Sony VAIO SVT14124CXS Pro Reviews

Like its bigger brother the T15, the Vaio T14 leaves a great impression with regards to its chassis and design for the price. Performance is steady when under load and the low surface temperature deserves some praise, especially when compared to other thinner Ultrabooks. The touchscreen, however, continues to feel like an added novelty and should certainly not be a dealmaker in purchasing the T14 as its practicality is hard to warrant on a standard notebook. Those looking for a true budget tablet/notebook hybrid may want to consider the ThinkPad Twist or IdeaPad Yoga, both of which now start at about the same price as the $700 T14. In addition, it is becoming much more difficult to justify a Windows 8 machine running on a 5400 RPM HDD, specifically now that SSD prices have been dropping steadily. The benefits from a hybrid HDD/SSD setup is barely tangible during everyday tasks on the T14. A few notable hardware faults also hold back the Vaio. The soft keyboard and wobbly hinges may take some time to get used to, and the lack of an easy access to the HDD/SSD may bother some users who may want to upgrade the slow 5400 RPM drive to a full-fledged aftermarket SSD. Screen brightness in particular could have been much higher as we found the maximum to be average for typical indoor use and below average for outdoor use. The T14 draws similar conclusions to the Satellite P845T in that users can get a much better experience from a last generation Ultrabook with a dedicated SSD like the Asus Zenbook UX31E or Samsung Series 9 900X3B for the price. As long as buyers are willing to forego the touchscreen capabilities, then a thinner, lighter, and faster Ultrabook alternative will not be out of reach.