Is the new Z right for me?

My venerable old XPS M1210 is really starting to show signs of its age. I've recently been having the machine shut down with parity errors which points to some kind of memory failure. Rather than resurrect it I am embarking on the quest to replace it with something else that will ideally be as friendly to alternate operating systems (read linux) and as hearty has my XPS was. I intend on keeping it for a good long while 4+ years, so it needs to be able to stand highly mobile life in a (properly equipped) laptop bag. My the other option I am considering is the latest Macbook Pro 13" whenever Apple feels inclined to release them, assuming it isn't sometime in September or October.

I'll narrow my query down to a few simple questions.

How would you rate the build quality on the Z?

How well does the Z's hardware play with linux? I have particular concerns about the switchable graphics.

I have heard that Sony is unreliable when it comes to long term driver support. Is this true?

How does the Z perform in games? From my experience in the beta it appears I am going to be hopelessly addicted to Starcraft II along with my current World of Warcraft habit.

What additional information do you have that you feel I should consider before I make my decision?

I should mention that I am not terribly concerned about prices as I do not have any issue paying for a quality device that is going to serve me well for a good long while.

 

I've just done the same swap, can't tell you how it will run in games yet but I can tell you that:

The Z is quite a bit lighter but also feels less solid. I know that sounds obvious but it just doesn't feel sturdy compared to the 1210. Speedwise, outside of games, it blows the 1210 away and I had maxed out the CPU, RAM and the fastest SSD I could find in my 1210, so that's saying something.

When typing it's fine, but opening and closing the lid, for example, causes me to feel like I need to be delicate with it. I take good care of my electronics but I am still a bit nervous about build quality.

Will be gaming with it this weekend, I'll try to post again once I've put Steam on it. It is running Win7 Pro, not Linux, for what it's worth. I'd be worried about hybrid graphics as well.

I'm not overly worried about drivers in the long term.. I work in the tech industry and love gadgets but once it's all working properly I would read the release notes and only upgrade when needed. It doesn't bother me if they're not updated - so long as it all works well.

There are some nice touches that the Z has over the 1210. A real docking bay is huge, fingerprint reader is nice, screen is quite a bit better, though it sits a bit lower than the 1210 so I feel like I'm looking down more. Backlit keyboard is slick, and the speakers are a -lot- better.

 

I would rate the build quality as high -the plastic is solid, top quality while the aluminum part has a standard, plain finish.

I haven't tested Linux on the Z - I'd rather not test as I understand there's no SSD optimization yet for ext4, and btrfs is still some time away. Switchable graphics is still relatively new - unknown whether or not someone wrote drivers for it at this stage i.e. 2 weeks after this product's release.

In games, so far it can play many of this gen's games at medium to high settings depending on the game, but only at lower resolutions (720p and below)

Personally if Linux is going to be a huge factor, I would wait to see if you like the next 13" Macbook. Linux support should be higher due to hardware range being small in a single iteration