X1 drools over Vaio Z

Sony - Ultimate performance and design: ultra-mobile new VAIO Z Series from Sony weighs under 1.2kg : : News : Sony Europe Press Centre

What a shame

 

Yep, that's my dream machine right there, except that I mistrust the SSD setup they have. They mention it's in RAID 0, so it must be the same proprietary style as the previous generation. Can't feel good about a drive i can't replace myself.

 

What do they use for a RAID controller?

 

I will never buy a Sony computer, nor will I let anyone I care about get one.

 

Last year when I had been considering the previous generation Z, I remember reading about users obsessing over the Intel RST drivers (and if they would ever have TRIM enabled on this SSD config). Surely it's the same.

 

Why? They don't last? Too expensive? Poor support?

 

Hmmm... the configuration options on the French site point to a default SSD config with what appears to be a standard drive. The RAID config is an option there. And of course there is usually a base config including an HDD. Suddenly became much more appealing to me...

 

Wow, discrete gpu on the dock???
I have sony SZ (like my nickname shows )which I think is like a father to the Vaio Z. However, the build quality so so and driver support was horrible and I promosed myself to never get any Vaio, but this Z is really tempting.
How's the build quality and support of Sony thesedays?? Did they improve over the years at all??? Any experience with the Z series anybody???

 

IMO, Sony seems to go for upfront presentation, but I feel that their machines are not made to last, which is unfortunate for a company who has a weak service rating.

The only person I met who spoke up for their Sony, had only a partially working monitor in their Sony notebook computer.

56 above average VS 61 Below average
PC Hardware / Reviews Poll Results

 

I also had an SZ - beautiful computer but just falls apart. I was forced onto a toshiba portege tablet, and my partner kept the sz... the tablet is durable but awfully slow and ugly, the sz is fast and gorgeous but extremely delicate. To lenovo and elitebooks we come!

 

the SSD aint standard, just look at the various pics posted of the guts of the laptop, EVERYTHING is custom, even the RAM and sadly even the thunderbolt implementation

 

I realized that this morning, yeah... pretty disheartening

 

I liked the z very much, but I want my egpu to be good and powerful, that could be achieved with the sonnet solution, since yesterday my gpu decided, as it appears, to go the way of the dodo, I will buy a mbp 13

 

Yea, everything is soldered to the motherboard or proprietary. This is after all Sony we are talking about.

Who knows, maybe the machine will last for 5+ years and Sony service will make a remarkable recovery.

Sucker bet.

 

^^sucker bet indeed.

however as I said in the z thread, thunderbolt is basically a pcie interface, the connector wont make a difference, but for me that wants the now, its not an option, it will really depends on the connector that most people adopt, since the intel lightpeak demonstration was done on the usb connector

To add, the size of the notebook, plus to pack a dual cooling solution, I think it was safe to assume that a lot was going to be custom jobs. we still need to see if the connector is really a zif implementation like it was on the z11, however Im not betting on it, its possibly a msta 1.8'' drive, which could be replaced.

What I really disliked aside the thunderbolt issue, is the ram, why it needs to be custom?

I was expecting my pc to be lighter than my current 16'' which wont be.

Dont take the harsh posts as that I dont like the new z, I do like it a lot, but to have the power of a 6650m as a egpu solution is not going to cut for me

 

Looks like I'll be keeping my 3820TG for another year. The X1 and the Z were the only real temptations this refresh season.

Bronsky

 

Sony after sale services are a joke. Their laptop in the recent year are expensive, but the quality is not what it use to be and the design aesthetics are questionable.

Apple MBP have pretty much replaced the Sony laptop in terms of design and they are priced far more competitively too.

 

that was the best decision, so that when you have to change next year the performance improvement will be felt

 

After sale services for most brands and companies is a joke. That is horizontal across most industries.

I agree they price themselves out of consideration for mortals. But for a VP or CxO price rarely matters.

