Home : October 12 2012 Computer News : Sony reaches the Windows 8 finish line first with two quirky tablets

Sony reaches the Windows 8 finish line first with two quirky tablets

October 12, 2012

Windows 8 launches in exactly two weeks on October 26th. The big day is imminent. The anticipation is palpable. Yet until two quirky devices from Sony arrived a few days ago, we hadn't yet put our hands on final, reviewable Windows 8 hardware. Is the PC industry really ready for this OS launch? For Sony, the question is moot. It wins the trophy for earliest Windows 8 hardware delivery (well, not including a pre-production tablet we received from Acer). Now the onus of responsibility falls on us. Just what do we think of Sony's interpretations of what a Windows 8 device can be? The techs at PCWorld Labs have been busy building a new version of PC WorldBench 8 designed to run on Windows 8 systems. Our benchmarking suite isn't fully complete with new Windows 8-oriented tests—precisely because we haven't had enough Windows 8 hardware to work with. Nonetheless, for these reviews, our available lab results still provide a good idea of how Windows 8 systems perform. Is the Sony Tap 20 really a PC? The two Sony systems presented here are cool examples of the endless possibilities enabled by Windows 8. One is an unusual all-in-one PC, while the other is a convertible laptop that's heavily imbued with tablet DNA. Neither are cookie-cutter systems, and both push the envelope of what we define as PCs. With that in mind, let's dive into our first official Windows 8 hardware reviews. Sony Tap 20: All-in-one or a humongous tablet? As you might guess, this new Windows 8-based Sony all-in-one isn't your average AIO. Inside the modest exterior beats the heart of an Ultrabook, but with a 10-point multi-touch screen and a battery. So you can either think of the TAP 20 (also known by the sexy name SVJ20215CXW) as a smallish AIO or a really big tablet. In reality, it's a little of both. In putting the Tap 20 through its paces, I started with a little photo editing on its decidedly smallish (at least for an AIO) 20-inch, 1600-by-900-pixel display. It was a constraining experienced compared with the more expansive displays I'm used to working with. Then I unplugged it, took it upstairs, laid it flat on my dining room table, and played Pinball FX 2. Loyd CasePinball! You may notice the smudges on the Sony system in the photo above. Fingerprints on the screens of Windows 8 PCs will become a way of life—an indignity we already experience with normal tablets. Indeed, as more touch-enabled PCs arrive, expect cleaning cloths to become ubiquitous PC accessories. Under the hood Sony's new AIO is built using mobile PC technology, including the same 1.7GHz Ivy Bridge ultra low voltage Core i5-3317U CPU used in many mainstream Ultrabooks, with a Turbo Boost up to 2.6GHz when needed. The system also includes 4GB of system memory and uses Intel's own HD 4000 integrated graphics to take care of display chores. Storage chores are handled with a 750GB mobile hard drive. No SSD cache is employed, so storage performance can be a little pokey. There's also no built-in optical drive, so either you get your video or audio content via the network, or you attach an external optical drive. While the 1600-by-900 pixel resolution seems a little low for a 20-inch all-in-one, Sony uses an IPS panel, so color fidelity and video saturation look pretty good, and viewing angles are generally fine. Sony also builds in the same Bravia video rendering engine used in the company's Bravia HDTVs, so video looks nice—when you can get it to run. The problem with video in this case isn't the hardware, but Windows 8 itself, which no longer plays back MPEG-2 content. Sony should consider bundling some type of MPEG-2 playback tool going forward. WMV high definition looked quite nice on the IPS screen, however, as did high-resolution photos. The TAP 20 offers a robust set of connectivity options, including Bluetooth 4.0, gigabit Ethernet and 802.11n WiFi. Surprisingly, the system only includes two USB 3.0 ports, though one incorporates sleep-and-charge functionality. Also included is an SD/Memory stick slot and an audio input and output jack. The system also lacks any monitor input or output—no HDMI ports or other video connectors. To alleviate some USB port contention, Sony supplies a wireless keyboard and mouse. They're competent enough, though the keyboard looks and feels more like a Chiclet-style laptop keyboard right down to the shallow keystroke and lack of sculpting. Loyd CaseWireless keyboard and mouse The stand is large and U-shaped, mounted to the unit via hinges. You can adjust the tilt, but not the height. However, the stand can rotate parallel to the system, allowing the Tap 20 to be laid completely flat on a tabletop or other surface. SonyFingerpainting! This gives the