Vizio CT15-A1 Review - Almost there :(

[michaeljean]

@michaeljean

I'm afraid you've been duped. What you have described is clearly not a Vizio CT15-A1. Since this SKU has not yet been released, your laptop is most certainly a counterfeit. The poor fit and finish, matte screen and constant crashing during non-CPU intensive activities are all red flags. Please post some high resolution photos of both the laptop and its packaging so others will know what to look for in order to avoid being fooled by an unscrupulous retailer as you were.

Cheers,

F. Lyle

How would you even know all this?

[SP33]

I am really shocked by this. Not sure whether I should ride it out and hope they fix the touchpad, or buy a different laptop.
I would love to see more reviews just in case this was a lemon, I might have to take a trip to Walmart to see if they have any display units just so I keep my pre-order and my sanity.

But I am beginning to believe you were somehow able to receive a display model that is not up to par by Sams Club's mistake. Either that or just a lemon.
I personally would return this rather than selling on ebay, but you might make a few dollars in the end.

Thanks for the review. Is it possible to get the trackpad on video?

[michaeljean]

I am really shocked by this. Not sure whether I should ride it out and hope they fix the touchpad, or buy a different laptop.
I would love to see more reviews just in case this was a lemon, I might have to take a trip to Walmart to see if they have any display units just so I keep my pre-order and my sanity.

But I am beginning to believe you were somehow able to receive a display model that is not up to par by Sams Club's mistake. Either that or just a lemon.
I personally would return this rather than selling on ebay, but you might make a few dollars in the end.

Thanks for the review. Is it possible to get the trackpad on video?

I don't understand you guys this is vizio first pc's and your expecting perfection. Didn't you guys read what reviewers said when they went to vizio press event. They said the keyboard was shallow and the trackpad gets sticky. Nowhere have I seen where anybody said it was excellent.

Sometimes I forget how much I paid for this and yeah this keyboard belongs in a 500 dollar computer not 1000 and this trackpad belongs in nothing.

[xp0z3d]

I am on fence because of these same issues. I am in market for a good laptop and freaking loved these when saw pictures. And to get bloatware free Windows was a good thing but then its their first product and no reviews out yet have made me wait out a little and see how this thing goes.

Thanks for heads up!

[rjoudrey01]

Guys, if you have an extra $800 get an MacPro but it won't run windows without performance issues. If you need a great keyboard get a Lenovo T series but the screen sucks. I don't think any ultrabook alternative is perfect. The bottom line get it where you can return it and if it doesn't work out try out the new Asus 14/15" models coming out. But the Vizio may be the best one for the money as long as you can work around the shortcomings. Drivers may in fact fix a lot of the issues in the mid term.

[Khoiboi]

I don't understand you guys this is vizio first pc's and your expecting perfection. Didn't you guys read what reviewers said when they went to vizio press event. They said the keyboard was shallow and the trackpad gets sticky. Nowhere have I seen where anybody said it was excellent.

What Vizio press event o.O? Every Vizio product launch for these PC's I've read have had non-usable models on display, meaning the products weren't on and had pretty stickers on the screen to maintain a facade of a laptop.

Either way dude, I understand your dissatisfaction with this product, but claiming another poster is a Vizio Rep pretty much skewered your reliability to me. Instead of reviewing the product and calmly replying to comments, you basically said, "No! I'm right! You're wrong! You work for the enemy!"

You're saying stuff like "no one wants to have this laptop successful more than me" and etc, but you seem to be dogging on it the most. You've hounded the trackpad in the other thread too, and so far, I've only seen two or three people (you include it) that keeps saying the trackpad is so trashy - you're the only one who claims to own the product. Also, as of now, Vizio hasn't done any huge product shipments yet, do you think maybe for some obscure reason, you got a pre-production laptop by accident? If you have problems with your product, and you bought your product through legitimate means, then there should be no reason why either Vizio or Sam's Club won't give you a refund, selling your laptop on e-bay just because of those mentioned problems instead of going through the proper chain just screams fishy.

[wynand32]

eBay? That raises another red flag. Either someone sold you a pre-production show model, or you have a counterfeit.

As the previous poster said, none of the SKUs have launched yet.

Some of the SKUs were available at Walmart and Sam's Club. Available, as in shipping, as in you can buy them and get them in your hands. In fact, Sam's Club still has the 14" i5 model available for shipping: Vizio Thin & Light Ultrabooks - Sam's Club I don't know for sure whether Sam's Club ever had the 15" Ultrabook in stock, but it doesn't seem terribly unlikely to me.

Also, Costco told me that the release has been delayed, as of last week until the end of this month. There's person earlier who said that Walmart has delayed shipping his 15" Notebook until 9/28. There's SOMETHING going on here, folks.

[michaeljean]

What Vizio press event o.O? Every Vizio product launch for these PC's I've read have had non-usable models on display, meaning the products weren't on and had pretty stickers on the screen to maintain a facade of a laptop.

Either way dude, I understand your dissatisfaction with this product, but claiming another poster is a Vizio Rep pretty much skewered your reliability to me. Instead of reviewing the product and calmly replying to comments, you basically said, "No! I'm right! You're wrong! You work for the enemy!"

You're saying stuff like "no one wants to have this laptop successful more than me" and etc, but you seem to be dogging on it the most. You've hounded the trackpad in the other thread too, and so far, I've only seen two or three people (you include it) that keeps saying the trackpad is so trashy - you're the only one who claims to own the product. Also, as of now, Vizio hasn't done any huge product shipments yet, do you think maybe for some obscure reason, you got a pre-production laptop by accident? If you have problems with your product, and you bought your product through legitimate means, then there should be no reason why either Vizio or Sam's Club won't give you a refund, selling your laptop on e-bay just because of those mentioned problems instead of going through the proper chain just screams fishy.

