My (short) journey w/ a Z13

Been lurking here a while reading the various forums for Sony, Lenovo, Dell (business) and HP (business) and finally bit the bullet and ordered a Z133 from the Microsoft Store.

Unfortunately, the machine didn't live up to my expectations or Sony's claim of 7 hours of battery life and I wanted to share a few points for folks like me who may be sitting on the fence deciding between a sandy bridge model and the current Z.

First, here's what I was looking for in a machine:

• Weight somewhere between 3 - 3.5lbs
• 12-13” screen w/ good colors, contrast, viewing angle
• Core i5 or better
• SSD (100gb+, don't need a huge one)
• 6-7 hour battery life for Windows (MacBooks don’t hit this)
• HDMI or digital output on the notebook itself (not via docking)
• Good keyboard and multitouch trackpad

The Z hits all of these on paper, but I found it lacking for a few reasons:

• Real-life battery life is nowhere near claimed @ 7hrs. 4 hours was typical.
• While it's a multitouch trackpad you have to find drivers and apps to get two-finger scrolling. It's finicky at best, mis-clicks were common. I'm used to Apple's trackpads under Windows. I imagine Lenovo's are better as well.
• Loose battery rattled while moving/carrying it. Not cool for a $1700 machine.
• No recovery DVDs? I don't like recovery partitions, let me use the 6 gigs!
• The screen, while great, was a bit too-high resolution for me. I'm not that old but 1600x900 was a bit too much. Most people will be fine with this, I wasn't. Running at a higher DPI setting was ugly. Lower res = blurry.
• The machine just felt 'cheap'. I'm used to MacBook and Lenovo chassis and the Sony doesn't live up here. Not saying that it isn't durable or wouldn't stand the test of time, but if I'm going to be typing on it every day I want something that is top notch.

Anyway, on to waiting for the sandy bridge models, looking at these machines:

• Lenovo x220 w/ IPS
• Sony Vaio SB Series (will the screen be any good?)
• Samsung 9 Series

Anyway, great forum and resources here no matter which brand someone ends up with. Comment/flame away

Edit: The machine went back to the Microsoft Store after a couple days. GREAT service from them.

 

Sorry to hear that you had a bad time with the Z13, I get 5.5 to 7 hours out of my new Z13. Were you using the stamina mode options? If you run it at full pelt I agree the battery life can be poor.

 

A few comments based on my knowledge and small experience with the Z:

 

see the above for comments on the Z.

Other than that, it seems the SA/SB series will look even cheaper, but that might be just me.

 

If you mean design-wise - I'm 100% with you. Compared to Z and S - hideous!!

Other than that - should be at least as robust as the S, which IMO is very durable, especially the base (not to be compared with Lenovo T though - those are rather industrial machines).

 

I ad ordered the Z13 to replace my Toshiba M400 and as mentioned in another thread it came defective, so I had to send it back... my journey was all of maybe 15 minutes. But I would find 4 hours outstanding compared to my Toshiba which was lucky to make it about 90 minutes on battery (and that was when the battery was relatively new... today it's more like about 60). So I'm pretty much tethered to a wall socket, and I'm trying to get away from that at least to some degree.

In the end I found I actually do want the FHD screen... in the brief time I had it and even used it with RDP I found the resolution to be OK for me. So yeah, I understand it is a matter of personal preference... if I had decided the resolution was just too fine I would have gone to a 15" model of some kind instead.

 

Totally agree. 4 hours is about right on stamina.

Totally agree. Two finger scrolling is a mess. The TP is twitcy. I've turned off all the click modes and only use it as a mouse mover.

My battery is tight. $1700 from the Microsoft Store?!?!?!?!?!?. Man, they saw you coming didn't they. The max price anyone should pay for the Z from Microsoft Store should be about $1100 and change. That's before the various GC kickbacks, the student discount and cashback.

Dude, welcome to the 21st century. Who ships DVDs anymore? Make your own then recover the lost space.

