Just bought the Sony VAIO TZ90!!

So I've decided to do what I said I would never do, buy a Sony VAIO.

After tons and tons of research and debate, I plunked down more dough than I wanted to on the VAIO TZ90

I bought it from pricejapan.com. I emailed them a few times today and they were very quick to respond to all my emails and answered all my questions.
Following are the specs:

TZ90 in Premium Carbon Fiber color
Core 2 Duo U7600 1.2GHz
32GB SSD
2GB RAM
DL DVD Writer
Fingerprint senser + TPM
Bluetooth 2.0
802.11 a/b/g (if I wanted the N, I would have to wait another month)
Standard battery
English keyboard

I should receive it in about 2 weeks as this is built to order from Sony Japan and they ship it as soon as they receive it as they do not configure anything. OS is Vista Basic (Japanese version), which means I will install from scratch an english version.

Here is the breakdown in prices for those that are interested.

Item’s price YEN 204,800
change to 32GB SSD + DVD-multi YEN 70,000 (extra)
change to 2GB x 1 memory YEN 20,000 (extra)
change to standard battery YEN 5,000 (extra)

Item's Count 1 pcs

Shipping Cost YEN
10,500 (DHL)

Our Fee YEN 15,515

Shipping Insurance YEN 2,794

Total Cost YEN 328,609



USA USD 2,744
EU EUR 2,044
UK GBP 1,387
Australia AUD 3,332
Hongkong HKD 21,649
Singaphore SGD 4,180
Canada CAD 2,951
New Zealand NZD 3,776
Korea KRW 2,564,000
Taiwan TWD 102,690
China CNY 22,819


All in all, its the cheapest I have found so far. The downside is their warranty. Unlike Dynamism and Geekstuff4u's 3 year warranty, pricejapan only has 1 year and you cover the shippnig cost.

I will conduct a review once I receive my unit and let you all know whether or not it was worth the premium.

edit:
they do offer all 4 colors, since the most popular color is the premium carbon, they don't have a selector. Just email them and let them know which color you want after you make the purchase, its that simple.

 

SWEET! Take lots of pics and tell us how it goes (^_^)

EDIT: I'm really interested to know how the conversion to Engrish works out.

 

Man some $2700 US is cheap??? post some pics and let us have a look at it

 

it would just be an OS reinstallation with an english version.

I forgot to mention, the base config if you add nothing extra is 160GB HDD, 1GB RAM and lightweight battery and the price is $1710 USD which is VERY reasonable. Its such a pity that SSDs are so damn expensive right now, so I hope its worth it.

 

I wish to know if you could later swap out the optical drive and put in the 2.5" 160gb hard drive thats offered and even open that up and put in any 2.5" hard drive.

 

I have asked, and it is not possible due to different internals. its as is and not changeable.

 

NO WAY!!

I said the "cheapest" around, I don't even consider $1700 cheap.

 

Very interested in how much GB there is left when the OS and basic software (for instance Office 2007, Firefox) is installed, if you will be able to find this out.

 

unfortunately I do not have Office 2007, but I will be installing firefox, outlook and such basic things. I will most likely have about 15 to 18GB left. But it also depends on which version of vista you get. ultimate takes the most space and home premium ( one I'm going to get ) takes up slightly less.

 

The price is still good., If you get this one in Sweden, then you have to pay more than 2700€..

Have fun with the new TZ m8 .
Maybe I will replace mine SZ4 for it. Like small things..

 

Be sure to slim down your vista installation with vlite before you do a clean install. You'll save a few MBs by removing unnecessary components.

 

Funny, I'm looking into buying a SZ from Japan, since the prices are way lower over there (because of the Yen and all). I know this guy I used to buy DVD gift sets from. I searched the forum and found nothing and now this pops up.

The only problems I could think of is replacing the OS and the keyboard layout. Don't you guys use non-qwerty in the US or?

Also, do you think you could use the Japanese windows key for an English version, so you won't have to buy Vista again?

 

that's cheap.. enjoy your tz.

