Just bought the Sony VAIO TZ90!!

I would really like to see the tz with the large battery. I will patiently wait for your pics

 

Ubercool,

OK, maybe I shouldn't admit this in a forum like this, but here it goes. I'm a MAC dude who got tired of waiting for Steve Jobs to realize that there's a huge market out their for subnotebooks, and so I went ahead and ordered the TZ90. So I can't say I really understand the fine points of Windows machines, even though I have used Windows notebooks. So from my limited understanding, when you do a clean install of the Vista OS from the DVD, wouldn't it wipe the entire HDD clean, including the Japanese partition, and leave you to just then install the drivers? I thought day long installation jobs harked back the days of Windows 3.1 and 95? Sorry, perhaps from my lack of Windows experience I still don't grasp where the complexities are. Thanks.

 

Yes, unfortunately, doing a clean install on a model with software drivers that, in Sony's case look for specific model.txt files (I couldn't find mine in the Windows folder where another poster said it would be) can be massively time-consuming.

I'm like you, I would like to see a Macintosh subnotebook, but as you can read from Engadget today, Steverino has wasted too much of his time on what now looks like an ill-fated iPhone and completely abandoned the notebook market. Big mistake.

Anyway, as someone who has bought two new Vista laptops this year, only to spend endless days trying to fix all the inevitable hiccups, I'm damn tired of this s..t and you'll have to forgive me my grumpiness.

2007 is going down as the year of computing hell. And we have Bill Gates and Steve Jobs to thank for all this misery.

 

Thanks, I am starting to understand what the issues are. Now it also makes more sense why Nibon (the dudes in Taiwan I ordered my TZ90 from) said if I wanted the Chinese Vista OS they would ghost it from their HDD over to mine, and give me the computer an hour after it arrives. However, if I want English (which they haven't done yet) it may take a few days.

While I am anxious for the computer to arrive, I can't say I'm looking forward to the Vista experience. If I believed the rumors that a MAC subnotebook was around the corner I might have waited, but I agree with you that Jobs is drunk on his iPhone (good luck with one-finger typing if you do a lot of texting) and isn't interested in anything else right now. Should have know this was coming when Apple took the word "Computer" out of the company title.

Just not to give you know who my business, I considered installing Linux or even Mac OS X. I did find some posts on the Web about running OS X on Intel Core 2 Duo computers, but I seriously question if any of the Vaio drivers will work with it or Linux, or if I am technically astute enough to pull it off.

 

Ubercool,

One more thought, or question if you will. What is the potential wisdom of saying the hell with Vista, and using XP Pro? I get enough eye candy from my Mac computer at home, and if eye candy with headaches is all you get from Vista, maybe it's worth skipping.

Do you believe what they claim regarding Vista being far superior security-wise? Or do you think putting XP on the TZ90 is a step backwards? Thanks.

 

I was considering to switch to Mac myself. Was waiting to see the new MacBook pros but the result was disappointing - 2.5kg for core2 duo was too heavy to me.
I was looking to the option to run Mac OS X on this laptop but I guess it will be too much time consuming to install and maintain..

Re you Q about XP: my opinion is - we (the win users) are gonna be stacked with vista for at least few years. its still young and has its problems but XP is an old version and will become less and less supported by software, hardware, and driver developers..
I'd say, unless you really have to run XP, go with vista, otherwise, you'll need to do double work - install xp now and then switch to vista in 1-2 years.

 

For me the TZ90 is about lightness - I had and sold a Mac notebook because of the weight.

Yeh, I know you're right about not regressing to XP, although my initial reasoning was that in a year or two I'll have sold the Sony in favor of that Mac subnotebook that will eventually see the light of day.

 

I believe that I've read somewhere that the VGP-CKTZ2 sleeve designed for the TZ will NOT bit the bulk (or the largest) battery. It will fit the mid sized and of course the small one for sure.

