CES 2007: Sony VAIO SZ, VAIO C and VAIO N Updates

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Sony had on display at CES 2007 a couple of updates to existing lines of notebooks. The VAIO SZ series has now got a n SZ4 line and the VAIO C100 gets a refresh in the form of the C200 series. In addition the N100 series gets a bump up to the N200 series.

VAIO C200

The VAIO C series hasn't changed much at all with the introduction of what Sony is calling the C240. The C240 is in fact the exact same 13.3&quot; notebook as the C140 reviewed on this site, except the C240 has Windows Vista loaded. Sony will also be releasing a version of the C240 in a new color called &quot;rediscovery blue&quot;.

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VAIO SZ4

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The Sony SZ4 13.3-inch ultraportable hasn't changed except for the fact it will now come with Vista Business installed and the option of having a T7400 Core 2 Duo processor.

VAION N200

The VAIO N200 series will be an update to the current Sony VAIO N100 reviewed on this site. Once again, the only update here is with Windows Vista being installed now, and also an X-Black screen.

Funky Designs

Sony also had on display a bunch of their funky designs available in various notebooks such as the VAIO AR Series.

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Daaaaamn it! When I read C series update I was sure that it was going to be dedicated graphics.

 

New name, but the machine stays the same.

I'm a bit disappointed in that regard.

 

any updates for vaio FE series?

 

Vaio FE is $50 cheaper, if you can call it "upgrade"
i don't know what Sony is doing. They seem to cripple half of their notebooks to boost the "premium" ones like AR and SZ

 

Yeah, whatever happened with that anyway? When Sony first unveiled the C series, I could swear that they mentioned that there would be a high-end black model with a GeForce 7400 (although I don't think the switchable graphics chips of the SZ series), but it seems like there isn't anything like that actually available.

Personally my interest in the C series was dampened after trying one out in the SonyStyle store, and seeing that the screen seemed pretty dull and dark compared to their other laptops.

 

The C-series is offered with a dedicated graphics card outside the U.S., but not in the U.S. for some reason. If you want a 13.3" machine with dedicated graphics, go for the Sony SZ or Asus W7J; even the Dell XPS M1210 is worth looking at if you are willing to go down to a 12".

That said, I'm quite fond of the C-series. I would be tempted to buy that if I needed a notebook right now.

 

Yeah, I know about the other options...... I was mainly just curious about the C series. Didn't know they were making it available with dedicated graphics outside the US. Maybe it's just a price point issue?

It seems like the C series is a pretty decent solution otherwise (I could definitely see getting one if the screen looked better and brighter to me).

 

Dissapointed at the SZ, nothing change at all except Vista loaded

 

W7J has the soldered on 512MB or else I'd be typing on it right now. Well, the heat issue gives me pause too, but I'd have dealt with it.

Both the slightly-too-small Dell and overpriced SZ have reportedly really bad keyboards.

I've personally messed around with the C series and it feels solid, looks great, and runs for $999 with a C2D.

 

The C series keyboard is very very similar to the SZ series keyboard, so if you liked it, you'd probably like the SZ keyboard as well.

I agree, the C series does seem like a nice deal for $999 especially; again, the only thing really keeping me from it is that I thought the screen quality was very poor compared to other laptops, even in that price range.

What else is there really to change on the SZ right now? There isn't a better GPU or CPU that would really fit in the form factor.

What exactly what you expect them to do with the SZ series at this point?

 

I dont know, may be Sony can change the design or look a bit with the new Vista uploaded. Owned a SZ with Core Duo b4, consider another SZ for meself but the same design is a bit dissapointing

A added in 3G will be nice to c.

 

i seriously don't consider these as updates just because of vista. In fact, people will be getting free upgrades to vista if they purchased these notebooks last month

It would be an update if they slightly redesigned it like the FE Series.

hey have you guys realized that the desktop icons in windows vista are freakin huge?

 

Well, again, it's an update because Sony needs to have new model numbers when they do change something, whether its a change from Pentium M to Core Duo to Core 2 Duo, or a change in the preinstalled OS.

-Zadillo

I don't know, maybe. Personally, I'm glad that Sony has kept the same basic design (hell, I personally still prefer the S series design to the redesigned SZ series). I think it's one of the best designs and form factors in the laptop world today. I can't really see any specific need to dramatically change it.

 

Did you only see one model or was the screen poor on all the C-series you saw? On the C-series I have seen (at multiple locations), the screen was pretty decent and reasonably bright. I didn't notice anything wrong or underwhelming about it, nor anything above and beyond.
By the way, what notebook or monitor do you use? We might have different definitions/standards when it comes to classifying a 'good screen.'

