Sony already has one ultrabook on the market — and at prices ranging up to $3,000, the Vaio Z Series is the most expensive laptop in the category that you can buy.
To counterbalance the excess of its sky-high Vaio Z, Sony has another option for you. The scaled-back Vaio T Series is a little more restrained, offering a slimmed-down computing experience complete with third-generation Core i5 CPU for just 800 bones.
The specs aren’t exactly earth-shaking. A surprisingly dim 13.3-inch screen at 1366×768 pixels, the usual 1.7GHz Core i5, 4GB of RAM, and integrated graphics. One curiosity here is the hard drive, a hybrid model that adds 32GB of SSD storage to the 500GB traditional hard disk system. This helps to earn the system slightly better benchmark scores than you’d expect, but the numbers are generally in line with the competition.
That said, the T Series can be sluggish at times and occasionally pokey to boot up. Without getting too wonky about it, one of the reasons for this is that the SSD portion of the drive used in the T Series incorporates MLC (multi-level cell) technology, which is slower — and cheaper — than the SLC (single-level cell) technology used in higher-end drives.
Connectors include two USB ports (one 2.0, one 3.0), HDMI, SD card, Ethernet (full size), and VGA. One thing you’ll particularly miss if you’re a frequent flier is the lack of a dedicated wireless on/off switch. In fact, you can’t even turn Wi-Fi off via an Fn key combo; Sony has instead relegated the wireless system to a homegrown Control Panel, a truly awful decision. Of course, Sony has plenty more Sony-branded software preinstalled on this laptop, including the intrusive Vaio Gate toolbar that lives at the top of the screen. If for some reason you prefer to get to Skype via this system instead of the Windows taskbar, you’ll be in hog heaven. I expect most users will quickly turn it off.
The Vaio’s speakers are loud but noticeably tinny, but the volume is necessary to drown out the occasionally loud fan. The five hours of battery life is impressive, however, and the keyboard is spacious and easy to work with, though the key travel could be better.
At 19mm thick and 3.4 pounds, the T Series is a bit on the bloated side versus most 13.3-inch ultrabooks, and the brushed aluminum body with shiny chrome trim comes off as a bit garish in a world of more restrained designs.
But ultimately there’s nothing that really urges me to dissuade you from the T Series, though there’s nothing special to really recommend it, either. Want an ultrabook for 800 bucks? This slab of silver gets the job done about as well as anything else.
WIRED Generally good keyboard and clickpad. Slightly above-average performance. Good battery life. Upgrade to Windows 8 (when it comes out in October) for $15.
TIRED Needs more USB ports. As usual, bundled Sony software overwhelms even simple tasks. Washed out color on dim LCD.