Ultimate guide to Windows 8 ultrabooks

While finding a touchscreen for a desktop computer is nearly impossible, and finding a touchscreen notebook computer takes some searching, touchscreen ultrabooks are readily available. These thin, light and relatively compact computers are intended to be portable and to be used at a moment’s notice. Adding touch seems a natural thing to do.

Nearly every maker of an ultrabook offers a touchscreen, and nearly all of them offer Windows 8 as the default OS. While most Windows users aren’t accustomed to a touchscreen on their computers, the rise of smartphones and tablets has introduced most users to the idea. In fact, by the time I was finished with this review, my non-touchscreen Windows 7 laptop had become frustrating because I kept touching the screen and expecting something to happen.

Intel created and defined the ultrabook market, but we didn’t exclude products simply because they didn’t meet all of Intel’s specs.  If the vendor called their product an ultrabook, we reviewed it. (Watch the slideshow version of this story.)

We tested eight products, all with touchscreens and all running Windows 8 Professional. They are: the astonishingly thin Acer Aspire S7 and Asus Zenbook UX31A, the flip-screen Dell XPS 12, HP’s Envy 400t-12, Lenovo’s business oriented ThinkPad Carbon X1 and the flexible Yoga 13, the Samsung ATIV Tab 7 that transforms into a tablet, and the Sony Vaio T-15.

(Tablet Wars: iPad vs. Surface) 

(Ultrabooks flopped in 2012)

My favorite, because it was the easiest to type on and the easiest to use overall was the Lenovo ThinkPad Carbon X1. This ultrabook has three different ways to control the pointer, had the best keyboard by far, yet it was still thin and light.

With ultrabooks, there are always compromises forced by their size, so which one is best depends on your specific needs. If you need your ultrabook to convert to a tablet, then you might like the Samsung ATIV Tab 7, or the Yoga or Dell, which fold or flip to become tablets.

Style is also a factor. Acer and Asus win points for being sexy, thin and stylish, so if you want to impress in the conference room, these might be for you. But being thin has a price in terms of usability, so make sure you’re happy with the compromises including keyboards that can be tough for typing.

Setting the Baseline

While there are many touchscreen ultrabooks in the marketplace, I wanted to set some limits. I worked under the assumption that these devices would be used for work, at least part of the time. That meant they had to have Windows 8 Professional installed. These computers also had to be capable of content creation, since there’s not a lot of point in having a keyboard just to watch videos and surf the Web. Microsoft provided copies of Office 2013, either as the Professional release or as Office 365 for this test.

I also felt that a professional level security suite was necessary, and while some of these ultrabooks come with an antivirus package, I requested Norton Internet Security so that they’d all be the same. The reason for this uniformity is because I wanted to see how the ultrabooks and Windows 8 worked together.

Takeaways

1. The only potential usability issue for any of these ultrabooks is a less-than-totally-ergonomic keyboard. With the exception of the Lenovo Carbon X1 Touch, the keyboards on these devices are flat, have little travel, and in general are less than ideal for typing. If you’re planning to use one of these to write your next great novel, you might want to think about the impact on your productivity.

2. I also found that most of these computers go to great lengths to brag about their sound systems. But great sound isn’t available unless you connect the ultrabook to an external sound system of some sort. Despite all of the hype, you’re still stuck with tiny (and tinny) speakers. A good set of headphones will help.

3. All of these ultrabooks, except one, use a solid state disk which provides fast operation, requires minimal space and power, and is nearly immune to shock. However, the solid state drives are expensive, so you’ll likely to find that these drives have less capacity than you’re used to having. You may also find that much of the drive space is taken up by Windows and programs. This is one reason why you’ll want to use cloud storage where possible.

4. These machines had uniformly good screens. A full HD screen with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 is the norm, and they all have LED backlighting. While the size of the screen may vary, the video is excellent.

