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

Flash,

Have you figured out why sony lists some of the SZ's videocards as 128 and some as 256? Check out this link below:

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

What's your take on it? Do you think it is a mistake?

 

The screen. It is possible the screen on the 160 uses less juice than the others.

 

I have not seen a sz140 in person, I can only confirm that the sz110 has 128 MB. However, I am guessing that LearningCenter link is incorrect. If you go to Sonystyle and customize a sz140 the specs tab lists it as 128 MB as well.

 

Can you use the turbocache deal to kick in another 128 from the system RAM or are you locked at 128?

 

I don't see any hint of Turbocache. 128 MB seems to be it.

 

That's strange. The guy who got his 120 on the other forum said it had 128/128. Further, Best Buy lists 256. Others list 128. I've never seen anything like this. No one, including Sony, seems to know what the deal is. Pretty amazing.

 

Maybe they are referring to the integrated video sharing ram+the 7400's 128? Gotta love marketing/sales logic...

 

I'm not sure what the big deal is between 128mb and 256mb. 128mb is MORE than enough for the actual level of 3D capabilities that the 7400 can handle.

 

on sonystyle.com, the specs pdf states:

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)
Technology: Hybrid Graphic System, TurboCache™

that is for Sony VAIO® SZ160P/C

i agree with sunfox that it actually isn't that imporatant for a system like this - however - i want to know what i buy..

cheers
gernot

PS: here's the url: http://www.sonystyle.com/intershoproot/eCS/Store/en/documents/specifications/VGNSZ160PCspec.pdf

 

On a side note, anyone know what Optical Drive Sony is using in these new SZ models?

Please tell me it is not the god-awful Mat****a UJ-832D drive.

(hehe -Even the thread knows exactly what I am talking about and edited this drive)

 

How different are these models?

I notice that Sony lists the battery life as up to 6 hours. And I have read the recent reviews in this post saying that 4 is more realistic.

Since they are 1.83, 2.00 and 2.16 GHz machines respectively, I would think the battery life would be plus or minus 5% and mostly dependent on screen brightness and wifi usage.

Aren't they pretty much the same?

 

With regard to Getnots post as to PDF for the T160 having 256 MB I notice the PDF for the T140 is showing 128.

http://www.sonystyle.com/intershoproot/eCS/Store/en/documents/specifications/SZ140spec.pdf

On a different note check out the video for the Fuji; nice!

http://www.fujitsu-siemens.com/campaigns/lifebook_q2010/lifebook_q2010.html

No dedicated Video though; too bad.

 

After Apple blew a bunch of hot air on the 28th and didn't deliver a small powerbook, I turned to Sony SZ with credit card in hand.

Well I called Sony 12 min. ago to get the scoop on the SZ140\160. I just called to ask a few questions, like how much TurboCache is there really, whether there will be an EFI firmware upgrade, how to get a refund based on the EULA.

It was the worst customer service experiences I have had. I have heard some of you *****, and now I know why. Their techs know next to nothing at least not more than the website.

And when I asked about exactly how much nVidia TurboCache with 1GB of RAM main, the tech snidely replied, "We shouldn't get to technical here." Yeah, it is an piece of electronics...they are technical.

After ask about the EULA (I want to run *NIX) and how to return it....I got dropped from the line. Curious, thought it was a mistake.

The first tech was so non-chalant, and the second incompetant. Customer service didn't try to help me further. I really question the wisdom of buying from a company that does not even want to SELL you its products!

Called back, got customer service asked about the EULA...2 minutes dropped.

Conspiracy theories start to whiz in my mind

Tech didn't know whether the memory controller can take 667RAM, which might make a difference for the TurboCache.


Oh, BTW for all those wanting to purchase. Make sure you don't get the Bluetooth and the Camera option. The sales rep. said those notebooks will be shipping out END OF APRIL! I had to pry this information from them. So, I assume some of their reps aren't leveling with you...


Any way still in search, may have to settle for a MacBook Pro as I needed a computer yesterday.

 

Well I never got the email confirming shipment of my SZ160 but low and behold the thing just arrived!! I'll have a review tonight after some initial fiddling...just going to take awhile to remove all the bloatware!

ordered on 1/31 btw

~r

 

That is exactly what they told me. The camera, to be precise. If you can do without it, skip it and you'll get the machine a lot faster.
LOL, what a nightmare it has been dealing with Sony. I got home a bit early today and I figured I go online and see if I could get lucky and find an SZ160 anywhere. I did! Ordered it and called Sony to cancel my SZ140 order. The order I (re)placed last week, and which the sales rep. told me wouldn't ship until mid-March at the earliest but most likely April was allegedly in build! The guy gave me a hard time about cancelling. I told him I never received any E-mail that the order was in build so how could I know., etc., etc. Finally he said he would have a manager process the cancellation. LOL, these guys are unreal.
Anyway, I have the SZ160 on the way at $120 less than the Sony list price and I should have it by Friday.
Man, I hope this machine is worth it. It is freaking expensive.

