Sony Best & Worst Laptop Brands 2012

Find out how Sony fared in our rankings.

by LAPTOP Staff on JUNE 12, 2012

It offers top-notch support and some unique features, but overall Sony needs to do a better job justifying the premium that comes with its brand.

Reviews: 14 out of 20 points

Of the seven Sony notebooks we reviewed, six earned ratings of 3.5 stars, but that's as high as this brand would go. Notebooks such as the VAIO Z and VAIO S offered great performance in portable packages, but were a bit on the pricey side. While no laptops earned less than 3 stars, this down year for Sony wasn't stellar.

Design: 12 out of 15 points

We're excited to see that Sony continues to offer multiple color options on its laptops. For example, the affordable E Series is available in Black, Midnight Blue, White and even Blush Pink. The retro-chic VAIO Z comes in multiple hues, including Carbon Gold. However, the S Series and F Series look rather plain compared with the competition. Overall, Sony fell slightly behind the pack in terms of industrial design this past year, and we'd like to see the brand step it up.

Keyboards & Touchpads: 10 out of 15 points

Though Sony's keyboards always look attractive, they sometimes suffer from small flaws such as too-little key travel, undersized keys or too much flex. That was our experience with the VAIO Z, where the shrunken right Shift key was problematic. Sony mostly sticks with a highly accurate two-button design for its touchpads, though the buttons are sometimes a bit stiff.