5. Unfortunately, these high-resolution screens don’t necessarily deliver good visibility to your applications. I found that in most cases Microsoft Office had screens that were hard to read and menu choices that were too small to use in a touch environment. Fortunately, you can change the size of the items on the screen, but when you do, you have less space to view your work because more space is taken up by larger menus and icons. It appears that there’s a reason Microsoft includes a stylus with the Surface Pro tablet. I also found that a capacitive touch stylus, such as the products sold for the Apple iPad, will work well with these ultrabooks.

6. There’s a lot more variability in this part of the market than there is with more traditional laptop and desktop computers. Sizes are vastly different, and each device has a different mix of features. It’s probably a good idea to spend some time with any touchscreen ultrabook you plan to buy to make sure that you and the device are happy together.

7. While each ultrabook was different in some way from the others, the one that stood out as the most useful was the Lenovo X1 Carbon Touch. It has a better keyboard than the others, its TrackPoint pointing device is much more precise than any of the touchpads, and more precise than your finger on the screen. But its flat black exterior isn’t as snazzy as the others and it’ll pick up fingerprints. Again, the choice of an ultrabook is much more personal than it is with other computers. Also keep in mind that the Apple Macbook Air is a strong alternative and deserves a look.

Here are the individual reviews:

Acer Aspire

Acer Aspire S7Pros: Extremely thin, very light, strong and flexible.

Cons: Very flat keyboard with no significant key travel, shorter than average battery life.

Price: $1,499 (Amazon)

The first thing you’re likely to think to yourself when you take the Acer Aspire S7 out of its case is that you’re opening a fashion statement. But the ultra-thin computer in glossy white is more than just fashion. That shiny top cover is white glass – Gorilla Glass, in fact. And you keep it in a very chic gray suede portfolio that oozes luxury. And it’s thin, so thin that at 11.9 mm it’s barely thicker than an iPad.

There are, as you might imagine, trade-offs for that ultra-thin profile. The keyboard is extremely flat, the keys have so little travel that it slows down your typing, but the trade-offs go beyond that. Acer has eliminated the top row of the keyboard, which on other computers is where the function keys reside. Those keys now share space with the number keys, which means you must press the “Fn” key and the number key at the same time to get to whatever the function key would normally do. In its background information, Acer reveals that the touch screen eliminates the need for function keys, but I’m not sure I buy that, since you may need to use those keys when Windows 8 isn’t running.

But there’s more to the Acer Aspire S7 than just a pretty face. The Gorilla Glass top cover, coupled with the chassis milled from a single block of aluminum, make this ultrabook very strong indeed. When you press on the screen, as you must with a touchscreen ultrabook, it simply stays there. There’s no flexing backward, no movement, nothing. The S7 has what Acer calls dual torque hinges that allow the screen to be folded back so that it’s flat on the table. There’s a key that allows the screen to be rotated 180 degrees so that you can do table-top presentations.

The machine in this review came with an Intel Core i7 processor, and had a 256 GB solid state drive. The machine was quite fast, and the SSD meant that access to data was nearly instantaneous. The 13.3 inch screen that works at full-HD resolution and there’s an HD webcam. The solid construction of the S7 means that Acer could also make it quite light, weighing in at 2.86 pounds.

Typing on a machine that’s this thin and that has keys with so little travel takes a little getting used to. You don’t get the kind of tactile feeling you will with some of the other ultrabooks in this test. However, if content creation isn’t a priority, then this may not matter.

Like many of the other ultrabooks in this test, the S7 includes Dolby sound. And like them, the onboard speakers don’t do it justice. But if you’re wearing earphones so you can watch a movie, it’ll work just fine, and the speedy processor makes video play smoothly.

Acer includes a pair of USB 3.0 ports with this computer, as well as a micro HDMI port. The company includes dongles for Ethernet and for VGA video. One unusual feature is a mouse that matches the S7’s gleaming white case.

The Acer Aspire S7 is very thin, very portable, and it’s the sort of device you’d carry to meetings so you can use that ability to fold flat. The thin case limits the battery capacity, which Acer says is six hours. I found the S7 to be very usable, the touchscreen worked well and was responsive. There’s a nice touchpad that’s also responsive, but it’s not as large as you’ll find on some other ultrabooks.

Asus Zenbook

ASUS Zenbook UX31APros: Very stylish, includes a portfolio, very fast.

