Just got my SZ160 in Canada... first impressions...

So far I've been spending most of my time removing all the trialware and configuring settings, so I thought I'd just post a few initial impressions.

* It's thin, real thin! And light, real light!

* Screen is nice and bright, no bad or stuck pixels, a little bit of lightbleed but it's a lot better than my previous notebook (where due to limited viewing angle on blacks I could say it essentially had lightbleed over half the screen!)

* Unit came with the latest BIOS as on the Sony website.

* Construction quality is excellent. Solid, no creaks. Hinges properly aligned, perfect amount of tension on the screen. Slightly loose battery can be quickly fixed with a couple sticky felt pads (you know, the ones sold as feet that come in different thicknesses). Unit was made in Japan too, which was unexpected.

* Keyboard has a teeny tiny amount of "flex", mainly around the "D" and "L" keys, but it certainly isn't noticable unless you were looking specifically for it. And it doesn't impact usability. The keyboard does have a very unique feel to it, different from any notebook I've tried before, but I see no issues with it. For those of you complaining about the spacebar, I do see some issues with registering presses on the extreme left edge, but not on the extreme right edge (which is fortunantly what I use exclusively - as evidenced by the single shiney spot on every one of my keyboards). Surprising amount of key travel for a thin notebook, which is good in my opinion.

* Fingerprint reader works exceedingly well. Not so well as a scroller, though, since the "toggle button" function to switch between scroll/reader modes seems to forget the last setting whenever the unit enters standby or hibernation. However the touchpad scroll function works better than my previous laptop, so I'll probably just learn to use that. In fact the touchpad as a whole works very well (as long as it's set to the maximum speed).

* DVD drive does make a lot of strange toned noises on bootup and disc loading, but nothing seems "wrong"...

* Fan noise (at least in SPEED mode) is there all the time, but it's really not bad. And it only ramps up when there's significant CPU usage, where it is of course important. I haven't tried STAMINA mode yet, but I do have fan speed set to "1" (interestingly if you pick any CPU mode but "Adaptive" you can't change the fan speed).

* The unit runs cool. Or should I say cold? I mean after hours of use the whole thing is no more than slightly warm to the touch, palmrest and bottom included. My 900mhz subnotebook runs *way* hotter!

* Power brick *is* surprisingly large. It's not gigantic or anything, but it's bigger than my previous laptops.

* I get the "disconnected item" sound on bootup, but I wonder if that's related to docking functions... unit boots with everything enabled, and then disconnects things that end up not being there when XP is loaded. I'm thinking this as one of the two wired network icons disappears shortly after bootup (for the station's gigabit ethernet). Haven't ordered my station yet however.

* Webcam is pretty crummy in dim light, but then again what should I expect from something so tiny. Beats having to carry something around, though.

* 7 stickers to peel off the top or inside? That's a record for me.

And now a question...

Does anyone know which of the VAIO installed utilities one can safely live without? Most of the installed Sony sound/movie stuff I can live with for now, but it seems there's a couple dozen Vaio or other things that I'm not completely sure what they do.

 

Congratulations!

I too live in Canada (Vancouver,BC) and I have a few questions for you!

1. Where did you get it exactly? (retail/online/US/Canada?) Where are you from?

2. How much was it, including taxes/shipping/tariffs if any?

Thanks!

 

I want those same questions answered please. I live in Toronto, Ontario.

 

I just went online through SonyStyle.ca, where you'll pay full retail at $3000 (minus a 5% coupon that's available, so $2850).

I also have wholesale contacts with a few large computer parts distributors, and annoyingly my wholesale cost was *more* than retail minus 5%.

 

Can you post some pictures ?

 

Man $3000 is just a rip lol...Im probably buying it through USA Sony and sending it to a friends place who will ship it to me.

 

3000 is a lot indeed for a laptop ...
How much do they sell them in States for?
I'm also interested... and i'm located in Ottawa, Ontario.

Groupbuy for folks in Canada? lol

 

You guys can't order from US based online retailers?

Sonystyle.ca charges you $500 extra....because you live in Canada?

That doesn't really make any sense to me unless it has something to do with exchange rates.

 

Buying in the states is cheaper since you save on tax (depending on what state you ship to) and also the machine itself is much cheaper.

But you do have to pay around 20% custom when you bring the machine back to Canada...

As for the pricing in Canada...I am not sure if it's the same case as cars. I heard big car manufacturers only change their exchange rates once every few years... the canadian dollar is a lot stronger than it was few years ago. So that might be why the price is set so high...

 

It also depends on if the item falls under the NAFTA agreement..
For items not built in the US, you have to pay more taxes

Ordering from an US online retailer is not a problem... since the dollar favors Canadians... all that is required is for the company to ship to Canada. Only problem is that you'll get have to pay for taxes + customs charges in the end. It works out to be about the same...

And lets not forget the return policy...

 

I don't know about all provinces, but shipping anything from the US into Ontario you will be charged the full 15% sales tax at the border as if you had bought it locally. Second, I believe that there IS duty on items made in Japan, which could be another 3-7%.

And just make the mistake of shipping via UPS Ground... not to mention that Sony Canada will not handle the warranty of a Sony US item.

 

Thats Fn ingorant. What was the point of NAFTA anyway? Who benefited from it?

 

Just wanted to comment that I am currently 110% happy with my SZ160! Nice design, built great, runs cool, nice and fast, and best of all everything's working properly.

 

1. I think only the "bulid to order" are "make in USA".

2."disconnected item" sound on bootup comes everytime if the "SD card adapter" was placed in the express /34 slot.

3. I agree the adapter is huge (138x60x30mm), compare sony C1 adapter is only 90x38x30mm ----2.3 times bigger!

4.Did the "shade" on the LCD around the bottom corner bothers you?

 

Alright so how did you get the 160 eh? SonyStyle.ca has always said that they will be available on March 20th, and today they delayed it to the 27th.

There is no way that you bought the SZ160 from sonystyle canada. Another fact is that I went to the local sony store, they had SZ120. I asked about premium they said it would only hit stores march end all over canada.

So whats the real deal? Where did you get it? Where did you get the coupon to knock off 5%? What is it?

 

Yes, I got it from SonyStyle.ca.

I ordered at the end of February... and believe it or not, around March 10th or so the "Expected March 20th" line switched to **in stock**. That's right, not only did they get enough to cover preorders like me, but for about two days they were actually in stock for immediate shipping. That quickly went back to March 20th and I guess as you say now, the 27th.

According to SonyStyle.ca, the Premium edition is supposed to be an "exclusive" which means online only. But I guess when it's more readily available that could change to in-store as well.

Coupon can be found on redflagdeals.com.

 

I think i read about that deal...

It was during the Sony 10 or 15 days of sale.
The deals were terrible except the SZ160 which had $150 off i think... bringing it down to $2850.

Its not bad at that price... but still a bit too much IMO...

 

No, this isn't related to the "14 day spring sale", this is 5% off ANYTHING you buy at SonyStyle.ca. But it expires on March 22nd, so if you want to go that route there's not much time left.