From theverge.com

Update: Vizio has just given us the opportunity to see the new laptops in-person. Yes, we've seen all of these before at CES, but the hardware is now final — this is what consumers will be getting into their hands if they order one of the machines today. Unfortunately (and inexplicably), only the "thin-and-light" models were on hand, in both the 15.6- and 14-inch varieties. Both machines feature unibody construction, but they're not nearly as hefty or solid-feeling as Apple's notebooks. That's not necessarily a bad thing — these are quite a bit cheaper. Vizio says that it designed and built the keyboards on the new systems completely from scratch (a nine month process), but unfortunately they aren't the best we've felt. They're a bit too shallow for our tastes, which means that there isn't quite enough feedback when you press a key. The trackpad also leaves a bit to be desired: its plastic construction means it's too "sticky," and it couldn't track two fingers independently (e.g. using one finger to click and another to drag). The displays on both models are bright and vibrant.

Vizio's new Notebook and Thin + Light unibody ultrabooks available today for $898 (hands-on) | The Verge


Tell me how you know they had no usable models again? And can't a trackpad not be good I mean does that not happen anymore. Has sentelic ever made a good trackpad. Anyway sorry to crush your dreams dude but I don't think it gets better from here.

Just came from best buy and compusa and yes this trackpad is bad compared to every laptop at best buy this is by far the worst I have used, sorry but that is my story. The series 9 can do everything I need it too along with every other trackpad or "gesture" pad.

But hey maybe I do have a pre production model and guess what that says about vizio, now everybody has to worry do they have the supposed "good" model or the bad one, if a good one even exists. Sorry to bang on vizio but it's google's fault not mine that this thread comes up when looking for info on this model. Vizio might want to start letting people review to clear up all the "misinformation". What is true will come to light soon enough.

It's funny how alot of you "new members" of notebookreview know so much about vizio and how to find this thread. I mean if I wanted I could let bloggers borrow mine to review make a bunch of youtube videos and what not.

[Khoiboi]

The trackpad also leaves a bit to be desired: its plastic construction means it's too "sticky," and it couldn't track two fingers independently (e.g. using one finger to click and another to drag).

-,-''

Press = a term in reference to the newspaper press. When used as such it refers to wide media coverage; an antiquated term but we use it anyways. "Vizio Press Event", your term you used earlier, refers to an actual event to which Vizio invites wide media coverage from varying trusted magazines and websites to cover whatever they want to release, in this case a PC line. When you say "Vizio Press Event", that does not mean they decide to invite two writers from one tech site. There was miscommunication on both our parts I guess - I thought you were refering to one of vizio's actual press conferences (There have only been two to my knowledge) and you thought one site's preliminary review confers an actual press event. I won't hold this against you because it does not seem like english is your primary language.

That description I quoted is from that Verge article you hold in such high esteem. Does it say that the trackpad is as maleficient as you detailed? Unless my lexicon is dwindling at an Alzheimer's pace, I believe the writer means the trackpad's surface is sticky, as in the plastic is inferior, and that it doesn't support multitouch. Not many laptops support multitouch... just saying... Does it say the cursor jumps around like beetlejuice high on cocaine? No... Does it say it somehow freezes out documents and crashes Word? No... If the "problems" with the trackpad are only that the "surface is sticky" and it doesn't support multitouch, it would still be a decent trackpad.

It's funny how alot of you "new members" of notebookreview know so much about vizio and how to find this thread. I mean if I wanted I could let bloggers borrow mine to review make a bunch of youtube videos and what not.

New members of notebookreview means pretty much nothing, in case you didn't understand that. My researcher's role in tech journalism? Nah, that means nothing since I'm just a new member on a site that specializes in notebooks.

[michaeljean]

-,-''

Press = a term in reference to the newspaper press. When used as such it refers to wide media coverage; an antiquated term but we use it anyways. "Vizio Press Event", your term you used earlier, refers to an actual event to which Vizio invites wide media coverage from varying trusted magazines and websites to cover whatever they want to release, in this case a PC line. When you say "Vizio Press Event", that does not mean they decide to invite two writers from one tech site. There was miscommunication on both our parts I guess - I thought you were refering to one of vizio's actual press conferences (There have only been two to my knowledge) and you thought one site's preliminary review confers an actual press event. I won't hold this against you because it does not seem like english is your primary language.

That description I quoted is from that Verge article you hold in such high esteem. Does it say that the trackpad is as maleficient as you detailed? Unless my lexicon is dwindling at an Alzheimer's pace, I believe the writer means the trackpad's surface is sticky, as in the plastic is inferior, and that it doesn't support multitouch. Not many laptops support multitouch... just saying... Does it say the cursor jumps around like beetlejuice high on cocaine? No... Does it say it somehow freezes out documents and crashes Word? No... If the "problems" with the trackpad are only that the "surface is sticky" and it doesn't support multitouch, it would still be a decent trackpad.



New members of notebookreview means pretty much nothing, in case you didn't understand that. My researcher's role in tech journalism? Nah, that means nothing since I'm just a new member on a site that specializes in notebooks.

Hey maybe I have a bad one who knows, I seem to be the only person who has one feels like. Anyway sams gives me 90 days to return and I already ordered the i7 first which I want that one first.

Even though I haven't tried it yet I think that will be best deal because you get 128gb more drive spaces and almost a twice as fast processor. On passmark the i5 model scores in the 2900 range and the i7 scores in 4500 range. And these are all dual core cpu's not quad core and low voltage.

Anyway the vizio has to work because the i7 model is such a good deal samsung wants almost 2000 for theirs.