Vizio impressions at MS Store

Sure. Not sure if I can do an image attachment but, here's the text of the email.
============================
Hello Dmitry,

Thank you for contacting Walmart.com regarding the status of your order.

We are writing to apologize for our delay in shipping the VIZIO Silver 15.6" CN15-A2 Laptop from your order #2677....047; however the item is out of stock online and is on backorder. The new expected ship date is 9/28/2012.

We are working to resolve this issue as quickly as possible.

Dmitry please note that Walmart.com will not charge your credit card until your order has shipped.

If we have not fully answered your question or you have additional questions, please reply to this email.

Sincerely,
Walmart.com Customer Care
========================================

To be clear, I think it's good for them that they are doing this. It just turned out to be harder to get the trackpad right, apparently.
I suspect that there is huge variation in how different people interact with a trackpad. For example, I never think about palm rejection, but apparently it's an important feature. This variability is probably just one thing that makes it difficult. Windows 7 probably doesn't help either.

Hm, are they pushing this so far back that they will just be shipping with Windows 8?

 

I think it's a huge assumption that any delay is due to the trackpad. It could be due to any number of issues. Given some of the other things mentioned here, like the relatively low SSD performance, to the inconsistent benchmarks, to the short battery life, there could be quite a few issues giving VIZIO pause.

I'll say that if they really are delaying the release, that's a very smart thing to do. better that than launching with a whole bunch of problems. Unfortunately for me, I've been waiting months for Ivy Bridge, and I'm not willing to wait any longer. So, I've decided 90% on the MacBook Air, and have placed an order for one. I'm paying a good deal more than I would for a VIZIO, but I just can't afford to be messing around with a machine that might have growing pains.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

Personally, I say there's no chance in hell they're changing out the trackpad. They've entered into contract to purchase a fixed number of trackpads. It's not like they can just say, "Oh yeah, after 200 runs, we've decided to switch to Synaptics".

It's going to be the next lowest bidder when it comes time for contract renewal. So I don't anticipate that they'll throw in a good trackpad, just the cheapest bid, whether it's elantech, ALPS, or the Synaptics.

That's why Apple utilizes the best hardware.. They don't play the "lowest bidder" game.

 

I wonder how many of these units are actually in the wild, only sounds like a few. Odd they ran out of stock.

 

One the ssd is not slow maybe your expectations are too high, look at the samsung series 9 ssd performance it's not to far off and even better in write speed. Battery if you think it's above 4 hours and 30 mins your nuts.

Vizio is trying to see what they can do with software to make the trackpad better and that's not really going to do much. The problem is who made it.

I mean not to bash vizio but they make low cost products so it's understandable that this could happen. If you don't want these problems trust me buy the macbook. Your gonna spend more money but you won't have these problems.

Yeah they had to cut costs somewhere and it happened to be on the keyboard and trackpad. No biggie worst things have happened. Main issue seems to be the trackpad just doesn't respond the same all the time. It lags behind you or just gets confused.

At least 100 people have the one I have from sams just don't know why I'm the only one with one on here. Maybe theirs are so awesome and mine is the lemon or they don't know where this forum is.

 

Not trying to start an argument, but really, the results you've posted are very slow for modern SSDs. Note that Samsung has been putting low-end SSDs in the Series 9, which has been a point of contention regarding the machine. They're not, unfortunately, putting their own SSDs in, for whatever reason (maybe Apple bought up all the stock, that's what they use, along with custom Toshiba SSDs).

Not sure what you're referring to with regard to the battery.

Anyways, I did order the MacBook Air. I'll be giving up some Windows performance for sure, but hopefully getting some flexibility (my kid will have an OS X machine to use for school projects) and avoiding some build and component issues. All of the Windows Ultrabooks have one compromise or another, it seems, which is very disappointing overall.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

Yeah that's been the story of PC's for a long time always something is bad on it. But this ultrabook is nice if it had samsungs keyboard and trackpad and battery life it would of been killer. This I hate to say it because it's a really nice computer but you get what you pay for sometimes.

But I suggest people try it out maybe I have a bad one or others are different.

 

I'm sorry I can't find the article right now, but there's a site that specializes in SSDs that says the series 9 is baffling because Samsung decided to not use their own SSD in their own laptop. The gist of the article is that the SSD in the series 9 is subpar. Nevermind, just found the article.

