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

thank you for posting those, but it's a little hard to say at this point which screen is better... we'll have to wait side by side comparison. Do you know if any of existing laptops use LED screens, or it's the first of this kind?

 

This is somewhat disappointing. I had thought all the SZ models had the led backlighting. What is even more disappointing is one of the screen shots posted above shows an FE model in the corner. The FE screen is so much brighter in that shot. This is not looking good. I'll still wait and see. The guys at the Sony store claims the SZ will have a better screen than the S series, which had a terrible screen -- relative to the other Vaios. A nice portable laptop with long battery life is no good if you have to struggle to view the screen.

 

I dono man, I am pretty happy with the screen on my S360...Its pretty sexy. much better than Ibook's or any other 12-13.3 inch screen i've seen.

 

anyone has any info on LED screens? are they better or worse?

 

i went into bestbuy today to check out if they had any of the sz's. they had the sz120 for 2000, the case was the grainy one, not the smooth polished one. i thought only the carbon fiber ones had the grainy cases which is why i wanted the premium more. does any1 have info about this? anyway about the screen, it was parked right next to the fe and the fe looked a lot better.i couldnt figure out why but then i noticed that it was because the fe screen was a lot glossier than the sz, there was reflection on the sz but not very much. the laptops were reinforced onto the desk so i couldnt pick them up. i think if the fe had a better video card, id go with it. i just wish the sz's screen was a little better. the brightness, the fe wasnt that much brighter, i felt that if the sz had the same glossiness, theyd both would seem pretty similar. seeing the grainy case on a nonpremium model has made me think of just gettin a non premium. i dunno if i should wait for the premium models to go on display so i can compare the weight of the two, or if i should configure a sz140 right now. id also like more info on the silver keys as the regular keys were not as appealing as the sony pictures. they keyboard was very confortable to use to me, i dunno why so many peopel find it too deep or whatever. i love it, the fe keyboard as well.

 

My mini SZ120 review: I went to my local Compusa store to play with a new sz. The manager pulled a brand new one out of the box for me to play with- it was the only model they had in- the sz120. I was allowed to do the initial startup of windows etc.. I was impress with the design of the laptop but feel that the overall construction is not nearly as strong as my S170P- I pressed down on the palmrests and experienced some definate flex in the case. In my opion the quality of the screen is identical to my current S. Yes, the battery still is loose. I didn't notice any big gain in speed while playing around on opening a closing programs. The mouse buttons on the sz are definatly a step down in quality- they are plastic and are not as solid as my 170P - I mean when you press them down with some force you can bottom them out and see/feel the case flex. The machine is very sexy and the finger reader is very cool. I had my heart set on upgrading but will now have to wait and see the carbon fiber models and the silver keyboard. The keyboard is much softer with less tactile feedback and is layed out with page-up / down keys added to the right side and the keys are bigger with less definition between them. I wish they had made this new sz more durable but I might just wait until my very reliable s dies before upgrading. OH, if the battery life is really killer on the sz then that would be a nice plus. R

 

hmm... with that kind of review makes me feel good about my budget v2000z with the exception of battery (which is at 2 hours)

 

This is good to know when I try one out in about a week at a Sony Style store..

 

I went to sony's Japanese website (sony.co.jp) that is what they say over there, i will post a link later. you should go to sonystyle.com not the learningcenter.sony.us. some how i don't trust that that site.

 

The premium model have a true carbon-fiber cover, as shown on the screenshot I posted on page 24. I would describe it as more fibrous than grainy.

The non-premium models are magnesium, and have a grainy outside surface. The Theory of S link shows both the premium and non-premium cover styles in screenshots.

Recent reviews do have me a little concerned about build and screen quality - I guess I'll just have to wait until mine arrives, as my local Best Buys and CompUSA don't have any in stock. The Sony rep told me yesterday that even though my order still says 'Ship Date Unknown', that it had already been configured, built, and tested, and was just waiting for tomorrow (Feb 17) to "release".

- ncdave

 

Thanks for the review, RickReno. I can now decide that the SZ is not for me. The S series was pretty unimpressive in my book. My last PC laptop (Fujitsu Lifebook ultraportable) had a dim and small screen. The S series had a dim screen. Now, you're telling us the SZ has the same dim screen as the S series. I'm sure it's a good screen for most people, but I do development and use photoshop a lot and those dim screens really annoy the heck out of me. It doesn't help that I have a bright 24" for my very fast PC desktop and a bright PowerBook. I think I'm going to go with either an FE (most amazing laptop screen I've ever seen) or a cheap core duo and save money for a Macbook Pro. There's always some compromises when going with PC laptops. Battery, screen, build quality, incompatibility, graphics chip, weight, etc. It's not worth paying the Sony premium for a dim and flimsy laptop.