 

Where did you get the SZ160 for $120 off?

 

http://www.datavis.com

They are listing it now as a pre-order. I ordered it at 3:30pm today....

Man, if I got hosed on this I'm gonna be p*ssed.

 

Thanks~ I hope you can get it soon.

 

Did you have any luck? The guy told me he had 6 in stock at about 3pm today.

 

Regarding PDF accuracy - you guys should check the model number of the case they specify for use, and then compare that with the model number on the regular Sony Style page *and* the description for the model specified in the PDF. They're not always 100% accurate...

 

It's definitely that brand, I will check on the exact model number. Whatever it is, it's terrible. It takes forever to initially read a disc and takes forever to install from a cd/dvd. Also, I can't believe a $2000+ machine comes with a 4x dvd writer.

 

I'd stay far away from Datavision, if I were you. I bought a Sharp notebook from them about 2 years ago and it was damaged, they woudn't exhange it or give me a efund even tho i brought it back just 3 days later. Luckily Sharp had great customer service and shipped me a replacement right away.

Also, I don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet, but Amazon has the SZ110 with 100GB, a DVD burner, and motion eye camera for $1899 after rebate, which is the best price I've seen for these specs. Delivery estimate is March 9th -13th. I'm trading in my 15 inch Powerbook G4 for the SZ. I took a look at it at J and R and loved it. I was also very impressed with how well Call of Duty 2 played on such a small laptop. And I've been around the block with laptops! For those of you who can't decide between the Asus W3V and the Sony SZ - I had the W3v for a few months, I liked it a lot, but I prefer the SZ - or atleast so far I do.

 

I figured I was taking a chance with these guys. Their reseller ratings are limited but list some bogus promises, etc. (Almost like dealing with Sony!) But what can you do when the supply is so limited but take a chance? It was a complete fluke that I was off work early today anyway so maybe it is the heavy hand of fate. Hopefully I'll get the thing delivered by Friday as promised and it wont be damaged or something. If it is, I'll ship it right back and dispute the re-stocking fee with my credit card company. Then I'll probably wait until late March when the thing is available through Sony or just give up the ghost and wait for the W3J.

Is buying a notebook supposed to be this grueling?

 

True but I guess people want to know what it is they are buying.

For the record, every SZ model, including all the premiums are listed in the specs. as having a GeForce Go 7400 supporting 128 MB except the 140 which is listed as supporting 256 MB. I am almost 100% certain that is not what it said a week ago. The mystery continues........

 

fellas, I got my sz110 today and it's been great!! ive been playing bf2, chat on web-cam with my family,.. etc. everything is perfectr so far...



i took a screenshot of BF2 and it turns out horrible but believe me it's good when playing not perfect though good for me

 

I preordered from datavision 1/25. it shipped yesterday. Their customer service is terrible. Can't get a straight answer about the 50.00 rebate on their home page. Hope the notebook works better than their customer service

 

Restocking fees are kinda like shipping charges when it comes to disputes with credit cards. They can not be disputed. Hopefully we want have to deal with that. Otherwise it will be the w3j after all.

 

I hear that. Hopefully the only issue will be just how cool this computer actually is. Looks like we should both know on Friday. If the guy misled me and I have to wait, I'll cancel, leave my order with Sony cancelled and take a few weeks off from laptop shopping. My i8600 is working just fine for now.

 

I just checked the sight and they have a UPS tracking number in the system. Looks like it may have shipped!

 

My SZ-140 came in today- 2ghz It's a beauty. A few comments I'd like to make:

-I think the keyboard is great! Now I respect everyone else's opinions that don't like the keyboard, who have tried it. For those of you that haven't tried it, give it a chance.

-I just played Call of Duty 2 in widescreen aspect with the dual core patch. It has been rather good so far. Now I haven't played enough to get into any of the huge battles yet which are supposed to be more graphic intensive, but it is definitely very playable where I am at right now(I don't know if this is equally true on all SZ's-much will depend on their configuration).

-The touchpad is awesome.

-I love how the laptop folds up.