If you read the product description correctly, I do believe that Vizio claimed 6 hours of battery life on this product. Macbook Air - 7 hours claimed, you get roughly 6 and a half. Retina Macbook Pro - 7 hours claimed, you get roughly 6 hours and 45 minutes. I remember reading somewhere that there's a laptop that can get 9-10 hours, but I don't remember which one exactly... Reason why I took the Samsun Series 9 off the table despite all the raving reviews? Battery life claimed 7 hours - you get about 5 if you're optimistic. Well that and because the screen is subpar, I don't think I would notice the inferior SSD performance because I'm not that attentive.

Anyways, my point is that if I'm looking for a laptop that meets certain criteria and the product description claims to meet my criteria... they better perform at a REASONABLE level for my expectations and my expectations for the vizio thin and lights are pretty much all based off of their product description. Pretty much why I'm waiting for a review from a major site.

 

And the lack of a single review from a major site is pretty much my biggest red flag.

 

I agree with this.
I decided I am waiting for mine to arrive before assuming anything. I will then decide if it is good and return it if it is not.

They simply do not want to give out review units is my opinion.

 

The HP 6t-1000 has been out a while now.

It has:
-Ivy bridge
-hybrid drive with a 32gb SSD and a 500gb data drive
-4gb ram, 1600mhz (upgradable to 8gb)
-quoted 8.25 hours of battery life
-15.6" screen with a 1366x768 resolution
-weighs 4.75lbs

No reviews yet, been out a while (like a month and a half? two?). One of the only 15.6" screen ultrabooks, albeit with a subpar resolution. A radically high quoted battery life, especially with a spinning hard drive. All this for $800 and no reviews.

 

A bit heavy as well, no IPS. HP consumer laptops suck IMHO.

 

Point was that it had no review despite being out for two months and they have plenty on order. Not really a red flag. Apple products get such fast coverage because ya know... Apple... billion dollar company. Only reason for them to make a review on Vizio PC's is that it's their introduction into the PC market. They'll do a review when Vizio wants them to and sends them a free version.

 

The lack of a review is not a red flag because vizio wants the review when there are plenty probably instead of having to wait. Your waiting and waiting and you read reviews and start nitpicking. Now we don't know what the demand is it could be major and they have to produce alot. So when it's ready and in stores I think that's the best time for reviews so people can read and go to store and try it out instead of read and then have no way to find out.

I have a feeling I know how it will go in the review excluding the trackpad since mine may be bad.

Design 8
Battery 6
Performance 8
Screen 9 or 10
Keyboard 6
Price 8
Sound 7
Trackpad 5 (this is with a good one not mine,texture of it is why)

This is 1 out 10 being the highest. And stuff like it being quiet not getting hot design screen will get a bunch of praise. They will give neg's on feel of computer (its like that soft dusty feel), keyboard not backlit, trackpad texture, and battery because it's really just average. You have to understand this thing is thin like macbook air thin almost it can't everything you want. But for what it is I like more than a series 9 and macbook pro retina (only because I don't want osx and that price tag)

Now you have to ask yourself for a 1000 dollars does all that sound like a good deal, remember 1000 can buy alot of computers these days. Your paying for it to be so thin and light and this amazing display.

 

I just got an email from Walmart stating that my new date is once again... Monday. For anyone who has not seen my previous posts, high chance this is a bogus date.

Not sure if others have gotten this also? I haven't seen the one stating a September release date yet.

I also see they updated Walmart.com with this.

A few days ago they didn't have anything on the page, they just stated they were out of stock.
But again, this is very common of them and they will most likely continue to do this until they actually have stock. Which means soon you will see a date of 7/16. I could be wrong, but I haven't been so far.

Vizio's website states

Microsoft website still states

(This is all for the CN15-a2)

 

They could possibly ship this week because vizio was finally going to replace my laptop and I was going to get it tuesday, the only reason I didn't do it is because if I switch I can't return it to sams. I can't risk being stuck with this computer.

I just think vizio was building up stock or something.

 

If Vizio can launch this week, I will almost definitely pick up one of their laptops. If the trackpad is the only major issue, I will definitely be happy with it. I'm getting the CN, so I guess there could be other issues, but chances are there probably isn't anything drastically different to the CT models. Cooling might be a bit harder, I guess, but it's still such a beautiful laptop, I want one badly as long as there aren't huge thermal issues, I can live with most problems.

