Lenovo / Sony Z or Lenovo X series - Free lunch

Hey pals,

I have never been in this position before. This decision is killing me. I am not the best to make this decision along. I have been a die hard Thinkpad fan for about 6 years. There are currently 2 on my couch right now.

Most of you have been very pleased with Sony and I have not had my hands on one so I thought I would reach out for some help and maybe become a part of the Sony community.

I need to make a decision. All and any input is encouraged. I pasted my 3 different carts below. If you live in Orange County CA and have any of these laptops, I would be glad to buy you lunch or coffee to get a hands on look at the Z series. If your not in OC CA, you can always email me when you are in town for a free cup of joe or a nice lunch.

Thanks! Thanks!

Option 1. $1360
VGN-Z540 Configure-to-Order

* Wireless LAN (802.11a/b/g/n) with integrated Bluetooth® technology
* None
* None
* Fresh Start™
* None
* LCD 13.1" (XBRITE-DuraView™)
* Extended Battery (BPL12)
* No Engraving
* Trusted Platform Module / Biometric Fingerprint Sensor
* None
* Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8400 (2.26GHz)
* Integrated Wireless Wide Area Network
* Microsoft® Works
* DVD±R DL / DVD±RW / DVD-RAM Drive
* 2 GB DDR3-SDRAM (DDR3-1066, 2GBx1)
* Microsoft® Windows Vista® Business with Service Pack 1
* 250 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [7200 rpm]

Option 2 $1700
VGN-Z590 Configure-to-Order


* LCD 13.1" (XBRITE-DuraView™)
* Microsoft® Works
* None
* 250 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [7200 rpm]
* Standard Battery (BPS12)
* None
* No Engraving
* Trusted Platform Module / Biometric Fingerprint Sensor
* None
* Integrated Wireless Wide Area Network
* Fresh Start™
* Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8400 (2.26GHz)
* Wireless LAN (802.11a/b/g/n) with integrated Bluetooth® technology
* 2 GB DDR3-SDRAM (DDR3-1066, 2GBx1)
* None
* Black
* Microsoft® Windows Vista® Business with Windows XP Professional downgrade disc and Service Pack 1
* DVD±R DL / DVD±RW / DVD-RAM Drive

Option 3
Lenovo X300 $1573
y Part # Product Description

6476CTO X300 SERIES
42X5684 SBB 64GB SOLID STATE DRIVE
42X5680 SBB ULTRATHIN DVD BURNER
62P6054 VBB INTEGR.BLUETOOTH PAN
42V8177 SBB INT.WIRE.WIFI/LINK4965AGN
42X5678 SBB TPADX300-6CELLLI-ION BAT
42X5923 SBB 1GB PC2-5300 DDR2 667MHZ
42X5765 SBB PKG US, 13.3"
42X5912 SBB MSWINXPPROF USENGRCD
42X5665 SBB INT.CORE2DUOSL7100(1.2.GHZ
44C1420 SBB MS WINVIS BUS32 US-ENG RCD
42X5671 SBB INT WRLSSWIDE AREANTW UPGR
42X5876 SBB 13"WXGA+,X3000,W/CAM
42X6172 SBB ANTENNA
39T6439 SBB BLUETOOTH W/ANTENNA
42X5890 SBB GEO LABEL US,WLAN,BLT
42V8010 VBB MS WIN VISTA BUSINESS
42X6295 SBB ODD SW FOR DVD REC VISTA
40Y9213 1 YEAR THINKPAD PROTECTION
42X5821 SBB MS WIN VISTABUS32 US ENG
42X5666 SBB 13.3WXGA+TFTLEDBCKLI)3X3UC
41W2060 VBB 1GB PC2-5300 667MHZ 1DIMM
42X5686 SBB KYB US ENGLISH
42X5667 SBBULTNAV(TRPOINTNTPAD)+FINGPR
42X5873 SBB CAMERA
43R1966 THINKPAD X300 SERIES 3 CELL

Sub Total Sales Tax Shipping Adjustments Total
$1,573.50 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $1,573.50

 

Okay, I live in San Diego County which isn't that far from OC.
Here is my input: depending on what you what, I cannot encourage you to buy any. However, from reading a lot of posts from members on the Z, the biggest advantage the Z has over the X300 is the performance (which should be MUCH more powerful than the X300-as indicated by the CPU differences) and also the screen. NBR members claim the Z to be one of the best screens in the laptop industry. Also, may I also suggest to you that the Z pack a very nice battery life, some members claim that with the extended battery it can last up to 9 hours, even more. The Z is durable, and having another Sony Vaio, the SR, I can truly say that these notebooks are definately good looking, reliable and does exactly what it is suppose to do. It also feels SOLID for a tiny laptop.