 

Yes, unfortunately, doing a clean install on a model with software drivers that, in Sony's case look for specific model.txt files (I couldn't find mine in the Windows folder where another poster said it would be) can be massively time-consuming.

I'm like you, I would like to see a Macintosh subnotebook, but as you can read from Engadget today, Steverino has wasted too much of his time on what now looks like an ill-fated iPhone and completely abandoned the notebook market. Big mistake.

Anyway, as someone who has bought two new Vista laptops this year, only to spend endless days trying to fix all the inevitable hiccups, I'm damn tired of this s..t and you'll have to forgive me my grumpiness.

2007 is going down as the year of computing hell. And we have Bill Gates and Steve Jobs to thank for all this misery.

 

As you can see from my post on my TZ Owner's thread, I'm going to go the XP route on my TZ. The whacky "loss" of my Bluetooth mouse on Vista has driven me nuts the second time around. When I get home from London this Thursday, I will attempt the process. Hopefully, I will get a lot of help from Dynamism, who is also working on this, so we can all have the choice of reverting.

Security? Hell, we all have to turn off that UA nonsense because it's so irritating, so I'm not sure it's that much safer than XP. After SP1 is released, we now know not until the end of this year via Google's needling, will it be worth to go back.

Besides, thanks to Google, that super-annoying, and battery-draining, Windows Search feature will be disabled too!

 

Here's my experience from installing a fresh copy of Vista OS.

I received mine from pricejapan which included a japanese copy, so after I installed an english OS which means formating the hard drive and then reinstall, I noticed that I'm missing about 7.5GB of space. This is with nothing but the OS installed. I then proceeded to do another fresh install thinking that I might've missed a seperate partition during initial installation, however, the 2nd time around, I only saw 1 drive and nothing else.

After reading a few threads here, I realized that there's a hidden partition contaning all the drivers and OS. But since it was hidden, it never appeared, thus I couldn't delete it.

I actually needed to "un-hide" the hidden partition, and THEN format the partition. I can then either reincorporate that 7.5GB of space into my C drive or seperate it and give it a letter i.e. D drive. I chose the latter.

So, if you install a fresh copy of OS, you might not necessarily delete the hidden partition.

 

I think that does it for me, I will probably go with XP as well. I actually used Vista on a friend's Vaio tonight, and it seemed quite unresponsive compared to XP. I still can't figure out what Vista does that XP doesn't, eye candy aside.

Keep me informed on how the XP install went, especially with regard to drivers and the like.

 

What program did you use to un-hide the partition? Please don't say fdisk, I'm too lazy to boot it up from somewhere..

So how much are you getting out of battery, people? And did you recalibrate your battery?

 

follow this guide as I did.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=128332

 

Do you have to buy a separate copy of vista to install an english version on a tz bought from pricejapan? Do you get an update or oem version? What did it cost?

 

You don't get any CD's from pricejapan. The build on the notebook is Japanese. You'll need to download/purchase a licensed copy to install.

Stefan

 

Did you buy a full liscense version or OEM?

 

I own a retail copy of vista premium. there are no discs included from pricejapan. everything is in a hidden partition.

 

I know this isn't a forum for Vista-bashing, but for those who are considering what OS to install in their TZ90, the following post:
http://chris.pirillo.com/2007/02/27/windows-vista-im-breaking-up-with-you/
gave me reason to want to stick with XP.

 

bmnotpls- According to conics.net they do install English Vista OS - for the same price as pricejapan without it.

Here is the email response from them to my question:

"Hello,

RE Vista

Sony ship each PC in Japanese with a unique Vista license sticker, they
do not provide a vista install DVD (they only provide a Japanese vista
recovery partition).
note: this unique license can be used on this PC to install vista in any
language, registration and activation is 100%.
we can use this license to install English, we do not provide a vista
install DVD."

