Is it worth buying a used VAIO TT/TZ/TX ?

Are the old TT and TZ and TX versions still a good laptop to buy despite their age? Would they be able to handle Windows 7 and games like Counterstrike Source?

 

The title of your thread does not reflect the question that you're asking.
Obviously the TT has superior specs. The processor it uses is a
SU9300-SU9600. The same processor that is now used in the 11.6 MBA and the same processor that was used in the 1st gen M11X. It can be upgraded to 8GB of ram and uses a 4500MHD which can handle 1080p.
I own a TT but am no gamer, but notebookcheck list some gaming benchmarks for the 4500MHD and Counterstrike Source.
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD (GMA X4500MHD) - Notebookcheck.net Tech
I think if you can get it for a good deal may be consider it. Just don't pay a high price now for one.
As for if the TT can handle W7, well some TT models shipped with W7 64bit. It handles it perfectly.

I would have thought that even second hand prices are not that cheap. May be look at the MBA 11.6 as well if you're into a bit of gaming.

As for the two other laptops. The graphics card GMS945 is very old at this point and won't handle that game well at all.

 

Thanks for the reply! Am I wrong in thinking the T series are the previous generation of the Z?

I've seen a few TT machines going for about £500, would they be a good buy at that price or would it be better to buy a brand new E series or a Dell or something?

 

No the Z series was never part of the T series.
It's only a good buy if it suits your needs and does everything you need it do quite well. If it does then i would say at £500 yes that is a very good deal.
If gaming is a bit of a priority to you then i would suggest you get something else.
If gaming is not important to you and you value a laptop with a very good display, optical, superb battery life in a 11.1 sub 3lbs chassis then may be consider the TT.
I've changed the title for you.

 

I have a TZ that is still quite good once I upgraded my hard drive to SSD. It's the size of a netbook, and similar price (used), but unlike a netbook:
1. can do 720p YouTube and 480p Hulu.
2. 1366x768 resolution

It is quite a good computer if you're on a budget.

Though you haven't specified what your usage requirements are, I would say to avoid the TX altogether. The upcoming web applications in the next couple of years will require more CPU than the TX can provide.

 

im in the same position. tossing up between the tz and a netbook, both the same price. the tz is lighter, prettier, has built in ODD, better cpu. the netbook im looking at is new (warranty), better IGP and isnt a 1.8" zif drive.

im finding it a tough decision. i certainly cant see the igp on the tg playing many games. but then i cant see the netbook im looking at being any better.

for what appears to be a bit better processing power (correct me if Im wrong) i really want the tz, for warranty i want the netbook.

 

Consider then a s/h HP 2510P. Available at netbook like prices on ebay. Has faster X3100 graphics, can be overclocked, 1280x800 LCD, remainder of 3yr onsite warranty, internal 3G capable, internal ODD. See http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...s/352887-2510p-owners-lounge.html#post4518853 for extensive mod ideas.

Better yet would be a one-gen newer 12" Dell E4200, HP 2530P or Lenovo X200, or Acer 1410T/1810T, Asus UL20A, Lenovo U150. Though would need to really be very lucky to get them at low-end netbook prices.

 

i just saw a TT go for $760 on ebay. i bid on it but didn't want to spend more than that for a 1.2Ghz machine.

 

Depending on your budget, you may want to consider the new Panasonic CF-J9 which can have everything from a ULV processor on up to a full one. I just picked up a packaged with a J9 today with the full Core i7-640M.

The HP 2510 I tried a year or two ago wasn't very good IMO - screen quality was poor relative to the Toshiba R600, any of the Sony Ts, and the Panasonics. It is cheap enough, though.

But I can say that a ULV processor will run Windows 7 just fine; my Toshiba R600 never blinked.

So what you should ask yourself is what type of computing needs you have to pick the right size machine and processor for you.

 

My TZ was the least reliable notebook I bought from Sony and I had quite a few of them over the years -- from TR to TX to TZ to now Z.

 

To add my anecdotal 2 cents, my TZ has been quite reliable for the past two years. I'm also handing it in this weekend to take care of the recall in 2008 haha.

 

I have mine for over a year and so far no issues...
For my purposes it Is the perfect piece of equipment..

 

So I own a TZ with SSD running Windows Vista and have experience with a bunch of ultra portables. Personally I would not buy a TZ...it's not a "bad" computer per se but unless you really really need the smallest possible computer with a DVD drive it's overpriced. I would *not* buy netbook having used an HP mini...screen is too small and Atom CPUs are pretty bad.

If you need an ultraportable I would get a Lenovo X100e with the dual core processor when the outlet has them in stock. If you need the lightest machine with a DVD drive, the HP 2530p is *the* machine to get for about the price of a used TZ. It is compatible with 1.8" SATA SSD's, and available with a speedy SL series Intel CPU.

 

TZ has a far better display though than the HP and it's a bit lighter.
I would still would recommend it, but maybe look for a vgn-TT model instead.

 

The SU9300-SU9600 processor is extremely slow.... please be careful... I had one in a Toshiba some time ago - the battery life was awesome but it took half a day boot up and a few hours to do the simplest thing (something like that)

 

Buying a T series now is kinda of silly. The T series looks pretty and was well built but there are way too many compromises. Be smart and get something from the Z series.

 

I don't agree with you, i'm not sure what Toshiba R series you owned.
My TT performs general tasks well even with the standard HD it did. I think with the standard drive it booted in about 40-50 seconds. Now it boots in under 30 seconds. It just isn't cut out for intensive cpu tasks like video rendering. I tried it the other day and my cpu pretty much stayed at 99%-100% the entire time. For general computer tasks though i cannot tell a difference compared to much higher speced laptops.

Although the TT is nearly like two generations on so really like i wrote before don't pay out too much for one.

 

The Toshiba R series is pretty darn fast. Their entry level lately is an i3 with a 5400 RPM HDD. Then it goes to an i5 with a 7200 RPM HDD... and all the way up to to an i7 with SSD. It's just their video chipset and screen resolution that's not that great but they somewhat have modern brute power It's the Toshiba A series that I had that's annoying slow ha ha. Anyways we have a list of processors at PassMark - CPU Benchmarks - List of Benchmarked CPUs (we can hit Ctrl-F or search for the U9300 and we can see where it falls relative to the others). Some of the older Sony T-something series have even slower Pentium M or Core Solo processors. All the Sony T-something laptops are probably ok/usable for light/easy computing stuff though. James Bond had one too in one of those movies! Bye

 

The Toshiba R series dates back to the R100, R500 etc and of course these came with slower processors than the SU9300-SU9600. Not only that they came with slower hard drives also. The 1.8 standard zif HD is the bottleneck when booting up especially in Vista with bloatware. I know some Toshiba A 12.1 series used a 2.5 HD and if yours did i'm not sure why your laptop was so slow.