I agree. I disagree about cranking the DPI. Yes, some apps do look bad, but you can selective crank the DPI.

Dude, when I first played with the Z in store. I wasn't feeling the love. I said it felt like a $600 computer and not a $2000 one. Now... It's grown on me. It's a little jewel. The keyboard is still rubbish though. Might as well be typing on a MacBook. Sony should contract out the keyboard from Lenovo.

Bottom line is. What else can you find with it's spec in a 13" 3lb or smaller package? You can't. The Z is the only game in town. Paying $1700 was too much. If you paid about $1000 would you have kept it?

 

Anyway, on to waiting for the sandy bridge models, looking at these machines:

• Lenovo x221 w/ IPS
• Sony Vaio SB Series (will the screen be any good?)
• Samsung 9 Series

Samsung 9 series will cost an arm and a leg..

Lenovo X221 is not out nor planned yet. Just the X220 with IPS screen will be released in early April (Reviews are out and outstanding)

Vaio SB is nice, but not as good I believe than the SA series that has yet to be released

 

SA has the higher resolution screen which obviously is not a good idea. So SB would be the way to go... or current S if he doesn't insist on Sandy.

Besides that "not as good as" means nothing unless you specify in what fashion you mean it. If the build quality is the same, there is no such thing as "as good as". There is only better configuration for more money.

 

As Gracy said, if you think the 1600X900 screen is too high res for you, the SB should be right up your alley with a 1366X768 screen. With the extra "sheet" batter the manufacturer claims up to 15 hours total charge (so expect 10-12 in real life?)

 

Good feedback, I'll reply on a few points:

On battery life, I'm well aware that it can vary, but I was on 'stamina' mode for the ~2 days I was kicking the tires on it, never saw above 4.5 hours estimated. I'm glad Sony is advertising the battery life of the SB listed at 'full brightness - 6.5hrs', I'd believe that more than what I saw w/ the Z. Apple and Lenovo are usually on the mark too.

On the trackpad, the first thing I did was grab the latest synaptics drivers and the freeware app for 'better' scrolling. It was still subpar. And why should I have to do this at all on a 'high end' laptop? C'mon Sony!

On the DVDs, fine, I probably would have found the app or manual to create 'em, but again, why should I have to waste my time and money with this? I do read that Lenovo doesn't ship them anymore, guess Apple is the holdout here with DVDs and now recover USB sticks.

On the price, it was $1599 and tax, I'm aware of the random $999 deals, but I have a timeline to meet so I can't wait for ages.

I'd probably keep this laptop if it was $999.

On the other models mentioned, the x220 stands out so far, the Lenovo keyboards and trackpads are top notch, chassis is solid. I'd miss the discrete graphics as I do game, but I can live with that.

I'll be looking at a loaded SB model as well, i7+6630+SSD but that's pricey since they only sell a 256SSD. Gaming is tempting...

Samsung's a crapshoot, not sure about their service, build quality (probably good) and it wouldn't be a high-end laptop specs-wise.

 

Based on your comments above... I think you should forget about SB as well, you are a typical Apple user I think you should go with Apple again to be entirely happy Apple is always "the easy way to go"

 

Nah, while I do have a MacBook Pro and MacBook I run Windows 7 on 'em full time and am not thrilled w/ the battery life (in windows) and weight of them. I bike to work so I want something < 4lbs, closer to 3 is better. The Air is out, I want a machine that'll last 3 years, a Core2duo won't cut it 3 years from now.

I guess I'm just a picky SOB, I am going to check out the SB in person when they arrive later this month to check out the screen and trackpad and keyboard.

 

well it's gonna be hard to find a PC trackpad that can compete with the Macbook's. I think that new Syntapics touchpad is coming out soon but I still don't think it can compete with Apple's. Also, if you want a PC, you should get used to customizing things yourself because most PC's aren't ready to go like Macbook's are.

 

Hey, you're not alone. I only run Windows 7 (through BootCamp) on my MBP.