Vaio Flip: the Yoga hinge comes to Sony

Just received the TNT tracking... mine will be delivered on the 8th of November (Germany)

 

Yus Agreed, but what the purpose of testing the 15A , as the only benifits beeing having more power !
this is like completly foolish to review this model with i5 , 4gb RAM and no dedicated for exemple...

 

Me as well , 8th November, too

 

Ooh same specs as me only I couldn't afford the ssd, did you go for the higher res screen? One thing I noted on the majority of the reviews was that they were complaining about low performance, compared to laptops with better specs. Coming from a 4 year old dual core pentium VAIO, the supposed low battery life isn't a worry either. I currently don't even get 2 hours he he. Overall the reviews have been pretty reassuring for me.

Just got a £25 voucher after complaining about the lack of updates my order, got given a provisional date of 18th Nov before it arrives in Europe and then delivery expected a few days after. Not much, but it would at least allow me to get one of the pouches at no extra cost. I just don't want it to be delayed all the way into December.

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"Most of the jump to our $1,199 configuration came from the $230 upgrade to a 1.8GHz Core i7-4500U"
"Our Flip 15 bumped up to a 1TB drive with 16GB of solid-state cache"
"The final $50 of our upgrade came from adding a second 4GB DDR3 module, making 8GB total. "

First paragraph on the 2nd page.

 

Thanks for the reply !
Was searching specs in a table ...
Just to be sure : your config comes with the intel HD 4400 only ?

 

Yes took the High Res Also !
Same for the battery : if It get past the 4hrs , i'll be happy anyway !!!
And Yes lets hope the performence of this model with Full specs will be interesting !

 

I'm so tired of this stupid reviews..."the flip is a disappointment because of his weight, which makes the convertible impossible to use in one hand ecc ecc" i know!! Who buys a 14 inch machine to use it in one hand?!?! and the poor battery life...6 hours with an i5 and a HDD is no incredible we're sure but is not even that bad in my opinion! And is no "poor battery life" c'mon..

 

I've had the 13A for 3 days now. The fan does run constantly, and sounds like a speaker hissing. It is annoying at home, but not as bad in my office, where there is more ambient noise.

In Vaio Controls there is the CPU and Fan section, with three options: Performance, Standard, Silent

Silent does turn off the fan, but the CPU is locked down to 798mhz.

I've run Geekbench in all 3 modes:

Performance: 4579
Standard: 4323
Silent: 1791

You can still watch 1080p Youtube videos in Silent, but things like unzipping a file are about 2-3x slower.

Today I'm experimenting by leaving it in Silent with screen at 60% brightness to see how long the battery last. As I type this, it says I have 4 hours 22 mins at 79% remaining.

 

TS do you have an HDD or SSD in yours? Seems SSD should provide better battery life compared to the HDD

 

The stylus came in yesterday and the stylus clip came in today.

The stylus clip is the Targus Stylus clip that is sold on Amazon here in the US and on ebay across the pond in the UK. (Couldn't find it on the UK Amazon site.)
The package is simple. Front and rear view.
-

These are the clips included. One has a bigger holder for larger styluses like the one for the Flip series. Each one has a plastic U shape end tip with an elastic band that stretches for tablets and in this case the Flip convertible laptop.


Here is the stylus attached to the clip that is attached to the Flip 13A. I tried numerous positions and this placement about 1/2" to 1 inch from the top of the display seems to be the best postion. The stylus clips on and doesn't come loose. Its easy to take it out and put back in.


Here the Flip is in viewer mode and the stylus stays on the clip and the clip strap does not obstruct the Flips' viewer mode functionality.


I moved the screen back and forth to see if the stylus clip & stylus fall off and it does not.




With the Flip in tablet mode, the clip with stylus stays on and doesn't fall out. Keeps the stylus within reach at all times and doesn't obstruct the Flip in tablet mode.


With screen closed in laptop mode.


Edit: adding more side view images










Bottom line, the Targus Stylus clip is a worthy addition that keeps the stylus near your Flip and accessible in all modes, (laptop, viewer and tablet modes.)

Youtube video of the Stylus clip.

btw, list of accessories mentioned from all three Flip threads located here.

