2016 VAIO S & Z Hands on

VAIO S:

http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/vaio-s-2016-hands-on/



VAIO Z:

http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/vaio-z-2016-hands-on/



Not exactly an enthusiastic write-up on the S, but the Z seems to be a little bit more interesting.

No mention of a European release...

 

Well I would not expect a euro release anytime soon, unless Vaio decides to bring in new models during IFA later on this year. The price in the US, base Z flip with core i5 starts at 1799 US, i7 with 512GB is I believe 2399 US, maxed out specs. Even if it was sold in europe, I'd expect something along the lines of euro 1799 for start, which would not be worth it. Granted all are made in Japan now, but the designs are getting old. You can check out the video review here.

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They don't look any different/better than the S and Flip from 2+ years ago.

 

and they arent, s13 is same laptop as pro mk2, only us layout keyboard added, pretty shame they giving outdating spec laptops
s13 is japan will recive some cosmetics add-ons as a new colors and so on (living in japan, saw some promotional stuff)

 

I don't see how the new S13 is much of an upgrade compared to my 2012 S13.
8GB RAM vs 12GB on the old version.
No more clickpad, also the touchpad seems much smaller than the previous S.
No more bluray drive.
Doesn't look like it has switchable graphics.

Only pro is the battery life, 1080p res display and new Skylake cpus.

 

I guess you were only talking about the Z, but just to clarify:
Only the Zs are made in Japan (Z Canvas - though its keyboard is made in China, Z Flip, and probably Z Clamshell will be too).
All the other Vaios are made in China.


In the comments section of the Digitaltrends article about the Vaio S someone wrote that the S should be the Z, and the Z should be the S. While I think that the S/Pro13 design should be improved (e.g. the palmrest and the keyboard should be made of the same piece of metal, like on the VPCZ/SVZ), I completely agree with that.
Sony introduced the flip design in the mid-range Fit series and it was never something outstanding (the idea of the flip screen is cool, but not the design). Vaio took that and refined it into the Z and the result is not outstanding either. While the Pro11/13's design was taken from the high-end VPCZ/SVZ series.
Whenever I went to Yodobashi or Bic Camera recently and approached a Vaio stand, my eyes stopped on the Pro11/13 or sometimes the Z Canvas. The Z Flip never sparked any interest in me.

 

Wouldn't know, I've not read anything about where the others are made, but yes I was only referring to the Z, since Lisa on the video showed the made in Japan logo.

@XanderD, it is not an improvement since the model is not an S model, it is the old Pro 13, and it is a shame the trackpad is smaller. I feel if Vaio wanted to innovate the should have introduced a new or updated design but no. In the end, Vaio will either return to Sony (unlikely), be sold off to a Taiwanese firm (become their high end model line), or will merge with toshiba and fujitsu as was rumoured last year. I don't trust Sony in running Vaio in the future, especially when they are severally failing with the Xperia smartphone line.

 

If anyone cares the new Z flip is up for pre order now on the us vaio site, pricing is steep, 1799 start for i5 with 256/8gb, i7 with 256/8gb is 1999, and the i7 with 512/16gb is 2399, all in USD. I swear I saw the Z also up for pre-order this morning, identical pricing, seems gone for now. Expected shipping is Feb 18th for the flip.

Shame about lack of a thunderbolt port.

 

no shame in that. I'm glad it's gone, the way of firewire.

 

As said before, it is based on the Pro 13, not the S13 so it's noticeably smaller (just look at how narrow those bezels are compared to the S13), thinner and lighter (and thus has a smaller touchpad, no dedicated graphics, no extra RAM expansion slot, no optical drive, etc.). It also has a Full HD screen compared to that rather poor 1600x900 screen on the S13 (which I couldn't stand so replaced it with an IPS one).

It does add touchpad buttons to the mix which is new (but is a plus in my book), but given that its reusing the previous design (which I actually like and hope the battery life is much improved), I'd still probably go for the Dell XPS 13 which is even more compact.

The new Z looks pretty ugly IMHO with that indented keyboard and lacking the sharp lines of the previous Z series (but I don't really need the screen flip and dislike touchscreens altogether so it depends).

 

I quite like the simplicity & minimalist design of the new Z series. It's classic VAIO. I presume the complete lack of driver updates & support will also be classic VAIO.

