Is VAIO BETTER without Sony?? - Vaio SX12 Laptop 

The VAIO seems like a laptop that would be awesome 5 years ago.

This is 2012-2014 Vaio laptops to a tee, it looks almost exactly the same. The way Alex describes it, it may as well be a 2014 Vaio with upgraded internals and the addition of a TB3 port. -used to work at a recycler and we got stacks of these in from a healthcare company.

$1900? Based on Alex’s review, sounds like a $900 laptop...

I'm watching this video on my 10 year old Sony Vaio, and it still works fantastic! Sad to see what happened to Vaio, when they left Sony...

It's not that they wanted to make more high end stuff but more enterprise stuff, that's why there's a VGA prot and stuff. Also for a while they were only available in Japan, and during that time they had actual high end stuff (fort the time of course)

I believe the flex (esp. in the screen) is a selling point, they say you can accidentally close the lid with a pen inside and nothing should break.

lmfao so they wanted to get away from consumer products to make high-end, only to make the most mid-ranged laptop i've ever seen

That Vaio is just a business laptop. There's a lot of old VGA screens around still, it's something you get out on the field to work. I think plastic absorbs hits betters, too. But, yeah, that trackpad is not excusable.

the real question is when will VAIO get back into schools always missing some keys from the keyboard

I own a 2014 Sony Vaio, and it's still working great at the end of 2020. The 6-year experience using it is supreme. This month I consider buying a new laptop. Still want a Vaio for its reliability. And also the machine remains cool and silent even been working for all day. It got all the ports you need no matter at any situation. At the old times when Sony owned it, it's really convenient and reliable if there's any problem on my machine. During this 6 years, my son hit it twice on the ground, and it's still working VERY WELL…haha

So basically, buy the xps

I still have my 2014 Sony Vaio ultrabook that I use for work. Still works fine, I upgraded to an SSD in 2016 and it only has started to show its age in 2019.

My dude is that a calculator watch ?

As a Japanese, I know many Japanese companies are trying to sell cheap stuff at a high price. Japan is a country where most people are over 60 and they are in charge of the government and many companies and they don't know anything about PC's so they buy these stuff. Vaio has become one of those companies.

That’s a name I haven’t heard in a loooong time.

Well they got all the right ports, VGA is still widely used today, Lenovo still sell ton of adapters for VGA, lot of schools, universities and work places with VGA projectors and other stuff.

Young Harrison Ford rocking a calculator watch reviewing a legacy brand. LMG has a cloning/time machine?

I just bought a Sony VAIO Z from 2010 and I use it daily, and I must say, it's really awesome. It was years ahead of the competition back then. The design is great and for the light tasks I do on it, performance is just fine.

"Thinnest laptop with a six core" great advertising, you basically told me you made one of the hardest thermally throttling laptop Edit: s

I love my vaio from 2010 with its 1st gen i5

VAIO is a Japanese company, it is understandable why they put so many port in, many Japanese are still connecting their laptop with old school device, and frankly, even HDMI/USB C aren't particularly well adopted in Japan. I guess it has something to do with longevity and reliable electrical device and people are generally more careful in using their device.

There's a lot of things that I love about this laptop, especially that it aggressively shuns all the horrible modern trends, the I/O is spectacular, as well as the understated design. But it has too many shortcomings for it to be worth $1900. Maybe a refresh with Ryzen 4000 APUs and a better display. It also needs a trackpoint-type mouse for it to be a business laptop. One modern trend that does make sense on a low powered small laptop is USB-C charging.

I'm getting tired of saying this because noone ever seems to listen, but here I go again: angled keyboards are bad for your wrists. If you're not going for a full ergonomic design the best you can do for you wrists is have something perfectly flat. An angled keyboard that is also non-ergonomic will result in your wrists being twisted "wrongly" in two separate ways, rather than just one wrong way if you had a perfectly flat keyboard.

I really miss VAIO convertibles. Like I haven't seen anything like the Vaio Duo 11 / 13 (for a good reason, but the engineering that went behind it is really polarizing).

