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Anyone else notice recently that all the Vaio Z's in the Sony Outlet are prices like they were new while still being refurbished? They used to have good prices for them when they were availible but I think Sony's caught on that people still want to buy them.
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I have been watching prices on- (and buying and selling for clients, friends and family) Z1s on the Sony Outlet, eBay and the NBR Marketplace, and never have I seen a more erratic, irrational market, given that the products are nearly rubber stamps of each other, with only a couple of features that should account for price differences, especially if you use the Sony Outlet as the comparison basis, since all are presumed to be in equivalent condition and all have the same warranty.
What follows, if you're interested, is some data I gathered from Sony Outlet, eBay and NBR and the current pricing guidelines for Z1s that apply at this time. Keep in mind, not only is Sony selling a refurb with 900p screen and only 256GB SSD for $2,700 and quite a few retail units have sold for under $1,000 in the past month, so I'm trying to snapshot a fast moving target!
I found two Z's for sale at the Sony outlet right now, Saturday, 9/3 at 4:00. Bottom line: there is about $900 difference ($1,700 vs. $2,600) for two models on sale and here are the major differences (higher priced unit spec first):
Z1390 vs Z1290
Cpu: Core i7-640 vs Core i5-540
Color: Carbon Fiber vs. Sliver
Screen: 900p vs. 1080p on the cheaper model!
SSD's - both have 256GB
Everything else identical, except that the Z1390 has the slightly weakend version of the nVidia gpu.
(See below for full description of these two items, for sale right now in the Sony Outlet)
Thus you are charged $900 to get a core i7 vs. core i5 and carbon fiber, though you have to sacrifice the 1080p screen and pay up for the 900p screen!
If you look at "completed sales" on eBay, the prices are also quite erratic, though they are more consistent than these two on Sony Style. I have found that selling prices on eBay tend to rise and fall with the kind of deals available on the Sony Outlet.
IMO: Base (retail) Z in good condition is worth about $1,000 - $1,200
CTO with 256GB SSD adds $300-$400; 512GB adds $800+
1080p, though it was a $0 or $100 option, adds $200 or more
Core i7 adds $100-$200
Silver is penalized about $100
blu ray has no consistent value; probably adds value to a high spec CTO, but in istelf, added to a more basic config, I doubt it adds $200 to resale value
(Note: the Sony Outlet prices I illustrate here do NOT follow these market trends!)
What I have concluded: if you want to buy or sell fairly soon, you'll have to pay the prices outlined above. If you want to save (or earn) $200-$500 under/over market value, be prepared to wait, and to pounce on eBay auctions ending at odd hours.
Below are the full configs for the two Sony Outlet models I compared above.
VPCZ1290X CTO
REFURBISHED - Customized VPCZ1290X Series Laptop
Features:- AntiVirus Software : Norton Internet Security™ 2011 (30 Day Trial)
- Operating System : Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
- OS Preinstalled : Genuine Windows® 7 Pre-installed
- Wireless Local Area Network : WiFi: Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6200 (802.11abgn)
- Processor : Intel® Core™ i5-540M processor (2.53GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 3.06GHz
- Chipset : Intel® HM57 Express Chipset
- Optical Drive : CD/DVD Player/Burner
- Display : 13.1" VAIO Full HD Premium Display (1920x1080)
- Graphics Card : NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 330M GPU (1GB VRAM)
- Backlit Keyboard : LED Backlit Keyboard
- Battery : Standard Capacity Battery
- Office Software : Microsoft® Office 2010 Starter (Click More Info for details.)
- Multimedia Software : Adobe Bundle (Free - $448 value)
- iLink : No iLink
- Bluetooth : Stereo A2DP Bluetooth® technology
- Color : Silver
- Keyboards : Keyboard
- Felica : No Felica
- Security Chip : No Security Chip
- Finger Print Sensor : Biometric Fingerprint Sensor
- Wireless Mobile Broadband : No Mobile Broadband Built-In
- Camera : Built-in MOTION EYE® camera and microphone
- Country : US (USA)
- Language DestinationCode : EUS
- Common : Common
- Headphone : Noise-reduduction Ear-bud Headphones
- AC Adaptor : AC Adaptor
- Memory : 4GB (2GBx2) DDR3-SDRAM-1066
- Market : Modelname0
- Hard Drive : 256GB (128GBx2) Solid State Drive with RAID 0 Technology
- Recovery Disc : No Recovery Disc
- Software Optimization : No Fresh Start
- Consumer Apps : General Apps
- Limited Warranty Term : 90 Day Limited Warranty
$1,699.95
VPCZ1390X CTO
REFURBISHED - Customized VPCZ1390X Series Laptop
Features:- Operating System : Genuine Windows® 7 Professional 64-bit
- Wireless Mobile Broadband : Wireless Mobile Broadband Built-In
- OS Preinstalled : Genuine Windows® 7 Pre-installed
- Wireless Local Area Network : WiFi: Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6200 (802.11abgn)
- Chipset : Intel® HM57 Express Chipset
- Optical Drive : CD/DVD Player/Burner
- Backlit Keyboard : LED Backlit Keyboard
- Battery : Standard Capacity Battery
- Office Software : Microsoft® Office 2010 Home & Business
- Multimedia Software : Adobe Bundle (Free - $448 value)
- Processor : Intel® Core™ i7-640M processor (2.80GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 3.47GHz
- Graphics Card : NVIDIA/N11P-LP2/1GB + Integrated (SPEC00090005115)
- iLink : No iLink
- Bluetooth : Stereo A2DP Bluetooth® technology
- Security Chip : Security Chip On
- Finger Print Sensor : Biometric Fingerprint Sensor
- Color : Premium Carbon Fiber
- Headphone : Noise-reduduction Ear-bud Headphones
- AC Adaptor : AC Adaptor
- Display : 13.1" VAIO Display (1600x900)
- Memory : 8GB (4GBx2) DDR3-SDRAM-1066
- Hard Drive : 256GB (128GBx2) Solid State Drive with RAID 0 Technology
- Recovery Disc : No Recovery Disc
- Software Optimization : No Fresh Start
- Consumer Apps : General Apps
- Limited Warranty Term : 90 Day Limited Warranty
$2,589.95
Expensive Z's in the Outlet
Discussion in 'VAIO / Sony' started by Dekabal, Sep 3, 2011.