 

what? with thunderbolt 3 should can turn an ultrabook or any notebook with the port to a gaming device with an external graphics card module connected via thunderbolt for example. There are many other features like daisy chaining.

https://thunderbolttechnology.net/blog/thunderbolt-3-usb-c-does-it-all

 

except that thunderbolt is too expensive, based on proprietary tech and hence will never work at scale. heck, i haven't met a single person as yet who even used a thunderbolt external drive. USB 3.1 and ahead will eventually take over the role of connecting to a external graphics module and hence thunderbolt will become extinct. if not today, in the near tomorrow. But USB will go on....

 

Thunderbolt 3 includes USB 3.1

 

Do we know when they're getting the Flip in the MS Store? Or when they would usually be in the MS Store after a notebook manufacturer puts it up on their own website?

 

Just got my hands with one of these whilst transiting Tokyo (to replace my dead vpcz228 that Sony Singapore wanted me to pay USD1500 plus service fees just to replace the motherboard).

Unfortunately, stock specs were not that great (custom specs will take min. 2 weeks). Highest stock spec available for the z was i7 6567u with just 8gig and 256gig PCIe (both not user upgradable just like the previous z2). Paid Y260000 for it, roughly USD2300.

Will comment on it further once I'm fully on the ground on Monday.

 

^ I am interested to read about your experience with the new Z. I personally am leaning towards the non flip Z laptop with the 2560 by 1440 screen but am interested nonetheless.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 5.

 

Just got my hands with one of these whilst transiting Tokyo (to replace my dead vpcz228 that Sony Singapore wanted me to pay USD1500 plus service fees just to replace the motherboard).<br /><br />Unfortunately, stock specs were not that great (custom specs will take min. 2 weeks). Highest stock spec available for the z was i7 6567u with just 8gig and 256gig PCIe (both not user upgradable just like the previous z2). Paid Y260000 for it, roughly USD2300.<br /><br />Will comment on it further once I'm fully on the ground on Monday.<br/>

Any update on your thoughts of the VAIO?

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 5.

 

I'll probably order the VAIO Z Monday or Tuesday. Currently on Pro 13 and the fan is starting to be more noisy than ever. I could probably fix it but I'm interested in seeing what the newer version is about.





Couple of videos that shows the laptop but unfortunately nothing too spectacular; also in Japanese. If I'm not mistaken, I forgot which tech review site is going to review the Vaio Z soon.

 

Typing on the new VAIO Z as of now. Initial impressions are its pretty good, feels like a Macbook without the OS and the trackpad that I personally dislike. No fan noise, no WIFI issues yet but who knows might come up later. Everything is so far so good - better than the Pro 13. I especially enjoy the native resolution 2560x1440.

Maybe I could answer a few questions if someone is wondering. Let me know.

 

How fast does it load 1440p videos from youtube? How much screen glare is there? How is the keyboard travel? Is there anything you wish was better?

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 5.

 

I haven't come across a video where I had to let it buffer. No comment on screen glare yet, I'll follow up in a few days. Keyboard travel is minimal - feels like any other chiclet keyboard (closer to Mac than Pro 13 as a reference. Pro 13 is more tactile though - more of a mechanical feel).

Headphone outlet is on the left side which is strange for me since all my previous laptops were on the right. Looking at the keyboard, it's like looking at an illusion because you see grey dots all around. See here.

 

Very sorry with the late reply. Had some hiccup with my SSD that i had to send it back to VAIO for replacement.

 

Un-boxing the VAIO Z and size comparison SONY Vaio Z2

 

Cont-
As i impulsively bought the VAIO Z whilst on transit in Tokyo, had to get use to the Japanese keyboard layout. Not only that, due to some miscommunication with the sales rep, took sometime for me to set it up properly.



Besides the inital SSD crash hiccup (and the constant crashes of Mozilla), the new VAIO is a breeze to start up (and shut down). Comparing with the Sony Z2, this VAIO Z flip is a little bit heavier due to the tablet screen.

Most of the previous Sony VAIO functions are made available on the new VAIO minus the hot buttons and fingerprint ID.

In tablet mode, have yet to try it using the stylus. But overall, tablet mode is not as responsive as the iPad (filling in forms/logins still require to manually click on the keyboard icon from the icon tray).

Mouse/cursor pad, as the poster above said, they went with the Macs style which i don't really like.

Screen resolution is brilliant. Downside is once you enter a dark room, the computer seems to have a default settings, whereby at 100% brightness, it's still not bright compared prior to entering the room. Can't seem to fix that issue which is quite annoying.

Speaker section, greatly improved compared to the Z1 and Z2. You now can actually hear people talking!

On battery powered, i tend to use the VAIO battery care function at max charge 80%. With that, so far it lasted me around 5 hours on max settings based on the 80% battery. Charging from 2% to 80% takes close to 2hrs.