 

HI,

I am about to purchase the TZ90, a priori with 100GB HDD and DVD-multi. I wanted to know whether if I buy it without the DVD drive, the bay is accessible. I'm not talking user-accessible, but armed with screwdrivers and such, can it be done? If so, is it an ultra-thin drive like the one included in the portege R500 (7mm), or is it a more normal 14mm-ish drive? I'm asking as I have one on my hands and could do without buying unnecessary items. So, have any of you started digging inside your new toy?

thanks for your input

Julien

 

jmuffat,

There are only two possible configurations that come without a DVD - one is the 2.5" 160 GB HDD alone, or the 2.5" HDD along with a 32 GB SSD. There isn't enough room inside for a 2.5" HDD and a DVD, and you can't get buy it with a 1.8" HDD and no DVD. So your only option is to buy 160 GD HDD/ 32 GB SDD configuration and remove the 160 GB HDD. But why bother? Conic.net sells that configuration for the same price as the 32 GB SDD /DVD configuration, so you won't have saved anything. And of course, that doesn't even consider if your spare DVD will fit and do you really want to void your warranty by doing it.

 

ah, so the 2.5" HDD goes in the same "slot" as the DVD drive, and the other open slot is a 1.8" space...It looks like the TZ90 might be more configurable in japan though. The importers might restrict some of the choices. The question remains, how easily accessible these parts are? More importanly, I would probably end up changing the 1.8" hdd to an SSD later on when 64GB is available. It is also more desirable to have an extra 160GB HDD on my hands, than an extra DVD drive. Especially if the models cost the same, as a 160GB HDD is still 150$, while a DVD-multi drive is more like 50$.

just musing...I will probably go with dynamism despite the price, as their service is certainly the best, and they have the model I want on a 3-4days lead time. Any idea if some models are also available from the others in less than a week?

j.

 

Can't really help you as to how accessible parts are inside, although to be honest I really am not inclined to find out. Just got mine today, and I am far more inclined to handle it with white gloves than try to dissect it.

 

Did you get it from dynamism ?

 

As I have said previously, I tried to pop open the laptop to because I wanted to swap the mini pci-e wlan card for another brand, and I got so far as taking off all the screws, but couldn't get it open and I didn't want to force it in anyways, as that might crack some parts. The only thing easily accessible is the RAM slot, one screw and the cover is off.

 

Sorry, I must have skipped that post. Well, that makes it challenging, and I, too will probably not tinker with it too much, too soon

J.

 

My only warranty is through sony Japan, and I have no intention of doing something that might need me to send my laptop to them which will who knows how long between shipping there, fixing it, sending it back.

Besides, I had a wireless interference issue before that I solved it, so no need to get a different brand of wlan card. Now, everything works as it should be and there's zero issue, knock on wood.

 

I live in Taipei, so I got it from nibon.com.tw. Quite a bit cheaper than dynamism, and they have an actual store here if you have service issues.

 

Jayhoward- what did it cost you? They say on their site that they ship worldwide but since that is the only english there I have no idea what it costs or how to contact them.

 

I paid NT$73,000, which based on the current exchange rate is about US$2,250. Not quite as cheap as conic.net, but I found dealing with these people to be extremely easy and they have a good and long reputation here.

If you want to contact them send an email to allen:
[email protected]

You can tell him Jeffrey recommended you.

 

Didn't you decide for conics.net avalpert? The wrote you by mail that they install the english Vista?

 

Jack,
Yes they didnt. I haven't place the purchase yet because I was waiting to see how close Dynamism was willing to match - but at thsi point I think I am going to order from conics today. Brett has been very helpful and quick with responses to inquiry and, with English OS, it is the best price I've found.

 

I'm quite convinced too.

I'm thinking of taking the black case also with $17. I live in Europe so iasked Brett if he can undervalue the item so i pay less VAT. He risponded this: "Hello,

yes, we can value the invoice at any price you like, but only in the case payment is via Bank Wire

if the package is marked at $500, the max insurance will be $500. I wonder in the case that it is lost in delivery process what is happening?

