Vizio CT15-A2 Owners Lounge

After using business laptops for a while, I finally ordered the Vizio CT15-A2 (Thin+Light series) on ebay. For $970, I am getting a new sealed with Core i7 / 4GB / 256GB SSD / Full HD IPS panel.

I think I gambled on the keyboard and more importantly the trackpad. I am very picky about the trackpads coming from Thinkpads. But I wanted an ultraportable with oomps of SSD and a full HD screen. We'll see

I would like to hear from the owners of this laptop to put their experiences here.

 

Not an owner, but very interested in Vizio as a whole. Walmart has these on display (maybe not the A2), have you tried one yet?
Personally, I liked the keyboard. Some people seem to rip on it because it's not chicklet, but I like it either way (my only disappointment was that it's not backlit). Touchpads seem to have been a gamble on any laptop since PC makers started imitating Mac's integrated-buttons setup. Vizio seems particularly dedicated to making the best PC multi-touch touchpad however, so if it doesn't satisfy right away, there's still chance it'll get much better as newer drivers are rolled out (they've released improved drivers at least once already). For the record, using the demo units, I was perfectly content with its performance though I personally still prefer mousepads with dedicated buttons. I think a little bit of time/experience could get anyone accustomed to the Vizio's keyboard and touchpad. I don't think it deviates from normal at all.

In case you haven't seen it yet, The Verge reviewed one of Vizio's CTs.

I didn't understand the importance of it until the other day, but one of the [potentially] great things about Vizio is their dedication to US-based tech support. I just purchased a Dell XPS, about which I've had to talk to Dell support and got on the phone with an individual who was polite and professional, but carried a heavy accent which was difficult for me to discern over the phone. Right then, I knew Vizio has a good thing going there and was right to tout it.

As for me, if I can't get my XPS touchpad issue sorted out, I'll be taking another look into the Vizio lines. The CN15-A2 was actually the very reason I started looking at newer notebooks in the first place... they made me realize my Lenovo has terrible build-quality, a disappointing screen, and clunky aesthetics. Problem is, they've been sold out since they've been out, or so it seems. I may end up waiting until I can snag one.

I hope it all works out for you. Given my limited experience with the demo units, I expect you'll be pleased with it, so long as you understand ThinkPads traditionally have been touted as the best keyboards and adjust your expectations accordingly.

 

I had tried the Vizio (not sure which one) for about a min at the MS store some months ago. At that time I wasn't much interested in the Vizio. I went to BB today but they didn't have it. I did try many Ultrabooks/Notebooks and even Airs over there but I do not understand the fascination that manuf. have with button less and slippery touchpads. It is so annoying. The best touchpad I saw was surprisingly on an Asus Gaming laptop. The problem with Vizio is that the ram is not upgradable. USA support is most welcome but I am not sure how long they will have it or even can afford it given the fact that their products do not carry a premium like Apple does.

 

Asus has had a long history of issues with their trackpads especially on their gaming lines. I have a g73sw-3de myself and its touchpad is finicky to say the least. Their zenbook trackpads also have had issues. It seems hit in miss with them. Their gaming rigs do have real buttons though which is a plus.

The vizio not having upgradeable memory really isn't a strike against it. Very few ultrabooks have upgradable memory or upgradable components at all. Its the price paid for the form factor.

On support, Vizio is a US based company with US call centers to support their products. They also partnered with Microsoft to add an additional layer of support you can call. I'm not sure if Microsofts support is US based or not.

You can thank apple for the buttonless trackpads... its a style thing it looks clean and simple and has done so well for apple that everyone is immitating it.

 

Heres my quick thoughts on Vizio.

Like many, I didn't give vizio much more than a quick look when I started looking for machines. After all this is there first attempt at making computers so they couldn't be that great. So I went with the sexy asus zenbook prime... a gorgeous machine. After returning 4 of them for various issues (there are 400 pages of comments on the issues in the asus forum) I decided to go another route and got a samsung series 9... only to find the wireless card they put in it can't get a signal through the duraluminum case so ended up returning it. Then I thought, I'll just get something cheap to use until all the new Win8 machines come out in november.

Then I stumbled across the vizio 14ct-a0 an decided to give it a shot. Its 3.4lbs, and only had a 1600x900 screen but it would do I thought.

I have to say this little guy has really surprised me. They have done a few things amazingly right and only lack in a few areas.

Microsoft Signature
I'm an instant fan. The Vizio is a microsoft signature product which means it has a bloatware free image. For example both the zenbook and s9 had 90+ tasks running at system start, the vizio only has 58. It runs so much cleaner than any windows machine ive ever bought. No need to do a system format and reinstall like you do with most PCs today. This is worth its weight in gold.

