New Sony Vaio Z speculation/news thread

Has anyone tested Sony sales by telling the rep he wants to cancel his Vaio Z pre-order because the new Z is far too costly compared with every new ultra thin alternative?

 

Everyone I know who uses a Mac claims that OSX is really simple and intuitive to use. After trying my sister's MBP for sometime, I must say, I'm not feeling the vibe at all.

It is simple to use, but a tad too simple for my liking. Oh well..

Who here would find the Z even more irresistible if it came preloaded with OSX?

I'm from Singapore. And like Cowboy mentioned, the coffee places here are replete with Mac toting young ones. It's somewhat jarring when you notice the number of Macs as compared to the number of other laptops is fast reaching a 1:1 ratio.

 

thats the thing. its actually very similiar to windows(like honestly...you're clicking icons, theres not much to it).

its ENTIRELY psychological(and not in terms of usability design). When people think of windows, they think of the win95 interface which is ugly and looks 'weird'/'foreign' AKA 'SCARY!!! :O".

however, the OS X interface is generally alot 'prettier' or more importantly, less scary so people are more willing to spend time looking/touching it.

you want an example? you ever see anybody try to use somebody else's 7 remote home theatre. The mass of buttons looks 'SCARY!!! :O" so the user never bothers to LOOK at the remotes and correlate the company logos on the remotes with the logos on the devices. It's not very hard to do, and once you do it, good things happen. It's just that people are easily intimidated. If you put windows under an OS X skin, you would see alot less complaints cause of preconceptions(remember that whole vista renaming thing?).

ps, apparently GUI designers hate OS X

 

Yeah, exactly. It's basically the same, only one looks prettier than the other - and that's a subjective statement to begin with.

Btw, my sister doesn't know how to use a Windows based PC any longer. Years of using OSX has somewhat dulled her ability to utilize what is actually a very similar operating system. Don't ask me how things ended up like this.

 

I really hate the idea that OSX is very easy to use- so much more easy to use than Windows.

What I've been saying for ages is that most computer users only use a computer to do a few tasks, browse the web, create a word document, manage music through itunes, upload some pictures. It literally is the same on both operating systems, you click the icon and that program opens. People are so full of crap when they say OSX is so easy to use. I'd honestly just say it's the same, and it's just preference as to which interface you like better. It's because Apple has created this culture with their "hip" computers, sleek industrial design, and all white stores that it gets this cult following.

BTW, I've tasted OSX before and honestly don't care for it.

Right after I got my Z during last school year one of my Mac friends asked if I got a computer and then made some comment about how I didn't get a Mac. I then said that my computer is much more powerful than any laptop that Apple offers, and that's what I based my decision off of. That seemed to have shut him up. But it's this idea that non Mac computers are inferior that just pisses me off so much. I absolutely refuse to get one due to this snide culture that has been built around it. It's also nice having something unique and doesn't get lost in a sea of computers in lecture.

Ironically enough, I've got an iPhone. Why? Well I got the first one when it came out and found it to be a really nice bridge from my days of owning dumbphones and moving more into a smartphone age. Ever since then, I've been trapped in the sandbox because it's so easy to just buy a new iPhone, sync it to the computer and all of my settings and contacts are right there. I'm sure you can do this on other phones, but it's the idea of being in the Apple [mobile] ecosystem that has kept me in, along with the fact that no other phone on the market physically feels as solid as the iPhone 4- but this is all irrelevant to the conversation of OSX vs. Win7 and MBA vs. Z. I just thought I'd give my perspective on the whole thing.

 

i HATE the OSX UI. Everything is so glossy and the icons are so cheesy. win7 looks better imo, ESPECIALLY with the elune theme i am rocking now.

Elune by *minhtrimatrix on deviantART

To above: If you are a fan of complex OS's, absolute freedom, and great UI design I recommend the Nexus line.

 

having used OS X for a solid 6 straight months...it is retarded.

it randomly froze on me twice and it gave me no error messages whatsoever. Now, i know it's unix and theres probably some logging that occured...but now I have to google all the command line switches, try to make them work, and then start googling the actual issues them.

with windows, i would have gotten a BSOD/other error message that would have told me straight up which the error code is so that i can stop it from happening right away.

the OS X interface goes straight from inviting(GUI with high visibility) to unnecessarily difficult(command-line)

*puts on flame-retardant suit to protect oneself from command-line activists* i still maintain I bought a GUI-centric OS to USE THE GUI ITSELF

 

You know what I hate? I hate those Mac users who adopt an annoying, pompous attitude, constantly pointing out the flaws in other OSes (mostly Windows) whilst proclaiming OSX as the "most advanced OS in the world". True story - I know someone who used that exact line. Way to go, Apple marketing!

