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

Opehelia Hardin

How much video ram is present in your SZ140?

 

I dunno, it's not here yet. I'll post when I've given it a good going-over.

 

Got pictures from Snake12 will post them in a new thread soon

 

Snake thanks for pics! can you also send couple of the bottom and with a black screensaver in a dark room (to see the light leakage)

 

2 owners from notebookforum have problems again with sz
too bad.........

 

what problems are those? specifics??

spoke to sony last night and they said they are still planning on getting sz160s in stock tomorrow 2/22, presumably with a 24-48hr turnaround for shipping them out. they said that people that pre-ordered in january were automatically being upgraded to 3 day shipping (but not me, because i didn't order until the beginning of february)...

any other word?

 

http://www.notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=133739&page=7&highlight=sony

 

After reading some of the negative opinions here lately, I became slightly terrified that my rather-expensive order to SonyStyle for a customized SZ140 was a bad decision. Rather than wait for my still-not-determined ship date (I ordered on 1/31) I decided to run down to Best Buy and see for myself.

I played with the SZ-110 they had on the floor for a while, and I can say I am satisfied with what I (hope I) will be getting. The build quality was satisfactory, the screen was clear and bright, and the keyboard was reasonably comfortable. [Please keep in mind that my current laptop is a very small Vaio TR2AP3, so any keyboard approaching full size will be a step up]. The magnesium outer cover was nice, though I definitely think the thin-screen carbon fiber version will have more flair. The metal palmrests also looked and felt good, though I didn't test for a lot of 'flex' - I tend to keep my palms off of this surface anyway...

The Sony rep on the phone said that the thumbprint reader could be used as a scroll wheel. However, I don't think this is the case. I was unable to make it work as a scroller, nor find any options that would enable it to do so.

Like others have reported, there was no battery installed so I couldn't judge how well the battery will seat, and the recent reports of crashes and hard drive problem possibilities will have to be fleshed out. Still, having ordered top of the line specs and played with a working model, I'm solidly looking forward to getting my own.

So, that's it. For those of you who ordered from SonyStyle and are receiving your SZs: I would appreciate it if you would let me know when you ordered. I'm still sitting here in "ship date unknown" land and its more than a little frustrating.

- ncdave

 

I ordered an SZ140 w/ webcam, 80GB HD, 1x1Gb RAM, Duo 2.0 MHz, no DVD, no Biometric on 1/24. Shipped yesterday.

Glad to hear it's so nice. I was getting a little worried myself.

 

Let me put you all at ease. Here's a preliminary review. I like the design. The metalic look is sweet. The laptop has a precision look, more so than the other vaios. That also means it seems somewhat fragile but not so much so that I would return it. The screen is bright. It's better than my powerbook (2 revs back -- no optical audio out and less bright lcd) and at maximum brightness, it matches what my desktop lcd is set at. When I first saw it, I was somewhat concerned because it was bright in the center but the far edge seem less bright, but as I moved my head side to side, I noticed the edge gets brighter. Perhaps a viewing angle issue. I'm very satisfied with the screen. As far as flex go, all laptops screens have some flex. Perhaps the Panasonic Toughbooks, Thinkpads, and Apple laptops have less flex but all laptops have some flex in the screen. You just have to be careful with it.

Performance wise, I am thoroughly impressed. My work machine is a 3ghz P4. I did some adhoc testing with Quicktime H.264 support on some 1080p files I downloaded. My main work machine sometimes shoots to 90% cpu and drops frames here and there, sometimes badly. A dual processor PowerMac 1.8ghz G5 also drop frames. The SZ drops NO frames while running at 60% cpu when using the integrated GPU!!! Yes, at this stage, I am very impressed with the performance.

The one problem I found is the hard drive. I am trying to move over to primarily using laptops. My home desktop has ~ 1terabytes of drive space. The 100Gig hd seems so small in comparison. I had hoped to put my 60gig iTunes library on this laptop, but with all my software installed, I don't have the space for it.

There are 2 other problems I have found. The first is I get a little shock once in awhile when i touch the laptop. Hope this doesn't become a big issue. The second is not so bad. I backed up the drive when I got it and then wiped it so I could reinstall the OS and my software. Sony's driver situation is much improved. However, their intel chipset and graphics drivers would not install. I just went over to Intel's website and got those drivers. All other drivers installed without a problem if you follow the instructions on the support website. If you reinstall, you cannot download the DVGate software and install. This is stupid. I probably don't want them anyway, but still, I paid for them, I should be able to reinstall them when I need to.

