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List Price: $899.99
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I must admit that I was not expecting the world when I picked up the CT14-A0 version of the Vizio thin-and-light laptop as a secondary notebook to take on vacation, for general family use if one of the main computers goes off into the weeds, or perhaps to use a dedicated Linux machine.
The build quality is superb, all metal, and the unit has an elegant, understated design. For web browsing, email, watching videos, light photo editing (cropping, red-eye removal, and the like), and typical office tasks (word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations), the Intel Core i3 processor in my first model (the CT14-A0) is far faster than I expected it to be. I love the clear, bright display and the high resolution, as too many (and even more expensive) ultrabooks offer only the generic low-end 1366 x 768 resolution.
The keyboard is a joy to type on and I'm finding that I like the slightly larger beveled keys far more than the traditional island-style keys on my Sony laptop. I noticed a bit of keyboard flex, but I'm a heavy typer and have experienced some degree of flex on every laptop/notebook I've ever used; the keyboard is still top-notch as far as I am concerned. Because of the types of computing tasks I do, I typically use a Bluetooth mouse with laptops/notebooks more than I do the trackpad, but I think that I can get used to this trackpad; by the way, there is a recommended driver update for the trackpad on Vizio's site.
There is a full-sized (not micro) HDMI port for connecting sound and video to a large monitor or TV. (An HDMI cable is, of course, not included.)
Sound quality was better than I expected, although a disclaimer is in order: I don't typically listen to music while working, and I'm no audiophile.
The SSD had no funky partitioning scheme to undo; there was just a single partition. I appreciated not having to waste any time getting the system set up and running properly.
Three possible cons:
* There is no SD card slot; you can easily find an inexpensive USB adapter for your flash memory cards if that is an issue, but without a dedicated slot, you won't be able to keep an SD card permanently mounted as a sort of secondary hard disk for extra storage.
* There are only two USB ports, one on each side; the good news is that they are both USB 3.0.
* The keyboard is not backlit; however, the screen is bright and the keyboard is silver, if that helps.
My humble suggestions to Vizio for future models:
* Include an SD card slot.
* An 8-GB memory option would be sweet.
Unless the cons represent a problem for you, it is difficult not to like this machine. It seems that Vizio sat back and watched the ultrabook market develop, learned from the mistakes of others, and only then released an initial series of excellent ultrabooks that hit most of the right notes. I look forward to seeing more from Vizio in the ultrabook market.
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I have several laptops, XPS, Alienware, Gateway P7805U, Acer Aspire 11.6 netbook, Macboo Air.
Which one do I prefer to use?
XPS for work.
Alienware and Gateway for gaming
Casual Browsing --> Vizio 14".
Pros:
Very light It feels lighter then the air.
Solid Build quality surpasses the air.
Rubberized bottom You know that feeling when you put cold Macbook air metal on your thighs, well I hate that feeling. Vizio really got it right. The bottom is rubber coated.
Screen If i'm not mistaken the screen is an IPS and is 1600 x 900. Looks better then the air.
Cons:
No backlight keyboard... It makes it very hard to use at night.
Track Pad is nearly unusable. Even with the new firmware... I like a mouse anyways but seriously...? It is soo bad...
Conclusion.
I'd get this laptop over a Air. Simply because it's less expensive by $300-$400 and it seriously is one of the best laptops I've ever used.
Best Deals for VIZIO Thin and Light CT14-A0 14-Inch Ultrabook
My review is biased toward the techno-geek perspective ...I'm a systems administrator with 25 plus years experience. And I'm using the Vizio CT14-A0 model to write this review.
