2 vaio SB questions

(1) Will the power supply for my old vaio SZ work with my (on order) SB?

(2) I'm getting slightly worried about the SB screen. My 2006 SZ has a great display and its such a shame to effectively downgrade when buying an new (expensive) PC. I could return it (when it arrives) but I'm struggling to find an alternative on the market right now. Any ideas? My requirements are:

(A) Small and light (doesn't have to be crazy thin/light like the Air/Ultrabooks)
(B) Dedicated GPU
(C) Great screen for movies tc.
(D) Price: no more than £1000 (~$1500)
(E) Not a deal breaker but ideally an SSD

BTW: My CTO SB has everything apart from (C) for about £950.

Thanks in advance for help.

 

1. Most likely not. Wouldn't even try that!
2. You are comparing apples to oranges here. Which brings me to (C) - you are expecting a multimedia screen out of a business model!? FAIL!

Go for a multimedia series laptop if this is what you are after. You can never have both worlds, especially not for 1000 pounds!

Multimedia Series are usually bigger, heavier and less robust, lack connectivity options (such as WWAN, etc.). On the other hand they are cheaper and obviously - better for multimedia applications like movies, music, games etc.

Business Series (like the S) - lighter, smaller, more portable, more connectivity options, worse screens, worse speakers, very robust (metal bodies, etc.) and more expensive.

The most you can get as a combination of both worlds is the Vaio Z - but it is by far not perfect and has its price!

 

To be fair, the SA's display has a couple of good points: it's bright, matte (the two combined really screw with contrast, however ), and has 1600x900 resolution in a 13.3" display (it's not the same panel as the Vaio Z1/Z2's 1600x900 13.1" display).

 

Hard to say those are necessarily "good points"

- I find picture quality of matte displays not satisfactory - too grainy! I have always preferred glossy screens - you can always apply a non reflective filter to a glossy screen but you can never make a matte display as detailed as a glossy!

- 1600x900 on a small screen? How many hours do you spend on it per week and how much do you have to do with texts? Try dealing with documents 10 hours a days for a week and tell me how you feel!! ) Many people returned their Z for this exact reason and bought laptops with 1366x768 instead.

 

Thanks, for your replies.

I don't think I have unreasonable expectations. My current vaio SZ in 2006 met all my requirements: powerful, high quality screen, dedicated gpu, very thin/light. I got it for £1050. I need the 2011 analogue.

I'm not looking for everything: not interested in speaker quality or screen resolution (I want nice contrast/colours but doesn't have to be full HD), connectivity is not an issue for me. Obviously I'd like decent build quality but not at the 'bomb proof' level that one might pay a premium for.

Maybe I'm asking too much for £1000 but I'd be interested to know what the closest thing is... This forum is inundated with negative comments about the SB screen and I'm getting slightly worried (having used the awesome SZ screen for 5 years).

 

I don't know what your specifications are but for under £50 more, you could get the SA (base config) with a better screen, I think my SA screen is great! (however no SSD though :/ only a 500gb HDD) No Z screen but still, it is average to good for the 13.3" laptop range. I could easily watch a movie on it with no problems (although if anyone else is trying to watch it with you, it will look terrible to them - bad viewing angles) but considering it is a matte screen I think its brilliant - you can use it outside

 

I work 8-12 hours a day on this laptop. I find the resolution not enough, and am replacing this laptop with a 1920x1080 Vaio Z2 soon (coworker has a 1920x1080 Vaio Z1). I have heard of people returining the 1920x1080 version for 1600x900, but NEVER of people who returned a 1600x900 resolution 13" display for a 1366x768 one.

The sheer workspace afforded by the 1600x900 display over a 1366x768 (not even going to bring up the stunted vertical resolution 1366x768 has relative to any reasonable notebook resolution), is just something that cannot be undervalued. Trying two word documents side by side on a 1366x768 display would require zooming out the text to the point of pixelization. A 1600x900 display would not exhibit pixelization in this same useage. This has nothing to do with pixel size or screen size. Just sheer workspace afforded by panel resolution.