Overall, if you don' need the tablet screen, I say save your money and opt for the clamshell Z (lighter and longer lasting on batteries).

 

Nice flip, my friend has one too!

Sidenote - the clamshell comes with a microfiber cloth whereas the flip doesn't. Is that the case for you too?

 

I think there is tablet mode in win10 so that u can the keyboard will pop automatically pops up. I maybe wrong though

 

Easy fix,
Right click on desktop for "Display Settings"
From there you can turn off "Auto Brightness"

 

Thanks mate. Will test it out later tonight.

 

Yea, was disappointed the flip didn't include any micro fibre cloth. Jap sales guy said it's because screen on flip is better resistance. still...

 

My VAIO can't seem to read any USB 3.0 devices. Anyone can help me out on that? USB2.0 works fine but not 3.0

 

My vaio z clam i5 arrives on wednesday....can´t wait.

 

I'm also in dilemma: replacing my good old Z2 with new S or Z (non-flip).
New S seems pretty much same power as my Z2 (both processor and GPU are comparable, I have PMD). So, from that perspective new Z seems more like a real upgrade.

I do prefer S design though (pretty much like Z2/Pro 13).

Any idea if Z will be available in black color? On us.vaio website I see the only color option for Z is silver (black for Z-flip). On Japanese website you can choose both silver/black for either model.

Cheers,
Miki

 

Miki, unfortunately in the US, the black model of the vaio z clamshell is out of stock...I believe they were for sale at launch during pre-orders.
Availability of colors and customization is definitely limited in the US compared to the Japan on the Sony site, where we can opt for Ram and SSD upgrade.

 

Thanks mate. I've contacted Vaio US support regarding color options and this is their response:

Dear Miki,

Thank you for contacting VAIO. We have an ongoing marketing campaign which includes plans to bring more computer styles and colors and computer accessories to the US market. However, we cannot offer a reliable timetable at this time.

I hope this has answered your question fully. Again, we appreciate your interest in the new VAIO Z series. If you have any further questions, please feel free to email us back or call us at the VAIO Customer Care Center (855-981-8246). Have a wonderful day.

Best Regards,
Matt
VAIO Customer Support

Cheers,
Miki

 

Miki, I just got my Vaio Z yesterday...I wanted the black one, was a bit worried that I wasn't going to like the silver one, judging from the photos...but is actually very nice...like it a lot.

 

My Vaio Z clam with the i5-6267U and a FHD screen for $1499 arrived yesterday. I have to say, this is the best and most powerful 13” laptop I ever owned, and I owned quite a few of various brands over the years. The build quality is excellent, very sturdy, no flex, feels very resistant to accidents, even though it is very light at 2.6lbs and pretty thin. It looks really nice too as well as unique, with a stylish matte aluminum top and body with carbon fiber on the bottom and on the bezels. The keyboard is good, kind of a smooth rubbery feel to the keys, but the travel is very short and has kind of a spongy feel to the strokes….I like the keyboard, but others, especially those that write a lot, might wish for a more responsive key stroke. The trackpad itself feels nice, it is made with mica or something, but since it uses the built in windows driver, it´s actual use on screen seems a bit jumpy and jerky. The built in windows driver doesn´t allow for any fine tuning, which is a shame. The US Vaio site is very limited and they haven´t put up the support page yet for this laptop, so I went to the Japanese site and found an Elan driver which seems to work very well. The laptop is a windows signature edition, so the only other software installed was the vaio control center. It is kind of annoying having to use the control center to turn the backlight on or off when they could of included this on the function keys.

The matte screen is amazing, vivid colors, great contrast and plenty bright. I really prefer full hd matte screens and it is getting harder and harder to find them on high end machines these days, where even 12” screens have QHD. At the very least they should offer it as an option, for those who value battery life and think 1080p is more than enough on tiny screens. The i7 model of this laptop comes with a WQHD screen by the way.

The biggest flaw, I would say, is that it comes with limited ports, just 2 usb 3.0, hdmi, headphones, and a card reader, which is full size by the way, meaning the card inserts all the way. It really is a shame they didn't include a thunderbolt 3 usb-c port on this machine, or at the very least a mini display port as well. If they had included a thunderbolt 3, I would dare to say, it would be close to perfection...hehe.

This laptop is a powerhouse compared to the other ultrabooks, because it uses the 28w versions of the intel U chips and come with Iris graphics. Only the macbook pro has been using these cpus so far, but this vaio is the only one using the skylake versions for now, since the macbook pro hasn’t been refreshed yet and are still on Broadwell.

