Update: Sorry everyone, the live session this evening is cancelled. Will upload a video in a few hours that answers some of the questions in the comments. Again, sorry!
Video should be here (20 minutes after this update!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSmH9iIzIDE
![WP_20131002_16_26_43_Pro_thumb[3]](https://www.umpcportal.com/files/2013/10/WP_20131002_16_26_43_Pro_thumb3.jpg "WP_20131002_16_26_43_Pro_thumb[3]")
Update: Sorry everyone, the live session this evening is cancelled. Will upload a video in a few hours that answers some of the questions in the comments. Again, sorry!
Sony’s Engineering on Haswell-based Ultrabooks and tablets has been top-notch so far. The Sony Tap 11 2-in-1 is looking great. The Vaio Duo 13 slider is a quality bit of kit too. The Sony Vaio Pro 13 takes a more traditional approach but offers some unique specs. A 13.3-inch Full-HD Haswell Ultrabook in 1KG is one example.
The Sony Vaio Pro 13 has turned up for testing here so I want to offer the chance to view a live session of testing. Friday evening is always good so how about you bring a bottle and join me at 2100 Berlin time [see time in your zone] on Friday at Ultrabooknews Live?
![Belkin dock_thumb[3]](https://www.umpcportal.com/files/2013/10/Belkin-dock_thumb3.jpg "Belkin dock_thumb[3]")
Is there anything in particular you’d like me to test?
I’ve also got a cool Belkin DisplayLink dock (aff. link – Amazon.com) to show you so I’ll run up two additional screens over a USB3.0 port to demo that.
See you on Friday.
Before the live session can you start using this notebook since the morning and see how battery remains using some specific conditions?
Also, can you go in details about this strange Wifi extension?
I read a lot about WiFi issues (signal strength mainly) with the new Vaio PROs around the internet … it would be great if you can check it out …
Thanks
Jakub
I’ll pay attention to the WiFi extension and strength. It’s an extremely important topic! Luckily in my studio the WiFi reception is tough. It’s immediately obvious if a device has poor WiFi quality. See you on Friday?
Here are few problem I’m having with my Vaio Pro 13 i7 8gb. I look forward to hear your opinion/solutions about them:
1- unless i’m in silence mode (makes me wonder why should I turn down the power when i paid extra for it) Fan is constantly working, loud and clear! it feels like it may take off!
2- WiFi keeps dropping, weak wifi, could not watch single youtube video without crashing and no connection massage, with no help from sony support I did all they said, no result. I end up buying Edimax ew-7811un external wireless adaptor and stick it in one of only 2 usb ports. problem semi-solved but not happy with why I should do that to my brand new £1350 machine!!
3- glitch/slow-motion on videos when you try to watch any youtube video’s on 1080p and sometime even 720p. realy anoying. + fan going mad!
4- touch pad not working or not responsive most of the time.
5- fan noise again. constantly working.
6- from my 256Gb hard drive i only have 160Gb available because of vaio partition for backup & windows recovery. done the backup and recovery media on external drive, but don’t know how to release some more of hard drive partition!? i only have about 158Gb available, not even have a single file on the laptop!
7- … and few more.
I see you on friday live session and hear you comments
I was inches from buying this laptop some days ago, but there were so many complaints about loud fan noise. I’d like to hear your experience on that. I was considering the i7 with 8gb RAM as well.
So: I second points 1 and 5 above.
Lars,
I have a one with i7, 8bg RAM and 256SSD. fan will start after about 30min of Light work and will not stop, unless you tune down the CPU to silence (stupid), basically make it as weak as £200 NETbook!
fan is very loud, fast high pitch annoying noise.
WiFi is even bigger problem.
I would not recommend Pro 13 to anyone.
I have heard the fan noise which can kick in after a few minutes at about 30% utilisation. The fan doesnt seem abnormaly loud though. This sample has little to no mechanical fan noise, only air rush noise. I’ll continue with some more tests tomorrow.
So one issue I noticed with this laptop (I have it) is that if you change power settings so that closing lid “does nothing” then when you close the lid when the computer is on and reopen the lid, the brightness can’t be adjusted again. Would appreciate it if you could confirm that this isn’t isolated to just my laptop.
I have a same issue !
Well that’s a bummer. The WiFi is indeed poor. Or rather, the antenna setup is poor. I’ve seen this module working extremely well before on the new Dell XPS 12. I notice the WiFi channel width was set to 20Mhz. I set it to auto in order to get 300mbps support but even so, that doesn’t help the poor quality.
As for fan noise, i haven’t heard any yet. About to kick off a few CPU tests now though…
I would like to know the same stuff as Alex stated.
Mainly the wifi strength and stability (I have heard it is worse than some smartphones because of the antena setup).
And also fan noise – when does it kick up, how often. If you could check temperatures and fan RPMs it would be great.
Let us please know if you have i5 or i7 model.
michal,
I have a i7 with 8gb RAM. unfortunately I don’t have any CPU temperature monitor programs on my pro 13 to tell you the temp and fan RPM.
hope ‘Steve Chippy Paine’ have some decent solution. he is the one who have seen and have access to all the ultrabooks in the market to compare and recommend solution.
Please test the keyboard and trackpad with it sitting in your lap.
There have been reports that the whole trackpad can physically move in use, when the base is flexing a bit because it is in a lap rather than on a flat surface.
Update: Sorry everyone, the live session this evening is cancelled. Will upload a video in a few hours that answers some of the questions in the comments. Again, sorry!
Doing more tests on the WiFi – it really is quite bad isn’t it! Updating BIOS to R1021V7 and then updating drivers through VaioCare and then re-measuring.
Chippy,
hope updates help yours, it didn’t help mine!
thank you for doing this mate
Just completed a 15 minute video which i’m editing and uploading over the next hour. I’ll embed it on the site as soon as it’s ready or you can find it on the YouTube channel.
http://www.youtube.com/user/stevechippy
Video will be here when it’s finished uploading and processing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSmH9iIzIDE
nice informative review! Thanks!
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Please let me know if you run into anything. I truly enjoy reading your blog and I look forward
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