Vaio Flip: the Yoga hinge comes to Sony

Just picked one up from best buy. Driving 20 minutes to pick up a stylus from a Sony outlet. Will answer questions tonight or tomorrow. I'm putting off studying for an accounting exam for this

Edit: they only had the old stylus. Hope it works the same....

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk 4

 

Review Please?!?!. Lol we are all waiting for some especially by consumers. I could go to a Best Buy store right now and pick it up, but I already ordered one from the sony store and it has an i5 and 8 gb of ram and I don't think Best Buy carries that.

 

The one from Best Buy is an i5 with 8GB of RAM lol.

 

Well, the fan on this thing is ridiculously loud and even has a slight whistling noise to it. The first 5 minutes of use I was trying to let it get to idle in case it was doing anything, but not much changed. I also put it to "silent" in the Sony control panel. While it helps a bit, I think it might be a bit loud to have in class. I never heard the Surface Pro 2's fan EVER. I'm in the process of installing Windows 8.1, which will likely take the next hour to complete. Unless new updates control the fan speed better, this thing is likely going back(2 week return period at Best Buy). I don't have time to post pictures or videos of fan noise, but holy crap, this fan noise is driving me nuts.

Other than that, so far from light use, the screen looks nice. I did notice a bit of light bleed at the top when first booting, but nothing to be concerned about. I think the keyboard actually feel nice. Better than the Duo 13.

We did open one at Best Buy cause there was no display model yet. It had a weird textured patch on the screen. We cleaned it multiple times, but still didn't help. It was enough for the pen to catch and drag a bit. (they had a demo pen for the tap 11)

Don't expect any pics or videos tonight. I really do need to study for this exam tomorrow and have to be up early as it is. I'll post more tomorrow afternoon.

 

So, I went ahead and returned the laptop back to Best Buy. They had one more in stock; however, I opted to let it stay there. More on why below, but to answer the immediate questions:

* Regarding the device not staying on -- it was definitely an immediate cut of power/off status that required a full reboot every time.

* Regarding the power supply -- the Flip had a simple power brick with just a USB port. If I recall correctly, my ex-Sony Duo 13 did have an RJ45 to WiFi adapter included with the power brick


With the caveat that I couldn't actually run any apps due to powering off issues, the Flip did let me simply look at the Metro interface and desktop without it powering down. I could also run WordPad but that's about it. Forgive the rambly-ness, but some feedback:

Form Impressions
* Having just returned a Yoga Pro 2 this week -- a pretty thin laptop in all respects -- I was expecting this to feel thicker, perhaps disillusioning so. I was pleasantly surprised by how thin the 'thick side' felt here. I have zero qualms about the weight/thickness -- picture compared to a standard Pilot pen below. As for sturdiness, the metal outside is reassuring (even if it is a fingerprint magnet). The bisecting hinge took a little getting used to but my 4 year old was able to rotate it easily enough.

* My only screen concern is that I expected the screen to push further back than it allowed -- don't expect a great angle than what's on the Duo 13. It's not a huge issue -- it's far more important IMO that the screen can go vertical than lay back too far, but just throwing it out there in case that's a concern for anyone.


Screen = bright, responsive
* Given the limited amount that I could do on it, I could at least look at pictures and they were pretty. The screen is easily as vivid as the Sony Duo 13 for comparison -- no issues here. Touching tiles, swiping all seemed quick as I'd expect. Given it also nails the ability to accurately represent yellow, I certainly valued it higher than Yoga Pro 2 screen.

Faulty Windows install?
* The laptop was faulty -- possibly hardware but there was certainly some software issues happening. Windows 8.0 was definitely installed over 8.1; however, it was missing key pieces of software installation -- in particular Internet Explorer. I can't verify if it was strictly hardware or software as I could not get it to stay on during recovery.

​

* Note, to recover the laptop, you can't use the standard Windows 8 recovery tool -- instead you use the Sony Assist button with the laptop off. Once I started that process, the laptop would always promptly shut off.