I am less knowledgable of the X300, however from what I hear, it has less battery life, less power but is equal in portability; since the Z and X300 should be equal in width and length, but with the X being thinner. The Lenovo is also very reputable in the laptop industry.

To be honest, you should visit a store near your location. There should be many eletronic stores in your area that sell those laptops and you should take a look yourself. One advice is that pictures from the websites and the real product are MUCH more different in reality.

I would recommend the Z though. However, there shouldn't be a major differnece between the Z540 or Z590; at least not in my eyes.

 

That was some well needed advice. The X300 is now out of the game. The decision now is do I go z540 or z590. I do a lot of international travel and needed something to use on and off the road. The battery life benefit is key. Do you know if the larger capacity battery sticks out?

Right now I could use some expert advice on the 540 and 590 issue. Aslo, have any of you had to use your damage protection plan?

Thanks,
S

 

the larger capacity battery sticks out, but i really don't think that's a problem, for example, on my 9cell dell m1210, i use the part that is sticking out to hold my laptop with one hand when i'm walking around. it gives me a much better grip

the only difference between 540 and 590 would be the resolution, the 540 is 13xx by 7xx, and the 590 is 1600 by 900.

the 590 will give more space on the screen and image quality will be better, but everything will be smaller.. however, from what i know, you can also scale down the 590's resolution to the 540's resolution, but it won't look as good (i saw it in real life and i thought it was fine) now.. there IS a couple hundred dollar price difference, so if you think the resolution is worth that, then go for it

i don't have experience with the damage protection plan, but these laptops come with a 1 year warranty and i personally think that's enough.. these laptops are made of carbon fiber and are very well designed, so unless you treat it like a soccer ball, it should be fine

 

Here my opinion. You have to go to the store where they have a display of Z540 and Z590. Z590 screen is super.,also it have more RAM in GPU than Z540
256M VS 128M.That why I bought my Z591

 

The RAM in the CPU, i.e. secondary cache, depends on which CPU you choose, not the model.
The amount of dedicated video ram for the nVidia card, however, differs.

 

What cpu has more cache. Do they both have the same cpu options? My other worry is that I might want to go ssd and I like the fact that there is 256mb of vid ram. Do you guys think thats a big deal? I will only go ssd if the price comes way down.

 

I live in Newport Beach. I have a Z590 with similar configuration. Mine has a 320GB 7200rpm hard drive and P9500 cpu (6 mb cache).
I think SSD is a nice thing to have if you travel a lot and use the laptop on and off road. The Z comes with hard disk drive protection. It works but I still don't want to use my laptop on the go.

If I can order a Z590 again, I will stay with P8400. P9500 is a nice thing to have but P8400 is good enough (base on my daily usage) and I'd rather spend money on SSD or Blu-ray drive.

 

Human,

I'm in Orange so you might have to take me up on the lunch. I am always happy to come back to NB. I had a place on 12th and Balboa. Loved it!

The Blu-ray and SSD would be kind of nice down the road but I cant afford them now. Being a semi-retired gamer (Counter Strike), the video ram is pulling me to the z590. Is it worth it..........

Its come down to this:
Will I notice the performance of the 256 over the 128 vram.
Will I want to upgrade to a ssd or blu-ray later on?

FYI: I normaly change laptops about every 18 months.

The Z540 is such a better deal and my wallet says buy it but my gotta have the latest and greatest is telling me to get the Z590. Farg! This is driving me crazy.

 

The extended battery on the Z sticks more down than it does out; think of it like a keyboard that was "propped up" from the things underneath.

The 590 series has the higher resolution screen: 1600x900 versus the 13XX x 768. Also contrary to what the above posters say the 590 series has a Nvidia card with 256mb of ram versus the 540 series 128mb of ram

Go for the Z i was a die hard thinkpad user for many years and ultimately got the z for the portability and power. I will admit i miss the trackpoint; it's probably the only thing i'd change.

 

To decide between 1600*900 and 1366*768 you have to experience it, for a couple of hours ideally.

OR on a model that has comparable PPI as the 1600*900 model. Sony TZ/TT for example.

Z series will be refreshed soon with Z600 series, you may want to wait. Although the refresh probably isn't that significant.

 

not to sound messed up, but the answers you're gonna get are gonna be bias- mainly answering to Sony. afterall, this is a sony thread page.

but yes, get a Z. I did your comparison and after seeing a lenovo up front, i automatically crossed the lenovo off my laptop list.

