First, I found the Sony computer a joy to use, very responsive and easy to carry.
The Sony weighs 37.7 oz, while the Lenovo weighs in at 53.6 oz.
Although both computers have 13 inch screens (13.3 inches for the Sony), the footprint of the Sony notebook is actually smaller. It is about 1/2 inches smaller in width and length. (Keep in mind that I'm talking about the actual external dimensions of the notebook...not the screen size.).
My Sony has 128 GB Solid State Drive, while my Lenovo has 256 GB SSD. You can get the Sony with 256 GB as well if you choose. If you get the 128 GB keep in mind that you'll have 71.8 GB left over on the C drive when you get the computer. After you load Microsoft Office and do all the updates, you'll have about 66.9 GB free on C drive. But you have 2 USB 3.0 slots and an SD slot on the right side of the computer if you need additional hard disk space for photographs, videos and music.
I prefer the keyboard on the Lenovo, as I find the Sony has less feel, and is a bit slippery. But the Sony has a nice lighting if you are going to use it in a poorly lit area. Lenovo does not have a lit up keyboard.
The Windows Experience score on the Sony is 6.2, while the Lenovo is 4.8. But in real life, I didn't find any appreciable speed difference when using the computers. Both are able to reboot Windows 8 in about 20-24 seconds. The Sony had a 4 second edge in this regard.
Both screens have very nice color rendition and text depiction. The Sony screen is much more limited in how you view it. It tilts about 5 degrees back from straight up. That should work for most people, but I found it a bit limiting. My preference is if it could tilt a bit further back for more comfortable viewing. The Lenovo Yoga will flip over completely and operate as a tablet, or tilt in a manner where the screen is propped up and the keyboard faces down, or just simply tilt back to any viewing angle you wish. In this regard, the Lenovo is much more versatile...which is where it gets its "Yoga" name.
The touchscreen on both computers worked very well. But keep in mind that some people, including me have reported issues with the Lenovo touchscreen. I had two separate Lenovo Yogas. In one the touchscreen worked perfectly (I kept that one). The second had an erratic, sometimes nonfunctioning touch screen that made the computer unusable. Others have reported similar issues with the Lenovo Yoga.
The trackball is nicer on the Lenovo. It glides much more smoothly than the Sony, and has a better/larger area to click or right click the pad. The Sony trackpad functions decently enough. But it feels rougher.
I removed the Kaspersky internet security that comes with the Sony, because the updates are incredibly slow...watching a snail crawl across a football field would be faster. This is not a Sony issue, so don't let it detract you from the Sony at all. I noticed this issue with Kaspersky software I bought two years ago, and was hoping they remedied the problem. They haven't. Instead I use Windows Defender that comes with the computer.
A couple of issues with the Sony. The screen sometimes flickers or dims momentarily when you put your hand toward the screen in the center of the computer, or when you touch a link or menu choice. Not sure why this happens. You can certainly live with this, as it is quite momentary. But it is annoying.
Second issue is that some people have reported they find the fan to be noisy. Normally I don't hear it at all. But once in a while it sounds like the background sound of waves crashing at the beach. Not bad...not an issue for me. Maybe an issue for others.
I intend to make this a rolling review, adding more feedback the more I use the computer in the next few months.
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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I am a Mac user, let's get that out right up front. I switched to Macs over four years ago, but Windows is an ever-present specter even for hard-core Mac users, I'd guess. I'm not above using a Windows machine as long as it's top-notch, and thankfully, this Sony Vaio lives up to its "Pro" billing. It might not be quite as impressive to behold as a Macbook Air, but it's pretty nice indeed.First impressions are everything and my first impression was of how light it was, hefting it out of the box with one hand so quickly that I almost felt like I was going to throw it. It was so light that I was certain the battery couldn't have been installed... but it was. It's that light. I won't say that it makes my four year old 13" Macbook Pro feel like it needs to go on a diet, but it's about half the weight. Considering the Vaio is largely made of carbon fiber, it makes sense. The outer shell is a very thin brushed aluminum that adds a big touch of class. Again, this isn't quite up to the standards of the Macbook line there are hints of plastic all over, and an alarming tendency to flex when picked up in certain ways (this, I read on tech sites, is due to the "give" in carbon fiber, not an inherent flaw.) For someone used to the rock-solid bodies of Apple devices, it doesn't instill much confidence, and reminds me of lower-quality laptops that creak and groan as you move them. The Vaio may flex a bit, but it's completely free of any bad tendencies to this effect, and I pray it stays this way. It's such a nice machine that I've already grown attached to it.
