TechSmart 121, October 2013 TechSmart 123, December 2013 | Page 20

REVIEW

Sony

VAIO 15A Multi-Flip

Just when ultrabooks were beginning to seem scarce or stale, Sony’s latest
VAIO Fit 15A flips itself on its head to impress.

T

he ultrabook looks similar to many others, except for one detail – a crease line
running down the centre of the lid. This
has its practical application, as you discover
once you lift the lid. Much like on Acer’s R7,
this hinge enables you to view the screen
as one would on a traditional notebook
or flip the screen and drag it over the
keyboard to concentrate on web browsing,
for example. Furthermore, users can also
flip the display entirely so that it is facing
the other direction, with the keyboard and
trackpad behind it; particularly handy when
watching a movie. Finally, you can use it
in a tablet orientation for those who prefer
to do everything using the touch interface.
Build quality both looks and feels top notch
(for the most part), and certainly conveys a
sense of being a premium product.

First the good news
Another area where this ultrabook stands out
in the 15.5" screen, which is a pleasure to
behold, thanks in no small part to its full HD
(1920 x 1080) resolution. What this means of
course, is that the VAIO Fit practically begs

QUICK SPECS
18

Processor
Core i5- 4200U

to be loaded up with photos and movies, and
does a great job at rendering both. What’s
more, movie buffs will be glad to note that
the ultrabook is capable of seriously loud
sound output that practically reverberates
across the entire frame, although the audio
does get a little distorted at the very top end.

The Fit 15A can be used in a tablet
orientation for those who prefer
to do everything using the touch
interface.
So how does it perform? Well, in general
tasks, very well in fact. Indeed,
this was hardly a surprise,
since under the hood purrs the
all too familiar Core i5- 4200U
CPU, accompanied by 4 GB
of memory (which is alright,
although we would have liked
to have seen more), while
a Nvidia GeForce GT 735M
handles the graphics and
1 TB drive caters for storage.

Memory & Storage
4 GB RAM + 1 TB

GPU
Nvidia Geforce GT 735M

Now the bad
Moving on, the chiclet keyboard itself is a bit
of a double edged sword. On the one hand,
it boasts some lovely backlighting. On the
other hand though, we found keypress to be
particularly shallow, while the keys themselves
seemed noticeably smaller than you would
normally find. More disturbing was the sink
that the keys were set in, which seemed to
waver with the slightest touch.
Two USB 3.0 and one USB 2.0 port, an HDMI
port and an SD card slot round off the VAIO Fit
15A; yours for R16 000 for the i5 version and a
pricey R18 000 for a Core i7 processor. [RN]

USB
2x USB 3.0. 1x USB 2.0

Display
15.5" with 1920 x 1080 resolution

December 2013 | TechSmart