SONY VAIO S PREMIUM SSD SERIES
Unfortunately, colors appeared less vibrant on the S Series 13 than on other 13-inch displays. Only the IdeaPad U310 approached the S13 in terms of brightness, measuring 238 lux. The notebook registered 267 lux on our light meter, beating the average ultraportable by more than 30 lux and measuring far above the dim Inspiron 14z (154 lux) and VAIO T13 (163 lux). The clickpad itself depresses quietly, with a satisfying amount resistance.Ĭlick to EnlargeAlthough the 1366 x 768-pixel resolution is standard fare for a 13-inch laptop, the VAIO S Series 13 plenty bright. Multitouch gestures such as two-finger scrolling, three finger flick, pinch-to-zoom and rotate worked consistently. The cursor glides smoothly from one end of the display to the other, and promptly responded to clicks even when we used two fingers to navigate and select items on the screen. Thankfully, this VAIO's spacious 4.7 x 2.5-inch Synaptics clickpad proved to be accurate and reliable.
Although it is easy to distinguish individual keys when using the S13 in a dark room, light bleeds from the beneath the keys, making the backlighting appear oversaturated when viewed at any angle other than straight down.
Unfortunately, the backlighting leaves much to be desired.
While the keyboard suffers from a fair amount of flex, this proved more aesthetically annoying than troublesome - we still achieved a rate of 68 words per minute with a 1 percent error rate on the Ten Thumbs Typing Test, slightly above our average speed. Click to EnlargeThe keys on the VAIO S Series 13's island-style, backlit keyboard offered a comfortable amount of tactile feedback.