Cons: Keyboard is hard to type on.

Price: $1,698 (Amazon)

The first thing I said when I took the ASUS Zenbook UX31A out of its carbon-fiber-esque portfolio was a soft “wow!” This is the most attractive ultrabook in this test and perhaps on the market. The gleaming machined metallic case on this computer lends an authoritative feel to its wafer-thin appearance. In fact, at 18 mm thick at the thickest point in the rear of the Zenbook, it’s not a lot thicker than most tablets. The 3mm thickness at the front is thinner. And at 2.86 pounds, it’s not a lot heavier.

While I’m no arbiter of fashion, this looks to me like one very sleek computer. But what’s better is that it operates nicely too. With a third generation i7 processor and a high-speed solid state disk (SSD), this computer is fast. Even better, it’s easy to use as a touch-screen device. The screen reacts smoothly to the touch.

Tiles on the Windows 8 Start screen react immediately, as do menu options and choices on Microsoft Office. As long as you don’t plan to use this ultrabook for a lot of typing, this is one slick machine.

But suppose you do need to do a lot of typing? Unfortunately, the totally flat keyboard and the square flat keys don’t yield easily to content creation. In the interest of thinness, the keys have little travel, they’re not sculpted, and they’re not rounded at the bottom to help improve typing accuracy, fortunately, the layout of the backlit keyboard is well-done so if you are typing, your fingers will find the right keys. All of this means that you probably won’t be able to type as easily or as quickly as you might on an ultrabook such as the Lenovo Carbon X1. But on the other hand, this ultrabook is very easy to carry, and it will certainly create an impression when you open it in a meeting.

Beyond the flat keyboard, there are few sacrifices. You have to use a dongle to connect to wired Ethernet, but that’s no different from most of the other ultrabooks in this review. And that’s pretty much it. This computer features a pair of USB 3.0 ports, a mini VGA and micro HDMI port. Asus makes a point of letting you know about the sound system developed with the help of Bang and Olufsen, but you’ll need to listen to this great sound on something besides the built-in speakers because they sound just like laptop speakers, which means better than no sound at all, but nothing you’d mistake for a home theater.

The result of all this design effort on the part of Asus is a stylish and top performing device that may be the perfect companion to meetings in the board room. The folio gives you something to hold, the computer is thin, and light. The 13.3-inch IPS (In-plane switching) LCD screen is bright enough that you can read it even in a brightly-lit room. The screen supports 1080p HD images. This is a very slick ultrabook, as long as you don’t need to do a lot of typing.

Dell XPS

Dell XPS 12 Convertible UltrabookPros: Unique swiveling screen converts into a tablet, DisplayPort allows better video on external monitor.

Cons: Fairly thick for an ultrabook.

Price: $1,199 (Dell)

Dell takes a unique approach for converting its XPS 12 ultrabook into a tablet. The screen rotates around side-mounted pivots so that all you have to do is push the top of the screen and it rotates away from you, allowing you to close the screen, but keeping the screen visible on top. This allows the top of the screen containing the webcam to remain on top, and a Windows button that remains on the bottom of the screen as it’s held.

I had expected the swivel to be a problem when using the XPS 12 as an ultrabook, since the top half of the touchscreen was the part that you push to swivel, But this turned out not to be the case. The screen is held in place by a magnetic latch, and the screen requires more force to start the swivel than it does to use it for its touch properties. When you’ve rotated the screen away, you can fold down the slim metal frame so that the device conceals the keyboard and becomes a tablet.

The XPS 12 is a little hefty as a tablet, but the 12-inch screen is small enough that it’s not as cumbersome as some other convertibles. The keyboard is slightly smaller than most of the other ultrabooks, but not so small as to make typing difficult. Instead, the typing difficulty is created by the extremely flat keyboard with the flat keys. However, at least the keys have enough travel that you can use them.

Dell outfitted the XPS 12 with a very clear 1920 x 1280p screen that can be very bright if you want to turn it up to full brightness. I didn’t feel the need to use the computer this way because the screen was already bright enough to use in a normal office environment. The IPS capacitive touchscreen has edge-to-edge gorilla glass that is very responsive. The review unit came with an Intel Core 15 processor, however faster i5 and i7 processors are available.