So, so far, I am satisfied with this machine. The screen is not as good as the FE, but it meets my requirements for switching to using the laptop as my primary machine.

 

SZ140, config similar to O.H. above, ordered 2/11 and still out of stock.
The port replicator, extra power chord and notebook case I ordered all shipped and are actually sitting in my living room................ mocking me.

 

Hey calxn, what model did you get?

 

The SZ110. 1.83ghz, 1gig ram, 100gig hd.

 

ok, more info. This laptop never seem to get hot. Even when the fan comes on, it's hardly audible. In contrast, all laptops that I've had in the past, Powerbook, thinkpad, fujitsu, dell, sony z505 all got hot under extreme use. At this point, I feel certain it will never burn my lap.

I did a compile of code that I am working on. It compiled and built 3x faster than my desktop at work - 3ghz P4. It's a fairly large project.

Now, the bad news. It's some what expected, I guess. The keyboard does suck. Not as bad as some of Sony's past keyboards on smaller laptops, but it does feel cramp. Also, the plastic keys are now annoying me. The touch is pretty plasticky. I'm hoping I get used to it. I wish every manufacturer would put in solid keys like the thinkpads and powerbooks. These keys feel like they were made by Hasbro. Come on Sony, we pay 2k, spend the extra $10 for solid keys and clicking springs.

 

Good news about the noise and heat. That was a major concern to me. Perhaps they finally took all the S-series complaints to heart...

 

i'm planning to get the SZ110/120/140. but i have a question about the video card. how much total vram is there in the nvidia go 7400? and how much is the dedicated ram? cause i know its not all dedicated because of the turbocache

 

OK...well just spent the last 2 hours reading every post in this thread....Ive been through an emotional roller-coaster here...the anticipation, the speculation, the drama, the confusion....this thread reads better than some suspense novels!

I guess after reading all of this I will keep looking for another model sony. FE may have a better screen than the SZ, but obviously lacking in HD speed and graphics...too bad. I can not deal with flimsy keyboard for the price they are asking.

And I cant believe some of you still have to wait for your pre-orders...talk about downright absurd -Sony has some pretty machines but obviously this is like one of those marriage deals...looks good while dating and dreaming about, but once married you get to deal with the reality of the situation.

 

i've been watching this thread for ages now, but thought i should post this for any australian users. (sorry if someone has mentioned this before).

anyway, sony australia has just posted the SZ on its website, and are advertising it as being available in two configurations: http://www.sony.com.au/vaio/catalog/product.jsp?categoryId=30411

both models come with 512mb of ram in one slot, camera and finger print scanner.

the vgnsz15gp will retail for $3000 AUD, will have a silver casing, 1.66ghz dual core processor, and a 60gb 5400rpm hdd.

the vgnsz18gp will retail for $3699 AUD, will have a black casing, 1.83ghz dual core processor, an 80gb 5400rpm hdd, white led in the lcd, and will be a carbon fibre model.

 

LOL, true that! And the suspense continues. 36K+ views on a single thread and the machine has only just been released!

 

Any word on SZ-160 Premium shipping date?

 

Sony Canada says March 20th.

 

I just received my customized SZ140 (2.0GHz, 100GB HD, 1GB RAM, WebCam/Bluetooth, Fingerprint security, etc.).

I'm currently working on a clean install of XP Pro. But before I began, I confirmed that the SZ140's nVidia 7400 only has 128MB "available" -- both via nVidia's and Direct X's settings. Unfortunately, I was unable to confirm how much of that is actually dedicated VRAM, but I suspect it's only 32MB -- the rest coming from system RAM via TurboCache.

Does anyone know if there's a way to adust the TurboCache settings? And if so, how exactly do you do it? I couldn't find any references to TurboCache within nVidia's settings. So perhaps there's a way to unlock those settings?


Thanks,

SonyVaioFan

 

The premiums are supposed to launch today. I cancelled my 160 yesterday because of the problems people are having with the 110/120, and the keyboard is just horrible. Hope to see some reviews on the premium, maybe i'll reconsider an sz later.

 

same here, waiting for professional review, but may need to give a try myself. I think most people are disappointed in keyboard because it's different and not necessarily horrible. From the pictures I can tell that it looks a lot different then the keyboard I have on my v2000z, but I have hard time believing that it's horrible.

I’ve used probably 10 different laptop keyboards. What I call horrible keyboard is they keyboard that misses keystrokes (Acer 3100 14” I’ve tried 2 Acer 3200's with the same results.

 

SonyVaioFan:

I know there's some bloatware on the Sony laptops, but I'm curious to know why you felt it was necessary to do a flush and clean install of XP on the first day you got it. Would add/remove programs not suffice to remove the unwanted components?