HISTORY. I've been using "ultra portables" since long before they were fashionable ...and I keep them a long, long time before I move on ...I've always had other, larger laptops too, but for schlepping, "light" has been my _first_ consideration since the days I hauled a Compaq CRT-style suitcase computer around to client offices). And my first ultraportable was the venerable HP Omnibook 300 back in Windows 3.1 days (and an OB425, OB430, and OB530: I was a fan). Next was the diminutive Toshiba VHS-box-size miniture (sorry, I don't recall the model anymore ...it was a netbook, of sorts, well before the word "netbook" was coined), and I kept the Tosh' almost through to the Acer 12.1 inch that the Vizio is finally!! replacing. So this ain't my first rodeo lol.
PRIORITIES. In the old days, my main priority was always weight: I was always willing to pay more for less (weight, that is). Weight is still important, but now I accept light weight as a given, and so focus more on the user-to-hardware interface. IOW, I place a lot of importance on 1) the display, 2) the keyboard, and 3) the mouse/trackpad. Almost of equal importance to the display, is cost these days ...and I have to balance what I might think I wouldn't settle for less of, with what I can actually afford: I've become frugal in my dotage.
DISPLAY. I am not aware of a better display in this size. At any price point. The IPS technology means it has excellent off-axis viewabilty (so I don't have to twist the laptop around to show my wife something I want her to see when we're in bed). The 1600x900 resolution means that you have scads of screen real-estate for doing real-world support tasks. It's a gloss finish ...but in use, it *acts* more like a matte finish as soon as the display lights up: regardless it is far past merely nice and well into being luxurious.
USER-INTERFACE. Meh. I actually like the keyboard (which very much reminds me of the old Omnibook keyboard: almost exactly the same feel and tactile peculiarites ...it's kind of what you expect from traditional non-island KB tech ...and so I'm biased toward it). I hate all trackpads as the unprecision instrument they all are ...but I'm also resigned to them as a necessary evil of non-touch screen portability, and once you get past that bias, you just get on with learning their individual quirks and they *all* have quirks lol and figure out how to live with them as best you can ...and the Sentelic actually has some nice multi-gesture options built-in that I've already come to appreciate. From other comments though, I'm guessing it might purely be the luck of the draw whether you get a "good" keyboard and trackpad, or a demonically inhabited one whose sole existence lies in making your computing life thoroughly miserable (in other words: lucky me). NOTE: I did immediately upgrade the trackpad driver after first booting the thing, so I might have suffered less than others who were subjected to the original driver (and from observation of my usage the past few days, most complaints are likely less a hardware-based, and more driver-related issues that could be very, very easily fixed with another update ...for example, the right click "issue" in a browser which is driving me a little bananas right now, doesn't happen at all on the desktop right click menu ...ergo, the software is the issue).
FEATURES. Third generation i3 core ...dual core, hyper-threaded (so functionally a quad core for my uses ...and one of the hardware sites mentioned that it compares favorably with at least one of the 2nd gen i5's ...as I hadn't paid that much attention to the i3's due to my bias, I was very favorably surprised at how very "lively" the i3-3217U was in use ...it "feels" like a much faster processor). 128MB SSD (which translates into about 80GB of free space as delivered ...my old Acer ultraportable was a 60GB, and still has 50% free drive space after almost 8 years, so I'm good lol); please *do* turn off hibernation (I mean, it's an SSD for gawds sake: what possible purpose is served by *hibernating* the bloody thing) via "powercfg -h off" in an elevated prompt. Intel 4000 video (way fast enough for providing remote support and surfing the cloud ...and no, I do not game lol). USB3 (I have a little plug-in USB card reader that I picked up if I ever do want to plug in a card btw: so the lack thereof don't bother me). Very decent wireless (including 5G connectivity). Bluetooth (so you can tether it from your 'droid smartphone, yaay) or whatever. HDMI (full size port: nice touch). Small-ish power brick with cool charging-LED characteristic (with the install key label on the brick: now, that was weird). GREAT case design and construction (this is a later model, so I s'pose I'm lucky to have missed the typical manufacturing birthing pains that early adopters mentioned). Thin (.75 inch closed), light (on a digital scale I read 3 lbs 7.5 oz), metal w/rubber coated bottom (now there's an idea), and very quiet (the fan rarely turns on at all, and so "silent" wouldn't be all that inaccurate a description). Sound quality serves my purposes more than merely adequately (I'm not an audiophile, and I have no expectations of a device this size being able to serve that purpose with any level of elan).