The XPS features Waves MaxxAudio, and its pair of 1-watt speakers sound, well, like laptop speakers. There’s a 1.3 megapixel camera on the top front bezel, Dell provided a pair of USB 3.0 ports, a DisplayPort video outlet which Dell says is more flexible and will support external monitor resolutions of 2560 x 1200. The XPS 12 does not include a wired Ethernet port, but USB 3.0 to Ethernet adapters are widely available.

While I wouldn’t relish using the Dell XPS 12 to write a book, the keyboard is adequate, and the easy conversion to a tablet gives this computer excellent versatility. Overall, I liked the Dell XPS 12 better than I had expected to. This was a pleasant surprise made even better by the well-designed touchscreen and the relatively light 3.3 pound weight. I wouldn’t hesitate to take this computer on a trip, even if I knew that I’d have to use it on an airliner tray-table. This is a very nice ultrabook.

HP Envy

HP Envy TouchSmart 4t-1200 UltrabookPros: Full-sized keyboard, full-sized connection ports, low price

Cons: insensitive touchscreen, flat keyboard

Price: $700 (HP)

The HP Envy 4t 1200 is a big ultrabook. It’s so big that it exceeds Intel’s specifications for thickness by 2 mm, and it’s almost as heavy as the ThinkPad laptop that I used to test 802.11ac routers recently. In the world of ultrabooks, this is a heavyweight. But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

By being as thick as it is, the HP Envy has room for an Ethernet connector without a dongle. It has three USB ports and an HDMI port. It has room for speakers on the top deck where you can hear them. Unfortunately, HP didn’t use that extra thickness to make sculpted keys, but at least the keyboard is large enough to type on comfortably. The larger keyboard is important because the Envy has a row of function and directional keys on the far right side very similar in design to the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga, with the difference being that larger keyboard is dramatically easier to type on.

However, I found that the touch screen was somewhat less sensitive than most of the other ultrabooks. For example, launching an application from a Windows 8 tile usually took several touches before anything happened. Menu choices using the touchscreen were similarly lethargic. Once launched, applications including Microsoft Office ran normally, but the level of responsiveness was particularly noticeable in Microsoft Office menus where the small size of the item being selected, combined with the need to touch it several times conspired so that the selection didn’t always yield the expected results. It wasn’t unusual to select the wrong thing by mistake.

Because of the responsiveness issue, I usually reverted to using the touchpad located forward of the keyboard. The touchpad was effective, and there’s a strip along the front edge that clicks to act like a mouse button. I found the touchpad easy to use, and responsive.

While the keyboard was easier to type on than the Lenovo Yoga 13, it’s still a flat keyboard with keys that aren’t sculpted or designed to reduce errors. However, the keys on the right side of the keyboard, such as Enter and Shift are full-sized, so you don’t have to alter your typing style, even if the flat profile makes it somewhat less productive. The keyboard has a backlight that you can turn on and off, which makes this ultrabook easier to use in a poorly lighted environment, such as when you’re stuck in economy and everyone else is watching a movie.

It’s worth noting that the thickness of the Envy never really caused a problem. It’s still 23 mm thick which was plenty thin for every laptop bag I tried it in. HP added Beats Audio to this ultrabook, and unlike some of the competition, the speakers are on the top surface of the device, so you can hear them easily. But you’re still not going to mistake these for a home theater experience. HP frequently has this computer on sale for less than $700, so you can get a nice ultrabook for not a lot of money.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch

Pros: Keyboard is exceptionally easy to use, physical interface is familiar, very rugged device

Cons: None that were significant.

Price: $1,451 (Lenovo)

When you open the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch ultrabook, it seems as if someone has taken a ThinkPad T-series notebook, and made it really skinny. And at 0.74 inches thick, you’d be right. This is a computer that continues the ThinkPad tradition of ruggedness, portability and usability that its somewhat larger siblings are known for.

