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Sony Vaio Duo 11
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Bridging the gap between touch screen and keyboard-controlled devices, the Duo 11 slider is a typically slick hybrid from Sony. Weighing in a just 1.3kg and 17mm thick, this touch screen ultrabook is thin a light enough to carry in one hand but is ready to transform into a Window 8 laptop with keyboard when matters gate more intensive.
SPECIFICATIONS
Operating system : Windows 8 64-bit
Memory : 2-8GB 1600MHz DDR3L-SDRAM
Display : 11.6in 1920x1080 pixels
Hard Drive : 128 or 256GB
Graphics : Intel HD Graphics 4000
Webcam : Front-facing full HD with Sony Exmor R sensor
Wireless : Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, wireless LAN, Bluetooth
Ports : RJ-45 (Ethernet), VGA, 2x USB 3.0, 1x HDMI;
headphone jack, microphone jack, power connector, multi-card reader
Blu-ray player : No
Size : 320x199x18mm
Weight : 135g
PC Mark : 4768
Look at the tablet front-on, for example, and the left and right edges of the Duo 11 bulge out. The tablet would look much better with an entirely squared-off or entirely curved design rather than this mid-way compromise.
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Tablet Front-On
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In tablet mode, only got two buttons to access on the whole device. Which are the power on the right-hand rear edge, and the Windows button on the screen’s lower bezel for waking from sleep and accessing the Windows 8 Modern interface.
Flip the screen up, pull upwards from the rear center of the screen, and the smartly-designed mechanism pops into place. And presented with a proper Ultrabook-style keyboard, with an optical track-ball sensor and three mouse buttons in place of a larger touch-sensitive track pad.
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Flip the Screen Up
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Sony’s contrast-boosting Opti Contrast technology looks absolutely great, although it has a very glossy and fingerprint-attracting finish, which may annoy anyone intending to use the Duo 11 outside. The screen’s touch sensors are very accurate, and we rarely had trouble using icons within the Windows 8 desktop mode at its default 125% zoom mode.
Consumer standard HDMI output, two USB 3.0, full size SD / Memory Stick slot and headphone jack accompanied by a VGA output and wired Gigabit Ethernet connector it is clearly designed for power users or business. These last two will make the Vaio Duo 11 far more useful to a traditional business than most other Windows 8 tablets. A bundled miniature power brick helps make this Sony tablet more portable than a competing Ultrabook or full-size notebook.
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The VGPSTD1 (The Digister-Friendly Pen)
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Sony includes a digitizer-friendly writing pen with the VAIO Duo 11, the VGPSTD1. It’s designed to be more accurate than standard capacitive pens, and includes sensors to turn off the screen’s touch input to eliminate accidental palm-presses. It works very well, and is far more accurate than using a finger or thumb. This is especially useful in the Duo 11’s non-touch-optimized Windows 8 desktop mode.
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The Vaio Duo has Just One Upright Position
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I think the Vaio Duo 11 appears to be a product design that became so focused on touch tech that it lost sight of the screen. It’s powerful, well connected and highly portable too. Thus, for me it's affordable and easy to use.
