Price:
$1,149.99 & FREE Super Saver Shipping
Product Features
Screen Size
15.5 inches
Max Screen Resolution
1366 pixels
Processor
2.2 GHz Core i7-3612QM
RAM
8 GB DDR3
Hard Drive
750 GB
Graphics Coprocessor
NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M LE
Windows 8
Other Opinion
By some EE guy
My criteria for the laptop I wanted involved a conflicting set of specifications, which resulted in few options. Till this very day, I have yet to find another laptop being sold which comes as closely to matching my criteria as this one. Basically, I wanted a powerful machine I could be productive on, which was simultaneously light enough to carry around (and pretty enough to look at). After first buying a Dell XPS15 (L521x), and later deciding to return it, I have been very pleased with this laptop, especially after installing a SSD (Crucial M4 256GB, btw).
Pros:
Display quality - At 1080p, of the IPS sort, there's almost nothing negative that can be said about this display. Some users have noted that the reds appear orangish, but for me it wasn't noticeable. I may have been either lucky or this just wasn't high on my priority list. The colors are vivid and the viewing angles are spectacular - comparable to my Thinkpad X61 Tablet, which also had a high resolution IPS display. 1080p set the real bargains apart from the phonies (aka most ultrabooks and their pathetic weaksauce resolutions).
Dedicated graphics - GeForce GT 640m 1GB. While it uses the slower VDDR3, but gaming on this laptop (I play SC2) has been no problem for me. In addition, there is a bios mod floating around which doubles the speed of the GPU (from 500MHz to 900MHz, with no increase in temps or voltage), though the actual performance difference was not noticeable to me.
Backlit keyboard with numpad - I felt that the numpad was one of those infrequently used, but very necessary when needed devices, and this laptop comes with one. It was perhaps the largest factor in weeding out most laptop candidates from my consideration (judge me if you want). The keys are chicklet style, which was a first for me. Adapting to it wasn't that big of a deal.
Size and Weight - this is just about the lightest and thinnest laptop that had all three of the previous criteria. It is 4.4lbs and less than an inch thick. Previously, the Dell XPS15 was also less than an inch thick, but was 5.7lbs or more. In addition, the viewing angles on the Dell was quite a bit poorer.
Accessibility and Upgradability - the battery, hard drive, and one stick of RAM are easily accessed. This made it very convenient to upgrade to an SSD and to slap more memory in. Same thing can't be said about most ultrabooks. Ultrabooks = 150% marketing - 50% quality
Cons:
Battery life - this is the biggest deficiency for this laptop. I would have preferred it to be 5+ hours, but at <4 hours, it's ok, but not great. Had there been another laptop with all of the above with a longer battery life, then I may have gotten it. But, there wasn't.
Build quality - as most reviewers have noted, there is some flex in some areas like the screen and the keyboard. In comparison, the Dell was solid. It was a solid block of aluminium. However, I have never had a laptop go bad on me before (and I've owned more than 10 in the past), so I'm fairly confident that I can keep this laptop from breaking. However, this laptop does seem quite delicate. It's definitely not made from Thinkpad stuff, though the Thinkpad soft surface scratches easily.
Other:
Aesthetics - the design of the laptop is very nice. That's all there is to it. Sony is always good at looking good, but in the past they were charging too much for shoddy stuff. For this laptop, though, it seems to be quite a bargain. If there was something I needed to gripe about, it would be that the one I got (black) has a rather rough finish, compared to the silver.
Bonus software - now I wasn't expecting this. In the past, I would always do a fresh re-install of my computer as soon as I got it to rid myself of the bloatware. But, I kept the software for the Thinkpad, and have done the same for this laptop. It's not bad. What really surprised me was that Sony had preinstalled a "Inspiration Suite" software package that included audio and video editors. I just spent the last few days playing with it, and looking up the prices, it's around $100 of free, useful software.
As I surveyed the scene, I was primarily shocked that Sony was the only vendor that provided me a product for all my needs at a reasonable and affordable price (I got the whole thing Open Box for less than $1k - including the SSD, but even at $1k, it's still good). Sony used to be associated with charging a premium for the brand name, but it seems that with the way things have gone, they are getting more competitive again.
Edit: this laptop seems to be the updated version for Windows 8. I had gotten the Windows 7 version. It seems not much has changed, but the bios mod doesn't seem to work with the Windows 8 version. Another thing about Sony is that they like to lock things down. Another reason I have not liked buying their stuff. Guess I got lucky with this purchase which they just happened to leave the bios available for tinkering.