Sticker Free
No Windows, Intel, etc. stickers stuck all over the thing. Its nice and clean. Its a little thing but helps the experience.

Nearly Issue Free
The first one I got had a pixel stuck on in the center of the screen so I exchanged it... but other than that issue neither of them had ANYTHING wrong with them. This was really a joy after the horror stories I had with asus and samsung.

Trackpad
The trackpad is a little jittery out of the box but after installing the latest driver from the vizio site its smooth and quite usable.

Keyboard
The lack of a backlight bugs me. otherwise I love the keyboard. I touch type about 80+ wpm and haven't had any problems with it at all. I like the bigger keys better than island keyboards.

Screen Brightness Off
Most computers have volume up/down/mute and screen brightness up/down. Well the vizio adds a brightness on/off button. I thought this was pointless until i started using it... Its great to turn off the screen if you get a phone call or someone needs to talk to you. The screen is the biggest power draw on the system so it stretches battery life and at the same time keeps your screen private.

Power Adapter
The power adapter has a yellow light while charging and turns green when complete. Again a minor thing but lets you know if your charged up without starting up the device.

SSD
It uses a toshiba SSD drive. Ive run performance tests on it and its faster than the sandisk u100 in many zenbooks and s9s and not as fast as the adata drive in other zenbooks. The machine boots in under 20 seconds and returns from sleep faster than you can lift the lid up.

I've been using it a couple weeks now and so far Im quite happy with it. When the win8 touch screen units come out I'll look at Vizio first.

 

Thanks for the review. How do the trackpad buttons perform?

 

The trackpad itself was a little jittery until I installed the latest patch from Vizio.

There aren't individual buttons. Its the (becoming more common) click pad style. Where you click the lower left or lower right corner to get the effect of left/right buttons. It worked find for that type of clickpad, I haven't had any problems with it. I do prefer separate buttons though.

I disabled the tap to click on the touchpad, just because I always disable that so can't tell much about how it works.

The two finger up/down scroll doesnt work bad... your fingers need to be slightly apart for it to pick it up all the time though and its not as smooth on the scrolling as a macbook but highly usable.

I use an external mouse about 1/2 the time and there is a setting in the touchpad config that auto turns off the trackpad if a mouse is detected. Kinda handy.

Oh, there isn't any word on exactly what this is... but when these machines are updated to windows 8 there is supposed to be some added functionality... a pseudo touch screen capability is all they say but im guessing its win8 gestures on the touchpad.

 

The trackpad sucks I hate that you guys are making it sound like a minor issue. Like browsing the web is fine but when you have to really do something it sucks. Other than that it's a nice ultrabook I would say get the A1 if the price is better because the difference in performance is so hard to even tell. The hard drive is the only reason to get an A2.

Also got mine for 600 and I'm still complaining. The trackpad sucks if you have to highlight or drag anything and it freezes sometimes.

A better backlit keyboard and glass trackpad and I would give this computer a A+, oh and a model with 8gb I need it I'm in IT

 

Have you upgraded to the latest driver on the vizio site? Mine was jittery, hard to select things and froze up once or twice all before I put the latest drive on. Once I did that its smooth and I haven't had any problems whatsoever.

Also, if you installed the latest driver than did alot of windows updates its possible reinstalling the driver will clean it up. I read somewhere that someones trackpad worked fine until windows updates then went wonky again until he reinstalled the driver. I didn't have that problem though.


If I were listing improvements... a backlit keyboard would be the top of my list... then longer battery life. Im in IT too and would love 8gb of ram but the power draw probably isn't worth it to me, id rather have longer battery life. An sd card slot would be nice too.

I'm quite happy with my ct-14-a0 overall though. I got mine new from walmart on a rollback for $641. At current prices id likely go with the ct-15-a1 for $899 at walmart/sams.

 

I cancelled my CT15-A2 and ordered the CN15-A1 (The A2's are not available). The reason being the CTs are not upgradable.

 

Hey all you owners,

Can you put your CT15 on a scale and tell me the weight?

I checked out the CT15 and Sony S15 (FullHD IPS screen, 4.4 lb), and it seemed lighter than the CT15.

Other than that, I liked the CT15's keyboard and trackpad. The lower left had a nice click, and it worked every time I tried it. Zoom worked, but I don't use gestures anyway. It was really clean, the Sony, in contrast, has every possible button they could get in, plus DVD drive and discrete graphics. They left out an SSD though, odd!

 

The ct15 is 3.94 lb and looks better and cost less.

Pure ICS only

 

I know that's the spec weight, but do you actually see that?

Thanks!

