Sony Vaio Duo 13 Owners Thread

I don't remember the specifics but I found it cramped and just from playing around with it I wasn't sold as a replacement for my laptop+tablet.

So does the slope angle on it bug you at all? My plan is to have it in portrait mode with a long usb cable on my desk, like a traditional notebook would be, then hook it up to all my external devices. So it would be the 4th display so to speak and I could take notes while having code/email/websites opened up on other screens.

I have to look at benchmarks but I'm assuming it's faster than my current laptop. Thanks for the info!

 

I'm a new bee, so here's my buzz. I have heard that the screen on duo 13 will be (is) gorilla glass 3. Since It is glass, the glass would be impervious to most chemicals. I have seen several threads elsewhere that said that "Rain-x" helped the glass screen for the prevention of finger-prints and smudges, and made for smoother operation". I would avoid the camera lenses. My first thought would be to seriously avoid the chemicals on non-glass surfaces. It should be noted that this kind of stuff might be fatal to a plastic screen. This said, does anyone have experience with this idea? Also, might something like Armor-all or Simonize be useful for reducing dirt marks on the white model? I think Armor-all would make the bottom slick.

 

I think you shouldn't worry about hinges breaking, as demonstrated by the stress test videos posted here.

The main reason I want the Duo 13 is the stylus. If it weren't for that I would go with a traditional laptop.

I am a computer science student also, and unless you're programming with heavy graphics (when you need good desktop gpu anyway) I have never encountered computer performance being an issue... I can compile and run stuff fine on way older machines (although compiling may be slow).

I don't suggest getting the duo for "coolness" or the looks. If I didn't care for the stylus I would probably wait for Samsung series 9 pro.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

 

You can't rely on WEI on ANOTHER SYSTEM for your scores.

 

I'm wanting a Tablet/hybrid for the light weight and ease of use. I have disability issues and it's hard to move around much less move a laptop around lol. I was just looking at tablets but I seen this and really liked it. The stylus would be great for note taking in school and elsewhere. I do like the new and cool things but I really want sturdy, lightweight and long lasting. I don't want to buy again for a while. I'm using student funds to make this purchase now. My 2 year old computer is already dying; one hinge is broke and it simply can't seem to handle visual studio. I am extremely careful with my electronics but that doesn't matter if the build isn't that good. Do you guys think I should get insurance? Also, thanks for the info.

 

Isn't it the same system but with a different CPU. What's the point of WEI if you can't even compare the same computer but with a different CPU?

 

Microsoft onenote 2013 test on vaio duo 13.
Sony vaio duo 13 Microsoft OneNote 2013 test - YouTube

simply exciting to write on it

if you want me to test anything else. pm me or let me know. so i can do it for you.

 

Running the WEI benchmark on the same system multiple times will give you 0.1-0.3 point variance.

That's made worse by WEI having seemingly arbitrary numbers. What does 7.0 point mean? Is 7.7 10% faster than 7.0? No, because as it gets closer to the maximum rating its harder to get the last 0.1 points, meaning it may be on some exponential scale.

It's an ok really general reference number, but not something you want to take seriously.

 

Good video. It's reassuring to know.

How about the pre-installed software? Anything particularly annoying, slowing the machine down or taking up too much space? Thanks.

 

I've just tried windows 8.1 on my rMBP and it had 4 raws of live tiles by default on fullHD resolution. So inside the modern UI everything looks bigger then on windows 8. I think this is a good news.

 

note anywhere for duo is metro app, that came pre-installed. tbh, that doesnt look professional, it looks like a android app. and its very slow with loading, while onenote loads instantly and you can start writing on it and do lot of customization, you can add picture on it and start scribbling etc you can replace note anywhere with onenote for auto launch from pen tray.

 

Fam,

Love the videos so far. Thanks for posting them. I have some notes for you if you or anyone else ever wants to do a longer pen test.

Try enabling these settings in OneNote:

1) File -> Options -> Advanced -> Use pen pressure sensitivity
3) View -> Paper Size -> Letter or A4
2) View -> Rule Lines -> College Ruled
4) View -> Zoom, to make the ruled lines about the same as a real sheet of paper (9/32 in = 7.1 mm)

Pressure sensitivity seems to make the writing look a lot more natural in my experience. Not sure how well it works with the Duo 13 though.

