Ladies and gents, i present you the VAIO SZ :)

First, where does it say that the premiums use "different led's"? They very well might and I am willing to be wrong but I would like to see it. Second, while they are certainly different screens, they both seem to have led's. That was my main point, that other posters have been suggesting that regular models don't have led's at all and I am not seeing that. Any help would be appreciated.


Edit: I also just talked to a sony sales rep who said that both the regular and premium use LED backlighting. Now, not all rep's know exactly what they are talking about but I am just passing along the info i got.

 

Think you guys are getting confused.

The 'regular' SZ model uses standard florescent tube lighting in the display (which is why the lid is thicker, but a normal thickness as all other notebooks use this technology). Only the 'premium' SZ model is using LEDs in the display, which makes for the much thinner lid as shown in the diagram below:



Edit to show a better diagram.

 

You're right, Sowelu. But it does prove that the two LCD technologies are indeed different for the Standard vs. the Premium.

 

Sowelu,

That picture helps out alot. Like I said what was confusing was that the sonystyle website it talks about the xbrite technology spoke of using 3 leds and only differentiated the premium and regular by the fact that the premium was thinner. It left a question in my mind and having the sales rep say to me directly that they both use led backlighting didn't help either.

 

Which is the better display, the premium?

 

don't know for sure. haven't seen the premium in person. it is certainly thinner, and an led should give a more even backlight. I don't hav'e a problem with the screen on the sz120p/b. It doesn't seem quite as bright as the screen on my old Toshiba qosmio but then again I though the screen on the qosmio was perhaps too bright. I always had it turned way down.

Edit for more complete answer.

 

I have had my SZ-160 since Monday and have had a week to play around with it. Following are some comments. I have owned several laptops over a number of years including HP, IBM Thinkpads and Sony.

-The screen is nice. It is extremely bright and there are no problems with lack of color uniformity. I have the thinner carbon fiber model and it seems at least as sturdy if not more so than the standard model (which I played with at CompUsa).

-The keyboard is OK. Not great - it can be gotten used to. It has some flex and the travel is 3mm which is deep for a laptop and feels different. In general it doesn't really have a solid feel, but it is not a deal breaker. The FE model seems to have a better keyboard so I must surmise that the differences are due to weight reduction. It is not cramped at all. IBM Thinkpads have much better keyboards.

-The machine is quite light and reasonably well built. It seems sturdy - certainly not as well built as IBM or HP, but I have no serious complaints. I expected a comprimise given the weight. The battery does jiggle on the back as reported. It's not a Thinkpad or a HP - so get the warranty coverage. Sony has a (well deserved) reputation for failures and bad service. I bought this machine for the features despite this.

-Styling is nice. It is sleek - latching mechanism is nice.

-Battery life is not what is advertised. I am consistently getting 3-3.5 hours with the standard battery and a little over 5 with the extended battery. I am not doing anything special - mostly surfing with wireless on right now. I don't know if this is the USB bug - but the bottom line is that this machine doesn't live up to the hype with battery life. I have the LED backlight which should increase the life by an hour -> NOT.

-The fan noise is loud. I have read through these forums and I see many people saying how quiet this machine is and I cannot understand this. In a cafe or in a store - you cannot hear the fan at all. At home with minimal ambient noise - the fan is very noticeable and it oscillates between speeds. I have changed the settings to the "Quiet" setting to no avail. All of my IBM Thinkpads are essentially silent in comparison to this machine at its lowest fan setting. I am considering returning it for this reason alone. If you are used to working and concentrating in a quiet environment - this is a big distraction. If anyone has any tips on this - I would appreciate it!

-Webcam as a feature is nice, but this one is lousy. It points too high and performs poorly under low light conditions. This is not a nitpick as I have a lot of experience with webcams and it is far worse than ANY of the various webcams I have - even those costing very little.

-The ExpressCard/34 media reader is a nice addition but has flaws. It doesn't read newer 4G SD cards. It would have been nice if they just made the Memory Stick port a multireader. Also note that the ExpressCard port won't work with the ExpressCard/54 format which is where the video tuners cards that are not simple ports will come.

-Wireless reception is mediocre. Most access points that read as medium or higher with my Thinkpad come up low on the Vaio.

-Bluetooth works nicely. Mouse and headset so far without a hitch.

===

All in all this is the lightest, fastest machine in it's class right now. As far as an overall experience it's a bit dissapointing. For such an expensive machine you would expect Sony to get all the i's dotted and t's crossed and leave you with an overall satisfied feeling. This machine is not that. It's a matter of deciding if the noise, mediocre keyboard, moderate battery life, and other issues are worth having a light, fast, stylish machine.

 

jflamm, regarding the fan problem:
i am very noise-sensitive as well, so i completly understand your problem, especially when the fan speed modulates regularly.
are you running on stamina or speed mode? speed mode, and thus the nvidia 7400go will increase overall temperature.
furthermore you can install clocking utilities like rightmark rmClock Utility to limit the cpu clock to your needs.
if you are doing all those things already it wouldn't surprise me if that notebook was still "loud" - at last it contains quite a lot of power in a rather small case.

cheers
gernot

 

Thank you for the response.

In regard to the mode: I am running the laptop in "stamina" mode. I have the Vaio power management options to set the laptop to quiet mode - in trade for processor performance. I think the lowest fan speed is still very noticeable as where both my Thinkpads and an HP I had are virtually silent in low fan or fan off mode.

 

I think I found a weakness on this machine: the sound. The audio level thru the Sigmatel sound is pretty low (and not too hot) with headphones on even though I have the volume turned to max. Anyone else notice this or am I missing a setting somewhere?
I was planning on getting a Creative PCMCIA card anyway but it is still a bummer.

 

Jflamm,

You're running the notebook in stamina mode and getting 3-3.5 hours? How about the battery life in speed mode?

Also, how much weight does the extra battery add?

 

I haven't tried to measure battery life in speed mode.

The extended battery is about 1.1 pounds according to the Sony website. My machine with extended battery is approximately 4.1-4.2 lbs (again, this is the carbon fiber model).

 

I appreciate all the talk about the screen quality. Bottom line for me, I need a small lappy that can be used outside in sunlight will these screens do? If so am I better off with the 160p? or should I look elsewhere

 

not good at all in the sun. your best bet is for a transreflective screen. the asus w3v from portable one with the 400.00 screen upgrade option is the one to get. w3j will i'm sure be avbl with that option in a few months also.

 

hey guys, i've a question for you
i'm considering an sz110/B but i'm confused about the nvidia graphics
it has. on best buy web site they say it has 256MB of RAM.
but on sony web site they say it has 128MB RAM.

Anyone has this model?

 

All SZ to my knowledge have 256mb. Out of which 128MB is dedicated and 128MB is turbocache.

 

thanks. but what about that? (look at the graphics comparison)

http://www.learningcenter.sony.us/assets/Computers/Notebooks/SZ/SZspec_b.html

 

doesnt work...

 

here you go

http://www.learningcenter.sony.us/Notebooks/SZSeries/Research1/SZFeatures

then choose specifications on your left

 

No worries, that site is wrong.

Its guaranteed it has 128mb dedicated and 128mb turbocache - the GeForce.

 

thank you