The main dilemma is: do you want people to see that you're a boring office worker carrying a lenovo, or do you want people to see that you look like an executive business man carrying a more stylish vaio. Well, this just depends if you are very self-awarer about your social image.

 

I thought I'd chime in because I have both the Sony Z590 and the Lenovo X301.

(X301 vs X300 - better screen I've heard, better integrated graphics, 1.4ghz as opposed to 1.2ghz)

Sadly, I'm on the East Coast, so no free lunch.

The Sony is a smaller square - it's the 13.1 inch screen vs 13.3 of the Lenovo, and the palm rest is shorter.

The Lenovo is thinner for sure. The Lenovo is also more durable, especially in the screen. When it closes, the screen is completely covered. This screen has less flex than the Sony, so I don't feel the need to always use the foam sheet the Sony comes with to protect the screen from the keys.

The Lenovo with a 3 cell gets similar battery life as the Sony with a 6 Cell.

Z590 Screen - 1600x900

X301 Screen - 1440x900

The Sony screen is way way way better than the Lenovo in terms of color and contrast. But the Lenovo is fine.

I enjoy both keyboards.

I think both machines are classy.

Lenovo SSD is 64 gig or 128 gig (very expensive for the 128 gig!)

The Sony goes up to 320 (or 400?) gig hard drive.

Also, the Sony processor is much more powerful.

I enjoy using both, but I think one can get more for the money with the Sony.

If you have a powerful desktop, perhaps the Lenovo would be a good bet.

If you have a Sony Store nearby, check out minimally-used open box items if you like. Mine was used for like 2 minutes, came with 4 gigs of ram, 2.53ghz processor, blu-ray drive, 320 gig 5400rpm hard drive, vista business (model# Z590 NJB). I purchased 2-yr accidental, the nylon case with magnet flap, and 2 blu-rays (buy one get one half off). Total was $2600. I got like 25%-30% off the machine, 25% off the case.

If you're interested in the Lenovo, you might want to check out eBay. I got a new X301 for $2000 from a 100% positive feeback Lenovo reseller. Had no problems at all.

Econimic downturns can have a silver lining.

Good luck with whatever machine you choose!

 

Blade,

How much of a performance difference is there between the 590 and x301? Do you find that the 64gb ssd had enough space?

I forgot to say what I will be doing with it:
1. Traveling in the USA and over seas on 14 hour flights.
2. Watch movies. (i would like to have them on my hd so I dont have to carry the dvd's with me.)
3. Excel work on a daily basis
4. Lots of web browsing
5. Web based CRM (SalesForce.com)
6. Heavy outlook for email and calendar.
7. Web cam with my family via skype video/audio
8. Some word, power point, and publisher

Does either system stand out for my requirements?

Thanks again and remember, if your in CA, you got lunch

 

Hey ipXpert,

1. Traveling in the USA and over seas on 14 hour flights.

The X301 can hold 9 cells - a 6-cell and then a 3-cell optical drive bay battery. But the 3-cell goes in place of the dvd drive. So, you might be better off with a single 9-cell battery in the Sony just in case you decide to carry a dvd or two.

2. Watch movies. (i would like to have them on my hd so I dont have to carry the dvd's with me.)

I think Sony's screen is far far better for movies. Also, Sony's 13.1 inch screen is more likely to fit in the limited space of a tray table. Sony's 13.1 inch screen is shorter than Lenovo's 13.3 inch screen.

Lenovo's 64 gig SSD is actually less than 64 because Windows and programs take some space. If you copy dvds to mpeg-2, I think space could be an issue. If you convert to xvid and have 700mb per movie, the SSD might be enough.

But, one can get a 320 gig hard drive on the Sony and pretty much never have to worry about how many movies are on there.

3. Excel work on a daily basis
4. Lots of web browsing
5. Web based CRM (SalesForce.com)
6. Heavy outlook for email and calendar.
7. Web cam with my family via skype video/audio
8. Some word, power point, and publisher

Sounds like you multitask! I wish I could say with certainty that the Lenovo can or cannot easily handle these tasks, but I haven't really pushed the machine. I imagine it could, without slowdown, handle a few of these at a time, but it might not run all of these tasks smoothly.

The Sony might be a safer bet - I think 2.53 ghz or 2.4 ghz can handle pretty much anything you throw at it.

I got a nice padded messenger bag for 13 inch sony's. I think it makes up the difference between the sony and lenovo's road warriorness. My receipt says the case is the VGPCCB3. It goes for about $50. A google images search will give you lots of pictures.

