Sony's Ultrabook coming in April

"Enjoy your sounds with xLOUD and Clear Phase"

Decent sound in a VAIO?! OMG! *faints*

Edit: Just seen the 1366x768 screen resolution. How disappointing! It's ok for a budget machine I guess, but it does look really fantastic. Maybe the 'new S' will be similar, with a decent spec?

 

Another ultrabook clone... how disappointing. And to think, this is the area that Sony pioneered back in the TR, TZ and Z days.

Also, why is the Fn button that sat beside the cursor keys gone? With the lack of dedicated PgUp and PgDn keys, you can only move that way using two hands, not one like on the other small ultraportables Sony has experience of! It is by far the best way to navigate long web pages when casually reading them, giving the option of scrolling slowly using arrows or quickly using the combo. Looking at the shininess of my YA keyboard, the Fn on the right side is used far more than the big Fn on the left.

 

This is the Keyboard the Z should have gotten.

But why the low screen resolution, only i3 (even not IB).

The higher weight is probably due to more metal instead of carbon. Might be stiffer than the Z though.

 

If the price is ok, ~$5-700, it could be a winner for my 10yo kids.

 

Agree 100%. I guess their engineering talent has moved on to other companies..

 

3.5+ lbs would make it the heaviest 13" ultrabook and only slightly lighter than the S! I assume the screen will be upgradable to 1600x900 like the S (which I hope will have the 35W QC), btw is that screen any good? There's gotta be space for another 4GB dimm too. If they shaved off a 1/2 lb and put a decent screen on there I guess it'd be ok. And you can put a regular SSD drive in there. But why would you get this instead of the S anyway?

 

I would not expect an upgrade to the screen, if there will be an option will only be on the 13 inch.

Sony Ultrabooks are Official. T11 and T13 are 1st-Gen Ultrabooks (Update: Prices start at 699 Euro) Ultrabook News and the Ultrabook Database

more spsecs here and pricing, apparently these are the budget ultrabooks from sony, where is a normal one? and i don't mean the Z.

 

Does anyone know why the T11 and T13 are Sandy Bridge based? It doesn't make sense.

 

Well they go on sale at the end of this month and mid june and these are probably soon starting or started production so the Ivy bridge is not yet available.

 

Why do they only offer HDD for T11? And is it a 2.5" standard one and user upgradable? I don't like the weight, but if there is way to self upgrade HDD to SSD instead of all the proprietary drives that could be a selling point for some.

 

I/B version comes in less than 60 days.

 

That should help it but with Asus offering their zenbook prime's with A full hd screen I wonder if sony will offer a 1600x900 option at least.

 

^nope

10char

 

figures, would be too close to the Z.

Datenblatt VAIO SV-T1311W1ES von Sony.pdf

here is a model with 128SSD, 4000HD and Intel Core i5 3317U Dual-Core, 1.7 GHz, middle of june for 899 euros.

Will both the models, 11 and 13 feature IB or just the 13 inch?

more photos here, including the bottom of the device.

http://www.notebookinfo.de/produkte...-1311w1e-s/svt1311w1e-s-g4/00010904/#Bilder:1

 

I would assume the screen would be an upgrade on the 13" like the S, but maybe not. What about the cpu? The 11" is probably as is, how it can be an "ultrabook" if it only has a hard drive I don't get. Doesn't matter, the bezel is way too think on that one.


Agreed. I don't think they want to make something that comes remotely close to stealing away Z customers. So they made this heavy, budget option. They're just trying to buy time for the Z line until Haswell next year.

 

Is this for real? If so, stock up on Z2s cause Sony's daze in the notebook market may soon be over.

 

Sony's days in all markets may soon be over, they have not been doing well. Just canned 30000 people.

 

Completely agree.

 

^You guys haven't noticed the lack of backlight on the keyboard yet? I'll stick with the Z's keyboard...

 

Check out posts #62 and 63 ^ ^. You're new here, so let me save you and Beaups some irritation. Beaups is a member who often has information about upcoming Sony models in an insider-ish way. His accuracy is 100%. He won't comment if he doesn't know or, presumably, if he is not at liberty to say. Take it to the bank.

 

SB, 1366x768 and non-lighted keyboard... what is beaups... err... Sony thinking?