Fast Boot, Slow Load
* Bootup to the initial screen was very quick -- about 6 seconds from pushing the power button. Once typing in your password though, I counted anywhere from 27 to 38 seconds to actually get to the Metro start screen. That's pretty sad, but hopefully that's due to a bad Windows install.

Good Typing Experience
* I type a lot and fairly fast, averaging around 95 WPM typing-wise -- the keyboard experience is essential. I didn't have any issue typing in WordPad. The keyboard isn't as 'deep' as the Yoga Pro 2, but I found it responsive, well-spaced and generally typo-free.

Hinge oddities, blocked volume buttons
* By this, I don't mean the hinge bisecting the screen -- rather the hinge at the base of the back of keyboard. When you open the laptop in keyboard mode, the bottom edge of the screen border actually rubs against the desktop, lifting the back end of the keyboard off the ground slightly. This in turn also completely blocks the volume +/- button situated on the back (yes, minor as you can use the Fn keys for volume). I didn't notice any issues typing with a slight raised back -- nor did it feel uncomfortable -- but I imagine that edge finish will wear fairly quickly based on use style.

Battery Life is TBD
* Again, grain of salt given the short duration of use, but for the record -- having charged the laptop up to 100%, the first value of time remaining after a few minutes was 5 hours and 46 minutes remaining on Balanced.

59 GB of SSD remaining
* The version at Best Buy is i5, 8 GB Ram and 128 GB SSD. Out of the box, 59.6 GB of storage was remaining. If I recall correctly, upgrading to 8.1 is supposed to save another 15 GB or so...


Anyways, I wish I could be more helpful sending feedback on a laptop that actually worked (or included a Stylus), but the above is what I had to work with.

Given Sony is still working out the Duo Wi-Fi issues, I'm going to give them time on this one -- even though mine was probably just a lemon. I'm not counting the Fit out, but the ThinkPad Yoga is due out in a couple weeks... I'll see that in person and then make a decision.

 

Well there might be two of us returning it. I installed windows 8.1, did the multiple driver updates from Sony and the fan is still way too loud. I have it in silent mode and just loading a webpage really spools this fan up. If it wasn't for the whistling, it might be more tolerable. If idling in silent mode, the fan will turn off and on every few seconds which is also very annoying. Random noises is something that really annoys me, so maybe to average people, it won't be that bad. I've also never noticed the fan on my wife's Yoga 11S, though that can get a bit hot.

After a short google search, it seems the Vaio Pro and some other Sony's also have fan issues. From browsing through a couple pages, I didn't see if there were any solutions or not. I don't have a ton of time tonight. Tomorrow afternoon I will research a bit more. I really don't see Sony updating any kind of fix in the next few weeks for this.The quest for a good PC with digitizer will likely continue.... but maybe I'm just being pessimistic. More tomorrow.

Edit for additional information: I just wrote an email and the fan is spooling up just doing that. I really wanted to bring this thing to school tomorrow to test out battery life (7:30 am-2 pm), but this thing is just way too loud to have in class.

 

Have you had any wifi issues ?

 

I haven't, but I didn't have any Vaio Duo wifi issues until I got to school. That's where the poor connections and performance happen, which is why I didn't keep that one.

 

That's sounds not too great. The Duo 13 had runtimes of 7+ hours. And now a noisy fan. At the time the flip was announced I thought this would be a must-have. Great Design but it seems to have some technical glitches. I hope as more reviews come in, we get a better view. But I am slighty turning my eyes on the thinkpad yoga..

Most important things for me atm with the Flip: battery life, wifi and fan noise - I want to use this thing in class, thats the whole point.

Thx to Sher the Love and Pausanius for their first impressions keep it up!!

 

News from Sony, everyone... just received an email from customer support (answering my question from like a week ago) stating that they cannot tell me a definite delivery date yet due to a fire in a production facility which has slowed down production.

Not sure if this is true for everybody's orders, but it does sound like an explanation for why they keep postponing delivery dates...