Tap 20 the ability to be used as a flat surface for interactive gaming, shared art projects or for viewing presentations. It's also possible to angle the stand so you can set up the system in portrait mode, but it's not very stable when orientated this way. To facilitate extended use in the shared tabletop mode (practically a necessity for playing board games), Sony has built in a 5000 mAh battery, which can run the system for up to three hours without a power cord, depending on brightness setting and use mode. Performance Since the Tap 20 is built using an ultra-low voltage mobile CPU, performance is somewhat lacking compared to other all-in-one PCs. PCWorld is in the process of building a new PC WorldBench 8 suite for Windows 8 testing, but it's not quite ready yet. We were able to run PCMark 7, including storage tests, and also evaluate startup times. Comparing the numbers to past AIO systems running Windows 7, it's clear the TAP 20 is seriously lacking in sheer CPU performance. So, while you can use the system for video editing or gaming, that's most certainly not its strong suit. For example, the office productivity test garnered a score of just 730, which is less than half of Lenovo's ThinkCentre M92z. The Sony's image editing test took 596 seconds, versus 157 for the Lenovo. Some of the performance issues can be attributable to the slow, 5400RPM laptop-style hard drive. On the plus side, however, power usage is low. The idle power of the Sony is just 23 watts, about half the 41W idle power of the Lenovo all-in-one. TAP 20 real-world use I set up the TAP 20 in my home office, installing some additional software and getting used to the touch-enabled display. After a time, I discovered I was using the mouse less frequently, even when in the Windows desktop, though some operations in desktop mode are still easier with a real input device. The user interface is responsive and smooth. While surfing the web, both Firefox and Internet Explorer seemed well behaved, even with multiple tabs opened. Web-based video playback was mostly clean and stutter-free. However, if you plan on writing or editing longer documents, you may want a different keyboard. The Sony keyboard's keys are slightly textured, but still slippery, and I found myself making many more errors while typing than I usually do. Non touch-typists may not encounter the same issues. Using the Tap 20 untethered is an interesting experience. At well over 11 pounds and with a 20-inch width, it's not something you comfortably sit on your lap. However, it makes for a very cool Xbox SmartGlass device. I set it up on my coffee table in front of my entertainment center, within easy reach. While still in its infancy, SmartGlass has the potential to make a device like the TAP 20 become a powerful adjunct to your home entertainment experience—assuming, of course, that Microsoft keeps enhancing the SmartGlass technology. I also laid the Tap 20 flat and played around with some of the games, like Xbox Taptile and Pinfall FX2. These show off just a glimmer of the potential of the system as a shared gaming device. Let's hope more actual board game ports come to the Microsoft store, as we've seen with iOS games. I'd love to see Ticket to Ride, Elder Sign or Alien Frontiers on this system. While video quality (what video we could play) looked good, audio was something of a mixed bag. I discovered that sound quality varies depending on the surface the system sits on. If it's on a hard desktop, the sound quality is better than if you plop it down on a tabletop that’s covered by a tablecloth. Even in a best-case scenario, sound quality is limited by the speaker size. There's little audible bass content, though Dolby Home Theater v4 spreads out the sound stage a bit without adversely affecting audio quality. If you plan on using the Tap 20 to watch a lot of movies, or as a music playback device, external speakers would be a good idea. Bottom line The Tap 20 is a unique product. It's relatively underpowered as a desktop system, but its strong suit is as a shared family PC, with the ability to be easily moved around the home. And its potential as a shared gaming device is impressive. However, it wouldn't be very rewarding as a productivity machine, and the lack of MPEG-2 playback—more a Windows 8 problem than Sony's—makes it an imperfect entertainment system. In many ways, the TAP 20 showcases both the good and the bad of Windows 8. It's seamless integration with the Windows 8 user interface shows off Microsoft's new operating system at its best, but the lack of capabilities users have come to expect, like MPEG-2 playback, is oddly jarring. When used with native Windows 8 apps, it excels, but the uninspired keyboard and mouse make desktop use more of a chore than it needs to be. The Tap 20 is undeniably cool, but some of its finer details need to be fleshed out. Still, at about $880, it's not all that expensive, particularly if you consider that it's both a small all-in-one and a really big tablet. Pros: Excellent interface and system ergonomics. Included battery turns the Tap 20 into a big tablet. Cons: Performance is lacking. Only two USB ports and lacks WiDi capability. Rating: 4 out of 5 stars. Price: $880 From desktop to mobile What's the difference between a tablet and a laptop? When reviewing the Sony Duo 11, I had to repeatedly ask myself that question, because the Duo 11 blurs the lines between the two form factors. Unlike Microsoft's upcoming Surface products—which are squarely, unequivocally tablets—Sony and many other manufacturers are aiming for hybrid devices. In one mode the Duo 11 is a tablet. In the other mode, it's a laptop. So the question becomes: Does it do well at either? Let's find out. Sony Duo 11 Ultrabook: Blurring the line between tablet and laptop Unpacking the Sony Duo 11 (aka the SVD1123CXB) reveals what appears to be a tablet. No keyboard is immediately visible. Yet when you pick it up, it seems a little hefty for a tablet. So what's going on here? Well, the Duo 11 isn't just a tablet. Lifting up the top edge will tilt up the display, revealing a sliding keyboard hidden beneath the panel. Welcome to the world of Windows 8 sliders. The Duo 11 keeps its keyboard tucked underneath the tablet's bottom chassis—it's there when you need it, but can be hidden away when you don't. Photo: SonyThe Duo 11 modes The Duo 11 weighs in at 2 pounds, 13 ounces, decidedly on the light side for an Ultrabook. The 11.6-inch screen offers a full 1920-by-1080 pixel IPS touchscreen panel, which offers good image quality and color fidelity. Sony also builds a full Wacom digitizer into the touchscreen, complete with a stylus supporting 1,024 levels of pressure sensitivity. Artists will appreciate the digitizer, but Sony didn't think to include a slot to store the stylus in the body of the unit, so you'll need to keep track of it as you travel. The Duo 11 meets Intel's Ultrabook spec. It's light, boots fast from the 128GB SSD, and is just 0.71-inch thick. The system is powered by an Intel Core i5 3317u processor, and our review unit included 8GB of system RAM (the standard memory included is 6GB.) Since it's an Ultrabook, graphics are powered by the onboard Intel HD 4000 GPU built into the Ivy Bridge low voltage processor. The Core i5 CPU used by the Duo 11 is decidedly middle of the road, so how does it fare on the performance front? Performance PCWorld is still developing its PC WorldBench 8 benchmark suite, which is specifically designed to test performance of Windows 8 based PCs. However, since part of WorldBench 8 includes FutureMark's PCMark 7, which is also used in WorldBench 7, I was able to glean a little performance information. Note that we also tested boot times as well, though gaming performance tests are still in development. The Duo 11 posted a score of 2500 on PCMark's productivity test, which is considerably lower than the 4028 posted by Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Carbon. That Lenovo system has a higher-end Core i7 3667U CPU, so it's not surprising that the Sony is slower. Still, the delta in benchmarking performance seems inordinately large, and the Duo 11's overall real-world performance did seem a tad sluggish, especially for a system equipped with an SSD. Sony rates battery life at a little under five hours. Sleep mode seems to work particularly well, using very little power relative to other Core i5 units I've used. Features and usability At first, I thought the sliding keyboard seemed like a fragile gimmick, but after repeated use, my opinion changed—the hinge and sliding mechanism are actually pretty solid (though only extended torture testing would really bear this out). You can't completely detach the tablet from its keyboard, like you can with other Windows 8 hybrid devices. This limits flexibility, but at least you don't have to obsess over carefully aligning connectors, as we've seen with a few convertibles offering fully detachable tablet panels. The keyboard is definitely a welcome convenience, but it's not a paragon of usability. The spacing between keys is quite cramped, and the keys themselves lack a sculpted shape. Despite having been a touch typist since high school, I found myself making frequent typing errors when using the keyboard. Sony does include a backlight for the keyboard, so at least that is a step in the right direction. The Duo 11 also has one of the weirdest pointing devices I've ever seen. At first blush, it looks like one of those mini trackpoint joystick pointers, but it doesn't move. Instead, the round nub is itself a touch surface, so slight movements of your finger moves the cursor. It works surprisingly well, but takes some getting used to. It's more an adjunct to the multi-touch display rather