 

This product strikes me as a stunning fail on Sony's part, putting them below even Acer. They are incredibly late to the party and they bring an offering that, if it was the very first Ultrabook last year would have been a huge disappointment. With the MBA and Zenbook going on second and third iterations Sony has effectively taken themselves out of this market, likely the fastest growing non-tablet computing device for the next two years at least.

My guess as to how this abortion could have occurred: this model was on the product roadmap and, as things started to shake out internally at Sony, it may have become something like an orphaned project that should have been shelved pending reorganization but instead was pushed through with limited resources, talent and upper management support. At least that's the kindest interpretation I can think of.

This said, it's good to remember that Sony has class leading products in the Z, SE and S market segments - call it "full power thin and light." If LG fixes the 15" Orange IPS problem and Sony sticks a little better screen on the S (if Apple lets them have any of Sharp's or Samsung's production!) they are still in very much in the game - the anti-Ultrabook game. Stick a 128 GB SSD in place of the HDDs in the S and SE and you have parity+ in the 13" and 15" notebook segments. Will the dysfunctional organization recognize the "franchise" possibility in these segments? Not betting on it.

 

I disagree. In light of Sony's recent non-Z offerings, it would be hard for me to describe the ModerateBook as stunning. Expected would be a more reasonable description. As for being "incredibly late to the party" and "effectively taken themselves out of this market" well, that part I don't question.

Actually, I have to admire Sony's marketing strategy. They are the first notebook company to aim at the always trendy retro/nostalgia market. No wonder it's called the Model T.

 

I meant the layout only.

I hate bottom right part of the Z2's keyboard mainly because of the crippled right shift key. The 2 keys to the left of the shift and the arrows are inconvenient, too. I don't use the right Fn button, either (except if I hit it instead of the up arrow accidentally ). Too many keys in this small area.

I really like the other things about the Z2's keyboard, though.

 

I'm not Sony. What are they thinking? They are probably thinking here's a cheap ultrabook. Want better? Go to S or Z. My guess is S and Z will become a more natural upgrade from T at some point, but that is 100% speculation.

 

Isn't it too thick for ultrabook? It looks more like regular laptop imo...

 

It's pretty much same thickness as z. Maybe a millimeter or so thicker. Intel has strict requirements on Z height for ultrabook.

 

That's a bit too generous. The only notebook class leading notebook in the current VAIO range is the Z. The rest of the line-up is inferior or vastly inferior (S series) to the dozens of other manufactures out there. In fact, the 2011 S series is complete and utter garbage. The S series might look nice, but in actual fact they are pretty poor notebooks. If I was given a S as my daily workhorse machine, the racket of the fan would probably send me over the edge.

We found out in the thread linked below that the 2012 S series (or whatever they badge it) is the same poorly thought out pile of misery that was the 2011 S series:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/660415-first-look-new-2012-sb-series-s13.html

I hope Sony have something up their sleeve to redeem themselves otherwise I fear for the VAIO brand. We saw that tablet/keyboard combo at CES, perhaps that will turn out to be pretty useful?

 

I think if this prototype is to show up, it would probably be latter in the year when windows 8 comes out. I hope sony has more up their sleeves otherwise the FW will be my only vaio I've bought.

 

Absolutely. Something like that would be so perfect for Windows 8.

 

I read the specs several times and wondered whether this had just been forgotten or whether this notebook acutally has no keyboard backlight.

They probably did it to cut costs, but nowadays (at least in my eyes) a keyboard backlight is a must have.

Asus learned it and introoduced backlight for the new zenbooks.

 

Hehe... we know.

But your the closest thing to it on this forum.

Don't insider guys have some pull regarding product development? Why don't notebook companies have focus groups to tell them stuff like "Don't EVER use 1366x768 resolution!"?

 

^This piece was built to hit an aggressive price point.

Higher res panels are expensive, consume more power, and often have design penalties (thickness, etc). While us power users like them, the average consumer doesn't recognize the difference and just sees a higher price tag.

 

720p screens are like automatic transmissions in cars. Hated in online forums, purchased by most of the populace.

The reason most manufacturers would rather sell a $900 720p machine than a $1050 900p machine is because the former would dramatically outsell the latter. Sad but true.

