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Sony VAIO T13 review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £680
inc VAT

A well-rounded entry-level Ultrabook, although not without its faults

Specifications

13.3 in 1,366×768 display, 1.6kg, 1.4GHz Intel Core i3-2367M, 4.00GB RAM, 320GB disk, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

http://www.sony.co.uk

Ultrabooks were undeniably an expensive luxury when they first appeared last year, but they are gradually coming down in price. With more people willing to buy one, Sony has finally decided to enter the ring with its first Ultrabook, the VAIO T13. It’s a mid-range machine with a mechanical hard disk and previous generation Sandy Bridge processor, but don’t let that put you off – you can pick one up for a very reasonable £680.

Sony VAIO T13

First impressions are very positive – Sony’s signature VAIO styling looks very sleek, and in this 18mm thick chassis you’d be hard pushed to separate it from the much more expensive VAIO Z series. It’s built from plastic rather than metal, with the brushed aluminium lid being the one exception. There are few signs of flex in the main body, but there’s much more give in the screen.

The display is a 13.3in panel with a fairly standard 1,366×768 resolution. Brightness can be set to a very high level, and the glossy display makes colours appear bright and vibrant, but we still found light reflections quite troublesome. Thankfully there’s a large amount of screen tilt, although the viewing angles from the TN panel are average at best.

Sony VAIO T13

Once we’d found a workable viewing angle, we had no problems working on the T13 thanks to its spacious Chiclet-style keyboard. There’s not a lot of travel in the keys, but they spring back instantly, giving you plenty of feedback when typing. You don’t get a numeric keypad, and there’s no backlight, but the full-size keys are still a pleasure to use.

Sony VAIO T13

Sony has also done a great job with the all-in-one touchpad – we don’t normally like these designs, preferring physical buttons, but the multi-touch gestures make it much easier to use than the touchpads from other manufacturers we’ve used in the past. A two-finger tap will right-click, so you don’t even need to press down on the pad to access context menus. The touchpad is more than large enough to span the entire desktop in a single swipe, thanks to the widescreen layout that matches the laptop’s display.

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Basic Specifications

Rating ****
Processor Intel Core i3-2367M
Processor clock speed 1.4GHz
Memory 4.00GB
Memory slots 2
Memory slots free 0
Maximum memory 4GB
Size 18x323z216mm
Weight 1.6kg
Sound Realtek HD Audio
Pointing device touchpad

Display

Viewable size 13.3 in
Native resolution 1,366×768
Graphics Processor Intel HD 3000
Graphics/video ports HDMI, VGA
Graphics Memory 384MB

Storage

Total storage capacity 320GB
Optical drive type none

Ports and Expansion

USB ports 2
Bluetooth yes
Wired network ports 1x 10/100/1000
Wireless networking support 802.11n
PC Card slots none
Supported memory cards SDHC, Memory Stick Pro Duo
Other ports minijack headset port

Miscellaneous

Carrying case No
Operating system Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Operating system restore option restore partition
Software included Microsoft Office 2010 Starter Edition
Optional extras none

Buying Information

Warranty one year RTB
Price £680
Details www.sony.co.uk
Supplier http://www.sony.co.uk