Sony Vaio Duo 11: A Review

Despite the heat of the competition among tablet computers, there is still hype for hybrid ultrabooks, especially since Windows 8 is coming. However, are they good enough to sell old iPad which is easier to carry?

Sony’s Vaio Duo 11 has a touch function and a fast 128 GB solid-state drive (SSD). It also runs on a third generation of Intel Core processor. Although it has several improvements, it still needs some parts to be worked out.

image credit to reghardware.com

Design

This ultrabook is convertible, which means you can use it as a laptop and as a tablet computer.  Sony calls this design a “Smooth Surf Slider.”

The screen is absolutely beautiful with its 11.6-inch size, which is touch sensitive and has a 10-finger tracking. It has a 1920 x 1080 resolution IPS display. The screen is fashioned from Gorilla Glass so your screen won’t get scratched. However, the touchscreen function does not work when in laptop mode.

image credit to news.cnet.com

Performance

The Vaio Duo 11 has a third-generation Intel Core 15-3317U processor, running with 1.7 GHz. It also has a 4GB RAM, giving the Duo 11 great productive capability and performance.

If you want to edit photos or create graphics-intensive web pages, this device is more than enough. However, if you mainly want to use it for playing games with huge graphics, you might opt to have other laptops or even the new iPad which offers great visual graphics with its Retina Display Technology.

This ultrabook can last for about 3 hours and 9 minutes if you are watching a video. This falls short of the 4 hours and 45 minutes estimation by Sony in their press materials. Although it falls short, 3 hours is good enough for two short films to view back to back. It is good enough for an average user.

Verdict

Sony’s Vaio Duo 11 has many competitions in the field, so you can easily compare it to other gadgets. Because it can be a laptop and a tablet, you can compare it to any laptop or tablet. If you compare this to the latest iPad, however, the only edge this ultrabook has is that it has a keyboard and bigger memory storage.

The Duo 11 does not make the best first impression for this writer, because there are a lot of hybrid ultrabook coming out from several companies. For now, the best company is ASUS, so if you want a quality gadget that transforms from tablet computer to laptop or vice versa, you should get an ASUS.

Besides, the Duo 11 has an awkward keyboard and short battery life, so it is not that reliable for longer work periods. As a tablet, it is uncomfortable for its size—not to mention that its touchscreen has glitches.

All in all, this tablet computer has a good potential to be a great gadget, however, there is still room for improvement. So if Sony wants to reign over the ultrabook category, they must do something with the Duo 11’s problems now.

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