That said, let me know if you're able to get everything running after the clean install, and if you had any difficult parts...

Thanks,

- ncdave

 

Not really... Many uninstall programs leave a lot behind (DLLs, registry entries, etc). And some uninstalls don't work at all, which unfortunately seems more common with bloatware. And some bloatware uninstalls can even leave the system as unstable (i.e. strange errors). Now, with some patience, you can likely clean-up most of the left-over mess -- but probably not all. So for me, the choice was simple.

 

Hey everyone-

I've been following this thread for the last few weeks...
I have an Sz-140 on order... been worried about the video ram issue. I finally emailed sony about the amount of discrete vram on the go 7400 and they informed me that the Sz-140 has 128 megs dedicated and is expandable to 256 megs via turbocache(at least on the model I ordered). I hope that answers some questions Oh, and I didn't think the keyboard was horrible when I tried it out at CompUSA. I hope mine gets here soon.

 

Another reason to do a wipe and reinstall is so you can create a clean image file of your configuration once you have it setup to your specs. Then it's just a matter of reinstalling the image when something unpleasant happens.

 

Here's an update re: my SZ140 using SiSandra (thanks cdd543):



I noticed the the Texture Memory is reported as 307MB. And since 123MB Video + 184MB System = 307MB, I'm guessing:

1) Dedicated VRAM = 128MB (5MB is currently in use, leaving 123MB available?)
2) 184MB additonal RAM is available via TurboCache (all from system RAM)

... am I on the right track here, or is this just wishful thinking?

 

Well, I was finally able to see an SZ at the BestBuy on 5th Avenue tonight on my way home from work.

It's an attractive, well built and small notebook with great specs. However, the thing I feared the most has become a reality - the display is mediocre at best. While it is brighter and more evenly lit than the display in the S-Series, it is noticeably inferior to the one used on the FJ series (which ironically is the 'budget' model).

The SZ display (or at least this one) has that infamous (but slight) 'sparkle' effect that plague some notebook LCD panels. The whites are a bit on the dirty side, the colors are not as vibrant as other VAIOs and the corners and sides have that slight darkness to them. Viewing angles seemed to have been very limited as well.

Fear not though, if you've never had anything to compare it to, it's a decent display on it's own. But for me (for now anyway), an excellent display is on the top of my Notebook checklist since that's what we stare into when using it. It's sort of like the soul of the computer (for me).

So, it's (thankfully) better than the S-Series display, but miles behind the superior FS and FJ display in terms of smooth milky whites, vibrant rich colors and deep blacks.

This unfortunately leaves me still on the fence.

 

So I'm a guy with the sz160 on order for a long time...long f'ing time and today was the day - right? Wrong!!!!!!! @%^%@#$! Sony tells me I didn't make the cutoff and I'm back on the waiting list until - get this - March 8th! Well lucky me - I have a #$%#ing business trip and was supposed to give my old laptop to someone else in my office and make the switch. This absolutely sucks. I'm livid. I guess its just par for the course for Sony from what I've read online about their customer service.

Review will certainly have to wait...I may be cancelling this order.

~r

 

I hope Sony at least used a nicer screen in a premium model, afterwall it's a PREMIUM!

 

Its a premium model and you pay a premium price but we'll pretty much send it to you when we're d*mn good and ready. And stop complaining or we won't send it to you at all and keep your money to boot.

 

Sowelu, you're making me wonder about switching over to a FJ now. I was considering those till I noticed Sony was coming out with the SZs but now I'm unsure.

 

Please, don't change any plans or orders until you see it for yourself. Just know that my comments and concerns are of my opinion only. I am VERY picky when it comes to notebook displays and a bit hard to please. You may love the display on the SZ as many people here seem to like it as well.

I am however very curious to see if the 'LED' display in the 'Premium' model will look the same or completely different. I am wondering if they are using the same panel but with different lighting techniques, or a different panel all together.

Regarding the video memory. I looked in the display adapter properties and it read '128MB' for the NVIDIA. Sure, that's just text, but when I looked at the 'System Properties' it said that the system had 1GB of RAM total. Had any part of that 128MB shown in the display adapter been shared with system memory, the system memory properties would have shown '0.99GB' of RAM (or something off like that).

That's just an assumption from prior experiences with other shared memory graphics - so I am just guessing here! Something tells me that it's 128MB dedicated - but again, I am no expert. Would it really only be 32MB and need to share ALL the rest from system memory?