Mine has a 128SSD (shown in the breakdown I did a while back)

TS out

 

The basic 14s config is now in stock at a couple Best Buys by me.

Sony VAIO Flip 14A 2in1 14" TouchScreen Laptop 4GB Memory 500GB Hard Drive SVF14N11CXB - Best Buy

 

Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro vs Sony Vaio Flip 13A
I am a college student and of the techie/gadget getter early adopter type so I would like to throw in my two scents about the two notebooks I bought. I’m usually two selfish and lazy to do these types of comparisons but the web is still dry when it comes to this dogfight. I know there must be people out there looking for a little bit of actual user review about these two guys. I don’t have the time to do a proper critique. Feel free to reply with your specific questions
Anyway…….
I went down to Best Buy and picked up both the Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro and the Sony Vaio Flip 13A. Both are notebooks and have the same $1200 price tag ($1274 with MA sales tax) The yoga has an i7 4500 cpu, 8gb ram, 256 SSD, and a 3200x1800 resolution capacitive touch display panel. The vaio flip 13A has an i5 4200 cpu, 8gb ram, 128 SSD, and a 1920x1080 resolution digitizer enabled touch panel (digitzer pen sold separate $40 Sony site). From spec eyes the yoga is clearly a better laptop on and deal on paper. However, I liked the idea of taking handwritten notes in class on my laptop and the overall added functionality that a digitizer would give me. Basically the coolness of an actual digitizer pen was the only reason I grabbed the Vaio.
A few things someone already asked for me to shed light on:
That F**king fan on the the vaio flip. Yeah it is always on. Even set to silent mode and sleeping while charging the thing comes on. No driver update either. It is noticeable in a quiet room such as a classroom. Set to silent the performance is severely throttled. The fan is annoying, while other ultrabook’s are running silently next to you your sleek sexy looking Vaio sounds like its downloading Blu-ray quality …..which it isn’t.
The Yoga is virtually silent 90% of the time.
An SD card can be left in the Vaio where the yoga leaves the SD card half way hanging out.
The vaio hinge makes the lid quite thick but when using the touch screen in laptop mode the screen doesn’t wobble or bobble. Very sturdy.
The yoga screen panel is very thin and moves noticeably when making touch selections.
The yoga has out-of-the-box color issues especially with yellow. But there is already a fix that doesn’t consume more battery life and an official patch/update is in the works.
The 3200x1800 resolution on the yoga makes every laptop screen including the vaio @1080p look inferior.
The vaio does have a light grid pattern on screen from the digitizer layer but is not visible unless in extreme lighting with low screen brightness.
The keyboard half of the Yoga is rock solid but there is flex (not so solid feeling) in the Vaio’s keyboard tray.

 

Anyone know what would the disadvantages of going with a 12GB ram config instead of an 8GB Ram? Thinking about getting the 15A, i7, 1TB HD + 16GB NAND flash. However, still deciding on the RAM quantity. I wasn't sure if there were any disadvantages to owning 4GB + 8GB sticks versus two 4 GB sticks?

 

Can anyone tell something about how the pen performs? I was considering Flip for general multimedia machine and note taking in classes and my work. Does it perform that function well? From the IFA video it looked like the pen lags, but that was pre-production model, so I am keeping my fingers crossed.

 

Two sticks of the same size can run in dual channel mode. If you use different sizes it will only run in single channel mode which is slower in theory but in practice the difference is almost none-existent. More information here: Single Vs. Dual channel RAM | Tom's Hardware

 

Alright alright check this out, on my Sony account it says that the flip has been shipped. Contrary to the email I got which stated that it will take another week. Wow Sony get your together.

 

When did you order? Mine is still scheduled for production

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Thanks for the update. What is your opinion on the RAM that Sony uses? It looks like that article may have been outdated (circa 2007?), so I wasn't sure if RAM technologies now were different or not. Do you think 12GB would be too much for Windows 8? It's just after seeing my friend and what he had on his Duo 13 (he was running around 50-60% when multiple programs opened on a 4GB RAM), I figured I would like to maintain a utilization ratio under 20% at all times, which may not be achievable even with 8GB RAM. But then again, I don't want to get 2 uneven sticks that may hinder the performance (if any). What do you think?