Lenovo has replaced the magnesium and carbon fiber shell of the T-series with a carbon fiber shell and roll cage that make the X1 Carbon Touch just as strong, but a lot lighter. If you’ve been a user of that T-series over the years, a lot will look familiar. The keys are sculpted for more accurate typing, there’s a large touchpad and fingerprint sensor in front of the keyboard, and of course, the X1 Carbon has the same flat-black case as its siblings.

But perhaps most important for an ultrabook that’s running Windows 8, the multi-touch touchpad is larger, and of course it includes a touchscreen. That touchpad is not only larger on the X1 Carbon than on other ThinkPads, but the glass surface allows up to four-finger gestures and multi-touch use. I found the combination of the touchpad, the touchscreen and the TrackPoint pointing device extremely flexible. The TrackPoint, which seems to be unique to Lenovo for ultrabooks, provides highly precise control of the cursor – something you can’t really get on touchpads and screens.

The touchscreen was very smooth and plenty bright. The screen surface is glossy, unlike Lenovo non-touch devices that have a non-reflective matte finish. Lenovo takes care of sound duties with Dolby Home Theater v4 hardware and software. The built-in speakers sound decent for a laptop, but that’s not the same thing as being high-quality audio.

Lenovo includes software for the Carbon X1 Touch that’s designed to make the machine easier to use and manage. One of those is QuickLaunch, which is a replacement for the Start button that Microsoft removed from Windows 8. The biggest difference is that it doesn’t say “Start” but instead is identified by an icon in the taskbar. The QuickLaunch button works much like the Start button it replaces.

I found the X1 Carbon Touch to be fast and intuitive. The 180 GB solid state drive was extremely fast, allowing the X1 to boot almost immediately. The standard Wi-Fi supports 802.11n with two spatial streams, which will give it much better bandwidth than is normally available on portable computers. The Wi-Fi hardware is designed to work as a wireless hotspot, either by acting as a Wi-Fi repeater, or as a wireless hotspot using a cellular network, if the device is equipped with a cellular data card.

I appreciated the precision of the TrackPoint pointing device when it came to using the ribbon bar in Microsoft Office. The touchpad will also work, of course, but it takes longer. The overall design of the keyboard, the clarity of the screen, and the ability to move intuitively from the keyboard to the screen to the touchpad and back made the Lenovo Carbon X1 Touch a pleasure to use. If I were going to buy an ultrabook for business, this is the one I’d pick.

Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13

Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13Pros: Very flexible in physical configuration

Cons: Non-standard keyboard that’s hard to use, lower video resolution than most

Price: $921 (Amazon)

The concept behind the Yoga 13 is to produce an ultrabook that can be many things to many people, and that can be used in many circumstances. Lenovo calls it the “World’s first multi-mode ultrabook.” What this actually means is that the IdeaPad is outfitted with a dual-hinge design for the display that allows it to be folded back on itself to create a variety of configurations.

One of those configurations, the Notebook Mode, configures the device as a standard notebook computer with a physical keyboard and the screen positioned at an angle appropriate for viewing. The physical keyboard has the rounded keys and spacing designed for easy typing, but it doesn’t have its sibling’s (the Carbon X1 Touch) sculpted keys and layout. What it does have is a magnet that holds the screen and keyboard together when closed, and that attracts things like paper clips.

Because of the need for the screen to fold over, and in the process create the second of those modes, the Tablet Mode, the Yoga 13 needs a screen that’s flat enough to be a stable base for the tablet. This in turn means that the keyboard is very flat, and that the keys are nearly flush with the surface of the device. Combined with the location of some function and directional keys to the right of the primary keyboard, this creates an ultrabook that is hard to type on.

In fact, the need to perform notebook gymnastics (thus the name) results in a number of compromises that impact usability. Lenovo has said that one of the other modes, the Stand Mode, in which the screen stays in the same position as the Notebook Mode but has the screen folded beneath it, is good for “video chatting in tight places, like airplanes.” While it’s true that airplanes are insanely tight, you have to wonder how much video chatting actually goes on at 30,000 feet, where there’s no network available.