Also, does anyone know how to toggle between the Intel and NVIDIA graphics? I wasn't playing with it for long, but I couldn't find any utility that let you switch (or maybe it was in the BIOS - which I did not check). The sales guys in BestBuy had no idea that this machine has a Hybrid Graphics System. But, what did we expect from Best Buy?

 

Sowelu:
From what I understand, one way to switch between integrated graphics(stamina) and the geforce 7400(speed) is by switching the Stamina/Speed button located below the screen. Someone commented on another thread that switching between stamina and speed required them to restart their computer. I don't know if that is correct, so fool around with it at your own risk. Hopefully nothing explodes.

 

when did you actually place your order?? i ordered feb 12th and was told this morning that my computer should ship by monday at the latest....
i feel your pain--i'm going out of the country for three weeks on mar 10 and NEED this computer before then!

 

swheatie - according to the sony people I have spoken with (awaiting a call back from a supervisor now) the next batch they will receive is march 8th. Then the next people in the cue will get their orders so if you ordered on 2/12, I wouldn't hold your breath to receive yours anytime soon. I ordered mine back on 1/24 but that order was for the sz140 which I switched for the sz160 on 1/31. At that time, I was assured by the Sony sales rep that by switching my order, I wouldn't lose my place on the cue - apparently I was wrong. I'm now apparently #28 in the cue for the next shipment...therefore if you ordered on 2/12, I'd say you probably have a wait...check with them and push as hard as you can - I am as I have this trip and this is completely screwing me up...good luck.

 

here is a post from NOTEBOOKFORUMS.COM

 

i can top all of your bad customer service stories. I originally placed my vaio sz 160 premium order on 1/24. was told it would be 2 weeks to ship. called in 2 weeks (2/4) and checked and told it was pushed back untill feb. 22. i spokewith a supervisor, and she said she would upgrade me to free overnight shipping for my entire order. all i had to do was cancel the first one ( i was number 23 in cue) and place a new one with shipping on them. she said i would be bumped to number 135 but that was not an issue because she spoke with sony direct inventory and they assured here 195 would come in on the 22nd. i called today to check status and only 100 of them were recieved into inventory. i spoke with the same supervisor as before, because she cancelled my order and redid it, i lost my spot, and my laptop. this supervisor said that the next shipment of 160 premiums will not be recieved untill march 28th.


o yeah and the best part is the only reason i am forced to order this new laptop is because my S series went in for service the for the 6th time to the san deigo repair center in less than one year, and sony called me and told me they could not do anything for it anymore, and i needed to order a new computer.

 

but you must have great phone skills now!!!

 

sorry to hear that. What was the problem with it? did you pay for a new one?

 

whoa jbucks - ok you win - getting coerced into losing your spot...that's just incredible if true. At 135 you're 7 behind me. At least our stories line up in that my rep told me that on 2/22 195 would arrive so no problem and that apparently only 100 showed up. However, she then said the next delivery was 3/8 not 3/28...I'm calling back to double-check now. I'm also scouring other retailers to see who will get them sooner.

Best,
~r

 

SZ Premium is out now in Japan. Here are some pages with A LOT OF pictures & reviews:

http://review.ascii24.com/db/review/pc/a4note/2006/02/02/660130-000.html
Review (yes, the first one is actually a photo, not photoshopped)

http://arena.nikkeibp.co.jp/rev/20060127/115184/
Another review.

http://www.colortec.jp/contents/vaio/vgn-sz90s_info1.htm
SZ Presentation

http://www.mobile01.com/topicdetail.php?f=159&t=136616&p=1
Photos from a SZ90 owner (black keyboard)

http://www.mobile01.com/topicdetail.php?f=159&t=137107&p=1
Photos from another SZ90 owner (black keyboard)

 

Best Buy has some SZ's in my local area. Need to know if the SZ has both express card and regular PCMCIA slots. Sony site seems to indicate it does. Can someone confirm this?

 

nice find, now only if we can find someone who speaks japanese

 

http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en
http://babelfish.altavista.com

 

last two links:

nothing important but just complained about the huge power consume
the owner said the battery could last only one hour and half when running with all the functions.
and four hours is the maximum battery life with minimum performance.

but the following replies mentioned that it might just caused by the usb driver issue

good job Endeavour, those are nice pics

I could translate about 50% of the first 3 links, but i guess you wouldn't like to read them, you already know most of the spec they talked about, there is no describtions and feelings from the users

 

The mother board went out twice, the graphics chip went out twice, and the hard drive went out twice. Sony paid for a new one not me...

 

http://www.mobile01.com/topicdetail.php?f=159&t=136620&p=1
SZ90 with silver keyboard.