 

@ Xpred: It is simple, for normal office use (Browser, media player, excel, word, powerpoint, skype, photoshop all at the same time) 4 GB is still enough to do that. However windows will cache frequently started programs in RAM, so you might go with 8 GB - also with a ssd you won't have any real improvements from that either. But you won't need 12 GB. You only need that with excessive professional video editing or 3D modeling.

In general windows will use something like 15-20% of the ram for itself. And another important point: RAM which is not used is wasted RAM. It's like you have a big truck with huge cargo area but all you do is transporting your daily shopping.

In short: Go for 8 GB.

 

24-10.
13A,i7,128SSD,8ram,black

 

It depends on what you do with it. If you limit your work to regular office work and internet acces, 12 GB is overkill. If you plan on doing memory intensive taks, like video editing, you should ask youself first if this is the right system for you (given the processors available). On the other hand you can never have too much RAM. In my now 5,5 year old desktop system I configured 8 GB of RAM and I never regretted it. It still runs all regular programs (including Photoshop and Lightroom) well and most games decently. Buying this system with 4 GB now would be kind of foolish, expecially since upgrading is not always straightforward (especially on the 13A).

So my advice would be: go for at least 8 GB

 

*sigh* Sony really are taking the , ordered on the 14/10.

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Wow, what country?
I also just got a text message from TNT that it will be delivered on 11.11

 

I also just got a text message that it will be delivered on November 11. It included a tracking number, which states that it is at Pudong International Airport in Shanghai right now.

I'm from Germany, ordered on October 9, 13A with i5, 256 GB SSD and 8 GB RAM.

After the disappointment with the Yoga 2 Pro screen (returned it for yellow colour issues), let's see if the Multi-Flip is any better...

 

UK. 15A i7, 750gb, 16gb, 735m 2gb, 2880x1620.

The Sony website says that the higher res screen is out of stock so I think it could be a problem with that. Or its the RAM. Support reckons 18th it will arrive in Europe and then take another 2-3 days. Bit of a joke considering that estimated delivery times in the Sony store is now 27-6 Dec. Definitely going to try for another voucher if I don't hear any more next week.

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Well I tried this morning also for a voucher before I got the sms from TNT. However Sony replied after that TNT will deliver it on Monday. So no voucher for me . Could use one for the VAIO sleeve which costs 40€. Ah well christmas isn't that far.

My first order was for a 14A on Oct 18th and delivery was going to be 27 nov. So yeah got nothing to complain actually.

 

The stylus has no lag that I can tell, at least on mine. It works well in One Note. It has pressure sensitivity and palm rejections from what I see. I may do a video later at home.

TS

 

Is the fan noise really that annoiyng? I mean in classrooms if it's super loud that could be a dealbraker but if it's set on silent mode taking notes on One Note should not be a problem right?

 

I would love to see a video with the stylus test. Ideally with one note, palm rejection, an art app and with handwriting recognition.

And I agree about the fan noise, if im just taking notes in class, the down throttled CPU doesnt matter at all and may help extend battery lif as well.

 

A screen with an active digitizer doesn't need palm rejection. When the pen comes close enough to the screen it will detect that and disable the capacitive part of the touchscreen and only use the pen as input.

 

I think palm rejection for devices with a digitizer prevent your palm from scrolling the page as you are writing.

 

Thanks twospirits for all your pics, videos, and ideas, they're really helpful.

As a neuroscience student, i'm also eagerly anticipating your video review of the stylus use in Onenote (if you have time to make one).
I've been using a Wacom graphics tablet for my chemistry and calculus lectures, and it has changed my life. I can't wait to get my Flip.

On a side note, I just spoke to the Sony Store in NY and they said they were supposed to have the Flip in store today, but something happened. Any day now...

 

Yeah, I was thinking at least 8 GB for sure... but wasn't sure if it was worth it to get 12GB. My plans were mostly school and possibly some audio editing later on. I do know that OneNote and other inking programs take A LOT of memory, so I was afraid that 8GB was too little (or at least cutting it close). My only concern whether I would have a disadvantage in overall speed. Because ksalz mentioned dual channel. By default, 8GB would be 2 4GB sticks an 12GB would be a 8GB & a 4GB stick. Would you say there would be a slight speed difference between the two, that would give more advantage over the 8GB in general?