FACTORY SOFTWARE. The lack of bloatware is particularly noteworthy, and appreciated. I didn't uninstall anything: kudos to Vizio. And Vizio already had MS Security Essentials installed, so another pat on the back (someone on the development team was an actual *user* lol). I had a license for Office 2010, and the install files for that were either lurking on the drive somewhere (there was an icon, at least), or it installed from some website when I applied my key. Other than Office (of which, I primarily use Outlook these days), I've primarily been adding patches, and installing the usual plethora of cloud apps (Evernote, Google Drive, Dropbox, Chrome, Gbridge, TeamViewer, etc., etc.) that I use in my daily work. I have a well-refined "digital support toolset", and the disparate parts pretty much cooperate in keeping me trouble-free, so I can keep my clients trouble-free.
PURPOSE. In my case, this is primarily a cloud box used for online reading, and late hours support and maintenance ...I don't onsite much these days (I'm 800 miles from my nearest clients lol), and when we go out-and-about java-hopping, I'm probably bringing the Nexus 7 as tech of choice anyways. I don't install a bunch of crap, and neither is the CT14 a repository for pictures & documents & music (for me, that stuff is destined to be moved to cloud drives or network storage these days ...I just don't see the point of keeping stuff like that on a local drive). For its intended purpose, the machine as configured turns out to be way overkill. Which is a happy thing lol.
USAGE AND PRICE. I picked this one up at Wally World three days ago, and it was a Jefferson-and-Lincoln under five Franklins. Oh yeah. Screamin' deal. Tell me what I could'a, should'a, would'a that even comes close to this hardware level for well under $500. Please. LOL.
MISC THOUGHTS. For all practical purposes, this is an "instant on" device. You have no idea how life-changing being able to close the lid on a working document or project, go do something else for awhile, and come back within seconds to your previous work is, until you don't have it (re: the old OB300). The keyboard is fine. Since I don't think any trackpad is worth using, the one provided is at least of no worse suitability IMHO. Because some of you have scared me, I will be buying an additional two years of Square Trade warranty (so long as it's an *additional* two years lol: I do read the fine print ...and so should you), which I *never* do (I paid little enough that I can justify the extra for the piece of mind). I suspect if this gives good service for a few years, it's likely to be one of my favorite laptops ever. I'm getting 7-10 hours plus of battery life with my current usage patterns, and custom power settings (intermittent use, with frequent "sleep" periods), so I'm not sure what other's are doing that I don't do: I have no complaints on battery life, and it's already a day time use, night time charge device (like the Nexus LTE and the Nexus 7). I've already spread the word around to friends and family and clients about the Wally World sale (local only, so you'll not see this online and you have a chance for a few days), so I definitely recommend the purchase.
FINAL WORDS. Five stars because of suitability, features-at-price-paid, ergonomics and industrial design, the thoughtful lack of crapware, and for inclusion of the utterly stunning display. Buy.
--------------------
UPDATE Three weeks later
--------------------
...regarding the touchpad, and the driver update.
Okay. After several days of no problems whatsoever with the touchpad, I finally got current with Microsoft patches. And since the updated Vizio/Sentelic driver was on the hardware patch list (and even though I had already run the driver update from the Vizio website when I first turned the CT14 on and connected to the cloud), I was feeling lazy and just clicked to include the MS driver. Couldn't hurt, right? Wrong! Big mistake. HUGE mistake. Incredibly stupid move, even.
Do note that I almost NEVER update drivers from the Microsoft update website for anything. As a general rule (I go to the chipset manufactures or the OEM for drivers). So yeah, I broke the rule. This turned out to be a huge, huge mistake: the touchpad absolutely went to crap, immediately upon restart. With problems up to and including the cursor totally freezing (requiring me to go to sleep mode to get the touchpad functional again).
