Sony Vaio Duo 11: A Powerful Ultrabook Convertible

Having seen the Dell XPS Duo, we looked at Sony's convertible, called Vaio Duo 11 with a little more expectation, but it disappointed us a little. Some of its highpoints include, powerful configuration i.e. Intel Core i5, 6GB RAM, 128GB SSD, Intel HD4000 graphics. Topping it all is the crystal like sharp 11.6 inch display with full HD resolution at 1920x1080p.

Its performance is good with battery back-up of up to 5 hours, while in PCMark 07 test it scored 4683, which is slightly more than Dell XPS Duo's score. At 1.3 Kg, it also weighs less than Dell XPS convertible. From a performance perspective it is a capable tablet PC which can handle professional workload with its powerful configuration, good battery back-up, multiple ports like VGA, Ethernet, HDMI and USB 3.0, all of which are missing in Dell XPS Duo.

Where it disappoints is in its ergonomics. As a tablet, it seems slightly heavy at 1.3 Kg and when used as a notebook, its slider based mechanism, when lifted upwards, opens up an undersized keyboard with no palm rest or touchpad at all. Even the keys are small. There is an optical pointer in the middle of the keyboard, and you have the right and left click on the edges. In total, it is a painful replacement for a tablet and laptop.

We found the touch experience really good and one can work comfortably on it, but the same cannot be said for the notebook experience.

Bottomline: It's priced at Rs 89k, which is on the higher side and will deter users from migrating to convertibles, since for a lesser amount you can get powerful ultra books or tablets.