Are there any other 13.3" VAIOs at 1600x900, or is Z590 the only choice?

I was looking at the SR VAIOs on Sony's website, but the screen resolution seems suspiciously absent from the info -- they just keep saying "hurrr, 13.3" widescreen display." Yeah, if it's a 1280x800 screen, they can keep it.

Did Sony build any 13-inch 1600x900 VAIOs prior to the Z590, or is this going to be my only choice for this size and resolution? It's a really great choice, but man, ~$2,100 is little steep.

Do old model VAIO prices tend to fall pretty drastically when the hardware's refreshed? I was shocked when Apple's formerly-$2,499 MacBook Pro from the Early '08 line showed up on Amazon for $1,644 after they announced the new ones. I'm definitely not dying for a new notebook right now, but Z590 absolutely has my eye. I'm trying to gauge any potential savings from waiting six months or so.

Maybe someone will dump the sucker cheap on Black Friday (lawl, yeah right).

 

its your only choice... the second closest is the lenovo x301, I think its at 1440/900

 

Yeah, not wild about the X300 since it appears to be SSD-only.

Guess I'll have to land a deal on a Z590.

 

there should be a non SSD version comming out, and actually you should check out the x200s too if you dont mind the 12' screen and no optical drive

 

What is this "Black Friday" thing?
I'm in England, I guess its an American thing but I have no clue what it is.

 

It's the day after Thanksgiving, which is Friday, since Thanksgiving is on Thursday. It used to be the first day of Xmas shopping and when the stores actually put themselves in the black (as in revenue finally overtakes cost and they start to have profit). It became sort of ritual now as stores compete to attract customers with extremely low prices on certain doorbuster items.

 

I believe that the Z and the Thinkpad x200s are the only below 14.1" laptops with WXGA+ screen rez.

 

Any source and/or timeline on a non-SSD X300/X301? That would be pretty appealing too, but I'll readily admit that (re-)researching the market's offerings over the last few days has my heart coming up all-VAIO.

It's too bad there's no way to get them to sell it without any RAM, without a hard drive, and without another worthless Vista license that I don't need. Up to $1,800 seems like a fair price for a 1600x900 13.3" laptop, but it's a really tough sell for me once the price crosses 2K. Heck, my MacBook Pro was less than that (via student ID discount) even though I was impatient and bought it at an Apple store and paid fat retail tax.

Lenovo's offerings really frustrate me. I had a T61, and I'm definitely a fan of their build, but they flat-out won't sell me everything I want in the same package. I want a 1440x900 (or higher) LED-backlit screen, a regular-voltage processor, a 13-inch or 12-inch chassis, and a touchpad that's as generously-large as the smaller 13- or 12-inch chassis will allow for. X200 and X200s are a hilarious one-two tease for me.

X200
+ Regular-voltage processors
+ 12-inch chassis
- No touchpad whatsoever -- complete dealbreaker for me. I'm spoiled on generous oversized Apple touchpads, and even though I gave it a million chances, I loathe the Lenovo/HP/Dell Latitude pointing stick.
- Only comes with 1280x800 CCFL screen, even though 1440x900 LED is offered on X200s. Sell me the better screen -- I'll gladly pay for the option!

X200s
+ 1440x900 LED backlit screen -- thank you!
+ 12-inch chassis
- No touchpad whatsoever, complete dealbreaker.
- Low-voltage processors only. More money, less performance. Lame.

I realize that most people are going to be cool with LV and ULV processors nowadays, but it's just a huge dealbreaker for me. I do a lot of work in Visual Studio and with multiple virtual machines going in VMware, and I need every ounce of horsepower I can get for that kinda crap. I feel like the 2.4 GHz Penryn-based C2D chip is a really fair jumping-off point. I don't mind shoving a 9-cell battery on my computer, and that chip with a 9-cell is a pretty mean combination for battery life.

I guess I'll be stalking VAIO Z590s for a solid price, or waiting for someone else to build me the machine I want for less. The race is on!

 

seems like the t400 would fit you best...

edit: I was also considering the Z, but at an minimum of 1k extra, I just could not justify the price...

 

I considered T400, but decided against it because it's the same size as my old T61. Even though the T61 is 14-inch and my MacBook Pro is 15-inch, the MBP feels as small or smaller than the ThinkPad (obviously not counting the screen, which is pointlessly larger than the T61/T400's without bothering to be any higher-resolution) because of the way it's built. My favorite notebook in the 14-inch class right now is actually Dell's Latitude E6400 -- I would love to have a backlit keyboard on my next PC notebook. Lenovo's "ThinkLight" sucks out loud, at least on my T61. Maybe it's better on the T400, but the NBR review was pretty negative about it.

If Sony put a backlit keyboard on the Z590, it would be unquestionably my perfect notebook. As it stands, it's still looking like a pretty clear #1.

I can wait a few months for a price drop.

 

Man, Sony's really messing with my head tonight. I was doing that dangerous thing that you do when you're casually peeping a laptop and its options and prices on the manufacturer's website just to satisfy curiosities.

So I see this:



But then after I click through, I'm seeing this:



I wonder what the deal is -- misprint, forthcoming price drop, temporary special?

Sony!

 

There is a $150 price drop on their pre-built models right now, so maybe they goofed up and put it on the CTO as well (or maybe they forgot to say $150 off in their CTO font page).

 

I purchased my Z591U/B from Newegg. About the best you can do and I didn't pay any tax/shipping. It is now $150 less than when I purchased it a few weeks ago.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834117773&Tpk=Z591U

 

You can do way better than that buying a CTO Z590 off of Sony's website and upgrading the RAM and hard drive yourself.

Z591U/B has you paying extra for a Blu-ray player, which is completely worthless to me.

Good to know. I wonder how many more price drops are afoot in the next few months.