ISSUE 379|COMPUTERSHOPPER|SEPTEMBER (^201989)
ULTRAPORTABLES
THEVAIOBRANDeffectivelyvanished from
the UK when Sony sold it five years ago.Now,
it’s back as an independentcompany,and
with anew high-endlaptop in tow: the SX14.
At £2,249,it’s almost as expensiveas the
larger-screenedLG Gram, althoughthis is
the highestpossiblespec you can get.
That includesthe now-familiar Intel Core
i7-8565Uprocessor,16GB of RAM, a
spacious512GB SSD and a14in,
3,840x2,160 display.
GETAIRY
Even with lesser internals, it’s afantastically
crafted piece of technology.The sturdy,
lightweightchassisis afusion of carbonand
aluminium,and the black finish on our review
unit looks extremelystylish. Best of all, it
somehowweighs only 999g; the Asus
ZenBook 14 UX433FAmay be the smallest
14in laptop,but this is surely the lightest.
The trim dimensionsof 320x223x18mmwill
also help it slot intoabag with ease.
Speakingof the ZenBook,this has avery
similar self-raisingmechanismwhere lifting
the lid will suspendthe base at an upwards
angle.The benefits are the same: amore
comfortabletyping angle,and more cooling
air reachingthe hot underside.
Perhaps the Vaio SX14’s biggeststrength
is connectivity.Onthe leftedge,there’s a
3.5mm headphone/miccombo jack and two
USB3 ports; on the right is an SD card reader,
aUSB3.1port, aUSB Type-C port (with
DisplayPort support),an HDMI output,a
fold-out RJ45 Ethernetport and aVGA
connector.All of this makes the Vaio SX14
supremelypracticalas abusinesslaptop as
well as apersonalone –much more so than
you’d expect from its exceptionally
lightweightdesign.The only thing missingis
Thunderbolt3, an omissionVaio blameson
runningout of PCI-E lanes.
That’s not ahuge loss, althoughthe
keyboardcould be alittle better.While the
keys are both backlit and sufficientlysized,
there’s very level travel in each press, and
there’s no waytodim or disablethe backlight
manually.Instead, it just automaticallyfades
out after 10 secondsof inactivity,reactivating
whenever you resumetyping.
The trackpad,too, is smallerthan on
most other 14in laptops, and that
includesthe integrated buttons
too–ittakes some gettingused
to,atthe very least. Palm rejection
often fails as well, so you’re better off
using amouse instead.
VAIOSX14
★★★★★
£2,249•From http://www.scan.co.uk
VERDICT
Aweakbatteryandstratosphericprice
preventthisfrombeingatriumphant
return fortheVaioname
Fortunately,the IPS displayissuperb,
with anative 4K resolutionand afantastically
high maximumluminanceof 440cd/m^2.
That’s waybrighter than you’ll ever need for
indoor use,even under harsh lights –itwill
even serve you happilyoutdoors in all but
the most glaring conditions.Acontrastratio
of 1,327:1, meanwhile,means that imagesare
both vibrantand solid, and the panel has
excellentviewingangles, with amatt finish
that mutes reflections.
It does adecent job of colour reproduction
as well, covering 93.5% of the sRGB colour
gamut. An average delta-Eof 2.54 isn’t low
enoughforprofessional-qualityaccuracy,but
it’s fine forbrowsingand watching videos.
SCORCHBEARER
As forperformance,the Core i7-8565Uand
16GB of RAM produced97 overall in our
benchmarktests –behind the Razer Blade
Stealth but afew points ahead of the XPS 13.
It’s not half bad by the standardsof the
processor,but rememberthat this laptop
costs well in excess of £2,000–for that kind
of moneyyou could have the vastly more
powerfulXPS 15, or indeed the Blade Stealth
with afew hundredpounds’change.
In use,the Vaio SX14 feels nice and quick
in everydaytasks, and applicationsand games
open up with great speed. However,itpumps
out afair bit of hot air from the exhaustgrille
on the left-hand side when it’s workinghard:
during the benchmarkingprocessall four
cores reachedat least 94°C, and one hit 96°C
–not faroffthe maximumsafetemperature
of 100ºC. However,wedidn’t notice any hot
spots on the undercarriageor aroundthe
keyboard,which tend to be problemareas in
laptops with poor heat management.
Storage performancecan be good, but
uneven. In the AS SSD benchmark,the SX14’s
512GB PCI-E drive read files at an excellent
2,557MB/s,but sequentialwriting was far
slower,atjust 314MB/s.Of all its closest
rivals, only the XPS 13 has worse writespeeds.
Integrated Intel UHD Graphics620 handle
basic gaming:we got Dirt Showdownrunning
at 47fps, albeit at 720p,afractionof the
SX14’s native resolution.The Blade Stealth
and XPS 15 both outperform it in games.
One advantage of integrated graphicsis
low power consumption,and that’s just as
well, becausehere the SX14 needs all the help
it can get. Vaio claims it will see you through
the workingdaywithout needingatop-up,
but we found the 35Wh battery gave us only
3h 32m of continuousvideo playback
from afull charge.That’s extremely
disappointing,especiallyforalaptop
that’s clearly designedforportability.
COMEBACKLATER
Even forthose with fond memoriesof
the Sony Vaio laptop family,the SX14 is
likely to be aletdown. Despitethe
occasionalflash of greatness–the
display, the lightness,the extensive
connectivity–its shortcomingsare just
toohard to ignore.Ifit’s not the undersized
touchpador the woeful battery life, it’s the
price: £2,249 is just toomuch when the
ZenBook 14 UX433FA, Razer Blade Stealth
and XPS 13 are all on sale forhundreds,if
not over athousand,poundsless.
c. jardin
(C. Jardin)
#1