==Writing test==
Printing or Asian languages tend to be more demanding than cursive. When printing do the strokes start and stop where you want them to (clean looking letters)? Any problems with dots or diaeresis?

Would love to get a close up shot so we can see the shapes on individual letters, just to see the pressure sensitivity in action.

Great job on holding the pen like a pen by the way. So many reviewers don't do that.

==Calibration test==
Is there any difference in calibration between portrait and landscape mode?

Are there any issues with calibration near the edges of the screen? This can make scroll bars difficult to use.

Does the pen write exactly where the physical tip is located?

==Lag test==
I can already tell the lag is pretty good from your video, but if you want to do another test, large scribbles or trying to quickly draw a sine curve with a pitch of about 2 cm and amplitude of the whole screen is a good way to get an impression for how much the ink lags behind the pen.

==Vectoring test==
If you draw a series of quick circles or quickly sketch some hair can you tell the curves are made out of discrete lines? Four circles per second should give about 33 points per circle so you can probably get it to show some vectoring if you draw fast enough, but hopefully no worse than this. Some people draw curves even faster than this when signing their name.

==Jitter test==
Try placing a non-metal ruler on the screen and slowly drawing a straight line. Often lines drawn slowly will show a substantial amount of jitter.

==Pressure test==
When writing, can you write using a light hand? Do you have problems with OneNote missing light strokes? Either skipping or not registering at all?

How hard do you have to press to reliably get a line to show up? Do you even need to be touching the screen (a real pad of paper has some give and starts inking before you've pressed all the way down). Some implementation of Wacom almost seem to start inking before you touch the screen.

Once you're at zero pressure how hard do you need to press to get to max pressure?

Pens are supposed to measure pressure normal to the screen surface. Does pressure sensitivity work well at all tilt angles?

Drawing a checkmark is a good way to test pressure sensitivity in OneNote. With a real pen the tail tends to be lighter and trail off. Shading gradients is another good test. Or drawing lots of dots with different pressures.

Can you get unsmooth changes in line thickness (wobble in pressure sensitivity) or do lines always look "buttery" and smooth? Is there wobble for light strokes?

==Feel test==
How do you like the materials/feel of the pen?

How does the pen feel against the screen? Is it too slippery? Too sticky?

Does the pen seem too noisy? Do you use the screen protector?

Do you have trouble with palm rejection?

How much space is there between the optical plane of the screen and the glass surface? Does it feel like you're writing directly on the screen or on a screen beneath a layer of glass?

How do you like the angle of the screen when in laptop mode? (Both for viewing and writing purposes really)

==Other==
If you have fluorescent lighting or any other source of electrical noise, does this affect the accuracy of the pen or touchscreen?

 

Thank you for the videos. I looked through them and had a question. One of your videos showed the computers specs and it was an i7-4650U which should be 1.7-3.3GHz, but in the video it showed 2.6GHz or something. Why is this? I ordered this model for its power and I am nervous after seeing that.

Also, does anyone know about the RAM? I know it is 1 stick with 8GB, I got the upgrade, but I read on the sony form that it supports dual channel architecture. Does this mean it is using dual channel in a new form with a single stick somehow, or does it mean I could add another stick and get dual channel use?

 

Sorry, here is the link about the RAM. I'm afraid I didn't understand exactly what they meant. Will it come with dual channel capabilities, or is it upgradable to have the capabilities?

Vaio Duo 13 RAM - Sony Community

 

Exactly the same I was thinking... the answer is indeed not very clear... I hope the memory module is working in dual channel (some tests seems to back this up) because you cannot add another 8GB of ram in this system

 

Nice demo! Just want to add that the pen feels solid and the weight is just right for me

 

While the Duo13 is significantly improved as compared to the Duo11, the keyboard and touchpad are still cramped as compared to a normal laptop. You have to decide if the form factor is right for you.

The slope angle in portrait mode doesn't bother me. The laptop is at least as fast, if not faster than my X220T.

 

Mine just arrived but it did not have the USB internet doggle on the power brick. I thought it was supposed to have it? Anyone know the part number? The local rep did not know what I was talking about.

 

If you live in the U.S.A., I don't think this is included.