 

Yeah i say it's worth a try there are no real major issues, and just make sure you buy it from someplace you can return hassle free if you don't like it.

 

Finally got to try one of 14" out in the MS Store in Austin. They had 6 of the 14" display models to try. My first reaction was, meh... Now that I am typing this, I wish I would have pulled up the system details, but alas I did not.

Here is my observation: Glossy screen on all of them - bizarre, I thought these were going to be matte IPS? Touchpad - average, nothing terrible, but not amazing. Fit and finish - have to say not impressed. They are thin enough and solid, but the muted gray metal seemed cheap. Also made the keys are bit difficult to see with the thin font used. Keyboard was not bad, but I prefer gap between keys.

I asked about the 15" and got blank stares... Not much here to say - I think in the long run these will fall into the 'also ran' category of ultrabooks, but I would definitely recommend getting your hands on one before you pull the trigger, especially since the Acer S7 and all the Win8 touchscreens are around the corner...

 

Yes, I also got my delivery date updated to 7/9 in an email.
=============================================
ORDER SUMMARY
------------------------------------------------------
Order Date: 19 JUN 2012 01:49 AM
Order Number: 267.....47

Description
------------------------------------------------------
VIZIO Silver 15.6" CN15-A2 Laptop PC with Intel Core i7-3610QM Processor and Windows 7 Home Premium with Windows 8 Pro Upgrade Option
Original release date : 02 JUL 2012
New release date : 09 JUL 2012
Should arrive by : 09 JUL 2012
Selected Shipping Method : Standard

=======================================

I replied back to my support email thread where they stated 9/28 and asked for clarification. Another email came with no reference to mismatch but again stating 7/9. Either right hand doesn't know what left one is doing or they really did build up stock. Should find out tomorrow I suppose.

I also was able to stop by MS store in Palo Alto, CA. They only had the ultralights and not the notebook versions. But the ultralights were on sale, including 15" which "they just got in today".

Trackpad was just fine. I didn't notice any texture on it either - just smooth surface I think. But I only had a few minutes. Didn't try keyboard unfortunately. Dark metal finish seems weird. It just comes across as kind of dark-side depressing. Maybe it's just me.

That might just be the deal breaker for me, will see when I get one.

 

At my local Walmart they only have the all-in-one. I tried out the keyboard and it was, sadly, abysmal by my standards. I hope that the notebooks' keyboard is different? Can anyone attest to their similarity or lack thereof?

 

The CT-15 A2 is up for order on Microsoft store for "Add to cart" not preorder, dunno if anyone has pointed this out:

Buy VIZIO 15-Inch Thin + Light CT15-A2 - thin, lightweight 15.6-inch PC, unibody construction - Microsoft Store Online

The other notebooks they offer from Vizio are still preorder.

 

They are all the same design maybe some have more travel in depth of keys but that's about it. Yeah I don't know what vizio was thinking for the all in one because that's not going to work for people but at least with the all in one it's easy to replace the keyboard and mouse. On the notebook I think it's going to be the worst because at least on the thin and light I can understand why it's so shallow not on the notebook or the all in one.

I can't believe vizio said they researched this stuff for years because if they did they would know the world already excepted glass trackpads and chic-let keyboards and backlighting.

To me it was done for a cheap way to produce a keyboard that will look nice to a non tech savy or anyone who uses a computer for work.

 

Chiclet Keyboards and backlighting isn't prefered by everyone; I know plenty of coworkers who don't like chiclet keyboards - it's all arbitrary to the user. I couldn't care less if there was backlighting on keyboards and I'm quit sure most people feel the same - if you type a lot, there's no reason for you to stare at the keyboard to type. It should be infinitely more displeasing if they changed button sizes (shortened the shift key or backspace button), which Vizio didn't, but Toshiba seems to think is alright on their Satelite series.

Also, it should be obvious that Vizio is trying to establish a name for themselves. Ask yourselves, what would people say if they created a laptop that had chiclet style keyboard, glass touchpad, and backlighting? Everyone and their mothers will claim that they're stealing Apple's design.

 

I disagree. Chiclet is certainly the current standard, but by no means the best way to do it. It's just a very common way to do it, you can (imo) have a good, non chiclet keyboard.

As far as trackpad goes, eh, I'm not too picky. Again, standard isn't always the best. As far as backlighting goes, they probably could have had a backlit keyboard. We'll see if that affects them though. Personally, I'm a touch typer primarily, so while backlit is nice it definitely isn't necessary.

