Sony VAIO Pro 13 review: Specs of the Haswell-powered Ultrabook Sony VAIO Pro 13 include a 13-inch display, a long battery life and a speedy performance. According to one reviewer, the machine “launches apps at lightning speed” and can stay powered the whole day.

Super light at 2.34 lbs, powered by a fast SSD Drive, and promising to “boot-up faster, launch apps at lightning speed” and “undeniably snappier overall performance,” the Sony VAIO Pro 13 is a “light and mighty” machine that is heavy on features.

Haswell machines are expected to have longer battery life and Sony VAIO Pro 13 delivers on the expectations. In the same way the chipset has done to Apple’s MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, the VAIO Pro 13’s battery life has been exceptional.

According to Anandtech, the battery life of the Sony VAIO Pro 13 is not exceptionally large and thus, the machine managing roughly eight hours on a 37Wh battery is an impressive feat. Include to it the external sheet battery for double the battery life and the Sony VAIO Pro 13 can run from time the user wakes up to bed without losing power.

Another impressive quality that the Sony VAIO Pro 13 has is that it could certainly be the lightest 13.3” laptop of its kind in the market. The machine is only 2.34 pounds, only 50% more than the typical 10” tablet that has far less performance. Compare this to the MacBook Pro 13’ (2013 edition) is 3.46 pounds, while the Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro weighs 3.06 pounds.

Much of the credit for the Sony VAIO Pro 13’s battery life and design goes to Intel’s Haswell ULT processors (which have improved low-power states), quicker transitioning in and out of those states and slightly lower TDPs, as well as integrated voltage regulator, Anandtech explains. Sony has optimize the firmware and maximize the impact of the Intel processors to deliver on the mobility front.

Along with the VAIO Pro 13’s outstanding mobility, Sony includes a good 1080P IPS display and the keyboard for this laptop is very comfortable to type on. A key issue from the reviewer of Anandtech (who critique the VAIO Pro 13 using the said machine), is that press-dragging things with the touchpad is quite difficult. The same issue, however, could be find with other laptops.

The Sony VAIO Pro 13 starts at $2,599.99 from the Sony store and runs on Window OS Pro 64-bit and starts with 8GB RAM and with 512GB SSD memory.