Official VAIO Z Core 2 Duo Series Owners Thread

SR... SR SR Sr SR
LOL...:wink: Hey, you need to convince your uncle to get the Z. Why a Toshiba? Every time I'm at Best Buys or Circuit City, I'm always seeing someone returning or getting their Toshiba laptop fixed.

 

well guys i decided to cancel my preorder. more details tomorrow after i make it official..

 

That doesn't necessarily mean it will be the best for you. IMO, screen resolution & screen size depends on the user himself/herself.

 

Yes, ToRoNtO-GuYY. You should definitely try your best to persuade your uncle to go for a Vaio Z, since he had a $4,000 budget. I'm sure most people here (including you) will agree with me that given his budget, the Vaio Z should be THE ONLY choice. He's definitely not going to regret it once he gets it. :smile:

 

what a discussion. what is going on people? SR is of course a nice notebook but really compareable to the Z? i don't think so. Z is high-end business with consumer attitudes and SR is simply consumer. Nothing more or less.

For those who want more flexibility (ports, resolution, weight, everywair etc.) and can afford it go with the Z. if you can't afford it and don't need less weight, more resolution, hdmi etc. go with the SR. PERIOD.

No need to discuss which one is the better notebook. It is all about preference and of course your moneybag.

 

When I said goodnight as u can see I was lieing. My uncle's had Toshiba laptops for years now. When Toshiba was #1, and yea ur right, I used to work at Staples Business Depot, and we had a high rate of returns/repairs and all for Toshiba's and Acer laptops. My uncles only problem with the Z series is the screen is to small, yet he wants something sleek and nice looking with a decent size screen. Have u guys seen the new Toshiba laptop by way? its nasty and bulky lol. But I wanna ask u guys something. One thing my uncle said was that Toshiba offers a 3 year warrenty standard, where as Sony only offers one year standard warrenty. Warrenty is extremely important to him as he travels a lottt. How can I pursway him into gettin a Vaio still?

 

Oh and forgot to add that my uncle's really skeptical as to why Sony offers only one years vs Toshiba's 3 year. Maybe Sony breaks down faster? Toshiba has been around a lot longer. These are the things he's questioning.

 

tell him if he wants girls all over him he must get the Z. simple as that. no specs, no benchmarks, no warranty. GIRLZ.

 

I would so tell him that but he's married lol

 

best post ever!!!

 

Well it cost $191.90 to extend your warranty 3 years at Provantage.com (or you can extend it directly from Sony)
$211.78 to get an 3 year accidental damage warranty and $268.37 for a 4 year extension.

Also, most electronic companies all offer a standard 1 year warranty. Simply said, Toshiba Satellite laptops use to be something back in their days, but now, they're a total piece of crap. Which is probably why they even fathom to offer a 3 year warranty.

Even HP's high end VooDoo line and Dell's high end Alienware line only offers a 1 year warranty. Same with Apple, they offer a standard 1 year warranty. Yet all these companies allow you to "extend" your warranties. Come to think of it, HP, Dell, Fujitsu, Sony, Apple, Asus, Gateway, and all their subsidiary companies offer a standard 1 year warranty with the option to extend it.

Unless I'm wrong, but I think I'm pretty right but I'll leave the door open so people don't have to bang ^ ^.

 

Thanks for the info. U make solid points there dudeee. I will let my uncle know that for sure. My uncle had to replace the motherboard on his Toshiba laptop like 3 times and he paid over 3 grand for that laptop. Thats why he;s willing to even look at other options otherwise theres no convincing him lol.

 

I've had several Toshiba Satellite Pros and have never had a problem with them (well, a cracked LCD but I accidentally stood on it!)... so they're not all rubbish, unless I was just lucky.

 

Come on guys, lets make this thread go past 500,000 post hits. We can do it.

 

Yeah lets do a countdown...
only 499835 are missing xD

Ok back on topic:
When can we expect the first reviews?
Its about two weeks till the first Z's are supposed to ship...
Does Sony normally send review models to certain sites earlier?

 

Well, like I said before. Toshiba Satellites used to be pretty good laptops. These recent ones completely suck in my opinion. So you were lucky by a couple of years

O! so much closer to 500,000 posts naws!

 

Same here.

Oh, sorry.

Good night.

 

Lol, I'm also going to use a borrowed 15.4 laptop for the first few months of school. Mine's at 6 lbs...

I agree with you on the color. You never know how Sony will design a Premium Z.