 

SZ is not the same screen as S.

Left SZ, Right S

 

Is that an SZ Premium with LED Backlight, or an SZ (regular)?

- ncdave

P.S. And incidentally, where did you get those?

 

SZ Regular

he took it from this site:

http://www.notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=133739&page=3&highlight=sony

 

Interesting. Ok, I'll just wait and see then. Thanks. So much unknowns right now. I wish a store in the bay area would get one of these so I can see them. You would think Silicon Valley would get one of these sooner than later, especially Sony's Metreon.

 

Calxn, I think your off-base here. I have an S-260 and in the office (with a lot of light through the windows) I keep the screen on the highest setting and it is definitely bright enough. At home, I find myself reducing the screen brightness because in a darker setting a the bright screen actually causes me more fatigue! If you do alot of development with photoshop, a bright screen won't be beneficial in the long run - just as a screen that is too dark. Just my $0.02.

~r

 

Why would you say I'm off base? I did state it was my opinion and that for some people, the screen may be good enough. I've seen the S series at the Metreon and was unimpressed. The other Vaios there were much brighter and much more saturated than the S model they had there. I would like a screen as bright and saturated as my desktop lcd. Both the FE and Mac laptops have screens like that.

I didn't mean to offend any S model owners out there so don't take it the wrong way. I've owned a lot of laptops and used a lot of laptops and now want one that I'd be happy to make my primary machine so it has to come close to my desktop and lcd. The S series just didn't do it for me.

 

No worries - not offended at all...I'm just worried about your eyesight over the long term staring into super-bright screens

 

I didn't compare side by side S versus SZ- so it might not be totally accurate when I say that the screens are the same. I am personally convinced that if there is a difference it's not "that" different. Keep in mind I was playing with SZ120 and played with the brightness setting several times. In my opinion anyone who says that an S screen is dim is crazy- I will bet that all S machines I have used have outstanding brightness compared to any laptop on the market. The F lappys screens seem better to me I must admit. I also use photoshop and the S is an outstanding computer for working photos. When comparing the screen make sure the settings on the brightness are set at full bright. I always have to turn my brightness down when in low light areas, and also to conserve battery life. I can surf / email for over 3 hours with my s170p- batt life is great. r

 

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.

 

I'm afraid my Sony Style news is not as good. I ordered mine on 1/31, and was told it had been built and would ship today. Now I am told it has not been built, they cannot tell me when it will ship, but they predict that it will before the end of the month. Grrrrr....

- ncdave

 

sorry to hear about your problems with sony style. i ordered my S from them shortly after they came out are had a bad experience. sonystyle had a new promotion right after I ordered my S where they offered a special on the three year warrantee at 200$ off. i called them and asked that they credit me since my order had not shipped and I had paid full price for the three year warantee. needless to say after several calls and being promised several time that I would be credited I never received any credit to my credit card. the whole experience was very frustrating and i just gave up and ate the $200 buck. if you can wait it's much better to wait and buy a laptop from a reseller. R

 

it's not always "what you pay is what you get", I must say I own a lot of HP products because they are cheap and overall decent quality, and their service rocks. I remember when I purchased z552, the price went down by $200 and I called them back a month later they had no problem crediting back my account...:hp: if only they started making nicer laptops...

 

Just to give you an Idea of 3D performance on the SZ.....

I have an Vaio S5XP (uk model with 760 2.0Ghz CPU, 1Gb RAM, 100Gb SATA HDD and Nvidia 6400 Graphics). Although all the specs (including Sony's own) show the GPU suppporting 128Mb, it actually supports 256Mb once your RAM is 1Gb or above. I would have no reason to doubt that the 7400 GPU would be any different.

As far as performance is concerned:

3D Mark 2001 SE - 10717
3D Mark 2003 - 3075
Not tested 3D Mark 2005 yet

These fugures are really not bad and my S5 plays UT2004 and HalfLife 2 at 1280x800 with most settings on high.