Four days later, after installing/uninstalling practically every Sentelic driver from any-and-every manufacturer on the web ...I gave up. Even uninstalling, deleting the hardware, reinstalling, whatever from wherever (including the Vizio one) ...I simply could not get the mouse back to a reliably functional state.
So. I restored to the pre-patch point. Yes: from before the fateful (and fatal!) installation of the Microsoft patch which hosed my touchpad.
...and ...the restore worked.
The touchpad has been fine ever since. No weirdness. No freezes.
The overly sensitive gestures are working as they were intended again (they're actually useful). And I'm actually getting decent with the touchpad's peculiarities.
NOTE: I've found the Sentelic touchpad is VERY (overly! even) sensitive to finger placement within zones, for example (and a pity it is that touch zones cannot be manually set btw ...that would be a hugely welcome addition, which would go a long ways to ameliorate its crappy reputation). I can finally, and fairly reliably, get a right click menu in IE, without causing the cursor to jump down a half dozen lines (the trick is to press lightly-but-firmly about 2/3 from the lower LH corner ...since figuring that spot out, I'm in the 80-90% plus success rate with the right-click menu, and increasing in accuracy as my familiarity with where that sweet spot is, grows).
The moral of the story here is DO NOT INSTALL THE MICROSOFT SUPPLIED DRIVER PATCH.
I suspect that too many people used the Microsoft patch instead of the Vizio patch, or re-applied the patch using the Microsoft one also ...thereby totally hosing their touchpad (at least: I experienced many of the same symptoms that other people have reported when I applied the patch, and NOTHING I did, until I restored to a pre-additional-patch point was effective in fixing the problems that occured AFTER the reapplication of the MS update site with the same version number).
And yes, I know that both of those files appear to be the same version, size, and date. And maybe it's not the Microsoft driver per se, maybe it's re-applying the driver patch a second time that screws things up. Whatever. I can only suggest that IF the Vizio website updated driver is the ONLY touchpad driver patch you apply, you might not have the problems with the Sentelic touchpad that so many people have reported. You have been warned.
And, as always: YMMV.
Honest reviews on VIZIO Thin and Light CT14-A0 14-Inch Ultrabook
This is a great little laptop, and it is by far the best thin and light available for under $600. No competition. End of story. Build quality is excellent, and the screen is one of the best available in any 14-inch laptop.
Professional reviews have tended to criticize the keyboard and touchpad, but I think this is a largely response to the promotional interviews posted on The Verge which stated this computer has the best keyboard and touchpad among Windows laptops. While I can't say the input devices are the greatest ever, I find the keyboard to be better than average (good spacing, no flex) and the touchpad to be just fine.
The touchpad is manufactured by Sentelic, so it has limited features and doesn't work with Linux as well as some other brands. The driver that ships with the computer is problematic, but an update available on the Vizio website makes the touchpad usable with smooth two-finger scrolling. I have found that this configuration works well for me:
1) Download and install new driver.
2) Disable the confusingly named "Click on Pad." (This is what is usually called tap to click.)
3) Disable all gestures except two-finger vertical and horizontal scrolling.
After going through these steps, I find the touchpad to be as functional as an HP clickpad from 2011. (In other words, it can be temperamental when resizing windows, but it's mostly not an issue.)
In short, this is a quality machine at a great price. Grab it now.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for VIZIO Thin and Light CT14-A0 14-Inch Ultrabook
The computer itself is great, amazing display... But there are some real problems with the mouse trackpad and the keyboard... I find myself constantly annoyed with the horrible sensitivity of the pad and unlike my past laptops, i really have to hit the keys hard for them to register.. typing in class is loud and obnoxious... if your in the market for the laptop.. would really suggest going to a computer store and feeling the keyboard and trackpad first.. if i had.. i think i would have went for a different ultrabook.