 

I can't find it on the U.S. site, but VGP-WAR100 is the model number for U.K. and Japan. Wireless regulations vary between countries but I assume the router is meant to travel. Here is the link for the U.K. VGP-WAR100 | VAIO Additionals | Technical Specifications | VGPWAR100.CE | VGPWAR100 | Sony

 

That would be my situation. Thanks

 

Didn't get a chance to update you guys but I picked up my Duo 13 from Sony HK yesterday after getting a surprise phone call from them 3 days ago (original ETA was 15/7). I settled for the i7-4500 instead of the i7-4650 because I didn't feel like going through the trouble of importing from Japan or the US. Anyone that is interested in the i7-4500 version in HK better get it quick. Sony has very limited stock. I got the black carbon version. It came bundled with the VGA adaptor Model: VGP-DA15 and Wireless router Model: VGP-WAR100. I also bought the LCD Screen Protector Model: VGP-FLS12 and Carrying case Model: VGP-CK2. I got 10% discount on these 2 accessories. Sony applied the screen protector on the spot and did an awesome job!

I also got the following free gifts:
- 10% discount should I decide on buying more accessories
- a really nice looking VAIO carrying bag
- Sony Mini Product Figure Gashapon Premium Box Set – 5 pcs per set (Limited Edition)
- Sony Mini Octopus Card Premium Box Set (Limited Edition)

The laptop also comes with 2 year international warranty (previous laptops come with only one). I sold my Duo 11 a few days ago so I can't take some comparison pics. So far, I love the Duo 13. I feel no difference in size and weight between the Duo 11 and Duo 13 but I love the larger 13.3 screen in the Duo 13 (plus the ghosting was driving me crazy on the Duo 11). My model comes with simfree WAN with support for LTE (I think it has GPS built in). The 256GB SSD is made by Samsung and for all of you wondering if the RAM is dual channel, here is a screenshot:

 

Mine also just arrived, and the Wifi adapter is not included either. I ordered from Sony US, and since it wasn't mentioned anywhere when I ordered I didn't think it was included.

 

Since you have CPU-Z installed, could you run a CPU intensive program and see the behavior of turbo boost while it runs for a couple of minutes. I will get the 4500u since there's no 4650u in Canada and would like to see how high the clock boost with intensive task.

Great to see that memory is dual channels from different sources!

 

That's interesting. Other reviews/info seemed to indicate Toshiba as the SSD supplier. I guess Sony may have sourced from multiple manufacturers here.

Also, my VAIO is being built! I ordered on 6/12 and my shipping estimate was 7/12. My configuration was i7-4650u, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD, Win 8 Pro, White, base option on everything else. So, for anybody worried about delayed shipping dates on i7-4650u models, have some patience because it appears that Sony is back on track in filling orders.

 

Sony Vaio SVZ i7-3612QM vs DUO 13 i7-4650U 3DMark and PCMark 7 benchmark.

3DMark Score:
Sony vaio svz z vs duo 13 3dMark benchmark - YouTube
SVZ i7-3612QM: 620
DUO 13 i7-4650U : 826


PCMark 7 Score:
Sony vaio svz z vs duo 13 pcmark 7 benchmark - YouTube
SVZ i7-3612QM: 5397
DUO 13 i7-4650U : 5082

please do pm me or let me know if you want any other comparison between vaio svz z and duo 13.

 

Wow, llok good for a 15W dual-core vs 35W quad-core!

If you could open check the Frequency clock with CPUZ while doing the test that would be great. I'm curious to see how the 4500u (if ota-con) could do the same) compares to the 4650u in terms of OC and thermals limit.

 

If you could possibly test HD5000 against HD4400 in games listed below it would be great.

Fifa 13, 720p, low details – 62 fps;
Need for Speed: Most Wanted, 720p, low details – 27fps (runs in window mode)
Dirt 3, 720p, ultra low details – 65 fps (run in windows mode)
Dirt 3, 1080p, ultra low details – 52 fps ;
Skyrim, 720p, low details – 36 fps;
Starcraft 2, 720p, low details – 63 fps .

Sony Vaio Duo 13 review - a big step forward

And also, could you please run Cinebench 11.5 on it?