 

Well first let me say keyboards don't have to chiclet keyboards my dell xps 16 had the best keyboard i think I have used in a laptop. Backlighting is a must because especially in this keyboard you wish you had it.

I don't care what vizio says they did because honestly they should of copied somebody in the keyboard and trackpad because they are not good. Not even close.

Whats even worse is imagine all the returns vizio is going to get that they will one day ship back as new or sell them off to like tigerdirect. PC's are pushing me towards apple because 95 percent of them all go cheap on something. You get what you pay for.

 

You're the one that said they should have used chiclet keyboard dude.

And so far, I've seen one person say the keyboard is bad... and that's on a display model. Two people, including you, have said the trackpad is bad on this forum - one of which was a display model.

And you've been typing on it this whole time. I'm starting to question some people's descriptions here...

 

I'm honestly taking everything I read here with a grain of salt, so to speak. I mean no offense to Michaeljean, but he's the only person really really complaining about it. I think somebody else mentioned they have somethign against non synaptics touchpads, but I don't know if he had/has actually tried one out.

Michael seems to contradict himself too... earlier you mentioned how you were thinking about the Dell XPS, but were turned off by the price (there were other things, but price is one of them). Yet you say you're being pushed towards Apple, and they are well known for price gouging if you want their build quality etc.

I don't think "95 percent of them all go cheap on something." it sounds a bit overly dramatic for my taste, honestly. I think you clearly got a bad computer, I don't think there's any reason for you to continue telling us how god awful it is until you get a replacement.

And I really think you're being dramatic with "all the returns vizio is going to get..." other premium computers have had much worse problems than a bad trackpad, (HP Envy screen color, 95% of TN screens in ultrabooks) and those did more than fine.

For example, the Dell XPS 13 has a TN screen, and it sold 3x faster than Dell anticipated. Pretty much every first gen ultrabook had a worse problem than a bad trackpad, and most of them seem to have had more issues.

Sure, Vizio did not get everything right on their first try, but they did a damn good job from what I can tell. I think I for sure, and probably thousands of others, would prefer a good screen and a mediocre trackpad to a good trackpad and a screen. It's also better for marketing - is a "1080P Full HD screen, sentellic trackpad" going to sell better than a "HD screen (1366x768), synaptics touchpad?" Almost definitely. (By almost definitely, I mean yes)

You say the keyboard and trackpad are bad, but iirc, people here have said they're fine. You're just more vocal about it. And I like Vizio differentiating themselves from the PC market - if you want to make a splash, you have to be unique. They've clearly gone for unique in these computers, and they need to if they want a foothold here.

I do appreciate all of the information you've given us, and I love the pictures etc. I'm just giving my own opinion, and that's to take everything said here cautiously (statistically, listening to only 1 or 2 people is a bad idea, even if they give raving reviews )

 

Hey make trackpad rocks now, I was just using it wrong. Yours will be even better.

 

I've had the chance to check out the 14" vizio at my local walmart a couple times. They have one in stock right now. my first impressions were good and there were only a couple minor things that weren't perfect.
The build/feel of the laptop is fantastic. I love the thinness and the style and the screen looks great. i also liked the black rubberish bottom of the laptop. The keyboard is decent. I was typing away just fine, but as I was typing I noticed that it was very loud. They had a HP folio right next to the vizio and I compared the two keyboards. The HP is very quiet compared to the vizio's. I am getting a laptop for graduate school, so a loud keyboard might not work for me in class or at the library. i am a loud typer to begin with. The keys seemed a little flimsy to me because they were so thin. I actually put my fingernail under one of them and tested to see if they were easy to pop off. It didn't, so I think they are stuck on there pretty good.
The trackpad seemed to work just fine for me and I didn't notice any issues with it. i wish it was a litter bigger not it's not too bad. i would mostly use a mouse anyway.

Overall it is very nice. The screen looks awesome, the speakers sound decent, and the size/thinness is just right. The 128gb ssd seems like it would be fast, but I am a little worried that might not be big enough for me and I would like more than 4gb of ram.

I was looking at getting either the vizio i5 version, or a lenovo u410 i5 with 6gm ram, 500gb hd/32gb ssd. I am thinking the Lenovo will work better for me so that is what I will probably get, and its not as expensive.

