Just ordered VAIO SZ....

After a month of going insane, changing my mind about a dozen times, looking for the "perfect" notebook, I finally caught wind of the Sony SZ series and made the order today. I travel a fair bit and need a good work/ play machine that is smaller, light but with some power. This looks to fit the bill.

The Specs:
13.3" WXGA display with XBRITE Technology
Hybrid Graphic System - NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 7400 with TurboCache™ supporting 128MB and
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950 224MB dynamically allocated shared (RAM/Video) memory
Intel Core Duo Processor T2400 (1.83 GHz)
80GB 5400rpm Serial ATA
512MB DDR-SDRAM (DDR2-533, 256MBx2) **
DVD+R Double Layer / DVD+-RW Drive
Wireless LAN (802.11 a\b\g)
Large Capacity Battery (BPL2C)
Motion Eye Camera and Bluetooth Technology
Integrated Biometric Fingerprint Sensor
Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Microsoft Works 8.5
Photo Plus
Music Plus
Video Plus
SZ series docking station
Extra AC adapter
Neoprene Notebook and AC adapter case

Production scheduled to start 2/20.

** Sony wants almost $700 for 2 gigs of memory!!! I'm going to go with Mushkin 2 GB pack off Newegg ($160). (Mushkin 2GB (2 x 1GB) 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) Dual Channel Kit Notebook Memory). Can someone please verify this stuff will work? Also, if the FSB is 667, why does Sony sell only 533?

The graphics adapter doesn't concern me too much as the most demanding thing I'll play on the notebook is CIV 4 or RON.

The notebook itself came to $2K which is a tad expensive but not ridiculously so.

Man I'm juiced to get this thing!

Have never owned a Sony notebook. Juiced but nervous. Any words of encouragement to help calm the nerves?

 

I've just ordered mine as well. Production starts on 2/20.

I'm getting
- a Core DUO 1.66GHz: it's gonna be more than enough for my needs
- 1GB of RAM: I'm an amateur photographer and need a lot of memory when I post process my work.
- 60GB of harddrive: I hesitated between 80 and 100 at first but as this is not gonna be my main machine, 60 will be fine.
- CDRW/DVD: no DVD burner. I already burn VERY rarely CDs, so forget about DVDs
- Camera, BlueTooth, fingerprint sensor: hehe, that's gonna be fun
- Win XP Home: No need for anything else, as I'm using Linux anyways. It's too bad I have to pay for having Windows The first thing I'll do when I'll get the laptop is to reinstall windows on a much smaller partition (like 5-10Gb) and install Ubuntu Linux on what's left.

I've had a Sony Z505 (PIII 633Mhz, 12GB hdd, 256 RAM) for more than 4 years now and have been very happy with it. Everything is still working fine, but I need some more power now and I thought that this SZ would be its perfect successor in terms of dimensions, weight, etc.

Anyhoo, I think that's it, hope it will arrive soon!

 

LOL there is a 22 page thread about this machine below which I somehow missed in all the excitement.

I'm actually glad I didn't read it before I ordered or I probably would have waffled again.

I waffled between the 1.66 and 1.83 as well. I figured for $70 or so, what the hell. What is the deal though with how much Sony charges for memory? Are they trying not to sell the upgrade?

 

are you sure you ordered one with 7400? I don't see any option to select that, so I think it's just 950GMA

 

The notebook comes with both. You can switch according to whatever your current demands are.

• Graphics
Hybrid Graphic System - NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 7400 with TurboCache™ supporting 128MB and
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950 224MB dynamically allocated shared (RAM/Video) memory

I was also looking at the MSI 1022. This thing is definitely a step up, but a bit more expensive as well....