 

I'm not going to weigh it is pretty light and I doubt vizio would just lie about it



Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

Have one of these and I'm really starting to hate the keyboard. Hitting any key a bit too hard makes the cursor jump around and sometimes erase things, which is annoying after typing an entire post. I have heard that there are touchpad problems, but I'm not having any, unless maybe this is what makes the keyboard jumpy. Other than that, the computer is truly beautiful and solid, lovely screen with crystal clear picture, very fast in startup, and not bloated with demo software. Sound seems OK. Could be a bit easier to open, with top and keyboard firmly together. Could use another USB port, but don't miss the others. The only good thing about the provided Microsoft Signature that I've discovered is the lovely Bing desktop it provides (even though I hate Bing as a search engine); just wish I knew who took the pictures and where. I stuck with my own virus protection, rather than Microsoft's.

 

I updated the trackpad driver on my CT15-A1, and it has made absolutely no difference whatsoever. Fortunately, I always use a mouse- so it is a mere irritation. I knew about the trackpad problem before purchasing, and I think everything else about the machine is brilliant. (Except the keyboard, which I have written about in another post.) If Vizio returns my unit with the keyboard issuess resolved, I shall be 100% happy. Otherwise I will have to shell out more than a grand for a 15" mac with retina display

 

im sorry but im going to have to defend the keyboard and the trackpad on the Vizio CTs.....unless they recently started shipping out new CT15-A1s(windows7) with upgraded drivers/etc or a different trackpad....doubt that.
anyways ive tried a mbp and have used older laptops for a while and the Vizio CTs trackpad would probably get a B- grade....its responsive and easy to control and seems to be precise enough for the majority of tasks and uses. touch click works flawlessly and hold clicking can be accomplished in the bottom corners by manually clicking down....two finger scrolling is easy but sometimes stutters. im not saying its perfect or that it doesnt have some flaws but for all intents and purposes theres nothing wrong the trackpad IMO.

the keyboard is definitely of the soft, mushy variety which is not always a bad thing.....the large, smooth flowing keys almost work better the faster you start typing....and the keyboard is almost completely silent!!! i think the keyboard was 100% designed to be like this and at the same time i can understand 100% why some people would really hate it. people who want the more pronounced, bouncey clicky typewriter style keyboards will be disappointed for sure. people with very fast typing skills and wpm rates will probably enjoy this.

 

The track pad is crap and you know it stop lying to people. It lags it doesn't even work sometimes. It gets a F for failure.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

to the owner with the 256 gb in hds

is it one ssd or two?

 

I recently picked up a Vizio CN-A5 with i7/1tb harddrive and 8gig of ram with nvidia 640le for $350.00

The prior owner wasn't happy with the trackpad and keyboard.

I first switched out the platter harddrive for SSD and inserted 16gb of ram.

The Nvidia 640 le GPU chipset is highly moddable with very little overheating, which allowed a 135mb boost with no measureable increase in heat or throttling.

Of course the problem remained regarding the trackpad and keyboard. I first sought out every driver update and then went through device manager and manually updated many drivers including the track pad. This applied drivers not found on Vizio's website.

World of difference. The latest drivers make the trackpad essentially normal in use, without the endless frustrating headache of stuttering or jumpy use. This is on the older trackpad model. The gestures are also very easy to use.

Now, it took easily a week to learn how to use the keyboard and to a lesser extent the trackpad in which to get a solid performance
in daily use without any headaches. While the trackpad drivers cleared up the trackpad difficulties, it required an understanding of how the Vizio was designed and intended for use.

The trackpad and mouse require a "gentle touch". Similar to apple mac products, one should be gentle and glide the touchpad without applying too much pressure. By being light on touch, the trackpad is more tactile and no double presses on the keyboard. It's a matter of finding the sweet spot regarding applying finger pressure and light movement on the pad.

It's likely that the person or team which engineered this notebook went after this "style" without thinking about the regular pc user. If I strong "finger" and "hand" this notebook, I will get double pressings and while the trackpad is essentially impervious to problems post driver, applying too much pressure slows down the mouse pointer, making the pointer less tactile. (updated drivers super important to make the Vizio "operable", especially on the first generation trackpad not made by synaptics).

So, with learning how to approach this notebook with a Apple like interaction in which I now see and notice Mac users in how they glide with their track pads, again, the experience is not only acceptable but genuinely good.

This might be why some people have no complaints while others are simply frustrated...first generation or even second generation lack of updated drivers and acquired style needed to operate the notebook.

The device manager manual update wireless drivers immediately solved the problem with wifi dropout and now works flawless.

A great laptop for $350.00, including an extra $200.00 for upgrade with SSD and 16GB of ram.

Because of people having problems with these notebooks, they are being sold cheaply and would make a great deal to snag with some simple effort and driver updates.

Ah, yes, the IPS Matte screen is fantastic.