New Sony Vaio Z speculation/news thread

HKD$20,980(around USD$2,700), bundle Office 2010 Home & business.

 

On the HK website, it says it also comes with a port replicator. Shame we can't configure our own like you can in the UK as I would have prefered 512GB SSD.

VPCZ217GG - Sonystyle.com.hk

Added in: Silly me, I think the port replicator is actually the external media centre. I thought they meant an actual port replicator. Sorry.

 

The Z2 costs 20980$ HK which is roughly 2700$ US.

The Z138 costed 19980$ HK whch is roughly 2560$ US.

 

With the GPU being external, what do you think the chances of it being overclockable?

I laughed when Sony had the SF IV frame rate comparison with the Z1. Sure with the shoddy hybrid drivers, the 330 in the Z1 is hampered. However, I can almost max it out with he bios mod (No AA) but with V-Sync and low particles. (Everything else maxed)

This has me scratching my head. I would like the battery life and would just pick up a second PMD for my daily setup, but something must be missing here.

Although, as I type this, I remember the frame rate and game play pretty bad on the SA. So this possibly might be just an ATI driver issue.

 

Is it the Z217GG model you are talking about ? I only see Office 2010 starter listed in the specs page
And yes thankfully they have added a bluray writer to the PMD.

 

Yes, that is the VPC-Z217GG.

 

If you order it via Sonystyle HK before 07-Aug they will bundle a Office 2010 Home & Business licence, check with the "Exclusive Presale Offer
".

VPCZ217GG - Sonystyle.com.hk

 

I see!
The new Z hasn't even been launched yet here
And I am sure we won't get such promotional offers here.

 

^
Where are you located?

 

Yea super-thread :|

I'm going to be lazy and ask; what's the story on the SSD drives? Retrofittable with a 2.5" or no?

And yes, if I get one of these the first item on the agenda will be to tear it down like I did on the Z1

 

Oh, and in other news, the main reason I'm looking to to buy the new Z is for the Intel wireless display function. Well, that and I have a serious gadget problem

Wireless HDMI = poo and Intel's WiDi implementation is supposed to be excellent. Pair the new Z and one of these, and you can shoot your machine's display from across the room or even between floors.

A drawback is that it only supports Dolby 5.1, but that should be sufficient for my usage. Also, in typical Intel style, they missed the mark and WiDi isn't supported on desktop devices, even with the 2nd-gen i7's. The gaming options for streaming from a desktop are huge. Silly Intel.

 

Nice to see you back here Zoinks

A 2.5 SSD would probably not fit in there. It has a single (sandwiched), small SSD. There are some pics of the SSD here: ???? ?? ??? ???? - ???? (page 6).

 

India. And the expected price for the new Z217GG here is 3600$

 

Thanks for this. Yeah, looks to be the same type of SSD sammich from other Z editions.

 

I have read conflicting reports as to whether the 1st gen Core i5 supports WIDI. I realize it would only be 720p, but what is not clear is whether it has to have software to support WIDI or if that can be downloaded and, with the netgear device, an 1st gen core i5 laptop can do 720p WIDI. Thanks.

 

Looking foward to your Z2 teardown Zoinks, welcome back

 

anybody have any idea whether you would be able to get the free xbox360 from Microsoft when buying the sony vaio z from sony online?

 

ATI sucks, no PMD for me even if I end up getting the Z2

 

tried comgateway, borderlinux and VPost and they dun worked...

 

haha, yes, welcome back Zoinks .

I don't trust the press release photos, i'll also be waiting for your tear down

 

I have an HP with a first Gen Core i5. I've been using WiDi with a Netgear adapter (2nd Gen Adapter) and it works great. As you noted, it will only go as high as 720p. As far as software support you should just need the WiDi drivers from Intel.

 

Free xbox instead of ps3? From sony? Ewwww.....

 

Not eligible, but beaups had hinted that there may be a free ps3 offer in the future.

 

probably not free ps3, perhaps a discount though

 

Well if it's a Microsoft store it's entirely possible...