 

Thanks Sher the love & Pausanius, info much appreciated. I can live with the battery life and WiFi as described so far. My main concern is the fan noise - very sensitive to that. How come if HP can consider building a fanless 13inch laptop with haswell, can't we at least have a very quiet fan? I can live with the noise if i'm pushing the CPU, but for word or surfing, if it's not quiet it's a deal breaker, especially if on silent mode. I suppose i'll have to wait until it actually shows up to see how problematic it is, although at present we have a 100% rate of returned laptops!

 

This fire happened in a supply factory for memory chips.. this causes the price to go up but it wasn't a fire at the vaio production itself I believe.. But this could be the shortage of supplies they've mentioned..
I guess that we are not affected any further .. (at least I hope so, otherwise I am heaving a bad feeling, as 'best buy' is getting supplied while first day customers are in a queue far behind shop stock manufacturing)

 

As much as I want to keep this device first impressions have made me want to return. The noise from the fan is the first annoyance that I noticed. Battery is charged up to 98% and showing 4hours of life left. That is pretty low for an Ultrabook. Surprised it didn't even come with Windows 8.1 and had to update. And upon updating I have a device that says not working properly in the Device Manager. The one thing that I was actually worried about before purchasing was the WiFi and surprisingly that has not been an issue.

Edit: Now battery shows 97% remaining and 5hours 16minutes

 

Well, unfortunately it looks I'm not alone in my shut-off issues. I noticed this review on BBY's website this morning:

Sony VAIO Fit 13A 2in1 13.3" TouchScreen Laptop 8GB Memory 128GB Solid State Drive SVF13N13CXB - Best Buy

From his review, I will say I didn't really have a sliding problem -- but you definitely notice the screen rubbing. As for backlight bleed -- some around the top was noticeable on boot-up, but no issues at all once Windows was loaded.

 

that link took me to a free shipping page
is this the review you are talking about?

Sony VAIO Fit 13A 2in1 13.3" TouchScreen Laptop 8GB Memory 128GB Solid State Drive SVF13N13CXB - Best Buy


at any rate, this is a blower
I have been eyeing the vaio fit flip and the yoga 2 pro
yoga has color issues and maybe wifi problem
this has staying on issues, WOW

i need a tablet pc immediately but cant find a new one (with haswell) with no problems
need at least 13 inch

the acer with haswell but be a good look when it arrives,hopefully they slim it down a bit too

 

Hmm, the 'reviews' thus far aren't pleasing !!

Let's hope that there is something positive in the end.. There must be something wrong software wise.. on the IFA they seemed to be running quite well and I didn't hear anything about fan noise..
I guess that in the coming days there will be more reviews and I hope sony will be putting up the drivers needed to get this thing running correctly. At least I know I won't be upgrading to 8.1 before all runs fine and I have got all the neccesary drivers stored on stick..

Can't be a complete horrible product.. But I admit things are not looking good so far.. Production delays, faulty software, noisy fan (can't we control the fan with another tool?!?) ,light bleeds.. hmm quite a list to attend…

 

I agree, sounds no good And about the stylus pen, in my order from Sony website it says that a stylus pen is included, did you guys that bought the laptop also had it written in your order?

 

Yep .. I have stated in an Email 'Meegeleverde digital stylus' , "with included digital stylus… So no way that they can leave it out

 

Those who have the 13A already do you hear any random clicking noise? I hear it maybe once every hour or so. Very infrequent. I don't know what it could be considering the HD is SSD.

 

Haven't heard any random clicking noises. I'm trying to reset my Vaio to return but apparently it can't find the recovery partition. This is an awesome machine so far.... Yes, that is sarcasm

 

I got it from Best Buy, not Sony directly, so I didn't have any kind of order.

 

Cmon guys let's give the michines a try...in the first two days the machine has yet to adjust i think...use it for a week and then i think we can have more accurate impressions..