So I benchmarked this beast…..and I was very surprised by the results, especially the performance of the Iris 550 graphics….Intel really has been improving it’s graphics over the years and now they are offering performance better than many mid-level discrete video cards.

I will be comparing the results with the benchmarks I got from notebookcheck for the xps 13 i7-6560U, because it was the one I was looking at to buy, but didn´t want the QHD display, also it has the Iris 540, which is good to compare. Also the Surface Book, because it is one of the few ultrabooks that have a discrete gpu, in this case, similar to the GT 940M. And finally the MacBook Pro 13”, because it uses similar versions of the 28w cpus and Iris graphics, but of the generation before (Broadwell), so it would be interesting to compare.

PCMark 8 Home Accelerated v2

Vaio Z - 3924

XPS 13 - 2928

Surface Book - 2947

MacBook Pro - 3363

The Vaio and MacBook do really well here, not only because of the Iris graphics and higher wattage cpus, but because of the very fast NVME ssds. The Vaio comes with the Samsung SM951.

3D Mark 11 (1280x720 Performance)

Vaio Z - 2842

XPS 13 - 2039

Surface Book - 2761

MacBook Pro - 1828

The XPS 13, which has the Iris 540, performs really well but it is limited by the 15w cpu. Surprisingly, the Surface Book with the discrete nvidia GT 940m performs below the Iris 550 in the Vaio. The MacBook’s Iris 6100 low score just shows how much more power intel has managed to include in this skylake generation. However, using other benchmarks which are more in line with performance for gaming such as unigine heaven or 3dmark firestrike, the nvidia gpu in the SB outperforms the Iris 550, where the cuda acceleration really shows.
The SM951 nvme in the Vaio is, by far, the fastest one of the bunch. I am getting with CrystalDiskMark sequential reads of 2185 MB/s and writes of 1247. The 4K reads are 55.05 MB/s and writes 159.5.

I guess that is it….as far as ultrabooks go, this is the most powerful one on the market for now. Almost forgot, I would think that this kind of performance would affect the battery life, but I was wrong. I only had it for a day so I can't say for sure, since it has been mostly plugged in for the benchmarks, updates, installations, etc...but it seems like it gets easily more than 8 hours of websurfing, streaming on 40% or so...perhaps even closer to 10 hours...I will see.

 

Which Vaio do you have? The new ones? Probably just a driver issue.

 

Thanks, what a great review Vistar! i ahve been on the fence between the new Vaio Z, the XPS 13 and the NEC LaVie. your review might have convinced me on the and now I can retire my 3.5 year old Z2. A couple of questions below?

One of teh things keeping me from retiring my Z2 is the trackpad in Windows machines using MS drivers. I have yet to see a machine with those drivers whose trackpads are as good as 10-year old machines. The latency in the cursor moving or scrolling drives me nuts on the new MS drivers based machines. Does the Elan driver you downloaded remove the lag in cursor movement when you move your finger on the trackpad taht afflicts every Windows machine using the new MS drivers? Someone described this lag on another forum as making tiny 1mm or 2mm circles on the trackpad and seeing if the cursor moves with those movements. On every new Windows driver based machine it does not move. i would love to know your experience with the Elan driver.

I thought the XPS had the exact same CPU as these Vaios. Am I wrong?

Thanks again for a wonderful review!

 

I have the new vaio z flip how d you access the BIOS menu? Also, how I modify the power options for performance mode?

 

fq1, I haven´t had time to really play around with my vaio z clamshell, but I am not really happy with the trackpad, considering it is supposed to be a premium machine. My other much cheaper laptop, asus ux303, seems to have a more accurate trackpad. Perhaps if I mess around a bit more with the settings, the scrolling can be a bit smoother and less jumpy. Your 1mm test is a fail and the 2mm is ok. That being said, all in all, it doesn´t really affect how much I like the machine, mostly because of the solid built, relatively light, but a more powerful cpu and graphics than the usual with the ultra low voltage.
The high end Xps 13 comes with the i7 6650u, which although has the iris 540, it is still an ULV with 15w chip....which means that under load there isn´t enough power to run the iris graphics and the cpu at full potential....that is, if the iris graphics is being pushed, the cpu most likely will run slower...etc. Still very powerful though. The 28 watt cpu with the iris 550 on the vaio z, has more power to maintain higher clocks for the cpu and graphics at the same time and for longer. The Xps 13 is probably one of the best ultrabooks around, I personally didn´t want the QHD display, and the full hd options, comes only with the i5 6200u.
The Lavie, in my opinion, is just the novelty for being extremely light, eventhough it is a magnesium/lithium alloy, it does feel a bit plasticky and for me too light...doesn´t feel solid. The keyboard a bit crammed, and the one sold by lenovo still has the broadwell cpu and hasn´t been upgraded to skylake yet.