The 7400 will likely give a significant boost to the above figures as it is a new generation of chip.

 

aren't we missing the big picture here??

black or silver keyboard? =)

also, do u have a choice between the carbon fiber and the silver case?

 

also...i was really excited about my next notebook having some sort of cellular wireless (EVDO, EDGE, etc). I know sony has it on the TX but it's not on the SZ?? Bummer...

 

Cingulaer Edge will be in the sz170 and sz180.

 

I'am from germany so sorry for my english.
I'm thinking about buying a Sony VGN-SZ1XP. I don't know if this is the same name like in USA.
It ist the big one with Core Duo T2400, 1GB RAM, 100GB HDD,...
It will be available in March in germany.
But I still have some questions about it.

1. How long does the battery realy last (in Stamina Mode)? On the german website it says up to 6 hours.
2. Does the LED Screen look good ? (brightness, colors) Or ist a normal one still better ?
3. What comes with the notebook ? (Notebook Case/Bag, RF Mouse,...). I'm curently using a ASUS W5 notebook and it has a lot of accessories. (2 Bags, a mouse, 2 batteries,...)

Thanks in advance for your answers.

 

Sony comes with nothing extra, costs a lot more and awful Sony support... but hey.... it's prrrreeeatier than :asus:

.... your hard drive dies in a few days (user reported from other Sony forum) and you just put this 2000 toy on a shelf and enjoy the beauty of it.....

 

bummer..i was hoping for verizon's speedy EVDO. has EDGE speeds improved or is still like fast dial up?

 

does the sz come with a multi card reader? until now i thought it doesn't.
But i just read here
http://www.learningcenter.sony.us/Notebooks/SZSeries/Research1/SZFeatures

at the bottom it says
"Multi-Card Reader
With a 6-in-1 multi-card reader8, you can access all industry-standard storage cards for ultimate convenience and multi-purpose use. Write and read data from flash memory without connecting your digital device. (Multi-Card Reader is included in box)"

 

I stopped in Best Buy and looked at the SZ today and have to say I was disappointed - thought it looked and felt cheap

keyboard as several have noted is a bit marginal and while the display was nice I personally didn't think it as good at the FS it was next to

thought it was a bit "boxy" and angular/square looking - especially net to an FS

of course guess I'm spoiled, having a Z1 for last few years

I have yet to find a notebook that has the looks and style of the Z1 - or that generates the comments it does

with the Z1 people were thrilled to pay a premium price for style and design - not sure many will do that with SZ

 

i am only hoping that premium SZ will not have cheap feeling. i just remembered z1, i didn't like the design but build quality was definetely nice... btw you can still find it for sale

http://shop.store.yahoo.com/shopmiracle/pcg-z1a1.html

 

I work at a local Best Buy and we just recently got a couple of the SZ'z in stock, I think they are the SZ110 which must be a specifically customized model for our stores. Anyway, I had a few minutes to check it out and I must admit that although I liked the design of it, I was disappointed with the feel of the keyboard and the mouse buttons. They just didn't feel too solid and there was too much travel in the keys in my opinion. The size of the machine is nice although it is a little deceptive because it is somewhat of a wedge shape so even though it is very thin towards the front, it gets much thicker towards the back of the unit. I didn't have a chance to run any programs long enough to pass judgement on its speed, but from the little I used it, it seemed pretty quick. The screen was also very nice, better than the S380's we used to carry. The brightness was higher and view angle was good and I didn't notice any significant light bleeding even on low brightness settings. I think I am still going to hold out for the W3J though, I wasn't as blown away by the SZ as I had hoped. Maybe the premium models though...

 

Its an SZ120P at Best Buy. Not a bad model just no Carbon Fiber and no Edge Wireless.

It was $1999 after rebates/discounts. I thought it looked a little uninspiring compared to other models as well. The keyboard has a different look to it as well. Overall I'm interested in the features not the l/f. Long battery life, dual core, dual video, etc...

 

Update. Well ladies and gents, I have news. I am picking up my laptop today -- hopefully. When this all started, we all thought that ordering on Sony's site was the best way. In the back of my mind, I had doubts. They will charge MSRP, tax, and delivery costs. Plus, would they deliver to individuals before delivering to their "more valued" corporate customers such as Best Buy and CompUSA? In other words, if we individuals put in orders at the same time as these retailers and there are delays in producing these notebooks, who would receive them first?