The Vaio Pro is fast. FAST. So fast I had to shut it down and restart it to show my wife how impressively fast it was able to cycle itself. In barely the time of a commercial it was able to shut down and restart back to the log in screen. Extremely impressive. Thank the 128gb SSD on board for this incredible performance. The only downside to this drive that I could see is that Windows 8 and various apps that came installed from Sony already ate into nearly half the available space. You'll want to have external drives or cloud space handy for files; this computer is meant only to handle small files or to be a place to work on larger materials that later get moved somewhere else.
It has a fantastic keyboard quick and light, requiring little action to operate but won't result in false keypresses, either. The keys are slightly springier and lighter than the Mac keyboard, making for very fast typing. They're also backlit when plugged in, they'll stay lit, when unplugged, they'll be lit when lighting conditions call for it. One nitpick that I've seen others making and I'll make it too: having to use the function key to change various function-row keys is annoying.
Once I'd downloaded and installed what felt like a barrage of updates from Sony and Microsoft during the first couple of days, I was truly able to check out the Vaio's battery. And it's as impressive as everything else. In a completely informal test (because I didn't know if I'd get even more updates and need to plug in for power) I can safely say that it easily ran for 6-7 hours without a charge, and perhaps longer.
The touchscreen is very responsive, no different than using my iPhone or iPad. We'll get to more about this in a moment.
A couple of downsides: the bottom of this laptop gets hot, really hot. The Vaio's design angles the lid so that it lifts the bottom off surface to circulate some air, but when it's resting on your legs, you'll feel that heat very quickly. Then the fan kicks in and it's not something you won't notice. Imagine the sound of someone using a blow dryer in the back of the house. It's not obnoxious, but it's noticeable.
I'm not a big fan of the trackpad so far. I love my Macbook's slick glass trackpad. It's extremely responsive. I know when I gesture on it, it will do what I expect. Not so with the Sony trackpad, which frequently ignores motions made on it. Windows 8 has a number of specific gestures and I often have to repeat them to cause the computer to react. Most infuriating so far is unreliable scrolling. The two-finger motion sometimes refuses to work. And then, inexplicably, it works... for a time. And then it doesn't. And then it does, but maybe it selects half of what you just two-finger scrolled over. It can be maddening. I don't know if this is a driver problem, or what, but it needs to be fixed.
I can't talk about this laptop without discussing the elephant in the room: Windows 8. I am completely new to this all-new OS. So new, in fact, that I've basically ignored all news about it and only knew the basics about the strange, two-faced nature it had. It seemed like this might be an interesting venture I like challenges. I jumped in head first here, let me tell you.
For starters, there's very little in the way of help provided to new users. I know my way around Windows XP and, to an extent, 7. Dropping into Windows 8, however, was like being dropped into a Bizarro World version of Windows. I was prepared and yet really didn't appreciate what might be coming. And Sony/Microsoft really don't prepare users there's very little help to get you going. Sure, there are a couple little pointers and a small "Getting Started" guide for the laptop itself, but nothing about preparing for life with Windows 8. I'm really rather stunned. My first evening with the Vaio was mostly a night spent searching how to do pretty simple stuff. Where's the control panel? I searched Explorer and found it. Little did I realize that Sony doesn't bother to tell you that it's purposely hidden, and they've provided their own Vaio-approved portal into the control panel with their own customized settings. You're just left to stumble onto these things. This is a tactic Apple has used well, the joy of discovering, but it's not a joy here because I don't find as much making the sense that things make on Apple's OSs.