Overall I am very impressed with my machine! I am not a notebook enthusiast or anything, so I don't know how it stacks up to every other notebook ever made. But from what I am able to compare it too, this is a wonderful, portable, beautiful machine.

 

Bugger!

What is it with Sony and Matsh1ta drives.

 

This appears to not only be a new Sony "feature." Here's what Walter Mossberg just wrote about the Apple MacBook Pro:

"It also has a much larger electrical adapter than the PowerBook, and a slower DVD-burning drive."

Could this be related to Intel's new motherboard design architecture? Seems odd that the two avant-garde design leaders would take a step back.

 

My SZ160 is in the house! D*mn, this is one nice machine.
Couple of quick items. Datavision came through! I ordered it yesterday at 3pm and had it here today at 4pm. I know some people have had bad experinces with them but they came through big time for me.
Impressions on the most common issues:
1. The Keyboard. It is very different from my i8600 but I like it, a lot.
2. Build. This thing is solid. It looks great and the casing is just awesome.
3. Screen. Having now seen both the 120 and 160 screen, the 160 is better by a bit. There does appear to be some light leakage at the bottom but it doesn't bother me. No fading at the edges. I need to tinker with the color vibrance a bit and I don't like the Nvidia control panel but I'll work on it later.

So far, so good!

 

Well congrats Bossy,

I just ordered a SZ160P/C from J&R Music World in the Big Apple. They had one left (supposedly). $2499.99 w/free shipping. Should ship tommorrow. All i did was google the 160 and bam, there it was at J&R. I have bought from them in the past and they are reliable and an authorized Sony partner/reseller. Lotta coin on such a small piece of gear..wheeew. heh heh.. I stopped in Best Buy tonight and played with the sz110 for a bit... pulled the trigger HAARD.
BTW, i'm in sales, work for Tweeter in South Jersey. I sell alot of things Sony but no computers.. I really liked the 110 at Best Buy but had to go all out for that great screen on the 160. All this coming from a guy with a 40XBR1 mounted on my bedroom wall

We should get a dedicated thread going for 110/120/140/160 owners. Good idea?

-Chip

 

Must have ordered right after me. I ordered from jr.comat 4:58pm CST, right before the cut off time. They had 2 left when i called. They shipped it out and i should have it tomorrow.

 

Very good, pog. Not sure what you mean by cut off time.. The rep i delt with was named Ally. He said he sold about three 160's today... mine was the last one showing available..who knows...as long as i get one too

 

Thanks!

That is exactly what I did and I just got lucky. I checked the web-site and they said in stock. I figured it was an error so I called. The guy confirmed there were 6 that just came through the door. I made the order and checked the site about 3 hours later. They were out of stock! All 6 gone in a few hours.
The 110/120/140 are defintely nice machines. I'm on the fence as to whether the 160 is worth the $400.00 extra over my (cancelled) configured 140. The chasis is defintely a step up and the thin screen is way cool but so far, that is about it. The screen difference is noticable but I don't know if it is $400 noticable.

This is A LOT of money for this thing. Been having second thoughts all day, but that's just me. Ah what the hell, why not?

The thread is a great idea. Count me in.

Gotta get some sh*t loaded on this thing and start benching it.

 

I agree about the keyboard...though mine is the 160. It felt a little unusual the first poke or two, but today I spent a good deal of time typing about 10 full pages at blazing speed... No problems...no special "attention" needed to hit things right. It just worked. I didn't have to "reset my finger" even once. It just worked. All keys are perfectly placed. I supposed this could be effected by what keyboard you're used to, but I'm used to typing on a full desktop Microsoft wireless premium setup. Absolutely great switch-over experience for me...so I don't know what people have been whining about.
-Mark

 

I agree that their customer service, tech know-how and basic system for customer interaction is terrible. On the other hand... If you know what you're doing...and don't usually have to rely a great deal on tech support...this 160 is truly an amazing machine.

About the camera/bluetooth delay... That must just be "at present" since I'm looking at my bluetooth/camera on my 160 as I type.

-Mark

 

Can one of you lucky people with a 160 pls share some pictures and more info with us? Is it really fast?
thx

 

I got the SZ 160 (pre-ordered on 1/24) on tuesday and so far I'm very happy with it. I don't have a digicam handy today but I'll tomorrow and will post pictures tomorrow. In my opinon the machine is very light weight, well built, and quiet. I especially light the carbon fiber lid and the aluminum palm wrest. The screen is vibrant and beautiful. I know some people are not too crazy about the keyboard but I like it. Yes it's diffent but you'll get use to it. Biometric finger printer works great. Once users are enrolled you can log in via your fingerprint. However, when is in battery mode finger sensor doesn't work or at least I don't know how to enable it. Bluetooth work as promised. I got an IOGEAR bluetooth mouse working with it and a Bluetake Bluetooth stereo headphone working at the same time. It's totally awesome. Anyway I'll post pictures tomorrow.