 

Vaio svz z i7-3612qm vs duo 13 i7-4650u Cinebench 11.5
Sony vaio svz z vs duo 13 CINEBENCH 11.5 benchmark - YouTube

SVZ : 5.65
DUO 13: 3.13pts

 

I also ordered from Sony USA. The wifi and hdmi-vga adapters weren't included in my package. Does your package come with a hdmi-vga adapter?

 

If he US model doesn't come with the wifi adaptor, does anyone know where I Can get it? I looked on the US, UK and Irish sites and didn't see the attachment in the accessories. It was on the Asian site, but I didn't see an option to purchase it.

VGP-WAR100 : Others : VAIO™ Accessories : Sony Asia Pacific

 

The VGA was an option at purchase. You had to select it. I think it was an extra $30. Does your power brick have the USB port? If it does, I might try to buy the wifi from Asia.

 

You can buy the Wireless router Model: VGP-WAR100 from Sony HK but they are currently out of stock.

 

Has anyone figured out the RAM question?

Vaio Duo 13 RAM - Sony Community

 

I believe that the answer that jfs123 is likely correct. LPDDR3 RAM, which the Duo 13 has, is typically not produced in DIMM form, but is typically directly integrated onto the motherboard to save space (since devices requiring low power and small size are the same). The Duo 13 likely does not have any RAM slots and instead has dual channel functionality from the integrated RAM.

 

I just got one on eBay at $66 including shipping. I compared the $66 to official accessory price at Sony HK store. I think it was somewhere around HK$350.. don't remember what it was in USD but $66 wasn't too bad compared to it..

Official Sony Vaio DUO13 Pro13 11 Wireless Router VGP WAR100 | eBay

It said 2 available, and since I bought one I think there's only one left...

 

So I've been setting up my Duo 13 all day... I'll compare it to Duo 11.

Keyboard is a huge improvement from Duo 11. In comparison to Duo 11's keyboard, it's great. That's because Duo 11 keyboard sucked really really bad. Duo 13's keyboard will register all your keys as long as you push it all the way down.

That being said, as far as general laptop keyboards go, it's not that great. The pitch is pretty shallow, and it's stiff to push. My first impression was "smooth," but the more you type on it it's closer to "stiff." It will take me some getting used to, especially for me because I'm used to typing on mechanical keyboard (cherry brown switch)...

Trackpad is a huge huge huge improvement over the optical pointing stick. One gripe is that the click is pretty stiff, so dragging and dropping is difficult. Surprisingly the small size wasn't that big of an issue. With scroll speed/mouse speed all the way up, it does its job of a trackpad. But stiff click and small space combined, dragging and dropping is pain in the ... I'm simply going to opt for cutting and pasting with keyboard.

Screen size is great. I hate having the text size at 125% because of Windows scaling issues. But the 13 inch screen makes me barely able to keep it at 100%. Just barely, mind you. A lot of people will have trouble reading at 100% still, so this may just apply to me.

Battery life is amazing... I don't think I need to elaborate on this, since the battery life aspect is pretty clear...

The power button is really thin so it's hard to locate it and push. I'll need to get used to this.

Wifi connectivity is not so great... Pretty similar with Duo 11 or pretty much all other Win 8 laptops. This seems to be a driver issue so hopefully this will be fixed.

Speaking of drivers, I upgraded my Win 8 to Pro and it's causing me some annoying little problems and I think it's the driver issue. I wanted to reinstall all the drivers, but guess what? Duo 13 is not on Sony's support site yet. So I'm going to have to wait for that to be up...

My Duo 13 has i7-4650U with Intel HD Graphics 5000. The difference between 4000 and 5000 is impressive. On Duo 11, at lowest setting (not full res) Borderlands 2 was unplayable. But on Duo 13, at lowest setting Borderlands 2 runs pretty smoothly! (Still not the full res though)

If you have any questions about Duo 13 just let me know...

 

I've read a lot of things about wifi issues. I'm really nervous about that for my classes. Some people said they don't think it is a driver issue. Was it fixed in the duo 11 with a driver update?

Thanks for the lengthy review.

 

If you put your ears close to the fans, or run the machine in a quiet environment, do you hear any noise at all? My duo 13 always makes this annoying sound which is like 'zzzz...zzzzzzzzz...zzzzz', got told it's coil whine and just wonder if this is normal?

 

I posted this yesterday:

View attachment 98623

 

Hey guys..