What I like about the C-series is the overall design and feel of the notebook itself. The textured palmrests and areas of the notebook are very appealing, and I like the keyboard. Surprisingly, I do not like the SZ's keyboard much. The C's is firmer and has a better sound, and better feedback. The SZ's keys still feels like they are somewhat 'floating'; the C-series does not have that feeling.

 

I dont know, the C keyboard looks really similar to the SZ keyboard, but in reality it is much more firm, and better to type on. I like it a lot better than the SZ keyboard, imo.

Agreed, I still think it is the best looking laptop out there. The C series is pretty good as well, but it looks much better in the fully black and fully white colors, not the ugly half-black-half-gray-part-orange color you get at the stores. I think its a bit thick, and the different colors amplifies that.

Compared to past Sony LCD screens, the C series is pretty dull, but next to an HP dv2000 its about the same. I noticed that when I was messing with the C150 at Costco yestreday.

 

How can these be considered a refresh if only a new OS is installed, and the name changes?

 

I've seen a couple of C series laptops at CompUSA and BestBuy, and a number of them at the local SonyStyle store.

I just found the screen to be a bit dull and dark even on the highest brightness setting. This is mainly compared to Sony's SZ series and HP laptops........ it seemed on par with some of the low-end Toshiba displays I've seen.

The only direct screen I can compare it to would be the Sony Vaio S360, which I found to be quite vibrant and bright. Although I've noticed that even with the SZ series, the SZ330, for example, seems to be not quite as bright as the old S series (the SZ370, etc. of course look very nice thanks to the LED backlighting, same with the Sony TX series).

I'm not saying the C series display isn't usable, just that I found it to be noticeably poorer than other Sony laptops, where I've normally found the displays to be one of the big selling points.

For the same reason that plenty of other laptop models get "refreshed" when a new OS is installed or some minor spec is changed (like more RAM, a slightly faster CPU, etc.).

 

Any updates on the Sony VAIO G, that two-pounder released in Japan? Would like to know if/when we can see it in the Americas.

Also, is the Sony SZ4 13.3-inch ultraportable the same size as the other, "regular" SZs? Or is this something new with a new style/size?

 

I also forgot that I abhor that awful gray/black design typical of 90% of the notebooks out there....which is another big reason the C series appeals to me. Yeah, it's got copper accents, but they're subtle and nicely done.

 

Haven't heard much about the Vaio G coming out in the US..... personally I wouldn't hold my breath (then again, I never thought Sony would release stuff like the C1 Picturebook or TX here, so who knows).

I would say that if you really want the Vaio G, I'd go ahead and just order one from Dynamism.com.

The Sony SZ4 is the same size as every other SZ. It has the exact same style/size.

 

Small changes:

160gb hard drive and 2gb Ram standard,
starts with T7200 processor,
335MB Total Graphics for Nvidia 7400 and 224MB Total Graphics for Intel GMA 950

(Sz3xx started at 1gb ram, 120gb hard drive, T5600 processor, 128mb for Nvidia 7200 and 128mb for Intel GMA 950 non customized).

http://b2b.sony.com/Solutions/subcategory/notebooks/sz-series

 

Pricing is interesting; seems like only a $100 price difference now between the "low end" SZ, and the SZ450, which offers the "premium" casing (and does that mean it offers the better quality LED backlighting as well)?

Wondering why anyone would pay $2149 for the SZ430 and not just go ahead and pay $100 more for the SZ450, unless there's something I'm missing.

Although on a related note, what is the reason for the $400 price difference between the SZ450 and SZ470?

Or the SZ490 for that matter. The spec sheets look almost identical, other than the 200GB HD vs. 160GB.

EDIT: I guess the 430 and 490 have Wireless WAN, which the 450 and 470 do not. So that maybe explains why the "lower end" 430 is not that much more expensive.

What is interesting in that case though is that the price of the "premium" SZ models seems to have been given a lower barrier to entry with the SZ450.


-Zadillo

 

Hello, everyone!

Like many people said before, I'm also a little bit disappointed at these SZ "updates".

Actually, I didn't understand the difference between the graphics. Both of them have the same specs, right? (GeForce Go 7400 + Intel GMA950)

So why does it say that the SZ4 series have 335MB total available??

And what do these millions of letters N/X; N/C; N/B; P/X; P/C, etc, are supposed to mean???

Thanks!

 

I'm pretty sure that the graphics memory stuff is just because there is more RAM that can be used for shared memory on some models. The amount of shared memory available is dependent on total system memory.

The letters next to the different model numbers normally indicate the materials use, specifically stuff like the presence of Carbon Fibre, etc. I think in some cases they are also just used to represent different colors, etc. In some cases they were also used to represent which OS they had (i.e. XP Home, XP MCE, XP Pro, etc.).