Sony VAIO Pro 13 evaluation

2013 Sony Sony's existing product line can be divided into tap (Aio all-in-one machine), Duo (deformable flat/Super), Pro (flagship model), Fit (home entertainment models) four categories. The VAIO Pro combines the benefits of VAIO Z with VAIO x, VAIO Pro uses the hexagonal line design of the VAIO Z, the carbon-fibre fuselage and the aluminum alloy back cover panel, and the overall size and thickness of the VAIO X is the ultimate slim, thin, light and hard to imagine. The new VAIO Pro flagship model with Intel fourth generation Intelligent Core Processor i5-4200u (Haswell), the performance and endurance of a great increase, coupled with 1080p HD screen, support touch, then the performance of this notebook is really, whether it can be full of mobile office demand?

First we look at the specific configuration of the evaluation machine, model SVP13218SCS, equipped with the new Haswell processor i5-4200u, the main frequency of 1.60GHz core to 2.30GHz, the core graphics card upgrade to HD graphics 4400; 13.3 inch Full HD 1920x 1080 resolution IPS screen with brilliant Obsidian panel technology, with brightness and contrast increased by 30% compared to normal panel, but the power consumption of the screen is almost constant; Toshiba 256GB SSD SSD, 4GB Ddr3-1600mhz memory, and 2xusb3.0 (one of which supports power-off charging), HDMI, SD card reader, support NFC near field communication. Official data shows that the Pro 13 lasts for up to 8.5 hours, with an external high-capacity battery up to about 17 hours to meet all-weather endurance. The whole machine weighs only 1.06Kg, measurements 322x216x12.8-17.2 mm, and is thin and easy to carry.

Sony VAIO Pro parameters
Processor	Intel Core i5-4200u @1.6ghz
Memory as standard	4GB Ddr3-1600mhz
HDD capacity	256GB SSD
Graphics chip	Intel HD Graphics 4400
Screen	13.3 inch 1920x1080
Wireless Card	802.11b/g/n
External interface	USB 3.0 , Reader,HDMI,NFC
Weight	1.60 Kg
Operating system	Windows 8 Pro

Lightweight and rugged carbon fiber

Sony VAIO Pro 13 for the first time thought is commonly used hard plastic, otherwise not so light, but between the price and the flagship model, after deliberate pressure found that the screen did not appear the obvious ripples, learned that the Pro 13 fuselage (top cover and bottom) using a new carbon fiber material (carbon Fiber), its strength, compressive ability is excellent; the whole body silver metal coating with scrub treatment, feel delicate, and the top cover in the center of the conspicuous Vaio LOGO, marked its identity.

Because the material is mainly carbon fiber, the frame and the palm of the aluminum alloy are not very heavy, so the success of the light body of the Pro 13, Sony provided the data show Pro 13 weight of 1.06Kg, measured 1.05Kg, travel weight 1.331Kg. For the existing super-pole was said to be the most thin.

Of course, the overall strength of the new material carbon fiber to do the protection, but because too light weight, take in hand feel with the previous notebook has a very big difference, if one hand picked up, because the focus on management, you can feel the Pro 13 has a slight deformation, after all, only 1Kg heavy.

Sharp Screen Keyboard Small Change

The machine screen size is 13-inch resolution of 1920x1080 pixels, IPS display, support touch, for this resolution I am still satisfied, Apple has 2800x1800, Samsung has 3200x1800 resolution notebook, ordinary 1366x 768 took out all embarrassed to say is the flagship. Plus the screen display is sharp, comparable to the screen of the home BRAVIA LCD TV, as well as many image processing technology, such as: x-reality for mobile image processing engine, improve image texture, contour, color and contrast, restore rich vivid image effect; Triluminos display for mobile trick color mobile display technology, to achieve a broader perspective and high-precision images, reproduce the true nature of color, with a more distinct level of charm to evoke the emotional touch of each silk.

Pro 13 keyboard design and Vaio z/x slightly different, above the removal of the traditional digital lock, casing and other indicators, only retain the assist key, and low-key in the silver background, in order to facilitate the use in the dim environment, Pro 13 equipped with an adjustable LED backlight keyboard; When the fuselage is open, The wedge-shaped streamline design allows the aluminum palm to be infinitely close to the desktop, allowing the wrist to be relaxed while operating the keyboard, to avoid fatigue. But the touch of the keyboard, feedback is not very good, due to the keyboard paint and cover the same reason, more smooth, and a slightly shorter key, long-term typing may feel tired.

