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List Price: $1,149.99
Sale Price: $999.86
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A beautiful laptop with a lot of issues. The laptop looks great and the screen is very clear. One of the only 1080p ultrabooks with a TPM chip so it works well from a corporate security standpoint. Very quick startup time and overall seems quick and responsive both when in use as well as startup/shutdown. Windows 8 is incredibly fast and 7 is not that far behind. One other plus is the support. So far I've gotten two quick responses through their live chat. Both responses weren't helpful, but it is nice to get someone quickly that can at least confirm your issue.
Some of problems I have with the laptop so far:
Battery life not as good as advertised. Mild use is closer to the 3.5-4 hour range.
Abbreviated keyboard. I'm not sure why with all the room on both sides of the keyboard they decided to leave off the PgUp, PgDn, Home and End keys. I use Alt+Home all day long in browsers and the other keys for word processing and general navigation.
Trackpad. Like most other people are saying, the trackpad is a nightmare. The cursor constantly jumps around or locks on to a part of the screen you are not trying to select. Updated the driver, turned off the tap to select and it's still frustrating. I also had the cursor become completely unresponsive a few times already to the point I had to logout and back in to get it to work again.
For some odd reason they partitioned out the hard drive in a way that makes it difficult to carve out space for another OS. Multiple recovery partitions and a dedicated partition for the hibernation file prohibit adding any additional partitions. You can work around it by disabling hibernation and deleting the file and then reenabling it later on but tech support had no idea what I was talking about and couldn't give me a reason they needed multiple partitions for recovery.
Also, there are zero accessories for this device. That may seem like an after thought, but they literally do not sell A/C adapters yet. I checked with support to see about purchasing an additional adapter so I can have one for work and one for home but they do not sell them yet and do not have a timeframe for when they will. I asked what I would do if I lost mine and the answer was literally, "we will see what we can do."
Based on all these faults and the relatively high price, I would not recommend this to anyone.
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I picked this up to use for personal and business travel because I wanted larger screen real estate than my iPad can offer but less weight than a traditional laptop. It's incredibly lightweight and the screen display/resolution is very, very good. On paper, the specs are great: 256Gb SSD, 4Gb RAM, and GB wireless NIC.
Here's where the device falls short: As noted by other reviewers, the touchpad, even under Win7 is pretty poor. I deducted one star for this reason. Downloading the latest drivers from Vizio's website helps a tad but it's just not as responsive as it should be. In fact, my 3 year-old Sony Vaio's touchpad is so much better such that you wonder why Vizio couldn't have pulled off a better design. The other drawback is a lack of a wired ethernet port but I didn't deduct any stars from the review since I knew this omission before buying.
The reason I deducted an additional star is that this device simply won't function under Ubuntu 12.04. The CT15 has an Atheros AR9462 Wireless NIC so Ubuntu (and most linux installs) will try to use the Ath9k drivers. Unfortunately, this chipset is not yet supported so I ended up with slow and often no network connectivity. Tweaking modprobe.d and loading the linux-backports-wireless modules wouldn't fix it. Moreover, the touchpad is just plain wonky under 12.04. Using dconfig-editor and/or Synaptics didn't help either. And you can imagine trying to troubleshoot these problems via a wireless internet connection of 1Mbps. I finally had to dig up an old USB-to-Ethernet peripheral to stay sane.
But the reason I deducted the last star was that after 10 days of daily use (despite the problems described above), the touchpad simply died. At first, I thought it was an Ubuntu issue but it also failed using Win7. (Fortunately, I had setup a dual-boot configuration which is not what I would've normally done I usually blow Windows off the system altogether.)
So while this laptop will probably work fine in Ubuntu six months from now, you'll probably want to wait until purchasing if that's what you want. If Win7 is your OS of choice, note that the touchpad is still just merely adequate and I wouldn't recommend it for long work sessions. I may take a look at the next gen of this unit because the display really is nice but until the touchpad is improved on the next gen, I suggest you wait.
Best Deals for VIZIO Thin and Light CT15-A2 15.6-Inch Laptop
First I like to say you can probably go to the Microsoft store and buy this. I bought this last weekend and there was a promo going on 20% off anything over a $1,000. So my laptop after tax was only a grand. Bought the two year insurance to go with it and after tax i paid 1250. Not to shabby.
I thought long and hard before I bought this laptop. I wanted all the reason to buy a Mac and to hate the vizio. I was comparing the Macbook Pro 13& 15inc & Air 13 inc, Samsung Series 9, Sony Z series. For the best bang for your buck. I choose the Vizio. Higher resolution then all 3, 1080p HD. Faster processor 1.9 i7. Yes many can argue the retina is better and higher. But be reminded your paying $2,200. There is a full HDMI on the ultra book. I know many normal laptops have the hdmi but for an ultra book Vizio its one of the few. But I believe it will become standard soon and other companies will follow.
Pros-
1. Fast!!! Boots up super quick
2. Screen is super nice, 1080p. Very nice viewing angles. I came from a 13 Inch Macbook and now I have a 15 and I cant go back.
3. Keyboard is wide, keys are shallow. (I can adapt to that)
4. The speakers are fair. Their pretty loud
5. When you adjust the brightness, it's bright!
6. 256 SSD for 1k. I'm not sure where you can find another laptop in that range. At least not yet.
