G, TZ, or SZ?

I'm getting a new laptop soon, and I've basically decided to go with the SZ, but I'm still having abit of second thoughts, so I'd like to hear all your opinions.

I basically ruled out everything else because the SZ has a pretty good battery life without sacrificing performance, and has a larger screen so that it's better for long periods of use. Also, I'm gonna make this laptop stick for at least 1-2 years, so I don't want something that slow or else it'll drive me nuts.
But I want the TZ and G because they're so small and light, and have amazing battery life. I'm more into portability, but I also want good performance.

Most according to this, most will probably suggest the SZ, which im most likely getting the 600 or 700 series, but I just want one last round of opinions to see what others may think.

Oh and the SZ models im thinking of has 2.4ghz (600 series) or 2.5ghz (700 series), though most likely only the 2.4ghz, and the TZ model I have in mind would be the 150; probably not the 195 since I usually see it for at least $2500. (all of them premium versions, though i think the TZ is basicalli all premium, unless the 130 is considered a non-premium as it has no webcam, but that's just about it)

 

I would say the SZ, it has a good balance of portability, power and battery life. It is significantly more powerful than the TZ/G series with a faster 2.5" HDD, dedicated graphics and regular voltage processors (versus ultra low voltage in the TZ/G)

Your in North America right? The G series is not available here, I've seen it in Europe and Asia. You would have to import to get it. It does have a matte, non-widescreen, low resolution screen (1024x768) which kills it for me.

I own the TZ and like its battery life and excellent screen (very bright and fantastic color reproduction).

 

I vote XPS m1330; because its cheaper and has can have the same if not better performance.

But if you must choose from those, then the SZ has my vote.

 

Yeah the G series isn't available here, but I can always import it; aspect ratio and screen don't really bother me; it's just the actual screen SIZE that does.

How's the performance on the TZ though?

 

I'd say that depends on what you're doing. I'm a business user, so it runs Office 2003 (which is what we use at work) well enough, does e-mail and the other mundane functions well, and is fast enough for me to do what little multimedia I ask (Rhapsody for music, Media Player for video, some YouTube). I've heard it's not a gaming machine, but about all I've ever tried is MAME, which isn't very demanding.

 

I'm not too fond of Dells, so I'd rather not go for an XPS; also just cuz I love the design of Vaios and the battery life is nice.
The laptop would be my main laptop, but I have a pretty powerful desktop at home, so this would only be used at school and whenever I need it; about 3-4 hours of use at least at school each day. I might put a game or 2 on it, so I might like the SZ's performance more, although mostly for browsing, multimedia, and documents.

But this is meant to last me a while, which is why I'm considering a faster laptop (SZ over the TZ)

 

returned 3 of them that i had awesome deals on. The reality is dell can't give me enough coupons to deal with them again. Horrible screens, Horrible quality control. 3 Systems all at different times. I now have an SZ650NC which i was lucky enough to grab for $1300 on craigslist locally about 2 months ago. I never look back at dell

 

One vote for the TZ.

I think for you needs the TZ is more than enough. I owned a TZ for a couple of months and was my main laptop. It was fast in any aspect, multi-tasking or encoding videos. But, if you go for the TZ I definitely suggest the SSD option. Of course, is not confrontable with the SZ for 3D gaming or other heavy stuff. For portability without compromize performance, IMO TZ has no equal. SZ is light but has a big footprint and battery is average, in contrast with the TZ.

 

Yeah, but I'm kinda on a budget, so the TZ+SSD is out of the option; though I'd most likely get an SSD eventually.

 

I am in the same boat - deciding on a powerful ultra portable laptop that can do all the regular work for me. Every extra inch and pound matters when you have to carry a machine for hours. I do not play games on the machine but I do have video content. The TZ with SSD 48 GB is available in India. They claim a 12 hours battery life with the standard battery ! My only apprehension is that 48 GB will not be enough. On the current machine, N27GH, which is a temp borrowed one, I am using up 70 GB with on 12 GB of my data on it. Where do the other GBs go? The machine has about 5 programmes on it apart from Windows. Even office is the old version and I guess must be very small. I was thinking of putting in an external card (Express - Pro Duo, SD) for 16 GB. Has anyone tried it ? Is 48 GB workable on it's own?

 

it is relatively workable, but at least 1/4 will be used by vista; if i'm not mistaken, some TZ's have both an SSD+HDD so that might be a plus; though that's only what I THINK i saw, I might be wrong.

Well weight isn't an issue for me, more or less size is, but without sacrificing performance. I reeeeeeeally really like the TZ, by far more than the SZ or any other laptop, but I don't think I can live with such a small screen as it puts too much strain on my eyes, along with the mediocre performance and bad graphics (although graphics wouldn't be too much of an issue for me), which is why i have such a dilemma between the SZ and TZ (i've ruled out the G)

 

If you are worried about eye strain then the TZ may not be a good choice. The pixels are microscopic. The SZ is much better in that respect.

John

 

The pixels may be "microscopic" but the text on the TZ is truly razor sharp. Perhaps the sharpest screen I have ever seen. My eyes are not perfect, and I normally would prefer a lower resolution screen, but for some reason I had no trouble looking at the TZ's screen.

Andrew

 

Exactly - the display is so sharp you don't mind the size; to me it looks incredibly close to the printed page.

 

I have a fetish for portability and sexiness - both of which the TZ has in spades, but I would skip the TZ if its going to be used long-term or for long hours and go with the SZ. I'm using a TZ right now in fact. The battery life is superb.

The keyboard and screen are TINY on the TZ. No Page Up/Page Down also hurts web browsing ergonomics. Even the touchpad is tiny!

