Couple of questions on VGN-TZ11MN/N

I am planning to buy an VGN-TZ11MN/N. I'm in Netherlands, Europe. By the specs and looks of it this model seems identical to VGN-TZ150N/N

1) I am planning to install XP. I found this thread: Working XP on Sony VGN-TZ90 ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=143899&page=6) But that seems a slightly different model. Is there anyone who XP installed it on TZ11, if so how did it go?
Or can you point me to a thread.

2) I am considering getting a SSD harddrive. Are there benchmarks available, will I see a performance boost?

3) Does it make any sense to buy this model abroad? Here I pay 1700 euros. I've checked pricejapan.com but delivery times seem quite long. Are there any people that ordered from pricejapan to europe?

thanks in advance!

 

1). There a no great differences between the models (relating to non-configurable hardware). They have only different names: TZ11 / TZ12 series for Europe, TZ100 series for USA, TZ16 / TZ17 / TZ18 series for "Asia" and TZ50 / TZ90 series for Japan.

2). You will need a 1,8" SSD drive with an IDE ZIF connector... a 2,5" SSD won't fit. Price: around 500 Euro for 32GB I think... if you can get one. For a benchmark see this review: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3780

3). The main advantage of buying a TZ90 at SonyStyle Japan is, that you can configure the TZ just as you like. You will even get options you don't have in Europe (at the moment): SSD, 2,5" HDD, red color case, ... Take a look here: http://translate.google.com/transla...&hl=ja&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=/language_tools

And you will save a lot of money of course. I have bought a TZ90 (via www.pricejapan.com). It is configured like the european top model TZ11 VN/X and I have paid 1800 Euro (including shipping and taxes)... compared to the european price of 2900 Euro it saved me 1100 Euro.

Downsides:
- Japanese Vista (but for me as german an english Vista wouldn't be better)
- English keyboard layout
- 3 year warranty in Japan (you'll have to ship the notebook to someone in Japan who will send it to Sony Japan. PriceJapan offers this service - free in the first year, for a little fee in the 2nd & 3rd year).
- Delivery time of 3-4 weeks at the moment

 

Wow thanks a lot for your comprehensive answer.

I am very tempted to go order at Pricejapan.com

3/4 weeks delivery too bad, but it seems worth it.

How long did yours take to deliver?

dutch customs will definetly add 19,5% salestax. How is that in Germany?

 

Conics.net offer the same deals as PriceJapan.com, but also offer other warranty options:

VOS (Vaio Overseas Service) -- It will give you one years international warranty
Wide coverage -- It turns your 3-year Japan warranty into 3-years with accidental damage coverage.

I asked them for both (it is an option you will have to ask for), and am happy to take care of of the remaining 2 years warranty. The reason why it is not offered is because, for VOS, the notebook needs to be registered under your own name, not Conics as it normally would be (which is why they can normally act on your behalf for warranty claims).

They will also install English Vista, although you may want to install you native language Vista yourself.

I hope that gives you some more options to think about.

I'm waiting for mine from Conics at the moment.

 

Thanks, yes I will check out Conics aswell.

how long are you waiting?

I will install XP. I don't menu latency in Vista. XP is much quicker.

Edit: after reading all the threads, Conics seems to be the way to go. Pricejapan seems a bit more risky.

 

About 17 days.

Quite the same. In countries of the European Union you will have to pay 0% import tax (notebooks are tax free) and the VAT of your country. The VAT in Germany is 19% which means + 19% on the TOTAL COSTS (not only on items cost)... but PriceJapan will undervalue the total costs in the invoice if you want it.

For Conics vs. PriceJapan see the corresponding thread.

 

So yours is:
- Intel Core 2 Duo 1.2Ghz U7600 Prozessor
- 2 GB DDR2 Arbeitsspeicher
- 100 GB 1,8" Festplatte
Right?
For 1800?