 

Watch out for screen issue's - On the Sony S's faultly lcd's and back light issues

Watch out for build quality - Screen as above, keyboard keys and function keys S1 S2 deciding not to work, loose battery, power jack plug not working, etc etc

Watch out for Sony's attempt at customer service - anyone that has had any dealing with Sony will testify they are not helpful lack knowledge try anything to void your warranty

Enjoy your Sony experiance - seriously read all around the forum so as to gain both a positve and negative view upon which to balance blowing possibly an extra $1000 on a name because your definatley not paying the extra for quality

This post has been edited due to a couple of precious little pettles thinking it wasn't constructive enough (everyone get in a circle now and have a group hug) on the next page is an even longer justification of my right to post.

 

Lotta $$ riding on this purchase. Care to elaborate? No sense in hiding my head in the sand at bad news. If I'm shelling out $2,500.00 for a lappy with all the fixings, I expect to be treated like gold if something goes amiss.

 

unfortunately, he is right... it's Sony for you... paying a premium for a name but service left to be desired... I looked at S series previously and things that I didn't care for are mostly the build quality and customer service... hope this has been addressed in SZ

 

Wpuk has a bit of an axe to grind with Sony over an international warranty issue and a bad screen, hence the comments. However, Sony has been definitely criticized in the past for build quality and customer service. The SZ does look very slick, and it is quite possible the build quality has been addressed; customer service is a bit harder to fix quickly.

I'm also in your shoes - considering a first Vaio purchase, and as long as the build quality seems good (waiting for the first reviews), I'll probably take my chance with the service...

 

Don't like the idea of gambling with a pretty major purchase like this. The sh*tty customer servive I can live with, that's just about universal. Build quality, on the other hand, I don't mess with. One would assume the premium price for a Sony would equal better technology and quality. Otherwise, I'll get an HP at about $700 less.
I don't see swarms of problems in this forum re: Sony lappys. I'll have to look closer.

 

Against my better judgement to wait a month or so for the Asus w3j, which I believe will have a better build quality, x1600card and several hundred cheaper, I ordered the sz160. Hope it works out.

 

wpuk: Appreciate the info. on the memory as you just saved me about $100.00 by sticking with 533.
Your comments on the screen really worry me as I was under the assumption Sony screens were about the best out there. I have done a lot of reading on VAIOs in various magazines and I have seen very few items about poor build quality. The screens are almost universally praised. I'm going to CompUSA after work tomorrow to take a very, very close look. I still have time to cancel my order if need be.

R25: I too was thinking of waiting for the WJ3 but 1. the wait and 2. much better battery life on the SZ140 made up my mind for me. The SZ160 is the "premium" model I think, no?

 

yea thats right. I like the black carbon look over the white and silver standard models. Also the sz160 is little thinner and lighter. the battery life on the sony sold me also. Hope it holds up. definitly going for the 3 year warrenty.

 

Try and view a dark playing DVD something like 'Matrix', the blacks are absolutley terrible very pixelated loads of different shades of black squares all over the place

 

I don't have anything against Sony, but my past experience with Sony laptops was unpleasant, which was unfortunate.

Their quality control is inconsistent. Even though Sony makes beautiful laptops, the internal components they use is prone to failure. I've heard stories from families, friends, and coworkers that own a VAIO laptop and they break down 2-3 years down the road.... or just after the standard warranty is over in the worst case scenario. For example, the LCD backlight is not as bright as it used to be, AC adapter failure, HDD failure, and even a motherboard replacement.

You're basically paying a premium for the Sony name. Their parts and accessories are very expensive and the customer service is below average.

In summary, buying a VAIO is a hit or miss affair. It's either you have a notebook that looks and performs as expected or you are going to be plagued with host of problems.

 

As ive said in in other threads , Sony spends hundreds od millions on advertising there moto is "once weve got your money we dont care the advertising will bring in the next sucker"

I might make this my signature

 

Stopped in at CompUSA after work. Nary an SZ in sight and the guy I asked never heard of it. Why should he know? Its only his livelihood. I didn't bother to ask him to check his system.