Quality is always subjective though it shouldn't be. I have seen a number of defects in ThinkPads lately that has me questioning the quality of the Lenovo's, too. You're probably taking about the notebook chassis and construction but I am including the actual chipsets, drivers, and results.

Design aesthetics. I'm not sure what that means. Are we including the X1 glossy screen? That was questionable.

 

So you have surveyed the different customer services across the laptop industry? have you tried to get services on Sony laptops before?

I am not sure whether lot of VP or CxO would use Sony laptops.

Is there something wrong with the Thinkpad chipsets?

I can't praise the new keyboard layout or the lower resolution screen on the X1.

Quality of the recent Sony laptops quality has declined faster than its price.

 

My reason for avoiding Sony is simple: they installed a rootkit on consumer's machines, twisted words when caught, broke the law, and got away with it.

That sort of company doesn't deserve my patronage.

Even if you do like the hardware, do you really want to trust or support a company that thinks so little of their customers?

 

I don't think I really know the facts of that case but considering their latest fumbles with PlayStation security, they do act like bumbling idiots from time to time.

How can you ask that with a straight face?

I can't think of a single ThinkPad I've had lately that hasn't had some sort of defect in the video drivers, USB 3 drivers, power management, Optimus features and support, throttled speeds that were lower than published specs, poor quality components, etc. Please.

Lenovo is far from hitting on all cylinders. From their design decisions lately to their buggy products, they have started to shake my confidence.

It's just my opinion.

 

I would conclude that too - if I had a 3820TG overclocked like yours but I didn't, so I had to find an ultraportable to at least last me the year. I was thoroughly unimpressed with the X1 and its glossy colorless screen, its weight with the sheet battery, and I was more than unimpressed with the X220 after a week trying my hardest to like it. So, I remain exceedingly happy with my Z13, which I bought as a refurb for an obscenely low price, and which has done nothing but perform perfectly since, even after two falls, one onto a hard floor from a bed (that was luck, not build quality, lol!) My Square Trade insurance assures me I will get my money back if it breaks and, depending on if/when that might occur, I'd be likely to take my insurance refund and head to eBay to buy another used Z! Once you've used one, and had months of trouble free service, it's hard to use anything else.

If you read the surveys of initial quality and tech support of all brands, Sony consistently ranks mid pack, usually on the high side of it. From what I've heard, the bad experiences with Sony support are perhaps worse than the average bad experience with other brands, so it gets a reputation for being worse on average, when it isn't.

Owning a Sony Z is like owning a German car vs. Japanese; they are incomparably delightful to look at and use, but you pay a higher price to own them and to maintain them. Checked out sales growth of BMWs vs. Toyotas lately? Q.E.D.

 

lovelaptops, did you get X220 with the IPS screen? What is your main reason to dislike the x220, not have HD+ is definitely a buzzkill for me.

The new Sony Z series are very sexy, however I like to buy laptop where it is easy to service.

After seeing how Sony Z implement thunderbolt, I have little faith that thunderbolt will catch on. Imagine if every manufacturer uses a different connection for their thunderbolt implementation, peripheral maker are not going to make a new wire for every single pc vendor.

 

I really like the new Z but I've had such horrible experience with the sony support, and decided not to try. I dont mind spending extra for quality, I only buy German cars too. I've had more than 20 over last 15 years ranging from normal 3 series to m3s, m5s, and AMGs, you name it and I've probably had it. Well, do you know what differentiate those luxury cars from average cars other than the quality???
How do you match Sony as a German car?? I think Vaios are way more like Japanese cars, and Thinkpads are best described as German cars.
I bet the new Z is an amazing laptop, but I don't trust Sony support and never will. I've spent more than 3.5k on the Vaio that I can't even hook up to the display. I had to work that out myself and I finally did but it one year. Support or driver update from Sony??? none.
It was 5 years ago, but I hear they are the same as before. I also think with there finacial hardship, they probably won't spend much effort on the support as well.