Intel Core i7 power.Ten-point touch screen. Full HD IPS display. Backlit keyboard. Supports NFC (Near Field Communication) technology. Full size HDMI port. Lightest 11-inch Ultrabook yet; Bright and colorful full HD touch screen; Solid performance; Good battery life and optional sheet battery
CONS:
Limited port selection. Integrated graphics. Small keys and keyboard flex; Sharp front edges; Lackluster webcam
The Sony VAIO Pro 11 (SVP11215PXB) is a sharp looking ultrabook powered by a fourth-generation Intel Core i7 CPU. It offers a beautiful hi-res touch-screen display and is extremely thin and light, but its graphics performance is middling and its battery life comes up short.
Design and Features:
The Pro 11 is housed in a brushed black carbon fiber chassis that measures 11.2-by-7.7- 0.68 inches. Carbon fiber, a reinforced polymer known for its strength and durability, is also a lightweight material, which accounts for the Pro 11's scant 1.92 pound weight. The lid sports the obligatory VAIO logo in shiny silver as well as a smaller, less conspicuous Sony logo. The rear edge of the lid is beveled and adorned with brushed silver trim and yet another Sony logo. And, just in case you missed the first three logos, there's another VAIO logo etched into the base of the Pro 11.
The backlit chiclet-style keyboard has a bit too much flex to it but the keys travel well. The multi-gesture touchpad, slightly recessed into the aluminum palm rest, is responsive and works wonderfully with Windows 8 gestures, but to really appreciate the power of Windows 8 touch technology, stick with the Pro 11's awesome touch-screen display.
The 11.6-inch display uses ten-point capacitive touch technology to deliver a responsive Windows 8 touch experience. Swiping in Charms, pinching, and zooming were effortless and accurate. Even more impressive is the display's color quality; the 1,920-by-1,080 IPS panel uses Sony's Triluminos Display technology (developed for their Bravia family of HDTVs) to produce rich, robust colors and dark blacks. The 1080p screen delivered a sharp, well-defined picture while watching a streamed episode of River Monsters via Netflix, and viewing angle performance was outstanding as well. The Pro 11's audio output is loud and full; there's no bass response to speak of but the overall sound is quite good for such a small laptop.
The Pro 11 has an SD card slot on its front edge and is equipped with Intel Wireless-N 7260 and Bluetooth 4.0 adapters. It is also Wi-Di ready and supports NFC (Near Field Communication) technology so you can automatically connect to smartphones and other compatible devices.
The Pro 11 comes with a 256GB solid-state drive that is loaded with Windows 8 Pro and a couple of VAIO apps, including the VAIO Message Center, VAIO Movie Creator, and ArtRange Studio. There's also a couple of XBOX apps, Skype, Slacker, Hulu Plus, and iHeart Radio. Sony covers the VAIO Pro 11 with a one-year warranty.
Photo Gallery:
Performance:
The Pro 11's Core i7-4500u CPU is part of Intel's new Haswell line. It boasts a core speed of 1.8GHz with a maximum speed of 2.39GHz and uses the new HD 4400 graphics circuitry. Armed with the new Haswell architecture and 4GB of system memory, the Pro 11 turned in a PCMark 7 score of 4,609, which trailed the Asus UX51VZ-DH71 by more than 300 points and the Toshiba Kirabook by more than 600 points. It should be noted that the Toshiba Kirabook had 8GB of memory and the Asus UX51VZ-DH71 used dual SSD's configured for RAID.
On our Cinebench R11.5 CPU test, the Pro 11's score of 2.46 lagged the field, which included the Asus UX51VZ-DH71 (5.60), the Toshiba Kirabook (2.92), and the Apple MacBook Pro 13-Inch (Retina Display)
Results from our Handbrake and Photoshop multimedia tests were similar; the Pro 11 finished last on the Handbrake encoding test but managed to squeak past the Toshiba Kirabook on the Photoshop test.
Intel's new HD 4400 GPU showed slight improvement over its predecessor, the HD 4000, but not surprisingly, it still can't compete with a discrete graphics solution like the Nvidia GeForce GT 650M. It scored 19 fps on our Alien vs. Predator test at mid-quality, edging out the Toshiba Kirabook by 5 fps. Both systems managed only 5 fps on the high-quality test. The Asus UX51VZ-DH71, with the help of its Nvidia GT 650M card, scored 43 fps at mid-quality and 17 fps at high-quality.
Likewise, the Pro 11 scored 13 fps (mid-quality) and 4 fps (high quality) on our Heaven benchmark tests, beating the Toshiba Kirabook by a single frame on both, but the Asus UX51VZ-DH71 blew them both away with scores of 32 fps and 13 fps, respectively.
Battery life was disappointing; the Pro 11's sealed 4125mAh battery lasted 4 hours 21 minutes on our battery rundown test. Although that beat the Asus UX51VZ-DH71 by around 20 minutes, it pales in comparison to the 7-plus hours we got from the Apple MacBook Pro 13-Inch (Retina Display) and the Toshiba Kirabook's time of 5:50.
Sony has always been big on style, and the VAIO Pro 11 is no exception. It's thin and light carbon fiber body will fit comfortably into a briefcase, carry bag, or backpack, and will withstand the rigors of frequent travel. It's powerful enough for all but the most demanding graphics workload, and its 1080P touch-screen display is a pleasure to use and a beauty to behold. That said, the Macbook Pro 13-Inch (Retina Display) maintains its edge, thanks to its incredible 2,560-by-1,600 display and seven-hour battery life, which is why it remains our Editors' Choice for high-end ultrportables. Our high-end ultrabook Editors' Choice is the Asus Zenbook Prime Touch UX31A-BHI5T, and if you can handle the extra pound and a quarter, the UX31A-BH15T is a better buy overall with over six hours of battery life.