Anyway, I took a good long look at some other Vaios and they just blew away every other lappy in the store. The screen quality looked pretty good to me, actually really good (compared to my i8600 this would seem to make sense), no flex, creaking, etc. They have one there, an FE? that looked to be of similar build to the SZ and it was solid (gorgeous actually). The casing is just cool as hell.
Feeling much, much better about my purchase.

 

The guys that work at the compUSA nearest to me are a little susupect. However, those that work in big box computer stores I cut them some slack cuz I've been in their shoes, I'm gonna stop myself from going on a rant right here.

But anyway stopped at Circuit City near me and they have the SZ120 in the system so it should be getting there in the next week or so. The FE showed up in their system about a week before it arrived, can't wait. My CompUSA has jack squat (as far as the FE and SZ) but again it's one of the sleaziest dirtiest place I've been in. I'm pretty sure they're just waiting to can the place. So MicroCenter has been my place for viewing (now CC as well). Ok, I'm babling.

The FE at Circuit City has been the best so far, the known complaint with the corners is almost un-noticeable. I had to really look. The keyboard is indeed too deep, what's up with that, seems odd, it's also way too big generally. I'm just too used to my SatellitePro6100 which irronicly I've been very happy with (perhaps the only one). One thing I can say for sure is that for what it is the screen is perfect, having to worry about bleeding and dark spots just seems foreign to me after having this guy for so long.

 

I keep looking at that premium notebook (SZ160) and am REALLY tempted to cancel my 140 and get it. Just can't do it though. $500.00 + over my 140 config just for an extra 128 megs on the Go 7400 and a carbon fibre casing?
I wish I could get an SZ120 at CompUsa or Best Buy. For $2K, that would make more sense. I'd grab one in a second.....

 

Bossy573 - spec sheet (sz160) from sonystyle says it has 256 mb . i called to sony and they confirmed that.
but also its true that another spec says that it has 128 mb.
i am very confused ....

 

i think I'll go for fiber casing... don't like plasticky laptops

 

I think it's 128MB on board memory and 128MB dedicated memory in the Nvidia Card.

When you switch on the faster graphics speed option those two memory should work together to give it 256MB.

At least that's the way I understand it.

 

Webster, probably you are right.. hmm

just checked specification at CompUsa, it says :
Video Chipset Brand: NVIDIA
Video Chipset: GeForce Go 7400
Installed Video Memory: 256 MB

anf don't forget that spec from sonystyle says about + 224mb dynamically allocated shared memory.

how should it work in this way then?

Graphics
Processor: NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 7400 and Intel®
Graphics Media Accelerator 950
Video RAM: 256MB (NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 7400)
and 224MB dynamically allocated shared
(RAM/Video) memory (Intel® Graphics Media
Accelerator 950)

 

Its basically got 2 graphic cards the weaker intel one for when your mobile (unplugged) which will borrow up 224mb from your system memory

the better nvidia dedicated card for when your plugged in(although you'll probaly be able to set these to what you want), nvidia utilise a technology called turbocacheing with the nvidia card having a dedicated 128mb built into it (faster than system memory) and it borrows a further 128mb from your system memory

to this end i would suggest getting at least 1gb of ram as windows and other background running programs will use around 256mb then your one of your cards borrows between 128-224mb of ram which doesn't leave alot if you've only got 512mb which equals a system that is more likely to edge on the side of being unstable/ struggling to multi task

 

Good news I think! The docking station and extra power chord I ordered shipped yesterday. I checked the order sight last night and both were listed as out of stock with an unknown ship date.
I'm hoping to come home today and see that the lappy and notebook case shipped as well. Both are still listed as out of stock with an unkown ship date.
Man, I can't wait to get this thing.

If the SZ is built like the FE, I don't know if that casing is plastic. If it is, then it is the coolest plastic I've ever seen. The FE they had on display @ Best Buy is one beautiful machine.

