Sony Vaio T13 ultrabook hands-on review

V3 got some hands-on time with Sony's answer to the MacBook Air

V3 got some hands-on time with Sony's T13 Vaio and we're pleased to say our initial impressions of the Japanese giant's first ever ultrabook are positive.

Sony announced the T13 earlier this month, promising it would offer the same sturdy design and long-life battery of any device carrying the ultrabook title.

The most noticeable aspect of the device when compared to other ultrabooks is its square edges. The hard lines are a nice change from the usual MacBook Air-like visual design seen on many ultrabooks.

Another element that separates the T13's design from its competitors is its size, with it measuring in at 17.8mm thick - making it noticeably bigger in hand than its Asus and Dell competitors. It weighs in at 1.6kg, so more in the realms of a standard laptop.

The ultrabook's chassis is made of a magnesium alloy which, in general, gives the T13 a solid, sturdy feel. The one potential weak point we noticed when testing it was the screen, which as well as being fairly bendy, is locked to a fairly flimsy looking hinge.

The T13 is powered by a Sandy Bridge Intel Core i3 processor and backed up with 4GB of DDR3 RAM. In our tests the unit felt responsive and snappy, though we didn't have a chance to really put it through its paces, with Sony not letting us clock the processor's actual speed.

The device also packs a hybrid storage system made up of a 320GB HDD and a 32GB SSD. This means it boots from sleep mode incredibly incredibly quickly - a useful touch if you plan to use the ultrabook on the go.

The T13 features a 1,366x768 13in LED display, which remained incredibly clear with impressive viewing angles, even when viewed in low lighting conditions.

The device has xLOUD and Clear Phase audio technology features built in, meaning that it should also have some pretty decent sound quality, though during our time we didn't have a chance to really try out the T13's speakers.

The T13's keyboard was fairly decent, being reasonably comfortable to type on. The one criticism we had was that the keys at times didn't feel very springy when pressed. The trackpad was also responsive, recognising multi-touch gestures with ease.

Sony claims that the T13 has a standby battery life of 90 days, which due to our time constraints we didn't get to test.

The T13 features two USB ports along its left side, one of which is actually USB 3.0. On its right these are complemented by a VGA port, an HDMI one, an Ethernet one and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Sony has remained tight-lipped about pricing, though representatives did confirm it would be released in the UK sometime in June. Check back at V3 closer to the time for a full review.