Sony VAIO Duo 13

Read the full content of this Article: http://www.notebookreview.com/notebooks/sony-vaio-duo-13/

 

The link isn't taking me to any sort of review.

Anyway, while sliders never really caught on, they're still my favorite convertible, because they can transform each way with just a single movement of a single hand. And the Duo 13 fixed my two main gripes with the Duo 11: battery life (thanks Haswell) and the Duo 11's trackpoint (the 13 has a traditional trackpad, albeit a small one).

If Sony wasn't selling off their VAIO line, I could see myself eventually getting either a Duo 13 or the next-gen Duo that Sony releases.

 

Yeah, I almost got one of these a few months ago. Then, there was no chatter about Vaio line being sold. Now, it's all uncertainty. Just sad and disappointing really, how Sony screwed it up with a brand name as strong as Macbook a few years ago...

 

With the VAIO line pulling out of the US market, parts availability and future updates aren't merely "uncertain" in my book. They're just not gonna happen. I cannot in good conscience recommend anyone in the US buy VAIOs right now...and you can tell from my sig that I'm no VAIO hater.

As for what happened, on the high end, the premium consumer laptop market collapsed with the economy, and strong competition from Apple, who did a fabulous job of building its brand cachet through good products (which Sony often also had) and excellent marketing (which Sony didn't have). And Sony never really competed with Dell/HP/Asus/etc on the low end; their prices were never low enough for entry-level and middle-class-oriented models. Between the two, VAIO had nowhere to go. Good designs, the Z1 and Z2 were legends, and Sony was probably the most innovative with Windows 8.x convertibles, but by then it was too little too late.

 

if you are sure what you are talking about, PLEASE elaborate, I am very interested.

the premium consumer laptop market collapsed? what is this market and did it really collapse? if it were the case, why didn't acer dissolve etc.

 

Luxury goods saw a decrease in sales in nearly every industry with the recession that started four or five years ago.

And Acer competes vigorously on what's considered the low-end of the US market ($400-$600ish laptops). Even though they sell a couple of higher-spec devices, in the US they're not seen as a high-end manufacturer comparable to Apple or Sony (who primarily focus on the $1,000+ market).

 

There's also Sony's lousy after-sales support. The whole proprietary drivers thing for GPUs really bugged the heck out of me. Even my MacBook is able to accept reference mobility drivers from AMD. That wouldn't happen with a Vaio and is a primary reason why I've never considered a Sony.

 

I don't know much about the details of drivers, but I can tell you that the warranty claim I made on my VAIO F23 was about the most pleasant interaction I've ever had regarding a defective product (turned out to be a defective HDD; they did an on-site replacement of HDD and RAM at a time at a conference room at my office at a time convenient to me). After-sales support and "too expensive" are the too most common complaints I've heard about VAIOs (bizarrely, I've even heard the latter from Apple owners, and Apple doesn't sell laptops under $1000), but I've never had issues with either during my time with the company.

 

are you sure about that?

For example, Lamborghinis were on a firesale during the recession, however their prices have since stabilized.

I don't think sonys vaio arm collapsed or anything. they were just not making enough of a profit. I'm sure there was some profit.

 

Billionaires are still billionaires, but middle-class people are now being more fiscally conservative instead of trying to keep up with the Joneses. We're talking about a $1000-$2000 laptop line, not a car that costs more than my house, so the latter matters more than the former.

The VAIO division was indeed losing money, though Sony wouldn't say how much. source