Is the latest Z better than the previous generation ones?

So there's a Vaio Z available at my local store, and my current laptop is not doing so well. Back in early 2010, I thought the then-current Vaio Z was the bee's knees, though I couldn't afford it at the time. But looking at the latest model, I'm not sure if it still is. So I had some questions:

- Is the fact that there's only one USB port (with 3.0) a hindrance, versus the three 2.0 ports in the previous generation? I rarely use all four that I have now, but one seems stingy, as I do use two respectable often. I could replicate the port, but it seems like just including two in the first place couldn't have been too difficult.
- How are the graphics in the latest generation? The one available here is the HD 4000, without the external (6670?) option. I believe the previous generation was GT 330? I've never owned Intel graphics, and have a generally low opinion of them. Really, if it beats my old 8600M GT, that's good enough... but I'm not sure if it will consistently, and I'm also not sure if the drivers will be good enough for it to be better than an old GeForce, whether 8600M GT or GT 330M, in practice.
- Is the screen still as awesome as it was two generations ago? I haven't seen the latest one with the screen on yet, though I can tell it has that very nice halfway-between-matte-and-glossy style.
- Any recommendations on external DVD drives? I really liked that the previous generations had an integrated DVD drive, and the one available here doesn't have one (internal or external). I still use optical media occasionally. I was actually hoping the Z would have a Blu-Ray drive, given that it's Sony and all.
- How is the carbon fiber finish? I've read that while light, it isn't necessarily as strong as previous generations' finish? If I were ordering from Sony online I probably would've skipped the carbon fiber, but that's what's available now.
- Is it possible to add a second HDD? This one only has a 128 GB SSD, which while I'm sure it's fast, isn't very big. I'm honestly unsure if that's going to be adequate.

Even at $1100, it just doesn't seem like as great a deal as a $1800 Vaio Z in 2010 did. So I'm hesitant... it seems like I may be better off trying to buy a used previous-gen one online, or just sticking with my current laptop (the inexpensive option), or perhaps getting another laptop that I like. What do you all think - is the previous generation still better than the latest one since it didn't compromise to get the size down?

If you recommend considering the previous generation, can someone summarize the various generations? I see at least two on eBay, but I thought there were more than that. If I decide to get a previous-gen one, my main concern is that I don't want Windows Vista. So if an old one comes with Vista, I want to make sure it's at least upgradeable to 7. I'm also curious when the Z went from 16:10 to 16:9; all else equal, I'd prefer 16:10, and since I have a gaming desktop, performance isn't super-important to me.

Oh yeah, and does Sony still make any models that aren't glossy? All the other Sony ones at my local store were glossy, which is an instant no-buy for me.

 

I think the screen in the most recent Vaio Z hasn't changed since the 2010 version - i.e. it's semi glossy. It does have 2 USB ports - one can be used with the docking station (which can comes with blu-ray, more USB ports, and dedicated graphics, if that's what you want). If you don't get the docking station, you'll only have intel graphics. upgrading is not easy - there are other threads about it. One key advantage of the New Z compared to the 2010 is it's lighter, plus the i7 is quad-core, so it's faster (plus it has a faster SSD).

 

As for the graphics, your best bet at comparing them is http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_list.php: it puts your 8600M GT at a score of 185, and HD 3000 at 308, and HD 4000 at 465. Which means they should be sufficiently more powerful than 8600M GT. This is not definite, but it's probably a good indicator that any of these integrated cards should be good enough for you. GT 330M scores are at 369, fwiw.

I haven't owned a more recent Sony Vaio Z, but from my playing at the stores with it, I'd actually say it's better built compared to 2009 Zs (that's the original generation). I'd mostly attribute that to a smaller and thus stiffer design.

Note that it seems Z series (and formerly TX, TZ, TT) is being replaced with the Vaio Pro line in 11.6 and 13.3" variants, which do not seem to compare favourably in many respects to the Z (sRGB gamut coverage, performance, etc). They do come with IPS displays if you are after the viewing angles (I know I am not: I'd actually prefer a good TN panel like on the earlier Zs, which does not enable people sitting next to me to look at my screen).

If you are after a portable powerhouse that Zs used to be, you might also want to look into laptops like Asus UX32V (or some letter, it's UX32 for certain), Samsung Series 7 Ultra (ATIV Book 7 Ultra, where you can upgrade disk drive or memory yourself) or maybe even Razer Blade 14.

 

There's two USB3.0 ports on the SVZ and with media dock attached, you get a total of two USB3.0 (one of which is at ~50% USB 3.0 speed due to graphics bandwidth requirement) and two USB 2.0 for a total of four usb ports.

The Intel HD4000 is decent enough IMHO for a laptop this size and weight. Will play most if not all current games at low or medium. (900p) The external (media dock) graphics will play all current games at medium +/- more often + than minus graphics settings at 900p resolution.

The screen is the best I've seen of any IPS panels.

I recommend the media dock with blue-ray player or burner, for an extra ethernet, two extra usb-ports and the external graphics card (though Sony should have opted for a more powerful graphics card than the rebranded AMD 7670M. 4x PCIe equals ~80-90% performance on the most powerful desktop GPUs) plus another HDMI-port (also wish that Sony had implemented HDMI 1.4a in full so we could have had a higher resolution than 1080p)

Carbon fiber finish is beautiful and stylish. Don't know about the 'preium finish' one as I wanted a matt carbon fibre instead of a glossy one.

