Sony’s new T14 and T15 VAIO Ultrabooks are living large with bigger touchscreens

By Meghan McDonough February 5, 2013

sony-vaio-t15_dt — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Check out our review of the Sony VAIO T14 Touch ultrabook.

Ultrabooks are ultra slim, ultra lightweight, and known for their easy portability. As a result, most of them feature screens in the 11- to 13-inch range. Sony’s decided that it’s time for a change. At CES this year, the company announced two new Ultrabooks sporting 14- and 15.5-inch screens, the VAIO T series 14 and the VAIO T series 15. At that time, we heard they’d be available in the spring, but it looks like these VAIOs are early. Both Ultrabooks are available to order now.

Starting at $950, The VAIO T series 15 features a full 1920 x 1080 HD touchscreen for both excellent Netflix viewing and a solid Windows 8 touch experience. The VAIO T series 14 features a lower 1366 x 768 resolution, and the 14-inch display is available with or without a touchscreen. The T series 14 starts at $900. Both starting configurations come with a Core i5 processor. Of course, they can be upgraded to i7 processors for those willing to shell out the dough.

Both Ultrabooks are available with a dual drive option that pairs a fast solid-state drive with a larger traditional hard drive. The 24GB SSD handles the operating system, and the traditional hard drive holds photos, videos, music, documents and other programs. But, if speed is super important to you, you’ll want to upgrade from a regular hard drive to a larger SSD. Sony has 512GB and 1TB sizes available as options on the T series.

Sony is marketing these big screen Ultrabooks to students and professionals, which may help explain why both models come equipped with a CD/DVD drive. Once a standard part of every computer, the drives are becoming more of a rarity as laptops grow thinner. The laptops also include up to 8GB of RAM, a webcam, USB 3.0 ports, HDMI, and an SD card reader. Both are available worldwide starting today.

Topics

Sony

Meghan McDonough

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Meghan J. McDonough is a Chicago-based purveyor of consumer technology and music. She previously wrote for LAPTOP Magazine…

Computing

Save $100 on this Netgear mesh Wi-Fi system at Crutchfield

netgear orbi ax6000 tri band wi fi system deal crutchfield april 2024 lifestyle

If you want every corner of your home to have access to a stable internet connection, you're going to want to buy a mesh Wi-Fi system. There are lots of options out there among all the router deals online, but here's one that we recommend -- the Netgear Orbi AX6000 tri-band Wi-Fi system, which Crutchfield is selling at $100 off. Instead of $900, you'll just have to pay $800 for this mesh Wi-Fi system, but only if you hurry. The discount is expected to last for a few more days, but we're not sure if stocks will still be available by the end of the sale.

Why you should buy the Netgear Orbi AX6000 tri-band Wi-Fi system
The Netgear Orbi AX6000 tri-band Wi-Fi system includes a router module and two satellites to create a mesh network that supports Wi-Fi 6 and will provide coverage across 7,500 square feet. The router and the satellites will use a single network name for a seamless connection as you move around -- horizontally or vertically -- and MU-MIMO technology will allow for simultaneous streaming across multiple devices, so even if everyone in the family is connected to the mesh Wi-Fi system at the same time, nobody will experience any lag or buffering while watching streaming shows.

Computing

This popular Dell business laptop is discounted from $849 to $579

Dell Vostro 14 sitting on a table

If you're looking for a solid business laptop that's both portable and won't break the bank, then you'll be very happy with the Vostro 14. Not only is it highly rated, but it's still packed with features for being such a small device, and while it can be a little bit pricey at MSRP, you can get it for a steep discount. Dell has knocked an impressive $270 off the usual $849 price tag, bringing it down to a much more affordable $579, making it an excellent deal if you've been looking for a new device.

Why you should buy the Vostro 14
For being only a small 14-inch laptop, the Vostro 14 has some pretty good specs and a couple of ones that maybe should have been slightly better. For example, you get 16GB of DDR4 RAM, which is really excellent, especially for a more business-oriented laptop, so you can open a lot of apps and tabs at the same time. On the other hand, you only get an Intel Core i5-1335U, which is a mid-range processor, and while it's absolutely fine for business work and productivity, it would have been nice to get the higher-end Intel Core i7-1355U for a bit extra power and versatility.

Computing

The best resume templates for Google Docs

2010 career building tips resume

éé

During these times of heavy competition in the job market, you want to be sure that your résumé stands out as much as possible. There are many resources online to assist you in building a stellar resume, especially using templates compatible with Google Docs.