 

US uses the qwerty keyboard, so not sure what you meant. The place I ordered it from will have the english keyboard

 

O, ok, was not sure if you guys had the qwerty-layout or azerty.

 

You say it comes with an english keyboard, but does it come with a US keyboard layout (ie. no huge enter key)?

 

me and my wife after long consideration we decided to go with the Sony Vaio TZ90 as well. It's a little pricey (used a gift certificate of $75 we had frm iPelagos for to be used with a Sony notebook so that brought the price down a little bit. The only problem is that it takes long time to start, Other than that it rocks!

 

It comes with a US standard QWERTY keyboard. Take a look at all the pics that have been posted in various threads here and you'll find several that give you a good look.

 

What specs of the TZ did you wind up getting and from where? This might give others a clue as to which type of configuration to get since you're already using it.

 

Most of the pics I've seen show a UK style qwerty keyboard. For example:

http://www.vaio.sony.co.jp/Products/Inside/TZ/03.html

and

http://www.trustedreviews.com/notebooks/review/2007/05/31/Sony-VAIO-VGN-TZ1MN/p1

Notice how the enter key uses the spot where \ normally is (for most US keyboards). \ has been moved to the left hand side, shrinking the left shift. Also, note that the top number (eg. 1 to 0) row has different "shift" characters (eg. . Sure, they're English keyboard layouts, but they sure aren't US keyboard layouts. As a programmer, the moved \ key would be a huge nuisance (not to mention the shrunken shift key).

Also, there's:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=125902

which shows a US qwerty keyboard (2nd post, last picture - the rest show the Japanese keyboard [so much for them all being legit unpacking photos]), so who knows?

 

To get the US keyboard on Japanese models (SZ or TZ), it is a special order/CTO thing when the order is placed. Otherwise, you'll get a Japanese keyboard (which does have English letters and a slightly different layout).

 

The only thing I have to test yet on my G is more intense stuff like VMWare (running 3 or 4 VMs), but even the Core Solo seems snappier than the old Pentium M 1.73 I had before my SZ. I see schlepping the SZ when I really do need to run 4 or 5 VMs at once, but that will be rare.

 

About this keyboard stuff: First of all, also from a sensory-motorical and vision viewpoint (no pun intended) the keyboard (as the screen) is of great importance regarding the man-machine interface. I have been very glad to see that the right shift key has been big and well located in the TZ (as it also was in the T and TX, in contrast to the TR). This reduces many misprints.

When it comes to the left shift key, I have seen that there is a difference in size for that left shift key in the UK and the US keyboards: The US keyboard has a bigger left shift key than the left shift key in the UK keyboard, and I will say I prefer the US version of the keyboard. I assume that this US keyboard is what you get from Dynamism and Geek4U when you order an "English" keyboard. You can see this difference (and a few others) in the pictures of the European and US websites. Can anyone confirm this?

 

I need to have an English OS pre-installed. Cos other wise if you do a clean install you have to download all the drivers and stuff and isn't that a hassle?

 

I would rather go through the hassel of doing a clean install and only installing the things I want and thus making the machine boot up much faster with zero junkware which sony is notoriously known for.

 

Hi,

I am also considerıng to buy notebook. I find some cheaper prices in OsuKannon for TZ90, but in Dell Japan you can buy D520 Latitude with English keyboard and English Vista. Configuration is as follows

Core 2 Duo T5500 1.66GHz
80Gb Sato
1GB RAM
DL DVD Writer
802.11 a/b/g
Standard battery
English keyboard
Windows Vista

Price is 150000Yen, do you think is it good option?

 

Nice price Outrigger!

This also for me is the best combination(SSD+DVD,2GB RAM). In the colour i am a little confused, black or premium carbon fiber??
But in the price is included the VAT(taxes)? Because 20% more is a lot...

 

is the specs and price quote is for the sony or the dell...?

 

I guess that is true, i guess i could also install XP instead of Vista. But the only problem will be obtaining all the drivers like for the camera?
I guess this is a really good forum and there is always cool people willing to help so i may just get it with the Japanese OS.