It is possible to add a second ssd, albeit at the expense of either LTE-modem or wifi/bt as the ssd must be of the mini-pcie card type.

 

Just a few tidbits to add:

1) If you can get the SVZ13 for not too much more than a Z2, I would do it. Better integrated graphics, much better cpu if you get the quad core and no downsides that I'm aware of (but see below)

2) The keyboards on both the Z2 and "Z3" are a real shocker if you're used to the Z1. They have almost no travel and, at least in the US version, the right side shift key is tiny and misplaced. Also the keyboard backlighting is far inferior on the later models: it's a yellowish tint, not nearly as bright as the Z1 and for some ridiculous reason the FN media functions are not lit on the row of F keys, though the F1-F12 are well lit! Stupid, stupid.

3) Though the carbon fiber case is slick and makes for a very light (2.58 lbs) laptop, it should be remembered the CF is really a exotic form of plastic. While CF can be made to be extremely durable, the Z2 and Z3 cases are anything but. A relatively modest accidental drop of a small (empty) glass on the lid cracked it like it was made of cardboard and Sony charges and arm and a leg for replacing the outer casing pieces.

4) The measurements of brightness for the Z's screens since the Z1 have varied all over the map in notebookcheck.net evaluations and the FHD version keeps measuring lower and lower, barely hitting 200 nit in the review of the SVZ. The brightness on the Z1 screens were generally around 230 nit for the FHD and 280 for the 900p. Subsequent measurements were fairly consistent for the FHD but the 900p has ranged from 270-300. Also, on the Z1 there is a simple registry hack (described in its own thread in this forum sorry too lazy at moment to find and link it for you, but it's easy to search for on Google) that increases the maximum brightness of the 900p screen only by nearly 50% and I'm nearly positive none of the reviews incorporated that hack, so when they measure the 900p screen at 280 nit, we're talking closer to 400, equal to the brightest 13" IPS screens today, but unheard of then. It's brighter than you would want to use indoors except with very bright ambient light, but it's a great boon for outdoor use. I don't know if the Z2's 900p had the same registry hack. Actually, both of the Z1 screens had the registry to adjust brightness at each step, but the factory setting for the FHD was at its max, while the one for the 900p was way below its max. Finally, I have read more than one review - in addition to the nbc.net one measuring the FHD screen on the Z3 at 199 nit - suggesting the screen seemed dimmer than past models. There may have been a bad batch because Lisa Gade's review in Mobiletechreview.com found it very bright. Just something to consider.

5) If you are interested in using WIDI you really can't do it well with less than the 6230 wifi card in the Z2 model.

6) If you do get a Z3, don't buy a PMD from Sony. I'm not sure I would buy one at all, but you can probably snatch one up from a Z2 owner for $200 or so (they came with all Z2s, not an option, and by all indications from forums few people used it. A Wanted to Buy ad in NBR and mention of your interest in a thread or two might score you one from a Z2 owner looking for a quick buck. Still, the gpu and drivers for the PMD are quite weak.

7) Unless you do serious photo/video editing, I don't think you will even notice the narrower color gamut in the newer (Haswell) Pro 13 or Duo 13 screens. If you can get either with an HD5000 IGP you may find that to be a far better bet than even an SVZ13 unless you have need for the processing power of the Std Voltage Ivy Bridge Quad Core cpu. And though you can double battery life on the Z's with sheet batteries, they add over 1 lb of weight. That Pro 13, at under 2.5 lbs sounds like a dream of a machine, as does the Duo 13 for some similar and some different reasons. Regrettably, they all seem to have poorer port selection than the Z1 had, but the Duo 13 has more than the Pro 13.

Just my 2 cents to add to your considerations. If you are not in a hurry, there should be a slew of new Haswell based 13" machines coming out over the next 45 days for "back to school" market and Samsung and Asus in particular seem to be on top of the game among all ultrabook brands. I would be inclined to wait to see what comes out, particularly ones with 8GB Ram or more and possibly user upgradeable SSDs. Even today with Ivy Bridge, the Samsung Ativ 7 has user replaceable RAM up to 16GB dual channel and an upgradeable mSATA SSD which can get you up to 512GB at a price far, far lower than what any brand charges in their own configurations.

Guess I had a few extra cents to add. (As my screen name suggests, I'm kind of obsessed with laptops and I've demoed virtually all of the 2013 pre-Haswell models and I've owned a Z1 for 3 yrs and a Z2 for a year. Doesn't make my opinions worth more than any others, but I'm not just commenting based on what I've read.

Good luck!

 

I'm confused... the "latest" Z is the IB Z3 from last year. Based on your comments about a $1100 price tag and a glossy screen, are you talking about the new Pro 13 which is essentially the new version of the T series?

If you are talking about the Z3 which came out June 2012, it was essentially a spec bump over the previous generation which had the same design and ports and such. Could you be a bit more clear about what you are asking? Are you asking for a comparison between the 2012 IB Z3 and the Z which was two generations prior, which had a different design, switchable graphics, etc?