From all the research I've done, it appears that the 256MB Go 7400's have 128MB dedicated and 128MB shared. The 128MB Go 7400's have either 32MB or 64MB dedicated and 96MB or 64MB shared. I am not certain about the latter as most available info. references previous Nvidia Go turbocache designs. I would guess the exact configurations are up to the lappy manufacturer. Who knows, maybe it has 128MB dedicated? I'll soon know for certain (I hope)!

I got the extended battery so I am anticipating at least 8+ hours of battery time if I need it. The 140 is supposed to get 6 standard.

 

i found out at sonystyle.com that the SZ-140 has only 128mb vram coming from the geforce go 7400. however, i saw on notebookforums.com that one of the guy's SZ-120 has 256mb vram. he also said that it has 128mb dedicated and another 128 turbocahce. i hope SZ-140 would also have 256mb vram.

 

hey bossy, you bought the sz ath the same time I did, right?
Hope I'll receive sooner that expected as well!
My bank account has been debited this morning actually. Now that they have my money, they'd better give me the thing quick!!!!

 

apparently it's not plastic, but magnesium case for regular and carbon fiber for premium

http://smb.sony.com/wcsstore/B2BDir...Content/assets/staticcontent/sz/overview.html

 

Man, I hope so. I just checked the web-site and no movement on the lappy and case yet but they didn't post the shipment from 2/14 until today.

If they took your money they better be shipping soon!

 

update on my order:

I just called sony to get a status on my order of sz140 on feb 11th (yes, not long ago) and it's gonna ship this Friday. Now I just have to wait a little to see if it's actually true, but I called twice and 2 different guys told me that, so I'm pretty confident.

I'm gonna post a review as soon as i get it.

 

^^^^



How cool is that?


Now, the hard part................ explaining the purchase to my better half.

arielo, did you go with the free shipping? I didn't know it was possible for it to take Fed-Ex a week to deliver something, even by ground. I could walk it here quicker.....

 

Thought I would add my $.02 to the conversation...

First, on build quality:

I've found very little difference between Dell's and Sony's build quality after about 5 machines from each company. I'm hard on laptops, so both tend to have issues after about 12 months.

Alienware's are a no-go, the one I had was the worst laptop ever.

Panasonic Toughbook's are the only laptops that you can rely upon for high build quality.



I ordered my sony SZ (custom 140) the day it went up on the website. The website gave a me a 2-4 day shipment date. When that day came and went (Feb 2nd), I complained and they told me ALL SZ's would be shipped on the 17th, and they would upgrade my shipping because of the website error.

This is the first laptop in a while I'm actually excited about getting.

I really wanted the premium version (primarily for the LED lit display), but couldn't handle buying the single non-customizable pre-order model.

 

Anyone know what Sony's return policy is?

I must tell you, this buying a laptop sight unseen is a little nerve racking. I hope the thing isn't a hunk o' junk.....

 

SOny's return policy is 30 days from the shipped date. I've returned to sony computers this past year. An s-580P and an FS500P. Hope that when I order this SZ I won't have to return it either.

P.S. I thought all the SZ's had the LED back lighting?

 

No, only premium, and what about LED LCD? do you know if it's better or worse?

 

The customized SZ140 I ordered on 1/24/06 was supposed to ship on 2/17 according to the rep I spoke to on 2/13/06.

I received an email at 00.25 AM 02/17/06 AM EST informing me that "Production has begun on your new VAIO PC!"

Checking my order URL, I find that I'm "Scheduled for Production" on 02/16/06, whatever that means, with ship date unknown.

Re-checking, just now, I find my "Estimated Ship Date" is 02/23/06

On 1/24/06 I ordered a customized SZ140: 2.0 Ghz Duo, 1 GB x 1 chip RAM, no Biometrics, +Webcam, + 80 Gb Hdrive, no DVD burner, black keyboard.

So, I think things are moving along; just not as quickly as I'd like or what Sony promised.