 

not sure what you're confused about the color, there are 4 and you can request any color without additional cost. black is just black, carbon fiber is a lighter shade of black and you can see the weaving of the carbon fiber.

I live in USA and there was no tax added, depending on where you live, you might have to pay customs or duty fees and such so its better to email them before you buy.

 

Thanks, i will mail them. I'm personally confused about the colour, no price issue or other. I like both black and premium...i just have to decide. Maybe the carbon fiber will be more resistant to any kind of scratches.

 

I think you're under the impression that only premium carbon is made from carbon fiber, which is not the case. Regardless of color they're all made from the same material, which is carbon fiber.

 

Me too. I just bought a VGN-SZ93s at Yahoo Japan. Are you buying an English Vista to replace the Japanese one?

 

Yes, since it will come with the japanese vista, I will be purchasing an english version soon. I am going to go with the home premium version. I can't justify spending almost twice as much for the ultimate.

Does anyone else know if the bios is going to be in english or japanese?

 

BIOS is always English. I've had enough Sony Japan notebooks at this point to know

 

So it won't be possible to download an English Vista and use the legit key (from the Japanese Vista) on the back of your vaio?

 

Vista have MUI (Multi-Language User Interface) ? (you can download this via windows update to change the language of Vista without reinstalling it).

 

Thanks for the tip, reading up on it now.. Seems like it's only free for Vista Ultimate but you can download LIPs (which aren't full translations).

EDIT: the forums I'm reading say you can use the key for any language, since the keys are only version dependant. So I think I'm going to download Vista in my language and use the key from the Jap. version.

 

Ha, I ordered TZ90 almost with same configuration (only took the largest battery , which is 18h) from pricejapan.com, on tuesday.

The SSD will be awesome!

I'm planning to use XP, so I'll have around 20h of battery, which is amazing!

 

Don't forgot, if you clean install Windows The instand AV mode will not working..
Couse I tried with my TX1 with the Clean install of XP. watch DVD movies without start Windows was not possible.. Dunno how it work with TZ. but that future was important for me, so I went bake to Original again..

 

thats great to know

where are you located? and let me know once they provide you with tracking. I was told about 10 days but I'm guessing more like 2 weeks.

I assume you're only talking about clean install of XP not Vista correct? I would like to use the AV mode, but I'm going to do a clean install of Vista.

 

sweeeet, thou that TZ is too small for me i would love to see that LED screen. Must be amazing!

 

I'm located in Europe, Estonia. Though, you'll get your hands on probably first. Will be flying away on friday.

So you took Bordeaux? I did

Edit: It takes 7-10 days to make the laptop and another few (they said 2 days to me, I'll take that as a week ) more days to ship it. I chose DHL as courier.

 

I was going to take bordeaux since its so unique, but decided to take carbon fiber instead, a bit less flashy but not as common as black. I went the DHL route as well. Hopefully we'll get it the week of June 11th. But Japan IS closer to you than to me. So the only difference is you opted for the largest battery? a bit too big for my taste but that sucker will last you a whole day of non stop usage.

 

Hey bmnotpls,

Me too i'm in Europe and i want to order it from pricejapan. Did you asked them if you will have to pay taxes? I am in Italy and i think that they put a tax of 20% to products that comes from other countries.

 

Your country will charge those taxes, not PriceJapan

 

Correct.

I didn't understand one thing, if you order second battery also, will you get the lightweight one too?

 

Yeah.. Because I got error message when when it was cleaned.. I Hope they have fixed it with Vista.. Better call Sony about it..

 

Well, I guess they don't speak English in Sony Japan..

Found a tutorial (?) how to install XP on TZ90.

http://kp.twin-tail.biz/2007/05/30/vgn-tz90yyeyoxpenaoaae/

Use babelfish to translate, but it's still hard to understand, could anyone translate?

 

not pricejapan. other sites like dynamism allows you the option of getting the bigger battery as a replacement, or in addition to the lightweight one you already have. they charge about $350 for the medium one.... such a rip off, but thats sony for ya.