Sony Vaio Fit multi-flip

Sony's three new VAIOs find ways to make tablets out of anything, even 21-inch desktops

 

One of Sony's new Windows 8 products at IFA this year is the Vaio Fit multi-flip laptop and tablet hybrid. Here's our Sony Vaio Fit multi-flip hands-on review.
The Fit Multi-flip is Sony's rival to Samsung's Ativ Q, in the design stakes anyway. It's a laptop and tablet hybrid with a clever hinged design.

The device looks smart and sleek with its aluminium shell and its main feature, the multi-flip element, is clever but a little flawed. The screen sits in a normal laptop position but unlock it and it can flip almost 180 degrees. This means you can either flip it right over to face the opposite direction to a normal laptop or fold it back down on the keyboard to put it into tablet mode.
It works is almost the exact same way as Samsung's Ativ Q but is far too lose. While the Ativ Q allows to set the screen to almost any angle, the Fit multi-flip is loose and only stays still when locked into magnets. This means when you lift the screen upwards from tablet mode, it flies round in a dramatic and worrying fashion.
 It's the kind of design where you've got to be careful for fear of the screen detaching and flying across the room. The Ativ Q also has another one up on the Fit multi-flip in that it not only runs Windows 8, but Android too