VGA and Ethernet are good for industrial use. We often use these ports, to connect with PLCs or other industrial stuff

Everything Sony makes is amazing, I wished that they did not dispense it 💔

Well.viao..you had my attention up until " 1900 bucks", " small trackpad< and " plasticy..feel and flimsiness.". NOPE. No sale.

I love this channel. It gives me something to watch by itself OR while I'm gaming without being overwhelmed. LTT videos can be a little loud and information heavy when sometimes I just want some options on a cool product.

Alex: gets laptop "Costs almost $1900" Also Alex: procedes to throw it in the air

The VAIO you are reviewing is very similar to the 2012 model S with internal upgrades. These laptops are built to last and are so light given how powerful they are.

My first laptop was a Sony Vaio and it was built like a tank. Proper old-school rigid plastic, 4:3 aspect ratio display, an optical drive, a floppy drive, and two PCMCIA card slots.

"We put a Hexacore i7 in this super thin Laptop!" Cool. ... Why?

"There's a lot of mush before you get into the clique" This VAIO is probably not getting in...

I like the track pad. It's very accurate. The vaio looks better to me, plus has more options with the ports, feels better for typing when I tested them, and is almost half the weight as the dell. It's a true ultra portable.

Thanks for the video! I haven't heard the Vaio name in years. My first notebook was the Sony Vaio SR when I started college. I knew Sony sold off their PC business, but I had no idea Vaio was still making computers in 2020.

I'm looking for an thin and light laptop with modern specs that can still take sd cards. So this actually looks interesting to me. Only thing bothering me is the top bezel on the screen and the tiny touchpad. I don't mind a "plasticky" feel as long as the flexinf means nothing gets broken. I had a Sony Vaio 15" from 2011 until it just stopped booting last year and it was honestly impressive. 2.1 cm thick, 2 kg makes it still look somewhat modern today.

The best laptop I've ever purchased was a 2010 Vaio, thanks for the review.

I bought a White ea series and it looked amazing back in 2010. It got me through hs and college. It was worth the money.

"Everything that I remember from VAIO was very high quality" that's funny the name VAIO invoked pain and suffering into the very back of my brain all the way down to my soul. I thought I was gonna love it, especially with all those ports, but with build quality like that my impression of VAIO I guess isn't going to change

My favorite part is watching him juggle 4 thousand dollars worth of laptop like it's no big deal.

Lol i didn't even know they've split up

I have a high end 13" vaio from about about 10 years ago. It seems to have better build quality than the new one and the performance is still perfectly good enough for daily use

Vaio was far too overpriced for the specs in the package back then. Still too expensive nowadays

Such a shame to see vaio fall this low - the old sony ones were ground breaking - first with carbon fibre and magnesium and also the first to offer cool colours

So... Buy the Dell?

9:06 If linus was doing that, we'd all be having panic attacks.

I'm still rocking my 2012 Sony Vaio. the GT520m is more than capable of playing Half life

Dude gave an actual review of the product. Everybody else on RU-vid who so-called "reviewed" this gushed over it and you could tell they never actually used the SX12.

So basically it's like going to a fine dining restaurant but when you get inside it's a McDonald's.

Loving the casual yet informative review style

Wanting a tank chassis in a 0.8 kg laptop. Stop dreaming. Some compensation has to be made. Plus something that can be flex does not necessarily mean it has a lower build quality. It just means that it has a lower rigidity.

It seems like Vaio did addressed most of the issues mentioned in their SX14 laptop, 4K display, carbon fibre and stuffs..... A review of the SX14 would be nice.

It’s meant for businessmen who go to random meetings that still have VGA projectors, also the 4G modem. Japanese audience mostly... check out the review from Lisa at MobileTechReview, got a very nice in- depth review there. Always appreciate these unboxing videos!

I have loved VAIO logo since i was a kid, looked futuristic 20 years ago and still looks good. Loved the mid-late 2000s designs. Aesthetically some of the 06-09 vaios with vista are ~ *chefs kiss*

Check vaio's internal factory testing and you'll get why it is so important to keep the whole thing flexible.