 

I've now received a 2nd delay email from Sony. The shipment is now expected between 24-29 November, so I guess I won't receive it before December. Considering the order was placed on the 10th October, this is disappointing. Has anybody received a TNT tracking number for the 15A with the 2880x1620 display.

Sony seems to be overwhelmed with orders for the multi flips.

 

Anyone know what the main advantage of the "over full HD" display (2880x1620) has over the stock full HD display (1920x1080)? Are there any disadvantages for using it? I plan to use my laptop a lot at school, so I wanted something that would be easy on the eyes and that I could also "zoom out" (I use OneNote a lot for inking) and can still see the fine lines. That would help me a lot.

 

More pixels so I'm guessing more battery drain. But also more workspace and more detail. But fullHD on a small screen is great as it is. I own a HTC ONE with a fullHd screen, previously a One X with 720p screen. Don't see any difference. I think it's more of a marketing trick.

 

Surprise surprise. I just got another e-mail from Sony stating that my shipment has been delayed again: shipment between the 16th and 21st of november. I sent them an e-mail back, that I demand a delivery early next week or I'll cancel the order. I'm fed up with this.

 

You do bring up a good point. Do you think the battery drain will be considerable?

Also, I am deciding between a 1TB + 16GB NAND flash vs a 256GB SSD. What is the difference between the 16GB NAND & 256GB SSD? Is there a considerable speed, noise, or reliability difference?

 

Yeah, my voucher covers the £25 15" carrying case/pouch. I'm surprised people are now getting issues with the shipping, surely that's the easiest part!

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I just received same mail. Could somebody explain me if I can get any voucher from sony for that delay?
BTW All 13a users missing Ethenrnet , you can buy usb3 hub with gigabit lan
Satechi 3-Port Portable USB 3.0 Hub and Ethernet LAN Network Adapter for Windows, Mac, and Linux

 

never received a shipping date, the account information displays shipping between 26/28 November - Display with 2880x1620

 

Don't ask for a voucher. Write them (customer support) an e-mail about how annoyed you are about their performance and in particular about their communication and ask them how they can alleviate your bad feelings. I didn't ask for a voucher. I would trade in that voucher immediately for a delivery this week.

 

Hope that some reviews will pop up today or tomorrow, and totally crush the damned laptop so i can cancel my order. Just got 4:th delay and Im really annoyed, seriously, i was among the first that ordered the Vaio Flip, like literally, the laptop was maybe up on the store for maximum of two hours before i preordered. And now, people that preoredered days and weeks after me are getting the delivery (even though we have exact same config) while i am delayed numerous times.
Does anyone know if there will be some reviews of the 13A out this week, maybe from mobiletechreviews?

 

I rung them up today and the assistant raised the issue with my account with the payment processing dept since I haven't had a single update on my order. Not sure if it was completely to do with the fact I financed mine, but they should contact me in the next few days. Might be worth giving them a ring.

In case anyone has a hard time finding it, the UK support email is
[email protected]

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there are a few small USB hubs besides that one that are pretty good.
I like this 3 port one simply because the usb ports are movable to accept bigger than usual usb connectors/flash drives. Encore 3 port US or UK Amazon


I personally got the Anker 9 port one for home, but it doesn't have a ethernet port since I really don't need one for home and just connect via WiFi.
US or UK Amazon

and for on the go, I just may get the Sony VGP-WAR100 router add-on which just connects to the power adapter. Since seeingit in the russian video, I've been wanting to get it.
US or UK Amazon

TS out

 

We'll have a video review up later today of the Flip 13A. I won't crush it, but there are some caveats like that darned fan.

- Lisa from MTR

 

There are settings to reduce that fan noise, but crush if you have to, it's the only way to keep these manufacturers on the ball and produce devices worthy enough to get or recommend.

Looking forward to your review.

TS out

 

Cmon Lisa upload the video I've been waiting for weeks

 

I know that there are other options, that was only example of making life easier
If anybody can recommend one please let me know, specially if it has more than 3 usb

And regarding router add-on, this is only mini wifi router, so you are limited to wifi-n speed. I would like to be connected to NAS drives thats why I prefer gigabit lan