The last position that the Yoga can assume is the Tent Mode, in which the device is bent so that the hinges are facing up, and it rests on its two front edges. This seems like it would be a good position for reading e-books, or watching movies.

And in fact, watching movies or reading books are activities that work well for the Yoga 13. The very clear IPS (in-plane switching) LCD with LED backlighting has 1600 x 900 resolution that works well with videos and photos, and it works well for reading ebooks as long as you position the highly reflective display to minimize the impact of lights.

The review model of the Yoga came with an Intel Core i5 processor which was plenty fast for the activities I tried. However you can order it with an i7 processor. The Yoga 13 weighs 3.3 pounds and when closed it’s only 0.67 inches thick. As is the case with most of the other ultrabooks, the Yoga has an integrated 720p HD camera, and Dolby Home Theater v4 sound, although with the tiny speakers, you’d never know it.

The biggest question about the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 is whether the versatility is worth the compromises – especially to the keyboard. If you don’t plan to do a lot of typing with this computer, then it might be.

Samsung ATIV Tab 7

Samsung ATIV Tab 7Pros: Thin and light, screen detaches to form tablet. Rear camera in addition to front webcam

Cons: Small keyboard

Price: $1,100 (Amazon)

The Samsung ATIV Tab 7 walks the fine line between ultrabook and tablet in much the same space occupied by the Microsoft Surface Pro. Of course there are differences – the 700T has a real keyboard, for example. But unlike the other ultrabooks in this review, the Samsung occupies its space as a convertible tablet by making the tablet real. By this I mean that when you’re using it as a tablet, there’s no annoying extra weight or thickness.

The 700T accomplishes its conversion so effectively by allowing you to detach the screen from the keyboard, again much like the Surface. The difference here is that Samsung has included a much more useful keyboard. It’s not the thin and flimsy enhanced cover that Microsoft uses. While the keys are flat and have little travel, they are real keys at least.

But getting the device to be a half-inch thin and to weigh less than two pounds, there are compromises, the biggest being in the number of ports. There’s only a single USB 3.0 port, a micro-HDMI port and a slot for a micro SD card. When you add the keyboard, however, you get two more USB ports, the weight goes to 3.4 pounds and it’s an inch thick.

The tablet part of the Samsung ATIV Tab 7 dominates the design of the overall device. The 11.6-inch screen dictates a relatively small keyboard, for example. But the screen still has full HD resolution at 1900 x 1080, and the LED screen backlighting makes images bright and crisp. The touchpad on the keyboard is also fairly small, but considering how well the touchscreen works, that may not be a significant problem.

I found the Samsung touchscreen to be easy to use and responsive. What’s better was that the finger pressure required to use the touch features was well calibrated so that a positive touch is required and the screen doesn’t react just because your finger gets close to the screen. The Samsung ATIV Tab 7 can also use Samsung’s S Pen, which would be useful for some of the included apps, and for selecting some of the smaller choices on the Office 2013 menu ribbon. Unfortunately, the S Pen wasn’t included with this computer. You might want to think about getting one.

Samsung did make some thoughtful design choices with the 700T, however. One excellent example is when you open the top of the ultrabook and pivot the screen back. This motion also raises the rear of the keyboard, making typing easier. Samsung also included a Quick Starter app that restores the Windows Start Button (although not in the traditional lower left corner location) and provides a toolbar to access other functions.

The same mechanical hinge that provides a pivot for the screen and keyboard also makes for a secure connection. You don’t have to worry about the keyboard popping loose as you might with a keyboard on the Surface. In order to free the screen and make it into a tablet, you must push a button on the hinge. On the surface of the screen bezel behind that button is the familiar Windows button that invokes the Start Screen.

With the keyboard attached, the Samsung ATIV Tab 7 is a nice ultrabook that’s very flexible, but it does require compromises. It’s thicker and heavier than the Surface Pro as well as some of the other ultrabooks in this review. But the detachable screen is a very nice feature. And while it’s still got a fairly small keyboard, that’s just one of the compromises.

Sony Vaio T Series 15 Ultrabook

Sony Vaio T Series 15 Ultrabook

Pros: Excellent screen, better than average keyboard.