That's what I hate. The OS is pretty okay for me. It's this cult of obsession it generates that pisses me off.

Coming from a Linux user, the command line is my savior. Bash is my friend.

 

I ran OSX for a little while because I wanted to edit 3D video... but then I found that Sony Vegas was way better for that than Final Cuts Pro. The one reason I had to use OSX died right there.

 

Agreed. My wife has a MBP and I have to admit there is a strong deliciousness factor to it. They have been brilliant at creating a safe, non-threatening and beautiful enclosed environment. Nothing wrong with it if you are content to live within their ecosystem. Once in though, it seems not easy to go outside their game plan. It is tempting to sort of let them do the thinking, but I also get a little Invasion of the Body Snatchers feel from it. I can understand the flame wars I see on other sites. The two systems come out of pretty incompatible philosophical approaches.

 

Slap a theme on Windows. There: safe, non-threatening, and beautiful.

 

Btw, has anyone thought of creating a website/forum for VAIO Z fans? I don't know, I see so many of us here. We should be proud.

 

Z is removed from Sony.s, but found a secret but without variations of the Z.

Z Serien : Vaio och tillbehör : Overview : Sony

 

I'd like to ask a very newbie question about ssd's and their lifetime. Am I correct in understanding that they have a limited number of writes of data and that they don't require any defrag? Apologies for this very basic question. If someone can point me to a link to help me understand the issues with the lifecycle of ssd's, I'd appreciate it.

 

Yup.

My problem with switching to Mac is threefold:

1. I intuitively understand the "spirit" of PCs and Windows and how they "think" and work, having been a PC guy since the olden times of CP/M and the first version of DOS. I am at ease working with PCs and Windows.

2. Why the hell should I duplicate my PC software with new, expensive, but not "better" Mac software?

3. It's very hard for me to like Jobs or anything he does.

 

yep, limited number of writes. its just that the number is VERY large.

its not that SSD's don't REQUIRE defrag, its that they MUST NOT be defragged. due to how ssds work(i won't go into it here), all you're doing to moving data around without getting any performance benefits, yet you're using up that limited number of writes. the equivalent is garbage collection and/or TRIM - someone who actually has an SSD can give you better details than I about that.

 

That would be pretty awesome. Anyone have experience with web design?

 

Thanks Generic User #2. That makes absolute sense. No defrag because it uses up writes. So, this also is why moving all data off a ssd and wiping it wouldn't lengthen its life. Thanks for your patience with my question.

 

Well pretty soon, you guys will have a Z2 owner's thread... if there isn't one already created...

 

I love Micro PC Talk for the UX, I'd be all up in a Z only forum, nothing else matters but Z

 

no wonder, everyone form SEA is so much apple fan boy

 

Is someone willing to do me a big favour? I'm on the fence between 900p and 1080p. Would someone be willing to post a few images of a 1080p desktop, showing the basic desktop, an explorer window, a word doc, whatever? My current laptop has similar vertical height to the new Z, and I'd like to get a sense how big the text and icons look. Thanks a million to whomever is willing to do this.

 

Don't fence it, get 1080P, some will argue that it is too much resolution... but anyone who will argue that something has too much resolution needs their head examined.

 

Buy the 1080p and if it's too small, enlarge the DPI to 125% which makes it roughly the same size as a 1600X900 screen without losing crispness.

There are only two reasons one would get 1600X900, the first is if that's the only choice given (not the issue here). The second is you fear the higher possibility of a dead/stuck pixel on the 1080 panel. (I've got one stuck red pixel, but I never notice it because the pixels are so damn small)

 

Well I'll be honest, I wouldn't have considered 1080p for even a moment had I not read your posts on the subject. So post me some images; sell me

 

Get ready for some terrible cell phone pictures
FWIW, those pictures of the watches are set to the largest size (Extra Large Icons)

 

I was also on the fence, but I went with FHD and have zero regrets.

 

Might want to resize those pics.