Well, I watched all the delays from Sony and from online retailers like Amazon and scumbags like J&R after trying them all. Today, I am heading to a Best Buy and picking up my laptop that I placed on order for pick up last night. Best Buy has a sale for $100 off on SZ110. CompUSA has $150 off on SZ120 (delivery only). I think it's safe to say these big brick and mortar retailers will always have first dibs.

My original config on SonyStyle was an SZ140 with 1.83, finger print, camera, 512mb, cdrom. With delivery and tax, it came out to be ~2k. My SZ110 from Best Buy has a BETTER config: 1.83, finger print, camera, 1GIG, dual-layer DVD and it came out to be ~2k. The point of all this? It just doesn't seem to pay off buying a custom config from SonyStyle -- in my circumstance.

I will have a review later this week. I am hoping it turns out to be a decent machine. I used to own one of the original Z505 that spawned the ultraportable market here in the US. Those were solidly built. Subsequent Sonys got cheaper and cheaper and never matched those original Z505s. Atleast I got a good deal. I was concerned I might have been paying too much for a small flimsy laptop. It's too bad Apple doesn't have the MacBook Pros able to boot Windows yet. Those are on par with the Thinkpads in terms of build quality, with the battery life, display, and weight advantages of the SZ. I hope BB doesn't sell my laptop to someone before I can steal time away to head over there -- my order should be a hold.

 

Well i just got my first look at a sz120 at best buy. I actually am happy with the build quality, i felt the carbon didn't flex much at all. It did not have a battery in it so i could not see how bad the movement of the battery is. Overall i liked the styling, BUT the notebook has a major flaw. the keyboard is HORRIBLE! i've never seen such cheap keys, and there was alot of flex in the keyboard. sony had better do something about the premium ones or i'm sending mine back 160 back before i even turn it on.

 

Pogiboi// actually SZ-120 doesn't have carbon-fibre case. I don't know what the SZ-120 uses for case but it's not carbon-fibre. Only premium edition uses carbon.,

 

From what i understand the sz110-140 is magnesium alloy, but sony calls the color "carbon". I understand it is not the same as the premium's sz150-180 carbon fiber. Supposedly carbon fiber will be stronger than the magnesium alloy, we'll have to wait to see.

 

Bestbuy.com lists the SZ110 with the following description:

Sony VAIO Notebook with Intel® Centrino® Duo Mobile Technology - Black Carbon

Just read pogiboi's response above. Makes sense that it refers to the color.

 

I went to look at the sz120 at compusa which has $150 mail in rebate. It was nice, but didn't look as slick as the TX next to it. The keyboard was awful for such an expensive computer. Still considering, but leaning toward the 160. I have some questions.
1) the palm rest area on the 120 is a shiny very smooth silver(very nice). How does this compare to the 160 - is it as smooth?
2) the top of 120 was not smooth, but the charcoal gray color. Is the 160 smooth? Like the TX? Is the color the same as the TX?
3) no track wheel is strange
4) has anyone seen the silver keyboard in person? Wondering whether to get that if customizing. Would it show more dirt?
Thanks!!

 

Almost the exact same config here. The kicker is it is possible, but I haven't confirmed one way or another, that the 110 and 120 may come with more vram available on the video card that the 140. What gives with that?

 

I picked up my SZ110/B from Bestbuy yesterday. When I was at the store last week I posted that I didn't like the keyboard but now that I am using it and getting used to it I am really starting to like the keyboard. I actually like it more then my old Asus W3V keyboard. I think it is a different feel but I do think it is easy to get used to.

 

Can you someone of you guys post large resolution pictures of it? If you don't have hosting send it to me ([email protected]) and I will post them on my website. Thanks!

 

yeah snake, i haven't seen the sz yet (but have one on order) but I highly doubt that Sony would have a crappy keyboard in their design. It's just probably 'different' and that's why people don't like it.
I have a z505 right now, and I remember when I started using it, I hated it because of the feel of its keyboard. Now I'd say that it's perfectly fine.

I'm sure I won't like the sz's keyboard at first, but I'm equally sure I'll get used to it.

 

I will take some tonight and send them to you as long as I can get enough light to do so. If not I will do them in the morning.

 

awesome, i will post the link here when I upload them thank you!

 

I am looking forward to the photos and any reviews that you can post.

 

My customized SZ140 shipped yesterday!

 

reviews on the SZ pls.. thanks in advance