Windows 8 feels as if you are "strongly encouraged" to use the touchscreen rather than a mouse. I find myself reaching for the screen and doing what I normally would with a mouth simply because it works better. Some buttons are too small to touch so I have to go back to the touchpad, but the machine feels more responsive and sensible when used mostly touchscreen. I wish the screen tilted further back for this, as it doesn't lean very far and sometimes makes this usage feel a little awkward.
That said, I'm not discounting Windows 8 entirely. I think they're onto something that could be really solid once the kinks are worked out. Windows 8.1 is coming soon, so I'm hopeful that this takes care of some of these issues.
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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program There are a LOT of things to love about this laptop. The most immediate and obvious thing is the weight! This laptop is SO LIGHT.Pros:
Super light
Great keyboard
Awesome trackpad
Nice monitor
3 USB's 2 in device, and one in AC adapter for charging of devices
Touchscreen is the only way to go with Windows 8
Cons:
PRICE
Heats up quickly, fan runs often
Hard drive
Even though there are more pros than cons, the cons are more important. This laptop is 105GB, it comes with 65GB available. So either this can't be your primary laptop or you need to add an external hard drive which adds both cost and weight.
The heating issue is really annoying. I've checked the settings, and called Sony to confirm all is as it should be. If you are watching a TV program or playing a game, after about 10 minutes the computer starts to heat up and the fan kicks in, and runs until you are done with that activity. And if it's literally on your lap, it's hot.
For the money, I just can't see choosing this as your only laptop. It's great for travel and light usage, but I don't believe much beyond that.
Edited to add: I don't use this laptop every day, and for some reason, every time I go to use it I have problems with the wireless, and I have to run the troubleshooter. It works fine once that's done, but it's a step I wish I didn't have to take every time.
Honest reviews on Sony VAIO Pro SVP1321DCXS 13.3-Inch Core i7 Touchscreen Ultrabook
Received the product a week ago, and it's still going strong. I previously had a Samsung series 9, and it had served me extremely well for the past year until it passed away due to some unknown reasons. With windows 8.1 coming out, I figured out rather than troubling me myself to try to repair my laptop, I might as well buy a touch screen, Haswell laptop. Boy, did it not disappoint. Even without the fixes from Windows 8.1, with the touch screen I have become ever more productive in this laptop. Sure, ignoring the touch screen is an option, but with the touch screen I can multitask so fast that I stopped doing productive work from my more powerful desktop. I'm not saying this product isn't powerful at all for multitasking and productive work since it packs a beefy i7-4500U and 8 GB of RAM. One interesting thing is that the RAM's clock is shown as 20,307 Mhz (just a peculiar discovery). After installing all the updates form Sony Vaio care (which I don't recommend to uninstall), all the old problems such as sketchy wifi and fans blaring are gone. Wireless is extremely stable, wide in range and fast and the fan only spins up when streaming 4K and 1080P videos. Sure, I wish the fan noise can be more subtle, but it is nothing one should be worried about in the classroom or library since it never even grunts a noise when I'm there. I do not game on this laptop but I figure y'all can find adequate reviews online. The screen is also an absolute joy to watch videos on, no matter streaming or through a DVD. The color gamut is about 22 percent larger than my series 9 and the blacks are way darker too. The keyboard is way better than my series 9 in terms of the feel though the touchpad is somehow lacking due to the fact that it isn't glass. Overall I am extremely happy with my purchase.Btw, silver, though not as professional looking as black, gives it a premium feel with the keyboard backlight on.
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This is not a comprehensive review, as I'm not a tech expert. There are other reviews that cover the technical pros and cons of this computer very well. I just wanted to add a few things...1) I've had this computer for about 3 weeks and I think the software updates have resolved the often reported wireless internet connectivity issues, as I haven't had many problems with it.
2) This computer scratches very easily. I received it in the mail one day prior to receiving my protective sleeve. It got multiple scratches on it the first day from being placed in my tote bag with my school books. I'm currently shopping for a skin to cover up the ugly scratches.
3) Lastly... I'm amazed at how light it is and how fast it starts up!
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