Vizio announced that the TV company would be making laptops during last year’s Super Bowl game. But once that announcement came out (in the form of a super expensive Super Bowl commercial), not a peep was heard from the company about its upcoming laptop. Now, the new Vizio ultrabook is on the market, looking glamorous, and ready to be reviewed.
Vizio Promises A Top of the Line Ultrabook For Half the Price
As the subheading states, Vizio promised the public that the company would build a 15.6-inch ultrabook with an impressive processor and massive drive for a fraction of the price. Most other laptops on the market that come with a 1.9 GHz Core i7 ULV processor, 256GB solid state drive, and 1080p screen top the $2k mark. Vizio, on the other hand, packed all of these things into a slick aluminum-wrapped casing for just $1249 – still not the cheapest ultrabook out there, but it’s certainly one of the best-equipped ultrabooks for less than $2k.
Vizio also promised consumers that the new Vizio laptop wouldn’t look cheap in any way. This is another promise that the company has live up to, since the Vizio ultrabook really does look every bit as sleek as a new MacBook Pro or other system that’s nice to look at. If you add that to the additional features and specs packed into this system, you have an ultrabook that looks and acts the part of a high performance machine.
Battery Life, Speakers, and Keyboard
One of the most important aspects of any portable system is its battery. A battery must last long enough to take an ultrabook to the park, spend hours working on a new project, or running his resolution websites and videos. When tested, the Vizio ultrabook battery lasted for approximately three hours (and some change). This battery length isn’t ideal, and it won’t satisfy if you travel a lot and need a laptop that won’t give up quickly. If you just need to use your ultrabook for an hour or two unplugged, you won’t have any issue with a 3 hour battery life.
As far as the keyboard goes, Vizio choose to equip this ultrabook with flat keys. Now, flat keys are something that you will have to get used to if you’ve never used a laptop with flat keys before. Unlike raised keys, flat keys really don’t provide any kind of tactile feedback, so it’s like typing on a smartphone or tablet. Again, this is something that you can adapt to if you love the ultrabook otherwise.
If you plan on using your new Vizio ultrabook to listen to movies, music, or watch your favorite television show, you will be disappointed with the sound quality coming from the in-box speakers. But, it should be pointed out that almost no laptop has good quality speakers, and separate speakers are nearly a given when you purchase a portable machine. The screen that comes with this laptop is great, so all you need to do is buy some additional speakers to hook up to your Vizio ultrabook and you’re good to go. How does the Vizio ultrabook stack up to others in its class? This reviewer liked what Vizio has to offer just fine. In fact, if you’re in the market for a top-notch ultrabook that’s thin, light, and comes with lots of great features, Vizio might just be your new favorite ultrabook manufacturer.