 

I have the vaio z clam, should be the same....I accessed BIOS by pressing F2 on start up.
The thing with power options, is that it is setup like the surface book or surface pro, where InstantGo is enabled...and as such limits the power options. Since mine is a clamshell, and came setup that way, which is more appropriate for tablets, I disabled it in the registry...don´t remember where exactly....but it was setting the option CsEnabled from 1 to 0. I found the instructions online. After that, all the power options are available.

 

Thanks Vistar Shook .

What about heat, fan noise and sound quality? My Vaio Z is pretty bad when it comes to sound, especially as speakers are on the bottom side (same as new Z I believe).

I'm leaning toward Z (had some interest in new S, but as said before it's pretty much the SAME as I already have now, so not a real upgrade). I believe Z is currently the best powerful ultrabook size laptop. I also considered new X1 carbon, new HP Spectre and even Razor Stealth, but they ALL come with Intel 520 and 6500/6600 processor.

I'll closely monitor vaio.us website for more options (black color Z) and hopefully 512 SSD option.

Cheers,
Miki

 

miki69, unfortunately many laptops of this size now have speakers on the bottom....so if you place the laptop on a soft surface they might get muffled, but that is not recommended because of the vents on the bottom. On a flat surface, I think the speakers on the new Z are pretty good, not great, but I can watch videos no problem, they are loud enough. Of course not great on the bass...but that is expected.
As far as heat and fan noise, since it has a 28w cpu and a thin chassis, if the machine is under load, such as casual gaming, then the fans will kick in and the bottom will get hot, but only really under load. The fans are pretty loud compared to other laptops of this size, but it is reasonable in my opinion, since they really only kick in when the machine is pushed to the limits. For normal use, very silent and the bottom gets warm, just like any other machine. Also in the vaio control center there is the option for performance and silence.

 

I have a 512gb Samsung 950 Pro and I will attempt to replace the SM951 in the laptop with the 950 Pro one of these days. I will take a picture of the laptop opened and post it here.

 

Review of the Vaio Z clam with the i5 6267u and Full HD screen.
http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/vaio-z

 

My nephew brought his laptop over, a HP 15" with a Nvidia Geforce 940m dGpu and an i5 6200U Cpu. I benchmarked it with the 3DMark Firestrike, which is more appropriate for gaming performance and the best result was 1378, while the Vaio with Iris 550 got a score of 1506, about 9% better.
Pretty impressive for an iGpu, even though the 940m is a relatively low end card.
The Nvidia dGpu in the Surface Book scores about 25% higher on this particular benchmark (Firestrike). However, on the other 3DMark graphics benchmarks, such as Icestorm, Cloudgate and 3DMark 11 the Iris 550 scores higher.
All in all, a pretty mean machine.

 

Just upgraded the SSD in the Vaio Z with the 512gb Samsung 950 pro I had in my desktop. All good. As usual in these ultra thin laptops, the Ram is soldered, but the ssd and wifi module can be upgraded/replaced if needed.
CrystalDisk Seq. Read 2591, Seq. Write 1538
4k Read 56.44, 4k Write 193.4
Which means there was a performance increase over the native SM951, although I think it is mostly NVME driver related and not the drive itself, which is more than capable of the same speeds of the 950 pro. There is also a small difference in specs from the 256gb that came with the machine to the 512gb.

 

Disable ConnectedStandby (Instantgo) in the Registry... HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>System>CurrentControlSet>Control>Power>>CSEnabled=1 Default is set to 1, set it to 0 and reboot. You should now have PowerSave, Balanced and High Performance profiles.
If you want to reanable ConnectedStanby, first create a custom plan based on the plan you want, like High Performance, then enable CSnabled in registry again and reboot. Now the High Performance custom planned created will appear.

 

Vistar, thank you so much for answering my questions in detail. It's too bad that the track pad on the Vaio is not as good as it should be. But I think I am sold on the machine and will likely order it. I am going to be traveling to Hong Kong and China next week and might check out some other light options with the more powerful CPU that might not be sold in the US (I am not sure if that even exists). If you know of any, I would love to hear your recommendations. Thanks again!