 

Opehelia Hardin// you posted same thing at 3 posts. lol

 

he is probably too excited and had to make sure that everyone knows it

 

I was in the same boat. pre-ordered the day it went up on the site. My order said shipment in 2-4 days. 2-4 days went by, and nothing happened. I emailed a quesiton, and they claimed mine was a pre-order. I compained, asking why it showed shipment in 2-4 days.

They apologized, and said it would ship on the 17th, and they would up the level of shipping for the error. I called today, and they said they don't have any shipping date - my order status still says "unknown".

Since I've been working without a laptop for the last 3 weeks, I've had enough. Canceled my order.

Back to Dell for me. I may look at the premium version at the next rev of the chip if the LED backlit LCD turns out to be good. I'd love a good contrast ratio LCD.

 

Well, still no information on my lappy. Still says out of stock. I guess I'll have an extra power chord and a docking station for a while before I actually have a laptop.
When I ordered it did give 2/20 as the date for production to begin. I'm thinking I'll give it until Wednesday to get going. If not, I'm going to cancel and look elsewhere.

 

Just got an E-mail that they shipped the notebook case. Only thing left is the lappy. They better hurry up because I am having serious second thoughts. The guy who has the SZ120 on the other forum is returning his machine to CompUSA because his hard drive just crapped out.

 

hi, does anyone know, when the built-in 3g cellular card SZ notebook coming out ??

 

bad news, just called again and now they are saying that my lappy will only be shipped on feb 27th whereas they said it would ship feb 17th last time I called

 

Yeah, no sign of anything going on with my order. Still sez out of stock.

 

I just bought my sz from BestBuy today and I'll probably be up playing with it for awhile. Its a beautiful laptop. I first went to circuit city and almost bought a the fj series before I went to Best Buy. I have problems buying things when I know that there is something better out there to purchase. I got the 1.86 duo core processor, 1 gb of ram, and the 100 gb hdd. I'm am extremely happy with my purchase...my better half was a little pissed off at first but now shes talking about how her toshiba is a peice of **** and needs to get a new one. Well, I'll check in later when I had some time under my belt with the laptop and give a better review.

 

congrats on your purchase! hope to hear from you again

 

i got tired of SonyStyle and them not having a clue about when my lappy would ship so I canceled my order and ordered the SZ110 on Amazon. They guarrantee the delivery on Thursday 23. This lappy comes up better than the SZ140 I had configured and cheaper.

I tend to trust Amazon as they've never screwed up any of my orders since I've started ordering stuff from them a couple of years ago.

 

Reading through some of the posts it seems the Motion Eye Camera may be the piece of hardware that is causing delays. Maybe they don't have enough or production with them is difficult or something? Who knows.
One of the first rules of successful sales is you never give a customer time to think it over once they have committed. Was checking out the scene at Dell yesterday and although I detest with extreme prejiduce their "customer service," I configured an e1705 with core duo 2.0 ghz, 120gb 5400rpm hard drive, Geforce 7800, etc. with docking station, stand, extra power chord for waaaayyyyy under $2K (with coupon), about $650.00 less than the SZ with all the fixings that I ordered. Yes, its a 17" lappy and some portability goes out the window but wow. Likewise, an HP dv1000t, although without the Geforce 7400, is core duo and far cheaper as well and is a pretty sexy 14.1 machine. The 12 cell battery on that will challenge the SZ battery time. And I could just cool my heels for the W3J, due out sometime in March.....

Still think the SZ is a great concept and growing pains must be expected with a new model at first but d*mn, its getting harder to justify this purchase by the minute. Why would a company with as much muscle as Sony even permit its customers to have this thought process take place?

 

Wow, comparing those laptops is kind of a long shot. If you don't need the portability but rather want a larger screen I wouldn't shell out the cash for the SZ, because that's basically what you're paying for. You will not find another notebook with so much power in such a small weight and form factor.