Cons-
1. TRACK PAD!!! I came from a macbook, and even the macbook feels better. Trying to adjust. If I plug a mouse I know it will work fine, but I wish the track pad would be better.
2. No keyboard lights (I can live with, would have been nice)
3. No SD card slot (But I honestly don't remember the last time I used one, the adapter is only 10 bucks on amazon)
Conclusion:
Great machine for the price. The main reason I purchase the Vizio is because for Macbook Pro 15 Inch i would have had to pay 1800. Macbook Air to upgrade to the same specs would have been 1600. Samsung Series 9 with 256 would have cost 1700 (700 difference) And I heard their software takes up like 40 GB off the bat. Sony was like 1700 too. For me it came down to price and not brand. Many may argue you get what you pay. But right now I'm getting a lot for my buck. So I'm paying like 700 bucks less then most competitors. Yes I'm taking a risk with a new line. But that's why I have insurance. My biggest con will be the track pad. Coming from mac I almost cant stand it!!! I'm still adjusting. But this Vizio is a beast!
Enjoy
Honest reviews on VIZIO Thin and Light CT15-A2 15.6-Inch Laptop
The 15.6 inch Vizio Thin & Light is simply flawless. It is the best designed PC I have ever seen. I love the fact that the screen is 1080p and is matte. The surface is finger print proof and the body feels really durable. The only minor complaint is that the track pad isn't as amazing as the MacBook track pad. But in comparison to other PCs, this laptop probably has one of the better track pads. The keyboard may look a bit awkward, but after trying it and seeing in person, I am simply amazed. Typing is so easy and smooth. However, it might be a little loud compared to other laptops. The bottom has a soft rubber touch, making it easier to grip. The camera is probably one of the best cameras I've ever seen on a laptop. It shoots in 720p. The audio system is crisp and loud. I'd say that it is even better than the Beats Audio in my HP laptop. It does not offer a SD slot, but that should not deter people from buying this laptop. It is simply sleek, fast, and beautiful. Good job Vizio.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for VIZIO Thin and Light CT15-A2 15.6-Inch Laptop
After purchasing the 15inch Vizio thin & light notebook at the Microsoft Store a few weeks back, and here are my thoughts:
First, the specs of my machine are the following:
15.6" 1080p IPS matte screen
Intel Core i7 (3rd generation "Ivy-Bridge" processor)
4GB RAM
256GB Solid-state hard drive
2x USB 3.0 ports
1x HDMI port
Price: $1199 + tax + $200 Microsoft Store gift card
First of all, I have to say that this machine is a great value for what you are paying. Don't be fooled by the Amazon pricing, I purchased this system for $1199 at the Microsoft Store, and it is listed at $1399 on Amazon (it's even $1249 on the Microsoft Store site, but I got a small discount, but I'm not sure why). Also, if you are a current college student, you can also get a free Xbox 360 4GB console when you purchase this laptop from the Microsoft Store (although I think a few other retailers such as NewEgg and Best Buy also have that promotion). I already have an Xbox, so I just chose to get a gift card instead. This should easily be enough to get a copy of Microsoft Office, a nice carrying case, and any other accessories you may need for free.
In addition, if you were to compare to compare this to a similarly spec'd MacBook Air, you're looking at about $1499. Now, granted, the Air is only a 13" while this is a 15", but all other specs will be similar, and even then you're not getting a 1080p screen on the Air. I'm not comparing this with the MacBook Pros since they all use the full voltage Ivy-Bridge processors, which means they are not really in the ultrabook category. Either way, there are a few caveats here and there, so it's hard to make an apples-to-apples comparison between this and any MacBook, but it's still worth considering.
Performance wise, I can say that I am very satisfied with the capabilities of the machine. I installed a copy of PCMark Vantage and got a score of about 12,300. This is comparable to other Ivy-Bridge equipped ultrabooks on the market (you can see some other results here: . In addition, due to the speedy SSD, I can shut down and restart in about 35-40 seconds.
The screen is 15.6" and full HD (1080p). That means that web-pages and videos look great. In addition, the screen also has a matte finish, so this helps reduce the amount of reflections that you usually see in glossy screens. Overall, the screen quality is excellent.
Battery life is decent. From my estimations, I seem to get about 4.25 hours when doing general web browsing/word processing. Keep in mind that due to the Core i7 processor and the 1080p screen, the battery life of this machine will be slightly lower than other similarly priced ultrabooks on the market.
There are a few downsides, however:
As is the problem with many Windows laptops these days, the trackpad is decent, but could be much better. The trackpad is manufactured by Sentelic, and not Synaptics, which tends to make the best trackpads. Strangely, the unit I purchased did not have multitouch enabled out of the box. I had to do a little bit of searching online to find an updated driver with two finger scrolling and pinch-to-zoom gestures. I was finally able to get them working fine, but it's interesting that they are not turned on by default, even since the display units at the store have multitouch gestures enabled. In the end, however, I don't care too much about this since I tend to use an external mouse most of the time.
In addition, I found the wifi to be a little unstable in the first week or so, but after that it seems to be working fine.
Overall, I really enjoy using this machine. In terms of value, this is one of the best ultrabooks you can buy. Vizio has a ton of experience making good screens on their TVs, so it's no surprise that they were able to put a great screen on this machine as well. The performance meets or exceeds other ultrabooks on the market and the battery life is also pretty good. If you are worried about the trackpad, then I'd suggest you go to try one out at a store first before making a decision.