 

That brings up a good point. In addition to all of the other issues noted with Windows Ultrabooks, like screen resolution, poor trackpads (and I'm not talking about VIZIO here), bad keyboards (ASUS, I'm talking to you), poor build quality (Toshiba, your turn), I do have to ask: why do they all seem to think nobody wants more than 4GB of RAM? Pretty much no Ultrabook makers offer 8GB, or options to upgrade. It's nuts.

Heck, one of the reasons I'm getting a MacBook Air is because I want 8GB. I mean, if I can't upgrade RAM, then I'm sure as heck not going to settle for 4GB out the door.

I was on the fence about the VIZIO in part because there's no 8GB option. Even if the bad experiences here turn out to be outliers, I'd still have a hard time accepting the lack of options.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

are you guys testing click and drag, also have you seen the prices it looks like its going up I see people selling them for 1500 dollars that's insane.

 

That's because some people might have pre/early models and are trying to make some extra moneyz, Vizio's website still has them at normal price I think I remember seeing similar things for the samsung S7 for instance.

@person who tried them out: good news is awesome I have a mechanical keyboard w/ blue switches so noise definitely doesn't bother me hahaha. And I'm jealous, the walmart in my town has the product info notecard or w/e, but no products to try out.

Oddly enough, I find that the quieter keyboard are, the worse they are. A lot of keyboards with good/crisp feedback are louder because of it, and the "mushier" ones get kind of quieter most of the time imo because it absorbs so much force into the rubber and all. Then again, I'm no expert and this is all purely opinion.

 

The lenovo u410 has a 8gb ram and 750gb/32gb ssd version.

i did check the click and drag and it worked fine for me. the price you see is amazon.com/ebay inflated prices. people know that these are out of stock most places so they jack up the price. Like I said before, my local Walmart has the i3 version for the normal price of $898

 

I mean "true" Ultrabooks, i.e., the thinnest/lightest and not the hybrids with spinning disks of any kind. The Lenovo machines do look nice, though, if I was going that route.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

Oh, and I will mention, I'm a great example of how companies just MUST learn to start shipping when they start the hype machine. If I could have bought a VIZIO from my preferred vendor (and one of their premier vendors, Costco) before last week, I wouldn't have had time to think about things and so wouldn't have bought the MacBook.

Hate Apple or love them, they understand that you wait until you have stock in hand before announcing products.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

Gotcha, i see what you mean.

 

The 15.6" will be matte ips.

Maybe it will have a synaptics touch pad too

 

This is a joke?

 

But apple normally always makes announcements and then makes you wait for them... I think the retina display/most recent refresh is the only one I could think of where you didn't have to wait several weeks. Could be wrong though.

 

CT14-A2 or CT15-A2?
Advantage of CT15-A2 is the screen resolution but its battery life is claimed to be 5.5 hours, much less than CT14-A2

 

lolwut

The white iPhone 4 was delayed for 9 months after it was announced.

 

Apple announces, and the product is either available that day or within a week or so. Compared to the typical "in the coming weeks" announcements.

Yes, maybe their products often go on back order soon after launch, but enough people get them in their hands that there's a ton of hype generated.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

That's the exception that proves the rule.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

You're using that wrong.

Exception that proves the rule - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Just received the CT-15 A2. I previously had the Dell XPS 1640 so I really wanted a replacement that had a 1920x1080 screen. The screen is nice and it is matte. I actually like the keyboard. I have not had any problems typing on it so far. I am still getting used to the trackpad. I dont see the problems that others have seen...I can easily control it to highlight, copy/paste etc. I guess the biggest issues is that the buttons are gone and I am so used to having buttons on my old laptop. It is very responsive...almost too much. I will use it some more the next few days and let you know how it goes.

Here is a pic of the Windows Experience Index.

 

7.9 on the SSD, that's nice

Glad to hear some good opinions about the touchpad and keyboard, I'm looking forward to the CN models... I wish they were out XD.

 

They just charged my account for the CT-15 A2, should have it in a few days. I current use a T410 so I am sure the keyboard is not likely to be as good but the touchpad may actually be better. The screen I am sure will be 10 times better.

 

Yeah, yeah...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Thanks for the update. Sounds like your experience is much closer to my impressions when I checked out the 14".


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

I don't keep up with Apple product releases except for the recent Macbooks they released because I was in the market for an ultrabook. What other product releases besides for the white iPhone 4 has been delayed?