Let me know if I can answer any more questions! I'm on the east coast, but if I was in CA, I'd totally do lunch!

 

bladebeam1 is giving good advice.

Just to add: 500GB WD5000bevt drives are available if you do the upgrade yourself. Seagate 7200.4 500GB is expected soon.

 

You guys have converted me to Sony and I really appreciate all the good advice. Any real reason for me to spend the extra money on the 590 for the 128mb ram? Thats my only decision left. It might be a lot of extra money for a little ram but I would hate to know later I should have bought the 590 with 256.

 

Can you even buy the Z590 with 128mb ram?

Edit: oh you mean SSD?

 

I would go with Sony too!dad has x300 but he uses x200 instead cos it is better!

 

You're welcome! Happy to help.

There's the RAM, and, is the hi-res screen of the 590 tempting? Perhaps for viewing 2 windows side-by-side?

I noticed that Phil just posted a thread saying one can have a 540 for $1250. That's quite a discount!

 

256 vs 128 MB video RAM is only going to make a difference if playing 3D games or using 3D modelling software with textures. Even with triple buffering and 32-bit graphics, the 1600x900 screen of the Z590 only uses around 16 MB, and the 1366x768 screen of the Z540 uses around 12 MB. So the difference is really about texture memory for 3D.
But make no mistakes, neither is a gaming machine. The nVidia 9300 GS-M isn't going to be great for gaming, no matter what. In some cases, gaming may be better on the 540 despite of less texture memory, simply because of the lower resolution. (You can run the 590 in 1366x768 too, but that won't look as good, as you get interpolation artifacts and scaling blurriness)

As for the CPU, look at the CPU model number. If the first digit is a 9, it will have 6 MB secondary cache. If it's an 8, it will have 4 MB. That extra 50% makes little difference in most circumstances, but when it does make a difference (like when a program loop is too big to fit in 4 MB), it can make a big difference. Some apps may run up to 25% faster, but most will only see a couple of percent boost.
If multitasking a lot, i.e. using both cores on the CPU, it's going to make more of a difference than if you do one thing at a time.
From your usage patterns, I'd definitely recommend going with one of the P9xxx/T9xxx CPUs (only the P will be available outside Asia, though).

 

Arth is right on about the GPU memory and resolution in my opinion.

About the CPU: The improvement of a P9500 over P8600 is about 10% only in some heavy CPU dependent tasks. Your tasks are not really that CPU dependent, except maybe for your CRM usage. Heavy outlook usage generally benefits more from a really fast hard drive.

The following table compare 2.53GHz 6MB vs. 2.4GHz 3MB. It's on a Macbook but still gives a good impression imo.
http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=3246&p=12

 

Based on your comments, I think the z540 is my best choice if it will work on my 28" monitor. I dont care how much I can get on the screen but I do care that what it will show is clear.

Do any of you have experience with running the z540 on a large monitor or tv?

Thanks,

 

It has been done. Than you all for the great advice. Here is what I purchased: $1450.99 delivered (shipped to Oregon-No tax)

I will buy my sony plan from another source to save lots of cash.:
1. Sony 2-Year Express Ship Extended Service with ADH Protection for Sony VAIO (B&H for $129)


VGN-Z540 Configure-to-Order
VGN-Z540
Customization Details

* Wireless LAN (802.11a/b/g/n) with integrated Bluetooth® technology
* None
* None
* Fresh Start™
* None
* LCD 13.1" (XBRITE-DuraView™
* Extended Battery (BPL12)
* No Engraving
* Trusted Platform Module / Biometric Fingerprint Sensor
* None
* Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8400 (2.26GHz)
* Integrated Wireless Wide Area Network
* Microsoft® Works
* DVD±R DL / DVD±RW / DVD-RAM Drive
* 2 GB DDR3-SDRAM (DDR3-1066, 2GBx1)
* Microsoft® Windows Vista® Business with Service Pack 1
* 320 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [7200 rpm]

Temporarily out of stock. Estimated ship date: 01/13/2009.

$250 off VGN-Z540 Configure-to-Order VAIO notebook pc.
$180 off for educator discount.

Thanks to you all! Now the wait begins.

 

Nice!! I hope you enjoy it!

 

Thanks to all of you. This forum is sure different than the Thinkpad forum over at Thinkpads.com. It not that they are bad, its just more like community here.

I hope to return the good advice to others someday in this forum. Maybe a bag review sine I am into bags.

All my best,
S

 

Nice choice.