What should I do if I want everything on the Z except the higher resolution? and Z 570 is over my budged by $200. lol
I should really start saving up for it like Geeee said...

 

hum....

Don't you guys sleep?...You were posting at like 1-5 am in the morning...I know some of you live on the west coast, but still...

This thread is REALLY slow during the day...

 

i think the aluminum keyboard looks really nice

 

Im also in the same scenario... borrowing a 15.4 incher at abt 6 lbs untill i can get my Z... but im hoping mine will ship just before school my move in date (Aug. 30th)

 

So do I, but I've never seen the dark aluminum palm rest on premium Z 7's.

 

Nice!
Which Z did you order?

I haven't order mine yet.

Good luck getting it before school starts!

 

Lol...i have ordered it yet but im decided on the Z. Ill most likely be ordering the z590 CTO. Ill post up specs once its ordered. Do you think im better off ordering it earlier in the preorder period? Or does in not make a difference?

 

Yes I actually sleep... but I am living in Germany, not on the West Coast but in Europe
So when I'm getting up you just went to bed I guess =)

 

Oh my gosh!, Why? Weren't you planning on using the Z for school? I'm curious why you changed your mind. You gave such a great review as to why you chose the Z.

Your obviously good at lying :twitcy:, I'm sure you can pursuade him in anything. Tell him the Z is like an accessory, it tells a lot about a dude like it does his shoes and watch.

Yep, all he needs to do is open his lid, and they will all come swooooning.....Girls Gone Wild Over The Z!!!!

No we don't sleep, We're students! We're not programmed to sleep until we graduate....

That or your like 85 years old. (just kidding)

 

The day I see an 85 year old using a new Sony VAIO will be an odd day.

 

Hi,

I have a new TZ160N/B (i live in Portugal) and i can't find a way to create the recovery disks.
I can enter on the recovery center module (F10) but i don't have the option to make the disks, just to use the windows recovery, analyze disk and to recovery the C drive to the factory default.
Can someone help me?

Thanks,
DeepImpact

 

lol wrong thread buddy

 

I saw the mistake, sorry.

DeepImpact

 

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...0151&langId=-1&categoryId=8198552921644568897

So Sony is targeting Students after all. What the **** were they thinking? 2,000 dollar laptops are a no brainer for college students in debt in loans and financial aid? lol. terrible marketing if students is really who they targeted.

but then again, they are targeting the student who "Wants it all." Rich, upper middle-high class students I guess. "Oh my heavens Theodore you're new Sony VAIO personal notebook is so posh."

 

They're mostly targeting executives.

" Executive Decision.
Uncompromising design.
At 13.1 inches and just 3.4 pounds, the Z is truly a go-everywhere notebook and a must-have for busy executives."

 

I've pretty much decided on getting a Sony Z, but I can't decide on the specs. I'm looking at the following options:

1) From PortableOne: Sony Vaio Z530 (P8600, 250gb 5400rpm hd, upgrade to 3gb memory): $1950
2) From PortableOne: Sony Vaio Z570 (P9500, 320gb 5400rpm hd, either 3gb or 4gb memory): $2250 or $2350
3) From Sony: Z590 CTO (P9500, 320gb 5400rpm hd, either 3gb or 4gb memory): $2540 or $2640 - $100 rebate (order by phone) + ~$200 tax = $2640 or $2740

I'd order the CTO if not for the tax, because I really want the 1600*900 screen resolution and the 256mb video ram, but the extra $200 (along with reports I read here of lower build quality for CTOs and the bloatware removal from P1) makes me unsure. I don't think I'll be using the laptop for anything intensive (some CPU intensive programs such as Mathematica/Maple/MatLab, Photoshop, and some gaming), but I want to keep the laptop for a good four years (unless maybe if I choose the $1950 configuration) so I'd like to have it upgraded as much as is reasonable. Weight and battery life are also pretty important, will there be any significant differences between configurations?

Any suggestions are much appreciated! Thanks!

Oh and has anyone else noticed that their new configuration site says, when you select the SSDs, that "Blu-ray Disc™ Read/Write Drive is only available with any SATA Hard Disk Drive."? Does this mean SSDs are not SATA? I probably won't be considering one anyway, but if this is the case would it be best to avoid them?

 

My first suggestion is to wait a couple of weeks, so some retailers will have stock and you'll get a better deal. We've seen this happen with the SR series too.

-3GB is enough if you want to run Vista 32bit.

-320GB is faster than the 250GB HDD due to higher data density.

