Sony VAIO Tap 21 Multitouch Mobile Desktop Review

Name: Sony VAIO Tap 21 Multitouch Mobile Desktop Review
Brand: Sony

by Marco Chiappetta — Tuesday, February 04, 2014, 12:00 PM EDT

First, we fired up some benchmarks by Futuremark. The company, which is based just outside of Helsinki, Finland, started publishing benchmarks in 1998. Since then, Futuremark has developed tests for evaluating standard PCs and mobile devices as well.

Futuremark PCMark 7

Simulated Application Performance

Futuremark’s PCMark 7 benchmark includes a suite of tests designed to measure the way your computer would perform during typical tasks. It includes an Entertainment Suite, which offers gaming scenarios and tests its media playback capabilities. The benchmark also has a Creativity Suite, in which the system processes images and video. Other tools include the Computation Suite and the Storage Suite. The latter is capable of measuring SSD and hard drive performance, either individually, or as a whole.

The Sony Tap 21 performed admirable in PCMark 7, considering the machine is outfitted with only a hybrid storage solution, a dual-core processor, and integrated graphics. It couldn't quite catch the more powerful all-in-ones we've recently tested, which feature discrete graphics and more processor cores, but it hung right up there with a few of them.

Futuremark 3DMark 11

Simulated Gaming Benchmark

As a gaming benchmark, 3DMark 11 puts extra emphasis on your system’s handling of DirectX 11. But it measures more than the graphics card’s performance (the processor can make a big difference to a score, for example) and is a good way to get a feel for a system both as a gaming PC and as a general-use computer. Futuremark recently updated 3DMark 11 to support Windows 8, so if you plan to run this test on your own Windows 8 system, be sure to get the latest version.

The Sony VAIO Tap 21 features Intel's mid-range integrated graphics solution, the HD 4400. As such, the Tap 21 was able to outrun the other machines with older discrete GPUs or integrated graphics, but the systems with built-in GeForces or Quadros finished well ahead.

Tags: Sony, Mobile, Desktop, VAIO, system, touch, Tap 21

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com