 

If it wasn't for the jet engine taking off out the side of my laptop, I'd keep it. But after Googling Sony and fan noises, this doesn't seem to be uncommon and hasn't been fixed from what I've seen. The Vaio Duo has had wifi issues since its release in June and that hasn't been fixed yet. If they come out with a BIOS update that decreases the fan RPM and noise, then I can always purchase it again. But, I'm not having a $1200 machine sitting around while the return period slowly closes in. Like I said, my main use is taking notes in school and it's way too loud to bring there while Sony may not even fix the issue.

 

What's up with these Windows 8 ultrabook issues?
I was set to get Vaio Pro 13, but those WiFi problems and lowered battery life on Windows 8.1 did not make me wanna throw 1300 euros at Sony's direction. Vaio Flip was the second one after waiting this long, but now we are here again with these small, or large problems.
Granted forums will be filled by the people who are having problems, rather than those with no major problems. Yet example the WiFi problem on Vaio Pro 13 seems to be present on every Vaio Pro 13.


Have money ready and I have been waiting to upgrade to a Haswell ultrabook for a year. I thought I would have a hard time choosing from a great devices at this time.

 

Damn you "unable to control your unhealthy habit of not waiting" spirit. Once again you strike out at me with no room for escape.

yep that's me. I couldn't resist so I went out to Best Buy and looked over the 13A. I actually fell in love with it. How it cannot be considered a ultrabook as thin it is is beyond me, anyway, I was set on getting the silver color one, but the store model was in black and it looked really slick.

Originally I was going to wait and customize my purchase the 15A with higher SSD and more ram, but I did a reality check to see if I truly really needed that version. After much research, I decided it was the 13A. Big enough and yet manageable enough. The one thing that has stopped me up to this point was the N-Trig Stylus so I tried the stylus that was on another Sony, the Tap 11, and it worked great and I didn't get that N-trig feeling that I hated when I had the Lenovo Thinkpad (Android) Tablet. I was sold.

Flash forward an hour and I left the store with the i5 8GB ram 1200USD black model.

I set it up briefly at work and it caught my hotspot easily, so far no issues with it, the fan does seem a tiny bit noticeable, but then again, since I have my previous laptop on a cooling unit the noise it gave was way more than the 13A. I rather have the a more noticeable fan noise than have the internals burn out.
the 1900 screen is gorgeous, so far it is way smoother, faster and responsive compared to my Samsung ATIV 500T.

It is Windows 8 not 8.1 so no start button, but then again, I use the add-ons from Stardock that gives me a start button among other things.

As for the model I bought yes its true no stylus, but I knew this before hand, but what i didn't expect was that Best Buy did not have stylus to sell so I went to the Sony site to buy it as well as a vga adapter (which i use at work).

So far (its only 2 hours with it) and I really like it. Will do more playtime with it at home tonight and take pics to upload. I may even attempt to open the darn thing to see the inside of it.

Thumbnail Images are clickable and will open up full in a new window.
At Work


At Home (Flip 13A on left, Dell inspiron 11z middle and Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro 500T (Book5)


As I mentioned in a previous post inquiring about the video showing the extra piece off the power adapter, (the ethernet adapter) it seems that the US version has the indentations for it but is not included in the box. still it has the usb in it for charging another device.


The keyboard keys are raised up and you see the light underneath,. not so much if you have the laptop at the right typing level but if it is placed higher or if your chair is low, then you will see the lights.
I don't see a way to turn off the keyboard lights either on the keyboard or in power settings or in keyboard settings. It may bother some.





TS

 

If you would be willing to open it up and post a picture of the SSD I would really appreciate it.

Thanks


Martin

 

You can turn the keyboard lights off in Vaio Control Center under Input Device.

 

Here you go.

I'll out line the steps in case anyone else wants to do it.

First, you will need the right screwdriver, I used both a #000 cross for the screws and a 2.5 straight screwdriver.


next
using the Sony breakdown video here as a guide I used the 2.5 straight edge screwdriver to gently pull out the rubber feets on the bottom of the laptop.


There are 14 screws on the bottom of the laptop, 12 of these will have to be removed. two of them can be removed if you want but they really shouldn't since they hold the components onto the board and not really for the back cover. Those two are in green.