 

Is the palmrest the same as 12/140 only darker in color? I understand it is the darker color to match the case. Is the AC adapter the same heavy brick? How long can you hold a charge?
thx

 

No one should be concerned about the brightness of this screen. It is pretty d*mn bright.
The guy who said there was a huge difference between the picture quality of the GMA 950 and the Go 7400 was probably right in a way. I tinkered with the color settings on the Go 7400 last night and the picture was even better. I booted into stamina mode this morning and the picture looked different (worse) because the Intel card was at default settings. That may be what he saw when he toggled between the 2.

2nd day with this keyboard and I still like it. There is a fair bit of travel but as a personal preference I don't mind. My typing skills are strictly hunt and peck anyway.

Another thing I looked for was the shaking battery issue. I did not notice that problem when I picked up the machine last night.

The Sony power brick has a 2 pronged adapter instead of 3. The brick is bigger than I would have imagined but that is something that really doesn't bother me.

Really, really nice machine.

 

I think so but don't quote me on it.

The differences bewteen the 140 and the 160 are only, from what I can see, the carbon fibre casing (cool) and the screen (LED/ thinner/ possibly brighter/different casing). If I had it to do over again after 1 day with this thing I would probably have stuck with my custom 140. I got a better configuration + an extended battery (but less RAM which I am going to buy after-market anyway) for $470.00 less than Sony's list for the 160. I love this 160 but I just don't think it justifies 5 bills more than the 140. We'll see if that opinion changes over time.

 

This core duo processor is fantastic. I'm downloading, surfing, loading games, plaqying with MS office, etc. all at once with hardly any lag at all.

 

Let me put it this way - the SZ160's screen is so bright and clear, I have to turn it down to half brightness in low light and during the day in my office - where I sit next to a vry bright window and have a second LCD screen attached to extend my desktop - this thing is perfectly bright and crisp. Its so wonderful and dead-on with whites in fact that the whites in the old NEC LCD I have next to it look yellow/beige...ugh going to make me buy another lcd companion as I use 2 screens and this one simply will not do next to the SZ160 beauty

As for speed - this thing blazes!! Multitasking is fantastic - I was copying over my whole "My Documents" folder from the server (roughly 25gigs) and I was doing 3 things during that and actually forgot it was doing a heavy copying job in the background.

I'm a musician as well and got my music apps setup on it last night and recorded some multitracks in Cubase SX3 using a 2gig+ piano sample, some strings that are heavy, bass, and a drum app called Groove Agent - not one hiccup and I could have continued to push it further...unbelievable performance and I'm just starting the tests...I'm psyched

 

I think the diff. between 140 & 160, in adition to carbon fiber casing & led screen, is battery life. Now I don't have a 140 to do comparasion with but from what I read from other forums, the LED lcd screen is more power efficient and will yield more batery life. I think that also one of the reasons why the battery life spec for 160 on sony website is more than non premium version. Again this is just my speculations so I might be wrong. Regardless I highly recommend the 160. I'll post pictures tonight.

 

I picked up my sz120p/b at Circuit City two days ago and I am happy with it so far. I agree with some others that the keyboard can take some getting used to but I kind of like it now. It reminds me a little of my fathers old Apple IIC. I can see where other might have a problem with it though. For the bargain hunters out there, I purchased mine on circuitcity.com. It was listed at $2099 but until mar 4 2006 they have a web only $250 mail in rebate. I don't know what some of you are paying but it seemed like a good price to me. And you can pick it up in-store and still get the rebate as long as you bought online (I called CC.com customer service to confirm that).

For the people how have been talking about the Led backlighs only being on the premium, looking at the sonystyle website leads me to believe that they are in both models. If you look at the sz features page and the go to "view all design features" it shows the xbrite screen technology and the three led backlights and the only feature that they seem to say is specific to the premium is the thinner screen (which I is definitely awsome). So it think it is certainly possible that the standard models DO have the LED's but I am not completely sure.

 

No, the Premium and the regular SZs have different LEDs. It's explained pretty clearly on the Sony website that the SZ160 onwards use a more advanced screen technology.