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Sony Vaio Fit 14 review: An exemplary thin-and-light laptop

With very good performance and battery life and even better design and features for its price, the Vaio Fit 14 is an exemplary thin-and-light.

Headshot of Joshua Goldman
Headshot of Joshua Goldman
Joshua Goldman Managing Editor / Advice
Managing Editor Josh Goldman is a laptop expert and has been writing about and reviewing them since built-in Wi-Fi was an optional feature. He also covers almost anything connected to a PC, including keyboards, mice, USB-C docks and PC gaming accessories. In addition, he writes about cameras, including action cams and drones. And while he doesn't consider himself a gamer, he spends entirely too much time playing them.
Expertise Laptops, desktops and computer and PC gaming accessories including keyboards, mice and controllers, cameras, action cameras and drones Credentials
  • More than two decades experience writing about PCs and accessories, and 15 years writing about cameras of all kinds.
Joshua Goldman
7 min read

Editor's note: While the Vaio Fit 14 starts at $649, our review unit is actually a more expensive configuration intended for sale at Best Buy that costs $849. While this is still a very good mainstream laptop, we are revising the rating downward to reflect the higher price.

7.7

Sony Vaio Fit 14

The Good

The <b>Sony Vaio Fit 14</b> is an attractive thin-and-light laptop with excellent features, performance, and design for its price. It has a bright and very responsive touch screen and higher resolution than some competing models.

The Bad

Those who need five-plus hours of battery life, a really light body, or extreme performance will still need to spend more money. Its speakers sound a bit thin and its battery isn't removable.

The Bottom Line

The Sony Vaio Fit 14 is an all-around excellent laptop for the money that will satisfy the basic demands of everyday use for many people and look good doing it.

The Sony Vaio Fit 14 is proof that a budget-friendly laptop need not look like one, nor sacrifice performance to get a better-looking design.

True, there are more laptops these days with nicer designs down below $1,000, but the Fit is one of the nicest we've seen starting at a sub-$650 price. There's no creaky, cheap-feeling plastic on this thin and light notebook. Instead you get a brushed-aluminum lid with a diamond-cut Vaio logo and a solid body feel.

A responsive capacitive touch screen lies on the other side of the lid, as do a spacious, backlit keyboard and large touch pad. And inside, you'll find a good mix of components to keep everyday tasks humming along without slowdowns.

It doesn't have all-day battery life, and the model we tested uses a hybrid hard drive instead of a solid-state drive (SSD), making it a little slow when it comes to accessing files (though it still boots quickly), and its screen resolution isn't 1080p. You'll need to spend more to get those things.

Considering all that you do get for the price (including an optical drive), though, we're not complaining.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Though it collects fingerprints like a crime scene investigator, the aluminum-clad lid gives the Fit the appearance of a higher-end laptop and adds some strength. The bottom of the system is almost as nice, with a smooth, matte black finish and no fan vents, which are somewhat hidden at the back. There's also no removable battery, but the bottom of the case is removable, with just a handful of screws to attend to.

7.7

Sony Vaio Fit 14

Score Breakdown

Design 8Features 7Performance 8Battery 8Support 7