Display & Audio:
The VAIO Pro 11 features an 11.6-inch 1920 x 1080 IPS touch-screen display with Triluminous display technology, which Sony claims helps the screen produce more natural-looking colors. On top of that, the Pro 11 includes Sony's X-Reality for Mobile display engine, which is designed to improve video sharpness.
While watching a trailer for "Man of Steel," fine details in Superman's suit were easily visible and colors were vibrant. We also appreciated how Tony Stark's blue business suit popped in a full HD trailer for "Iron Man 3." However, the picture quality looked somewhat muddy in darker scenes, and the display washed out a bit when viewed from the sides.
The display's 10-finger touch interface was accurate and quick to respond to our inputs.
The VAIO Pro 11's display is fairly bright, registering 237 lux on our brightness meter. That's far better than the Acer Aspire S7-191's 147 lux rating, as well as the ultraportable notebook category average of 231 lux. The ASUS Taichi 21, however, notched a slightly better 239 lux on its main screen.
The VAIO Pro 11's speakers are mounted above the keyboard, and they produced loud and clear audio when set to moderate volume. Just don't expect much bass. When we pumped up Jay-Z's "D.O.A.," the speakers struggled with each bass hit, causing some distortion.
Keyboard & Touchpad:
Sony says the VAIO Pro 11's backlit keyboard keys were precisely engineered for a comfortable typing experience. The backlight worked well, but the layout exhibited a significant amount of flex, especially along the top edge. The keyboard's keys are also relatively small and have a chintzy feel. There's a bit of bounce when you type, but not enough travel.
On the Ten Thumbs Typing Test, we registered an average of 74 words per minute with a 1 percent error rate, well below the 86 words per minute and 2 percent error rate on our desktop keyboard.
Fortunately, the VAIO Pro 11's 3.5 x 2.2-inch touchpad worked without issue. Windows 8 gestures were easy to use and the touchpad responded quickly to our inputs. Likewise, multitouch gestures such as pinch-to-zoom and rotate were spot on.
Heat:
The VAIO Pro 11 mostly kept its cool during our testing. After streaming a Hulu video for minutes at full screen, the touchpad and keyboard areas registered 75 and 86 degrees Fahrenheit, respectively. Meanwhile, the middle of the underside reached a balmy 91 degrees. Those temperatures are lower than our 95-degree comfort threshold, but we measured a hot 102 degrees toward the rear of the bottom.
Webcam:
The VAIO Pro 11's 1-megapixel webcam produced grainy images that included a large amount of distortion and artifacts. Details in photos, such as the pattern on our shirts, were nearly unrecognizable due to the excessive noise. Under low-light conditions, the camera offered equally poor image quality.
Ports & NFC:
In order to maintain its slim figure, the VAIO Pro 11 had to sacrifice some ports, but not many. On the right edge, you get two USB 3.0 ports and a full-size HDMI port, as well as a combination headphone/microphone port. Just below the notebook's front lip is an SD card slot and on the left edge are the power jacks. There's also a port on the notebook's underside for connecting a sheet battery.
As with Sony's Fit series notebooks, the VAIO Pro 11 also includes onboard NFC connectivity, which can be used to quickly transfer data, such as URLs and photos, from a smartphone to the notebook.
Battery Life:
Part of the draw of Intel's fourth-generation Core processors is that they are supposed to provide a significant improvement in battery life. On our LAPTOP Battery test, which includes continuous Web surfing with the display brightness set to 40 percent, the VAIO Pro 11 ran for 6 hours and 23 minutes before calling it quits. The average ultraportable notebook lasts 5:55.
Configurations:
Sony offers a few configurations of the VAIO Pro 11. Our review unit features a 1.6-GHz dual-core Intel Core i5-4200U processor, 4GB of RAM, a 128GB SSD and Intel HD Graphics 4400 for $1,149. If you're looking for a faster processor, you can opt for a Core i7-4500U chip for an additional $150. If you need more power and a larger SSD, you can get a Core i7-4500U processor and a 256GB SSD, as well as Windows 8 Pro for $1,429. Consumers can get the VAIO Pro 11 in either carbon silver or carbon black.
Specifications:
CPU
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1.6-Ghz dual-core Intel Core i5-4200U processor
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Operating System
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Windows 8
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RAM
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4GB
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RAM Upgradable to
|
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Hard Drive Size
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128GB
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Hard Drive Speed
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n/a
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Hard Drive Type
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SSD Drive
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Display Size
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11.6
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Native Resolution
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1920x1080
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Graphics Card
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Intel HD Graphics 4400
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Video Memory
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8MB
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Wi-Fi
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802.11b/g/n
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Wi-Fi Model
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Intel Wireless-N 7260
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Bluetooth
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Bluetooth 4.0+HS
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Touchpad Size
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3.5 x 2.2 inches
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Ports (excluding USB)
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Audio-in; HDMI
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USB Ports
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2
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Card Slots
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SD memory reader
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Warranty/Support
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Limited Warranty Term 1 Year Onsite
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Size
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11.22 x 7.76 x 0.68 inches
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Weight
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2.4 pounds
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