 

problem is if its lost or damaged during transit, the max recovered will be $500 and you will lose the difference which is quite a bit

 

Say so? I email them for this exact reason asking this issue, no answer yet.
If is like you say i will buy TZ from pricejapan because they risponded me this:
"In the case that it is lost in delivery process, DHL, shipping insurance company and us will cooperate to send new item".

 

Jack,

You must be really unlucky if you will take a TZ damaged or even lost!
But as Outrigger said is a risk. Me too i live in Europe and i have the same issues. Undervalue the item is a big plus in terms of money(save $600) but if something happen?
I think i will take the risk

 

better cross all your fingers and toes.

 

Mine shipped out from pricejapan today. So hopefully I get it on Monday.

Of course I noticed that they transposed two of the zipcode numbers so hopefully it doesn't get delayed due to that.

 

Yes exetlaios and outrigger,

You are right! Is a risk! Do you think is more safe from conics or pricejapan?

 

Jack - where you order from won't matter, it will be the shippers error that you don't get paid for. That said, you might want to ship DHL or UPS instead of EMS whoever you buy from.

 

Yes, you are right. Thanks for the advice. Do you know if conics ships with DHL? Because i saw only EMS for Europe.

 

They will ship DHL if you ask them.

 

Seems to be a trend. My TZ from Dynamism arrived today...sort of. Fortunately, I saw the FedEx guy come and go from my neighborhood without a knock on the door. A quick track check on fedex.com showed "Delivery Exception - Invalid Apt / Ste number." Yikes! Not wanting this thing to end up back in Chicago, I ran down and went after the guy in my car. Luckily, I found him pulling out of another neighborhood and followed him to his next delivery.

Apparently, Dynamism entered my condo unit number 1537 as "1637". I checked my receipt when I got back, and it wasn't my error. You would think they'd have some sort of automated system to transfer the data, or at the very least cut-and-paste it!

Anyway, can't complain too much--ordered it Wednesday and it arrived (sort of) on Friday. So far, it's a neat little machine. I will say that I was a bit disappointed to discover that the internal WWAN that I thought would be part of the package (Sprint EVDO) isn't included in this imported make, but the specs and the prices compared with the anticipated U.S. versions to be released shortly make up for it. I ended up going out and talking the Sprint guy into an EVDO card for $129 (vice the usual $179) and a special rate on the service, so pretty good deal anyway. (And the little green flashing data light on it matches the power button exactly!)

 

I'll be getting my TZ next week. Is it true that you need to install the driver in certain order to work properly on your TZ?

help will be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

Congrats on another TZ purchase!

I'm surprised the Fedex guy let you pick up the package, but I'm sure with ID of course.

the TZ does not come with WWAN only because this is a Japanese unit, hence therefore, it would silly for them to install a Sprint or any US 3G chip. But rest assure that when the US version comes out, it will have the WWAN capability. However, the top of the line price will be very steep with limited colors.

 

Well, i just an answer from Brett. Telling this: "Yes, if you choose under value = $500 , the insurance payout will be $500
(you will need to make up the difference if you want a replacement item)

RE DHL expensive (yes it is)
DHL is probably a little more secure, they also charge more to get the package though customs faster.

I'll have to call DHL next week to get a proper quote, but the price will be basically 3 - 4x EMS cost we show at the checkout".

So, if i'm so unluck and the shipping get lost i will have to pay another $2200
to take another TZ! And DHL is 3-4 times more expensive than EMS. That means that the EMS shipping to Europe is 67$ and the DHL 201 at least

 

Congrats ASH!

From where you chosen to purchase?

 

When I receive mine, before I even use it I want a professional to put a 7200RPM 200GB SATA 2.5" and pull the @&&#&-ing 5400RPM out and sell it. Who would do this for me for a fee? No way am I putting vista on it.

 

I'm currently living in Japan so, I bought my through the Sony website.