The Sony Vaio Tap 11 is a stylish, well-designed machine. Unfortunately, it works much better as a tablet than as a laptop, and even as a tablet it suffers from a severely flawed screen, so-so processing power and low battery life. How could we even think of giving it more than two stars?

The VAIO Tap 11 is beautiful and ambitious. I really wanted to like it, but it just has too many drawbacks. If you need a big tablet that can run Windows 8, take another look at the Surface Pro 2. It performs better, and you can attach its keyboard to its display to make a portable PC that’s much easier to use.

The lightweight, slimline design of the Sony Vaio Tap 11 is undeniably attractive, and it's powerful enough to handle both entertainment and routine office work when it needs to. However, its modest battery life, and rather unappealing keyboard make it look a bit overpriced compared to rivals such as the Surface Pro 2 that come in well under £1000.