock, together with a shortcut that triggers Sony's Vaio Care utility, which includes maintenance tools and a troubleshooter. Like the power button, these controls are hard to press, as they are found at the curved base of the convertible.
(Credit: Vincent Chang/CNET Asia)
The screen rotation feature is especially aggravating. It's unnecessary when the device is in laptop mode. After all, you would expect the screen to be configured in its correct orientation when using it as a laptop. Unfortunately, it's not the case--we ended up fumbling for the small rotation lock button, resulting in more unintended screen rotations during the process.
| Specifications as reviewed | Sony Vaio Duo 11 |
|---|---|
| Price as reviewed | |
| Processor | 1.9GHz Intel Core i7-3517U |
| Memory | 8GB, 1,600MHz DDR3 |
| Storage | 256GB SSD |
| Chipset | Intel HM76 |
| Graphics | Intel HD Graphics 4000 |
| Operating system | Microsoft Windows 8 Pro (64-bit) |
| Dimensions (WD) | 320 x 199mm |
| Height | 17.9mm |
| Screen size (diagonal) | 11.6-inch |
| System weight | 1.3kg |
| Category | Ultraportable |
Another flaw of Sony's design is that there's no touchpad. A combination of the slider design, which inherently wastes some space in order to prop up the screen, and the constraints of 11.6-inch form factor, means that Sony had to sacrifice the touchpad. And it's not just the omission--the keys are also quite small with little travel.
(Credit: Vincent Chang/CNET Asia)
There's an optical pointer that replaces the touchpad, but it's not quite the same. Meanwhile, the buttons for the touchpads are replaced with tiny slivers at the edge of the device.
While you probably won't be affected much if you only use the device in its tablet form, the situation comes to a head when you're using the Windows 8 desktop. With its full-HD screen resolution, icons and dialog boxes look tiny on the desktop, making it difficult to select with the fingers. That's when a proper touchpad with multitouch gesture support would be more useful than the pointer.
At least the keyboard is backlit, with an ambient light sensor that turns on the illumination automatically.
Features
More manufacturers are fitting full-HD screens on their computers--here's a list we compiled recently. The Sony Vaio Duo 11, too, comes with a 1,920 x 1,080-pixel IPS screen that boasts excellent viewing angles.
According to Sony, the air gap between the outer glass layer and the LCD panel is replaced with a gel, which reduces the refraction between the layers. It means that writing with a stylus on this touch-capacitive screen is more accurate.
As you would suspect by now, the Vaio Duo 11 comes with a pressure-sensitive digitizer stylus. Sony has even created apps and tools to take advantage of this feature, including handwriting recognition and a cropping tool. There are also other Sony-produced Metro-style multimedia (Music by Sony) and social networking apps (Socialife) that users can download from the Windows Store.
Known as Vaio Picks, this Sony apps section is one of the first things you see upon opening the Windows Store on the Vaio Duo. A nice touch is that a full version of Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 is preloaded on the device. Those with a Sony Xperia handset can also use the Xperia Link app to easily share the Internet connection on the phone with the Vaio Duo.
(Credit: Vincent Chang/CNET Asia)
However, there's no way to stow the stylus within the device. Instead, you'll have to keep it separately in a laptop bag and hope that you don't lose it accidentally one day. If that sounds half-baked to you, we agree wholeheartedly.
| Sony Vaio Duo 11 | Average for category (ultraportable) | |
|---|---|---|
| Video | HDMI and VGA | VGA plus HDMI or DisplayPort |
| Audio | Stereo speakers, headphone jack | Stereo speakers, headphone/microphone jacks |
| Data | 2 USB 3.0, SD card reader | 2 USB 2.0, 1 USB 3.0, SD card reader |
| Networking | Ethernet, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth | Ethernet, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, optional mobile broadband |
| Optical drive | None | None |
Despite its relatively compact form factor, we were surprised that the Vaio Duo 11 has a full range of ports and connectors. There's even an Ethernet port, along with both VGA and HDMI outputs, and two USB 3.0 ports. You'll also find both front and rear-facing cameras (2.4-megapixel caliber with Exmor R sensors), though taking pictures with this 1.3kg device is awkward, to say the least. It can also record 1080p videos, but the quality leaves much to be desired.
There's also an assortment of sensors typically seen on tablets, including NFC, an accelerometer, a gyroscope and a digital compass.
(Credit: Vincent Chang/CNET Asia)
Audio comes from two small speakers at the front bottom of the device. Performance is adequate--it is loud enough for movie-viewing, but the quality isn't going to rock your world.
| Model/Specifications | Sony Vaio Duo 11 | Toshiba Satellite U920t | Dell XPS 12 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Processor | 1.9GHz Intel Core i7 processor | 1.7GHz Intel Core i5 processor | 1.7GHz Intel Core i5 processor |
| Graphics | Intel HD Graphics 4000 | Intel HD Graphics 4000 | Intel HD Graphics 4000 |
| Video | HDMI and VGA | HDMI | HDMI |
| Audio | Stereo speakers, headphone jack | Stereo speakers, headphone jack | Stereo speakers, headphone jack |
| Data | 2 USB 3.0, SD card reader | 2 USB 3.0, SD card reader | 2 USB 3.0, SD card reader |
| Networking | Ethernet, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth | 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth | 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth |
| Price |
As Windows 8 convertibles go, the Toshiba Satellite U920t and the Dell XPS 12, are probably the closest competitors to the Vaio Duo 11. These 12.5-inch models are slightly heavier than the 11.6-inch Sony, though they all come with the standard Ultrabook hardware. The Vaio Duo 11 review unit is more expensive as it's a Core i7 version with a 256GB SSD--the other two devices come with Core i5 processors and 128GB SSDs. Sony does have a cheaper Core i5 model that's priced at S$1,999.
The Sony Vaio Duo 11 offers more connectivity options, including an extra VGA port and Ethernet. On the other hand, the lack of a touchpad on the Sony is a significant omission.
Performance and battery life
With its standard mix of Ultrabook hardware, we expected the Sony Vaio Duo 11 to be snappy and responsive. It delivered on those fronts, with its Samsung-branded SSD and Core i7 processor combining for a score of 5,112 in PCMark7. While this beat the Toshiba Satellite U920t (4,479 PCMarks), we have recorded a higher 5,489 score on the HP Spectre XT, which also boasts similar specifications.
Expectations should be tempered when it comes to gaming--the Intel integrated graphics on Ultrabooks isn't powerful enough for most PC games. It should, however, suffice for those games available on the Windows Store, such as Cut the Rope (free).
Booting up the Sony Vaio Duo took around 10 seconds, which seems pretty fast compared with Windows 7 computers. As a Windows 8 PC, it falls slightly short of the Satellite U920t, which did it in 6 seconds.
We haven't been terribly impressed with the battery life on Windows 8 convertibles--the Toshiba Satellite U920t managed less than six hours--and the Sony Vaio Duo 11 didn't fare any better at just 4 hours and 46 minutes. It barely meets the general Ultrabook requirement of at least five hours, though our video playback test (50 percent screen brightness with audio and Wi-Fi turned off) is probably more taxing than merely checking email or surfing the Internet.
The consolation is that there's an optional sheet battery accessory to extend the uptime on the Sony Vaio Duo 11, which isn't a feature found on most Ultrabooks.
Service and support
Sony includes an industry-standard one-year parts-and-labor warranty with the system. Support is accessible via a customer hotline and a Web site with drivers, FAQs and manuals.