My 500$ Lenovo Ideapad Flex seems high-end compared to this. Almost no deck flex, touchscreen and a decent sized clicky trackpad. Maybe next time Vaio.

Oh boy. I remember my old Sony Vaio. Windows 7. Intel i5, just 8 GB RAM. RIP Vaio Notebook. RIP Windows 7.

Id just like say I really enjoy this new "oldschool" channel you guys made. Its simple and fun to watch.

I agree that VAIO was a great manufacturer of quality products. Hopefully they get back to that philosophy soon.

dude i still remember my white vaio laptop from 2010, the keyboard stopped working 2 years after i got it and it eventually died but in 2016 it got magically resurrected. good times.

I'm one the few people i know that actually DON'T want a touchscreen on my laptop, why would you want one? Just leaves smudges everywhere i'd be forever cleaning it

Oh you dont know how GOOD that old type touchpad is. For a gamer that using touchpad instead of mouse it feel incredible. I DID try that full large touchpad with no physical left/right button. It is really the worst experience for me.

A couple things: While true there are weird things about this laptop I think the market for this is misunderstood. (I wouldn't buy one either but I'm not the market) Its not so much going for high - end but rather the enterprise which want a light durable laptop with no compromises on ports (Hence the VGA). ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-D5PbHFeCWu4.html shows waterproof + durability tests showing if something gets jammed between keys and screen it will be fine. Sorta why the keyboard has that flex. So at least there is a reason. Some unanswered questions. How was battery life? does the dell fans ramp up if you plug it in as well while doing heavy tasks? Do they offer screen options (Think I saw a 4k option) That said, even if it has precision drivers that trackpad is tiny!

Japanese are obsessed with quality. There is a reason why it's expensive. VAIO is the best laptop for me.

First of all; Alex, you nailed this. And then; That's just a cheaply made, mediocre laptop with a 6 core processor and a too high price tag.

VGA is still in use all over Germany. Schools use them, Universities use them, Businesses use them. So good on them for including that port.

They still make them? I’ve always wanted one solely because of the “Vaio” font. Super clean imo

Good review! I have to mention though: something's weird about the audio.. There's some high pitched background noise that I haven't heard on any other video from LTT.. or I'm just going crazy.

they were overpriced and underpowered back in 2012.

better suggestions for improvement: make it a 3:2 display keep the same keyboard size and layout and with the extra vertical room of 3:2 they can easily fit the larger track pad, better cooling and a bigger battery.

I love that he tries saying something nice from the laptop then goes to dell and is like “oh shit this is way nicer”

For 1000 it would be an interesting proposition bc of the ports, pretty sure it would have a large market plus some business ppl and academics that still uses VGA and don't want to carry a Dongle for that

They literally kept the same design and features and just changed the internals.... also literally keeping same prices as back then when it cost so much to get something stylish - doest check out today!

we had vaio laptop in 2012 or something. The fans are INCREDIBLY LOUD. Even while browsing internet. It sounds like a helicopter trying to take off. I disassembled the laptop there was not even a dust.

I can see this being appealing in enterprise applications. A fair amount of offices still use VGA as a primary display interface. However at the same time, still want less bulky machines. As for the track pad, Vaio may have also been anticipating that companies will also be providing peripherals, such as a mouse. Which could explain the lousy track pad. Now that being said, I don't think that's an excuse for charging nearly $1900 for a sub par laptop.

I like that the trackpad on the Vaio IS CENTERED ON THE SPACEBAR. I don't really need a huge trackpad, but when I'm typing a long document, I'd rather have the edge of the trackpad be equal on both sides of my hand. So many laptops center it on the laptop, which might look better, but sucks to use.

I had a vaio the flex is designed so if you close it on a pen or object it doesn't crack screen

I LOVE IT. Im a fan of SONY VAIO, unfortunately in Argentina we don´t have retailers who sell this laptop, but as soon I can go to the US i would buy THIS MACHINE ! I owned a SONY VAIO for about 5 years and still works perfect.