than a primary pointing device. Loyd CaseDuo 11, keyboard and stylus As a tablet, the Duo 11 was responsive and quick, particularly inside the Windows 8 start screen. Desktop apps, meanwhile, particularly browser and office class applications, ran without any major performance issues. The Wacom digitizer worked well with the included ArtRage Professional desktop graphics editor. The digitizer pen should also be useful in applications like Photoshop or Illustrator, though overall performance in those applications may be a little sluggish. Using fingers for touch on the Windows desktop is a little problematic, partly because of the 1080p resolution on an 11.6-inch display. As was noted in the preview of Acer's W700, the high pixel density on a small display makes precise touch gestures on the desktop problematic. Those issues don't exist in the tile-based Windows 8 start screen. And here's an odd anomaly: The display would occasionally become "stuck" in portrait mode after waking up from sleep. This was true even when the starting state of the display was in landscape mode when it went to sleep. I had to reboot to cure the problem. The Duo 11 includes a software version of Sony's Bravia video engine, and video playback was relatively smooth, though some speckling noise was visible in some WMV-HD high definition content. MPEG-2 was unplayable, because Microsoft no longer includes an MPEG-2 license with Windows 8, and Sony didn't include a playback tool that can handle MPEG-2 content. Sony also builds in Intel's anti-theft technology and includes a trusted platform module for additional security. Connectivity and expansion The Duo 11 includes a pair of USB 3.0 ports, one of which can be used to charge battery-powered smart devices while the laptop is in sleep mode. The Sony also offers two video output ports, the aging VGA connector (useful for projectors) and an HDMI output port. The left side also houses a flash memory card reader that can handle both SD cards (all formats) and Sony Memory Stick. A lone headphone jack is the only concession for analog audio. Loyd CaseSD slot, VGA and headphone jack Network connectivity includes a retractable gigabit Ethernet connector, 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0. The Duo 11 also includes Intel's WiDi technology for wireless display on HDTVs, provided the large screen has the appropriate external adapter or built-in WiDi capability. Loyd CaseUSB and other connections Unlike many Ultrabooks, the Duo 11 offers memory expansion. It ships with 6GB of fast DDR3. Four gigabytes are fixed, and there's an SODIMM socket for one more memory module. Maximum supported memory is 8GB. As you might expect with a tablet device, the Duo 11 includes both front- and back-mounted cameras (both offer 2.4 megapixel sensors). Audio quality is surprisingly good for such a tiny system: relatively clean and balanced when Dolby Home Theater v4 is enabled. However, bass response is essentially nil, so the best listening experience will be through headphones or external speakers. Bottom line At a starting price of $1,100, the Duo 11 is not an inexpensive investment. That's a challenge considering all the compromises the hardware makes. Looking at it one way, it's a highly mobile laptop that can double as tablet—but when you use it as a tablet, you really notice its weight. Looking at it another way, it's a tablet with a nifty integrated keyboard—but the keyboard isn't very good. And the display is excellent—except for the noise experienced in video playback. In the end, it's a great indicator for the greater potential of Windows 8, and if you need an ultracompact laptop that's usable mostly as a tablet, it's worth a closer look. But most users may shy away when they see the price. Pro: Excellent, high resolution multi-touch display Pro: Lightweight, even for an Ultrabook Con: Extremely limited keyboard and pointing device Con: Performance lags behind other Ultrabooks Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars Price: $1,099 Final thoughts Now that I've had a chance to more closely examine systems designed to work well with Windows 8, the possibilities inherent in Microsoft's new OS are even more intriguing. What's still not clear, however, is how well the new OS will fare on more standard types of PCs. The next few months of product reviews will answer many questions. A whole host of new PCs are on the way, some with only minor spins on old recipes, and others that attempt what Sony attempts with these new PCs: to reinvent the personal computer as we know it. Success is by no means assured, but I'm more interested in seeing these fascinating experiments than looking at a never-ending assembly line of clamshell designs. Bring it on.

Link: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2011609/sony-reaches-the-windows-8-finish-line-first-with-two-quirky-tablets.html