 

go big or go home!

I cut 'em in half, even I can compromise

 

I agree with the others. I'd go with the 1080 and if that's too much resolution for this size of a laptop, then you can always zoom/enlarge the DPI to 110% or something.

 

I am also a noob to SSD, how long can I expect a Z to last? Because if I spend 3K on this laptop I plan to use it for a looooong time.

 

what do you mean by looooooooong? less than 5 yrs?

because it is all depends on how you use it too... from web browsing to large video files creation

 

i went to see a 900p Z in store and I thought that was already pretty small. Any smaller and i don't think i could have done it. I threw up some 1080p screenshots on it too and it was def too small for me.

Its all personal preference. Try to go so a store and look at one. I chose 900p because i thought it was a right size for me and i'd be able to play games at native res. The 900p screen is also noteiceably brighter.

but if small doesn't bother you go 1080p. If you do a lot of coding/video or pic editing u might like the screen real estate too. I think the 1080p colors are a little more accurate, if you care abotu color accuracy.

whatever flotesyabote

 

not too sure if we know the exact model of nand chips in the Z. the NAND process, chip quality, and your use case all determine how long it will last. You're pretty much guaranteed 2 years(i haven't heard of a single case of someone running out of writes) and math people will tell you to expect ~5. now, SSD degradation is something entirely different, but Sony seems to pick decent controllers.

 

What do you mean by noticeably brighter? I'm not concerned about how small things will be at 1080p, but if there's a brightness difference, that's interesting.

 

Thanks for these! I'm convinced. I'm particularly convinced by changing text and icons to 125%. I've seen a 900p SA already, and found that perfectly readable, so if 1080p is too tight, the 125% increase will work great.

 

1 thing people has to note that

900p is brighter screen, also using less power which is more battery life

 

Thats exactly what I mean. Its been a pretty well known fact that the 900p screen is noticeably brighter. its not like the 1080p screen isn't bright enough, but if you look at both screens, you will notice a difference. Less pixels to push light through means more brightness right?

I think the 900p also has slightly more saturated colors to give it more of a "pop". Its good for watching movies etc. , but not if ur a graphic artist going to color accuracy.

 

IIRC, 900p screen was also reported by notebookcheck to have higher contrast

 

I think the new MacBook Air will appeal to far more people than the Z2. I think Apple got it right.

 

I hope to go way beyond 2 years of use (I guess 5 would be good), I tend to take good care of my toys and keep them for many years.
I will use this laptop mostly for web surfing, microsoft office, lite video editing and re-encoding (such as batch re-encoding of .mkv files into .avi files) and lite audio editing using adobe audition.

Once a SSD degrades or runs out of writes, is there no way to "revive it" other than replacing the drive?

 

correct, but we are talking about the whole drive every single cell, every SSD contain millions of cells one cell may die but the remain still fast

 

So, the 1080p would be better for photo editing? That is what I will be using the z for.

 

ok, I got it now. Thanks for the reply

 

Interesting chat with conics.net

 

???? VAIO Z ????? - ?? ???? ??? - ePrice.HK

Sony HK will be accepting preorders for the Z2 starting on the 27th of July!

For those who need "financial assistance" in buying a Z, come to Hong Kong and pick one up, or ask a friend of yours here to pick one up for you

US $2750 for i7-2620M, 8GB RAM, 256 GB SSD, the PMD and you'll get a free Bluetooth mouse! Pretty good deal if you ask me!

 

i think it is more expensive than USA?

 

I could've sworn the previous Z's signature editions went over 4k......but that's with the 512 GB SSD I believe.

 

I tried CTOing (at the US site) the Z2 with the exact same specs as the HK version and it comes out to 2969.99$ US (I am guessing this is also without TAX and shipping...although I think shipping is free?) so I believe it is cheaper in Hong Kong.

Plus the HK version comes with premium carbon fiber and a free bluetooth mouse (which costs 69.99$ US).

US version has no option at the moment for the premium carbon fiber except for the signature editions.

On the US CTO page, shipping says 12/8 instead of 17/8.

Also in HK, if you buy the laptop you can buy all VAIO accessories (as much as you want) with 15% off (it has always been like that...)

 

I´m hoping that the generation 1 ssd´s in the european pre-configured z series are good. generation 3 for self-configured z is much better but i have waiting 4 weeks longer