The location of the trackpad is affixed with an NFC tag and has near field communication capabilities. NFC is a contactless identification and interconnection technology that enables near-range wireless communication between mobile devices, consumer electronics, PCs, and smart control tools. NFC provides a simple, touch-enabled solution that allows consumers to easily and intuitively exchange information, access content and services.

Body Design Expands battery

The interface design of Pro 13 is the same as the current mainstream ultra-polar design, discarding the more occupied space of the VGA interface, RJ45 network cable. With HDMI transmission interface and unlimited network card, of course Vaio Pro Series for better adaptation, the introduction of compatible accessories "VGA cable" and "wireless router" can enhance the expansion of performance.

In order to maintain the integrity and aesthetics of the Pro 13 machine, there is no air hole design at the bottom, so the radiator inlet of the machine is designed to be near the screen position at the top of the keyboard surface. This design is commendable, under normal circumstances, the high-pressure panel of the LCD screen is located at the bottom, is also the most heat generated place, and at this time there is a inlet can be heat away, and can be used for the whole machine cooling, can be said to pay attention to the details of the embodiment.

Air inlet design at the bottom of the screen

Heat sink on the right side of the fuselage

The four-corner border is the most embodiment of the Pro 13 hexagonal line design, highlighting the edges and corners. But the corner of the screen and palm support is not designed to fillet, although it retains the right angle should be the spirit, but also easily scratched.

In addition, at the bottom of the fuselage near the hinge position, Sony also deliberately provide users with the expansion of the battery interface, but the expansion of the battery is not included in the random, but the user needs to be customized on the official website, if often work outside, equipped with a second battery, with the body itself built-in long-term lithium battery combination, Handle the work at hand without worrying about the battery life of the Sony Vaio Pro 13.

Pro 13 uses the latest PCMark 8 for working mode testing, simulating daily work, including browsing Web pages, Office document processing, etc., resulting in a life of 6 hours 27 minutes 56 seconds, when the battery remaining 20%, single-flight time up to 7 hours (official data is 8.5 hours), This is thanks to the Intel Haswell Energy Control and Sony's battery management optimizations.

Haswell Processor Four Highlights

Prior to the Intel Haswell processor information, testing, the real market notebook products did not have several, the earliest related products released to several Apple MacBook Air, with the Haswell processor can support 12-hour all-day follow-up, as a whole new generation of processors, What are the characteristics of Haswell?

The nature of the Haswell structure has not changed much, and the 22nm, which follows the many features of Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge, has been optimized only in some detail, but there are four changes:

1) AVX2 Instruction set

The change of instruction set is mainly embodied in the two aspects of integer and floating point arithmetic. The daily application code of the computer, including the operating system and the game, relies mainly on integer arithmetic. The AVX2 instruction set introduces support for 256-bit integer vector instructions, which allows the Haswell processor to perform an integer operation greater than the architecture of the first generation, with faster software response times and smoother operation.

2) Edram Level three cache

Computer systems generally use multi-level memory structure, because the speed of the upper and lower two-level memory can be different from one or two orders of magnitude or higher, therefore, the data exchange of the lower-subordinate memory is often the bottleneck of the system, reducing the performance of the system. To solve this problem, add a cache cache between the two levels of memory, the L1 cache, L2 cache, as you can see. Haswell added a larger L3 cache to further improve processor performance.

3) Graphics performance

Haswell focuses on the core graphics section, and Intel claims that Haswell can achieve twice times the graphics performance on the same power consumption as Ivy Bridge. The GPU in Haswell is paired with 40 execution units, claiming to rival the Nvidia GeForce GT 650M, but only in high-end notebooks. Haswell Core graphics are divided into GT1, GT2, GT3, and high-end gt3e.

4) Power consumption control

Compared to Ivy Bridge, the biggest change in the new ultra-low-voltage version is that the thermal design consumes less 2W (17w→15w), while the graphics core is upgraded to a new generation of GT3, but other basic specifications are not much improved, especially at lower frequencies. Haswell also enhanced power management optimization, increased the S0 active state, S0ix Active state, S3/4 sleep state and many other new power management level, different state switching time is also greatly shortened, the lowest power consumption can be reduced to 8W, ultra-low power processor is specifically suitable for tablets and fanless mute system.

I5-4200U Performance measurement

Pro 13 with 22nm I5-4200U processor, the main frequency of 1.60GHz turbo to 2.30GHz, the core graphics card upgrade to HD Graphics 4400, belongs to GT2, from cpu-z screenshots we can clearly see this core information, dual core four threads, Three-level cache (L1 32KB, L2 256KB, L3 3MB), new AVX2 instruction set, lower core rate, lower power consumption from Ivy Bridge 17W, down to 15W, greatly increasing the battery life of the notebook.