Cons: Much heavier than other ultrabooks, may not fit into your laptop bag.

Price: $1,000 (Sony)

The Sony T-15 is the largest ultrabook in this test, and it’s one of the larger ultrabooks you’ll find on the market. This computer has a 15-inch screen, a full-sized keyboard, complete with a full-sized numeric keypad to the right. But despite its size, it’s still as slim as most of the other ultrabooks. The increased size makes the screen more useful, especially if you’re using it to look at images or you’re trying to look at more of a document on the screen.

The larger keyboard is especially nice for typing, but not as nice as it could be. The flat, non-sculpted keys slow things down some, although not as much as is the case on smaller keyboards. The keys also have little travel and minimal tactile feedback.

The screen on the T-15 is quite clear. It has the same 1080p resolution as the other ultrabooks in this test, but the larger size makes it easier to see what’s on the screen. The increased screen area also makes it somewhat easier to use touch with applications such as Microsoft Word or the other Office functions, but some of the tiny icons on the top of the Office windows are still too small to be useful for anything but a mouse pointer.

Sony moves beyond touch with gesture control that uses the front mounted camera to watch your hand gestures to allow you to move screens from one to the next. I didn’t find it much more useful than just touching the screen, but it does bring touch-free controls from the mobile phone world to the world of ultrabooks.

During this test, the Vaio T-15 failed and required removal of the battery to restore proper operation. Normally this isn’t a big deal for a laptop computer since most have a battery that’s easily removed and replaced. Sony, however, requires that the battery cover be unscrewed first. You can do this with a thin coin or a screwdriver, but the threads on the screws are quite fine, and as a result require patience and a gentle touch. Once operation was restored, I discovered that the computer BIOS and firmware needed updating. This may explain why the computer locked up and simply quit working.

Updating the Vaio software also requires patience. Each module requires you to confirm what country you’re in before it’ll let you load the software. The process of updating is also fairly slow, but fortunately, this probably won’t need to be done often.

One thing that doesn’t take long is the disk. The hard drive on the T-15 is actually a hybrid drive, which means it has a solid state cache drive in line with the hard drive. This allows the solid state drive to provide fast access to your data, while the magnetic hard drive handles the storage heavy lifting.

You can order the T-15 with processors up to an Intel Core i7, however the review machine was outfitted with an i5 processor. This computer includes USB 3.0 on one port. There are two more USB ports along with standard HDMI and VGA ports and ports for memory cards.

This computer is big, but depending on your needs, that may not be a problem. It’ll probably still fit into your laptop bag, and while it weights a hefty 5.18 pounds, that’s not a lot more than a standard laptop, and there’s a lot more screen. This computer is also available in a 14-inch version as the T Series 14, which has a smaller screen and doesn’t have the keypad, but which is otherwise the same.

How we tested ultrabooks

After receiving each machine and performing an inventory of its parts, I placed each ultrabook in the lab where it was charged, had its Wi-Fi set up and checked for proper functioning. Once I was assured that the machine was performing properly, I ran Windows Update for the OS and any installed Microsoft software. Then I installed Microsoft Office and Norton Internet Security, along with any manufacturer-specific apps that were designed to enhance productivity or add functionality.

Once everything was up and running, Windows 8 and any other software activated, I put each machine into daily use. This meant that I used each machine to write articles, check e-mail, browse Web sites, waste time on Facebook and do the other normal things that one does with a portable computer. I tested each ultrabook with a set of standard video files, I looked at video on YouTube and listened to music. I also installed apps for Kindle and Weatherbug. I tested cloud services including Skydrive and Evernote.

When I wrote articles or created other content, I saved the files to the internal storage and to Skydrive, which is the default for Microsoft Office 2013. I also tried out the ports to confirm that USB and video connections actually worked (they all did).

Some of these machines are convertible into tablets, so where that capability existed I performed the conversion several times. In the case of the 700T ultrabook from Samsung, I tested the device with and without the keyboard. I did not perform drop tests or dunk tests.

Rash is a freelance writer. He can be reached at wrash@mindspring.com.