I got this bad boy yesterday, and I'm facing trouble getting the Digitizer pen sensitivity to work with photoshop and Zbrush. Has anyone had any luck in this area.
It's a great piece of hardware, the size and weight is ideal as well. But they advertise the pen pressure like it works with all apps which is not the case.. It only works with ArtRage at the moment.
If anyone has any leads on this, please share.

Thanks!

 

Thanks for all the info, but I think you were doing something wrong with your Duo 11 for Borderlands 2.

What Duo 11 specs were you playing it on that you couldn't get it playable at lowest settings at 1366x768!? I had an i7-3537u 8GB Duo 11 and it ran smooth at most low settings (with a couple higher) @ 1080p into the 30-40FPS range, which was very playable with few dips. I did a few tweaks in the config files and it would run even better (feel free to google the tweaks). If I put it on a mix of low-medium settings at 1600x900 it would run smooth with a mix of medium settings and maybe a couple low (AA off) as well, but I preferred the higher resolution.

Also, I'm currently using a new MBA 11.6" with an i5, 4GB RAM, and HD 5000 graphics, and it runs BL2 at 1366x768 with high draw distance, med textures, and everything else a mix of low (no AA though), or a couple things at med, with 2x anistropic filtering...at a solid 30FPS. That's without any tweaks. Lowering those settings would easily run it into 40-60FPS I find it hard to believe you can't play at 1080p with low-med settings with the i7, 8GB RAM of the Duo 13, which is a bit higher clocked processor than this MBA has.

 

On another note, my Duo 13 came yesterday, 2 HOURS after I left for the airport for a 2 week vacation!!!!! I couldn't f***ing believe it! Our flight was at 3:55pm and I got an email saying confirmation of the shipment at 3:55pm, what are the odds, lol. I had even checked about shipping and had been told it wouldn't arrive until at least next Tues, so there was no way to get it. If I'd have known, I'd have gotten faster shipping originally or had a 2hr later flight...I get antsy for my tech stuff.

When I got a "Being built" email on 6/28 I called Sony and asked if there was any way to confirm it would be there before I left or if I could do anything to guarantee it...but was told it wouldn't be there until next week, damn bs and I've gotten so much and been so happy with Sony previously! I know it's a new product, but that frustrates me I wasn't even offer faster shipping, and next day was only $21 extra when I went back and checked later. Ugh. The customer service lady I spoke with said there was no way to edit the order shipping address or anything, which I think is also stupid.

I never thought about seeing if they could change the order to next day shipping though, which would have gotten it there in time...which for the price, I'm paying over that to get it by Monday now from a friend.

Luckily my friend is staying there and able to get the package shipped next day to my location for $50. Not bad at all. Should have it Monday

 

Hi Guys,

Does anyone know if the AT&T 4G LTE wireless mobile broadband option looked for AT&T only or can I use any data sim card aborad?

 

AnandTech did a benchmark on Borderlands 2 comparing HD 4000 to HD 5000 and they only saw a 2.3% improvement. Not sure what settings they were using, but they tested seven other games and only saw a 15% improvement on average.

AnandTech | A Look at Intel HD 5000 GPU Performance Compared to HD 4000

Basically the HD 5000 seems to be constrained by thermals (per the article HD 5000 can easily take up all 15W of the TDP, which is supposed to be shared with the CPU and PCH). The HD 5000 also has a relatively low amount of memory bandwidth for it's processing power. 0.073 bytes/s per instruction/s, assuming nothing else uses system memory. NVIDIA GPUs are around 0.125 bytes/s per instruction/s and that's all dedicated bandwidth, not shared.

 

Guys what do you think, is it worth it to upgrade from the 4200U to 4500U?

 

Has anyone else had problems with battery drain during Connected Standby (sleep) mode? Per Microsoft's standards

Apparently some people are seeing about 7% per hour (that's per 1 hour, not per 16 hours).

DUO 13: Buzz and high battery loss on sleep mode - Sony Community

 

thanks for the info. Here are the drivers from the UK site.

 

Really? Maybe I had it on higher res without realizing it... If that's the case I feel pretty dumb! I think the fps felt like it was around 10-15 when I tried on Duo 11.. I'm wondering if I had something else running at the time that was eating up resources.