 

Very well said! Still, once the new MBA 13 and/or MBP 13 come out likely with FHD or better IPS displays, then the world will know that their prices have come down low enough to fit in a sub-$1,000 notebook. (Remember: the 9.7" in the $499 2012 iPad is the best display yet seen in a mobile device; how much more could it cost to scale it up to 11" or 13" ? They are clearly the largest purchasers/sellers of 13" notebook computers so their starting volume purchases from Samsung and Sharp will be in the millions, way more than enough to bring on high volume production capacity.

Now, we'll have to see if those sweethearts in Cupertino have forced the screen mfrs not to sell remotely competing technology to any of its competitors. (I secretly wish that would happen - only because it would hasten the inevitable anti-trust action to take them down a few pegs. The case already exists, but no politician today would take the risk of going up against Apple, if only because they also own the best legal team on the planet! Still, strong-arming suppliers not to produce for competitors is well documented and is one of the hallmarks of monopoly power in U.S. anti trust law. One can dream...)

Ok, off soapbox - for now

 

As a Win 8 enthusiast though you'll know it's a poor choice going forwards - especially for a brand aiming for premium. 720p is the 1024 x 768 of the 2000's.

 

The thing with the new T ist like the formerly Z11, S11 and Y11!

Sony ever have had a cheap low powered 13 inch device, have had a more powerful 13 inch device and the full powered Z!

I would like that Sony goes with the VAIO line a different way. Less Notebooks but the core Vaio models with much better hardware built in! In my opinion it should be fine with the Z (13) as the high end device, the S (13) for students (more budget line than Z), and Ultrabook and the 17 inch F series!

 

If the T-Series has a nice and robust chassis (likely due to the alloys used) and the screen offers at least decent brightness and contrast it might be a good choice for price conscious costumers.

The design is nice and slim but still very different from the macbook and zenbook. So it will stand out. Components are reasonable and the price is appealing.

 

True, but I don't see any reason why they can't have a 900p screen as an option, like they do with the S. Sell the 720p to best buy and the like and just change the panel for online orders. Screens are easily interchangable. Of course, the 900p panel on the S is supposedly garbage anyway.

At least they slimmed the bezel down a little. So much wasted space on the S and Z. The T is almost 1cm shorter in length (32.3cm) than either, just wish the width (22.6cm) wasn't the same as the S.

 

Beaups said that this tablet/keyboard unit had unfortunately been scrapped. So instead of waiting, I went with a Samsung slate tablet w/ Win 8 CP . New Vaio T is utterly disappointing. Probably will stay away from Sony for a while.

 

^I wasn't referring to whatever that machine pictured above is. Although I've never seen that and doubt it will ever exist.

 

So, what's the one-sentence explanation of why someone should buy a Vaio T over the 900p Asus Zenbook, the incredibly-compact Dell XPS 13, the luxurious Envy 14 Spectre, the light-and-cheap Toshiba Z835, etc? That's not a flame, but a serious question.

 

Price perhaps.

 

Do we know the SSD'd price? It's probably not going to be a million miles away from especially the 128Gb Z83x, right? Unless it has truly legendary (and given that it shares the Z2's design DNA I somehow can't see that happening) rigidity/durability or the screen is drop-dead gorgeous I can't see it being a hugely compelling relative purchase...

 

Would agree price seems to be only factor here.

 

Best Buy sells the Folio 13 for $760 and the Z830 for $799...just how low is the price on the Vaio T going to be? (Sorry if I missed it already). You don't generally see Sony able to undercut HP on price.

 

according to ultrabooknews, the SSD version is 899 euro and this comes with the i5, which could be an ivy bridge chip or not.

Sony Ultrabooks are Official. T11 and T13 are 1st-Gen Ultrabooks (Update: Prices start at 699 Euro) Ultrabook News and the Ultrabook Database

 

The huge bezel on the 11" version blows my mind. Why have an 11" screen if you're going to have a huge bezel that makes it as big as a 13" ultrabook? It's like the opposite approach of the XPS 13.

 

In which case, it's going to be pretty much a purely 'label choice', isn't it?

Good luck with that...

 

Wow.........It look like dazzling