For processor performance The author uses Cinebench 11.5 for testing, the CPU rendering test as a test project, which can fully test the processor's multi-threaded parallel computing capabilities. Pro 13 uses the I5-4200U in dual-core full-case can be a turbo to 2.30ghz,cinebench 11.5 processor test score of 2.11pts, a single core score of 1.15pts, just below the i5-3427u of the ancestors.

Wprime is a software that calculates the computing power of a computer by calculating a prime number, especially the parallel ability, and the score can be referenced in the following image:

Haswell in the temperature control, compared to the previous generation of Ivy Bridge has also been greatly improved, Ivy Bridge platform of a batch of processors in the full temperature test, the average temperature in 58-62°, some brands also soared to around 80°, and Haswell control in 45-51° up and down, Overall temperature control is very good, which is also related to the internal design of the notebook itself.

The following tests the HDD read-write capability test for Pro 13, using Toshiba THNSNH256G8NT SSD, as SSD BENCHMANRK test score of 877.

3DMark and PCMark 8 test

3D Performance test the author uses Futuremark in 2013 to launch a new version of 3Dmark for specific testing, using the Cloud Gate test project, which is the DirectX 11 implementation of the DX10 level effect, relatively appropriate entry system. It is divided into three test scenarios, the first test scenario focuses on polygon, post-processing and particle effects, the second Test scenario focuses on volumetric illumination, and the third Test scenario is the processor performance test, which simulates the flexible deformation through 32 parallel threads.

The 3Dmark Cloud Gate scored 2899 points, where the image score and physics were divided into 3267 and 2080. Although the score is not very high, or even lower than the Ivy Bridge, mainly because of the concessions for the battery life, will be reduced frequency, the core frequency reduction, the future upgrade of the Haswell should gradually improve the frequency.

The PCMark 8 is the overall performance benchmark software for Windows systems, providing a total of 5 test modes for Home (home) testing, authoring (creative) testing, work testing, storage (Storage) testing and applications ( applications) test, the first three Tests also have the battery test mode is optional, the user can according to the actual need to choose the appropriate mode for testing.

Here I mainly test home (home) testing and work testing:

Home (home) test score 2410 Points

Work Test score 4007 points

In general, the Sony VAIO Pro 13 office performance is sufficient to meet the daily office, while the long battery life can meet the business people's mobile prosecution, do not have to worry about battery power.

Work test endurance 6h 27min 56s score 2410 points

Summary: Lightweight and portable for long lasting

As an excellent partner of Intel, with its outstanding process design, the pursuit of performance, Sony has given the VAIO Pro 13 the purest business pedigree, with the advantages of the high-end flagship Vaio Z series and the X-series, trying to apply a new generation of carbon fiber panels to the new Vaio Pro series, Sony put this special material called "single carbon fiber reinforced resin matrix composites", not only make it lighter than ordinary carbon fiber in the same strength, but also in terms of durability than ordinary carbon fiber 60% higher, or even higher than aluminum alloy material 25%, the weight of the machine to make a shocking 1060g; With independent research and development of the motherboard, the whole machine thickness control in the 12.8-17.2mm, the thinnest place is only about 3.5mm than the iphone 4 (9.3mm) thick. The VAIO Pro 13 is the world's thinnest ultra-polar book.

In addition to having excellent business pedigree, VAIO Pro 13 has made great strides in performance, and Intel Haswell has given pro 13 more powerful processing power, improved processing performance, and better power control, with a measured life of 6 hours, 27 minutes, 56 seconds (80% Power), Estimated to be up to 7 hours, plus the battery base life can be extended to 17 hours, so that business people out of office no longer have to worry about battery power.

In terms of price, Sony VAIO Pro 13 offers a personalised custom service that allows you to choose the color of the body, the desired configuration and the accessories you need, depending on your preferences. Silver Svp13217scs Pro 13 bid price is 8999 yuan, specifically configured for I5-4200u/4gb/128gb/windows 8, in the Sony Business series is already a cheaper, but not for the general public consumers.

Advantages:

Ultra-thin, the thinnest place only 12.8mm, and easy to carry, the machine weighs 1.06Kg;

Excellent workmanship, hexagonal line design, long-lasting, up to 7 hours or so;

1080p screen color sharp and clear, touch sensitive;

Insufficient:

Although the carbon fiber material is strong enough, but the fuselage is too thin, one hand pick up will make the notebook very fragile;

Keyboard touch, feedback force, key design, not easy to type for a long time;

The noise of the machine is slightly larger when working.