Note: I would suggest you put them in the same order somewhere on your desk, otherwise you may not know which one goes where.

After the necessary screws are out, this is what the laptop looks like.


The Fan and CPU heatsink


The 128GB SSD Card and Wifi


closer look


NFC


Wifi


Hope that helps

TS out

edit:
@ nauticaX, thanks for the setting info :thumbsup:

 

Houston, we have lift off. That's quite a home set up you've got. Twospirits, thank you for a great post.

I'm waiting to receive my 15A from Sony sometime in November and was planning to upgrade to Windows 8.1 as soon as I receive it. If you're planning to upgrade yours as well, could you let me know if you get any issues with this upgrade ?

I'm relieved to hear that so far, there haven't been any wifi problems.

 

Wow, thx twospirits! Awesome pics!

Can you post something about actual battery life? with screen brightness set to something like 40% and wlan on? And another thing which I eagerly want to know - how much reactive is the digitizer (when you get the digitizer^^, like how much lag from sketching a line untill the line appears on the screen)?

 

Thanks TwoSpirits,

At least you gave me some Spirit .. I was getting a negative vibe around the whole 13A. But after reading your 'review' I am turning back to positive again..
I think you made the right choose to not upgrade it to 8.1 right away. Just wait till drivers are appearing and keep the 8.0 on for now!!! How is performance? I read that the initial startup is quite fast but when actual login in it takes up to 25sec?!?

I like the fact that you fell in love with it that soon in the store, makes me feel I, at least for now, made the right choice. Still the wait is annoying, but bearable if it won't delay any more!!

Please keep sharing all the positive and also all the negative points you find..

 

Thanks for the pictures.

If I'm right it looks like an M.2 SATA Card.

Now I just need to find where I can buy a bigger one!


Martin

 

Just get the Acer s7 392! Awesome machine all around! Couldn't be more happy that i cancelled that crappy sony machine and went for the acer 2 weeks ago. Yeah, it's harsh but that's how it is... LOUD fan noise in idle in a 13'' haswell? Below avarage battery life? Unfinished software and drivers? How can anyone still want this?

 

The Acer s7 392 is NO alternative. It is "just" another ultrabook. People interested in the Flip want most likely a convertible with an active digitizer.

 

I think at this point, the CPU fan is what worries the most. The random shutting off I think is from hardware issue that can be fixed or replaced.

I was thinking about just going into bestbuy and running a benchmark tool on the display laptop to see how it deals with it. Does anyone know of any good online benchmark tools?

Is this one any good?

SilverBench · Online multicore CPU benchmark / stress test

I've never done any benchmark before. But I figure anything that stresses the system should elicit what the fan will sound like.

 

I can only speak for myself but for me it is an alternative. First of all i needed an ultrabook for university/everyday use.
The tablet mode with digitizer was a really nice extra, i tought about putting my lecture notes directly on the pdf. However, i would print them out anyway at a later stage in order to learn. So after thinking about it, the digitizer was really nothing but an extra. As for tablet mode: It really is no problem to use the Acer (or maybe any 13'') as a tablet. You can hold it with one hand and use the other for touch inputs, you can fold the display back fully flat and use it as a tablet and so on...
So in conclusion: Think again if you really need that digitizer or if it's just a nice to have gimmick. I chose an awesome ultrabook over a below avarage ultrabook with a gimmick.

 

As a student currently enrolled in 18 semester hours, I can tell you the digitizer is no gimmick. I honestly think if I was printing things out, I'd be much less organized and likely have a lower GPA (not that I have a low one). Everything is centralized onto one device (whether it's this device or another with a digitizer). All the lecture slides are printed into Onenote. I can print any online type homework directly into Onenote for reference of work and I even do all of my math work in Onenote. I use all ebooks as well, so I can use the windows snipping tool to quickly crop out math problems from the book (works great for word problems).

I've attached a couple screen captures for reference. All of my classes are consolidated into one area and all my notes per class are easily accessible and searchable. I can make nice graphs for economics and easily change pen colors to differentiate between thoughts and concepts. Also, you never run out of room and can quickly lasso an area and move it anywhere you need to.