 

PhilFlow et al.,

If 200GB were enough storage for you, and if price was not a factor, which of the following drives would you choose and why?:

200 GB SATA @ 7200 RPM
320 GB SATA @ 5400 RPM

I assume that the 7200 RPM would be faster, though I've also read that larger-capacity disk drives (i.e. drives with greater density) feel more responsive. Which do you reckon would be faster? How many minutes of extra battery life do you think the slower drive would save (if any)?

Cheers.

 

We get this question about 3 times a week

Ok, one more time:
They will perform equally, unless the 200GB/7200rpm is a Hitachi 7K200. In that case the 7200rpm will be faster.

Without knowing the brands and types it's impossible to say which one uses more power. But differences will be small.

For reference:
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/...chmark-pattern,678.html?p=1891,1890,1894,1895
http://techreport.com/articles.x/15079/4
http://www.storagereview.com/Hitachi250WD320.sr?page=0,3

I've seen a SR-19VN and it had a Hitachi 7K200. FW uses a 320Gb/5400rpm Toshiba. If Sony would use the same drives in Z series, the 7K200 would definetely be faster.

 

Do you guys think that P1 or other retailers will be coming out with more premium Z options (I'm not really interested in blu-ray or ssds, but I really want the 1600x900 screen resolution)?

Also, do you think I'll be able to notice the difference between a P9500 and a P8600?

Thanks!

 

I am pretty sure.

Depends on what applications you are using.

Differences will only be noticeable when running encoding/decoding, video editing, math, or other CPU intensive applications. Most users will never know the difference.

 

What the F is up with only offering Wide Area from Sprint ? Rediculous. I'd rather have the option to select NONE. AT&T here. I am otherwise salivating over this puppy.

 

@ PhilFlow:

Thanks for the info and great links. Sounds like I'll have to ask folks to look under the hood when they get their Zs, so to speak.

 

Does anyone have any info about the battery penalty of the 35w CPUs? How much battery life do you think we're going to be losing versus the 25w ones?

 

Anyone know if there will be any difference in whether i order the Z now versus next in terms of the time it will take for me to get it??

Also, if anyone has a store near them with the Z on location could they go check it out take a video... and do some in depth analysis...lol... thanks

 

I've pretty much decided on the Z 570. I just want the fastest cpu and I don't care about the higher resolution because I have a 21 in. external screen to connect it with when I'm in my dorm room.

I do some light gaming, so I don't really need 256 mb dedicated memory (I don't believe it will make a huge difference and I can't afford a Z 590. lol). Another reason for me to settle on the 570 is 590's slightly shorter battery time.

As to more pre-configured Z 590, there are more pre-configured Z's on Sony's business website at:
http://b2b.sony.com/Solutions/subcategory/notebooks/ultra_portable/z-series
I think they also will become available in mid-late Aug.

 

Geee has already written a pretty extensive hands on review on the Z, it's in the other REALLY long Sony Vaio thread.

 

I don't really know the answer to your question, I would say probably an hour difference at the most... Considering the realistic battery life for the Z with P9500 is around 3 - 3.5 hours. (anyone agrees with me?)

You know...both P9500 and P8600 use 25w.

 

Yes you are right the TDP is 25 watt for both.

On a sidenote, a TDP of 25 watt does not mean they use 25 watt, it means their cooling system is required to dissipate 25 watt at maximum operation. This means that differences in battery life will most likely not be as big as 25watt vs. 35 watt.

 

link? or just which thread is it on??

 

Thanks for the info. i'm really hesitating between the P9500 (2.5Ghz, 25W) and the T9600 (2.8Ghz, 35W). Obviously i'd love to get the fastest CPU, since I do a lot encoding, video work etc. But if I'm going to be losing a whole hour of battery out of a 3-hour battery life, I'm not sure it's worth it.

I tried to find reviews or comparisons of these 2 CPUs, but i didn't find any.

I'd love to get some advice from you guys on this matter.

 

And you do know that the T9600 on the Z is only available in Japan?

If you're doing CPU intensive stuff, I'd expect the difference to be 20-30 minutes on 3 hour battery life. But you'll get the same amount of work done.

10% less battery life & 10% more performance.

(all these are guesses, I have not seen any benchmarks comparing these 2 CPUs)

 

Yes I was aware of that, but i don't mind ordering from japan if that CPU is worth it. And a 20-30 min battery penalty is okay for me.

Waht about heat? Would the added 10w generate more heat, and would it be noticeable, or not?