That's some ASMR-level mic gain you got there bud

I still have a Sony vaio SVZ which is great it is more powerful than the current gen macbook air yet is lighter and has a more accurate display with 96% Adobe rgb screen. I have always been a big fan of Sony vaio I have owned three and I still use my Sony vaio sz from 2006 for gaming almost weekly.

10:13 🦀🦀🦀 SONY IS GONE 🦀🦀🦀

My family had this VAIO all-in-one PC with top of the line specs at the time, and was amazing, that was a real i-mac killer. I recently got it out of storage to try and restore it (nothing bad happened to it, just thermals could be better and it got old lol)

Ah, the nostalgia, I bought a refurbished Sony Vaio back in 2011, it had a bizarre 3D screen that was a few cm thick (active shutter glasses) back when 3D was all the rage. Only had a GT540m so it wasn't that great at gaming.

Currently using VAIO SX14, the 8th gen CPU version, just wanna say it's super light and easy carry, I switched from 6th gen X1 Carbon.

I'm just about to replace my 10 year old Sony Vaio. (It still works). You can't fault the Sony build quality. Would a new Vaio last that long?

Still Rocking my Sony VAIO Pro 13 from 2014. I bought it clearance with a 50% discount for employees. It still holds it's own for everyday tasks.

I miss 12 inch laptops. I'm going to hold on to my X250 for a hot minute.

I'm still using my 2010 Sony Vaio. It was excellent all round, except for the terrible viewing angles on the TN panel screen. Obviously by today's standards it's poor, but I can't justify replacing it if it still works. I will also admit to replacing the HDD with an SSD a few years ago. That, and a fresh Windows 10 install (it came with Windows 7), made it feel like new.

7:30 sort of disappointed in Alex. He of all people should know that most laptops (including the Dell) do not need to ramp up the speed of their fans too much because it’s on *BATTERY POWER* so they throttle the CPU and GPU which inevitably leads to less heat output = lower fan speed.

The old Sony Vaio DID have that many ports. Was sweet to be able to plug right into the dorm ethernet. And always could easily connect to a projector or monitor. Even a freaking dvd player for playing movie rentals from the library. All in a very slim (for the time) 14". Mine was also solid aluminum, so no flex. Fantastic build quality. Matte screen great for outdoor visibility. Discrete graphics card that could handle Blender rendering. Unique analog switch for the wifi which was super handy to instantly lock down my laptop if I misclicked on an ad, and I think it is then trying to download malware onto my laptop. A physical switch to turn the wifi off to shut down any shenanegans over the internet. Even an easy swappable battery that gave it an extra 3yrs of life and realistic 12hr working battery life with a backup battery in the bag. In the end a power outlet malfunction fried it, but I will always love my first laptop. Only complaint was it cost an arm and a leg to get, but since it directly helped land me 2 jobs over the years, paid for itself.

I have VAIO SX12 2019 model. and I was disappointed that he lied. the chassis is NOT PLASITCS. it ALUMINUMS. Specifically, bottom is plastics. but keyboard plate has aluminums.

A Sony VAio was my first desktop (that was my own not families) from costco in early 2000s which cost $2000. Must've been the speakers for the high price. That two processors really sped up everything. Died unexpectedly a couple years ago. Tried to troubleshoot but it clearly needs a more experienced look. Haven't heard the name in what SEEMS like a decade.

my sony vaio outlived 2 macbook pros and is still going strong!

Thats nice of VAIO to include Blender, Steam, Chrome etc all pre-installed

i remember when Sony Vaio n Sony Ericson were good

I loved the old Sony Vaios because they were just so ahead of their time in industrial design. Now they just sort of look like every other one out there.

It sounded cheap when he was handling it. You could tell there’s a ton of plastic just by him handling and tossing it. 1900$ yeaaaaa no lol. My 750$ Dell Inspiron 7000 2-1 is built better lmao

well ,they are correct - it's the thinnest 6 cores laptop, XPS 7390 use Ice Lake, so it only has 4 cores

I feel like 13" is a strange neighborhood at some point you're buying a glorified tablet but no tablet features. For 1900 that's a bit absurd the quality and what you get

I have a 2013 Vaio and it holds up really well