Although I didn't have any luck with this specific product, I wouldn't settle for something without it for school.

 

The only thing that bothers me about this machine is the fan noise. If it wasn't for that I will love it. Right now i just like it. I don't know who experienced 25 seconds but for me from a shutdown state took 7 seconds to get into the login screen. Then I typed in my password immediately so a total of 12-13 seconds and the metro apps screen was up. Very quick IMO.

 

You are not using the DIGITIZER to eliminate Paper Usage, then that is your issue. I agree with Sher the love. Being able to have everything in one little box is brilliant.

I remember carrying around tons of Printed notes / PPTs on paper on which I had jotted down the professors discussions and key points and later my own study notes.

LOTS of PAPER is a pain to carry. The perfect writing devices with pen and touch would eliminate most of our paper pen writing/ jotting down needs.

 

This is why I WISH I had this when I was in Uni. I wish they could perfect these Tablet PC devices even more.

 

Yeah, I just wish the handwriting recognition would get a little better.

Does anyone know if Windows 8.1 still has the writing samples you do to help the handwriting recog?

 

Does the Sony Vaio Fit 13a have the same wiffi issues as the Vaio Pro?

 

can anyone comment on the real world battery life? I think the fan issue you could control with speedfan or similar?? but battery life is really important to me.

 

I just noticed that Sony have the following Windows 8.1 drivers in Europe for the 15A

Sony : SVF15N1C5E updates | Download updates for SVF15N1C5E | SVF15N1C5E

http://www.sony.co.uk/support/en/product/SVF15N1C5E/updates

Would anyone know if this driver should be installed in Windows 8 or only after the upgrade to Windows 8.1 ?

 

From some of the comments posted earlier, it doesn't seem to have wifi issues.

 

I haven't drained it down all the way but I unplugged it about 30 minutes ago and battery is down to 91%. I have it set to 70% brightness. Just doing some light browsing and watched a few vids on YouTube and Vimeo.

 

Wow, Way to many posts to reply to. ok here goes...

That is only a small part of my setup, way too many devices. I'm a electronic hoarder, since i find it hard to sell stuff off. lol
full basement set up

Can't say since I don't have the stylus yet, although I got an email that it was shipped out today.

I was looking at that also at Best Buy but it didn't match up to the Flip. Now once the R7 comes out, then maybe a comparison can be made.

Yesterday i had the tv going as well as the laptop cooler on, today just the Flip 13A by itself and yeah you do notice the fan sound, but i still find it not that of a bother.

Well on mine it doesn't and I've used it both at work, home and out in the patio today. No drops, cutoffs or signal loss. But that could be due to my routers.

Anyway, I did a small youtube video about the Flip 13A vs the Dell Inspiron 11z and Samsung ATIV Smart PC pro 500T running the same video off my network hard drive and the first video showed major hangups on the Dell and a few skips on the samsung, but the Flip didn't skip a beat. Considering that the Dell and the Flip both have the same amount of ram and almost the same type of graphics i was surprised that my dell chocked. The Samsung being only 2 GB of ram didn't do so well.
But i deleted that video since my voice sounded like a chicken caught in a fence. And did another one. yet this time around there was less stuttering on the Dell and samsung, the Flip still ran the video off the network seamlessly.

i also did another video on using the lenovo thinkpad stylus on the Flip 13A but that was a disaster. the pen tied but no cigar. I deleted it since there wa no use to show off a non working stylus. I will just have to grin and bear the fact that i have to wait for the official sony stylus to test out some of the art software on the Flip 13A.



TS out

 

I didn't hear any fan noise. Did you?

 

You have my attention, this is the workflow I am looking for. If you're not using the Flip what are you using at the moment to achieve this?

 

Hey twospirits thanks for all your posts, very helpful.

beltz5 I didn't hear any fan noise either, but then I didn't hear noise from any of the three..... Will try again at home with headphones on.