 

Nope... sony online is not one of the partners like Dell or HP (which do the free Xbox, but it's through their own stores)

Just get an HTPC... and set up a sick home network with a dual antennae simultaneous N router on the 2.4ghz and 5ghz... with a server somewhere in your house with 500 TB worth of HDDs in RAID 5 (preferably in your basement where it's cool, or if you're in CA and there's no basements because of earthquakes, under the stairs where it stays cool)

I think the Vaio L (All-in-one) has a promotion with a PS3 right now, so that could actually come true

If you buy the SA through MS, you can get an Xbox, but you MUST buy it through MS Store/online. You can't buy it from SonyStyle, then call up MS to get a free Xbox (which is what he was asking about)

 

that's is exactly what overkill means.

 

Another day, another change on Sony's web site...

Today all the drivers are available for download.

Sony eSupport - VPCZ2190X - Software Updates & Drivers

 

Are you able to turn that off? At least for the screen brightness? I don't always like those auto adjusting things, they don't always work like I want them to.

lame :\

hehe, thought so!

That could suck...

 

I'm not good at photoshop, but a thin bezel would be soooo nice. Maybee next time

 

Oh my god that looks amazing

 

Wow!!!
It looks amazing with a thin bezel!!!

 

Sony VAIO Z (2011) - Benchmark Test Results

 

I would pay an extra $10 to have a thin bezel.

 

why THE HELL dont these reviews ever activate fast bios when testing boot time!!! AAGGGGHHH

 

I'd even pay $500 for such a beauty instead of the ugly large bezel

 

Anyone notice that the Drivers download page seems to be missing the WiFi drivers?

 

I've done some simple searches here but am unable to find the answer to this question:

Does anyone know the max resolutions that the various ports on the laptop itself and the PMD are capable of supporting?

Thx

 

Most definitely, maybe 500 plus lol. Would be a beauty to have so much in such a small chassis. The larger 14.x'' screen would make much more sense with 1080p too

 

The vaio smart network and ethernet are there....maybe its bundled or something?

The sony europe press release says

Analogue RGB: 1920 x 1200
HDMI™: 1920 x 1080

But the gpu site says

Dual-link DVI with HDCP10
Max resolution: 2560x1600
DisplayPort 1.1
Max resolution: 2560x1600
HDMI™ 1.4a with Stereoscopic 3D Frame Packing Format, Deep Color, xvYCC wide gamut support, and high bit-rate audio
Max resolution: 1920x1200
VGA
Max resolution: 2048x1536

so we're unsure right now what the exact max res is or if an adapter would work.

 

may be 14.1" @ 1440p : )

 

I'd be happy with an 18.4" with 1440p. It's a shame even screens that large only go up to 1080

 

Because reviewer's are lazy and if you were to tell them about that feature they would probably just say "a normal user would never know how to activate it".

 

Thank you for all the new information! Is it possible to check the ATI drivers to see if there is something special needed, as for the nvidia gpu driver in the old z series? I think driver updates are very critical when it is a special driver?

What about the performance of the external gpu? What do the experts think about that? Maybe the 6630 is not as fast as it can be over the cable?

 

On the nVidia site on the 330M page it says that a 330M can drive multiple displays and that it can drive 2560x1600, but the Z1 can only drive one external display and 1920x1200 is the most that I've been able to get out of it. Now that I have my ViDock I don't care at all. I am running the laptop @ 1080P with a 30" Ultrasharp @ 2560x1600.

 

BTW, I have tried a ViDock in the past and have been unsatisfied with things like not being able to reboot with it plugged in.

What are your experiences with it?

Thx

 

its 6650 not 6630. And reviews have generally stated that performance is good and on par with a system that would normally have it built in. If you look at some benchmarks such as in the link above, you will notice that it generally has slightly better performance or about the same, and the 6630 in the SA, which it should.

 

Sorry for my misstake and thank you for the explanation.

So the question is, what customization is build in the driver to work - or is it possible to install ati drivers from further updates?

 

Why isn't it the default setting?

 

Theres probably some sort of drawback. Not sure what it is.