Its beautiful and never fails to draw attention, but IMO it is just too small to be usable on a day-to-day basis. Its great as a second machine if you have a desktop at home, or if you dock it and have a keyboard, mouse and big screen attached. I wouldn't want to ruin my eyes with that tiny display by staring at it all the time. Increasing the font size or DPI also screws up a lot of things.

 

@HellDamon,

The best way to decide is to go to a shop and try on your own. Here are all different experiences, is really totally relative if someone finds small the screen or have eye strain. For me, I have to agree with the above guys, this of the TZ is the best screen out there, and I used it for 7-8 hours a day without any strain issues. But again...depends! About the tiny keyboard, don't worry you get used to it and after you will never want go back to a 15'4 laptop.

 

Agreed.
I am not a TZ owner yet, but the screen is amazing on it.
There SHOULD be eyestrain with a screen with that high a DPI.
I have not sat at it for a long time, but it didn't bother me at all.
It is so sharp that I think the small text size is not relevant.
Very small fonts on it are readable, where the same size fonts on any larger display would not be. That's what a lot of pixels on a small screen can do, I think.

Andrew

 

Mmmm it's not really a matter of font size or not; it's just that the TZ/TX have a well, higher "concentration" of pixels (DPI in otherwords), so it's much easier to read, as opposed to bloated text on a bigger size, which makes it more difficult.

Thanks for your input guys; I'm just about to go to a SonyStore in like, half an hour or so, so I'll check out the screen. Although the TZ may be handle-able (not a word), I'm just worried about extended periods of time when I use it, so yeah.

I have a desktop as my main comp, as mentioned, the laptop would be used for when im away from my house, which is everyday at school; and I want it to last a while, so it can't be too slow.
I dunno I'll check em out today.

 

Actually, Verdana 10 point is way more readable on my 15.4" 1280x800 display than the TZ. Verdana 5 point is hard on either. Same goes for pretty much any other font. Bigger display = more readable. We're not comparing LCDs to CRTs here, are we? There's no "bloated text" on any recent LCD running at its native resolution.

Don't want to discourage you buddy, in fact the TZ's portability makes up for it. But reading it does need more strain and concentration than reading on a 15" or even a 13". Just a fact of life.

 

Let me know what you think when you get back from the SonyStyle store, after looking at the screens. I would like to hear your opinion.

Andrew

 

Speaking as someone who just migrated from an SZ650 to a TZ130 - the screen on the 130 is absolutely awesome - the fonts/resolution on the SZ was just too big. For what I need surfing, banking, photo storage & viewing - this is the ticket!

 

I concur. I thought about an SZ but after holding a TZ for myself, I knew I wanted to go ultra-portable! I now use my TZ as my primary machine. It has done great with office applications, surfing and event photo editing and web development.

The only thing I miss from when I used my high-end desktop PC, was that Firefox opened about a dozen tabs on startup in the blink of an eye... I can't do that on my TZ and had to limit myself to about 6 tabs.

Benjamin

 

Just saw the TZ, MAN that thing is small and light.
The screen is sharp and absolutely beautiful, and the form factor is very nice, and the keyboard isn't that small.
But my parents were there and started yelling about the fact that the screen is too small and will ruin my eyesight (i'm a highschool student only, and they're the ones paying for it)
But they even thought the SZ's screen was too small, and thought the CR was alrite, which is less than an inch bigger.
So now basically, the TZ has been officially ruled out, so I'm gonna try to fight for the SZ =P

 

Well, you can't blame them.
Every laptop they have seen lately in a big box store was probably a 15.4", so they thought that everything smaller was "too small for a laptop".

Also, if they are paying for it, and you were at the SonyStyle store, maybe they saw some of the $3,000+ price tags on some TZ's and immediately looked for negatives to kill the deal???

Andrew

 

I guess your only looking to buy a Vaio then HellDemon? How about posting in the "What Notebook Should I Buy" section?

 

Tell them that you have to carry it around and that its a choice between hurting your back by carrying around a heavy laptop and not be able to carry it everywhere, and you can increase the font size on the small screen.

Good luck, and get an SZ at most.

 

Yeah, managed to convince them to get an SZ =)
Since they thought a 14.1" screen was fine, i told them about increasing DPI and lowering res if needed so that they'd be satisfied with the font size.
(and it's not just cuz of the 15.4" selection there; my dad uses a laptop everyday as he works for IBM, and his preference for laptops is 14.1" at minimum, just cuz he uses that himself)

And yeah, I'm only gonna get a Vaio; love the style, battery life, performance, and quality (compared to other choices such as Dell). My main aspect i'm looking for is basicalli a good balance between portability, power, and battery life; hence the Vaio SZ, or else I would've considered a HP that had a 2.5ghz penryn and 14.1" screen for only $1200, but it's just too big and heavy and the battery life isn't as great as the SZ.

Well it's SonyStore Canada, and the best TZ model was only the 27 or something; $2300 and 1.2ghz; less than the retail price of the SZ model I was looking at, so they're fine with the price. They just absolutely hate the size and think I'm gonna go blind. 10-11.1" would be nice as a 2nd laptop, one where I can easily carry around if I don't have enough space in my bag, which I'm planning on getting, but not a TZ as it's wayyyy too expensive for a laptop I wouldn't be using as much as my main laptop.

 

you must have rich parents helldemon. i'm jealous =p. have you considered the thinkpad x300? It weighs slightly more than the tz (under 3lbs), but much lighter than the sz. Also comes with a 64gb SSD and 13.3in led-backlight lcd. Starts at about $2500. If Sony made a similar model like the x300, i'll be all over it (if i had the money lol).

 

From what I have read the Lenovo X300 is a great lappy except the battery life, which is an important factor for this size of laptops. But, I wonder how much better is the SZ in this? How much it last the battery of the SZ in normal usage (wi-fi on, full brightness..ect)?