New Sony Vaio Z speculation/news thread

I am waiting for Gold to come to the states... in the mean time I just picked up a Crocodile Black Signature P! It will be here tomorrow. (like I really needed another VAIO)

I doubt that will be the case, Sony cares ONLY about making money

 

I'm in the same situation. I don't know if I can justify the 256GB. I know it will just go to waste and the only logical thing would be to get it to raise the value for when or if I sell it.

It would be nice to be able to upgrade the hdd after buying it though...

 

Umm....isn't that their job? It's what companies are supposed to do. It's nothing specific to Sony. Heck, look at Apple and Foxconn.

 

I am not judging it, that is all I care about also, getting that paper is the goal day in and day out. I was just saying I wouldn't hope that the Z3 PMD is going to be compatible with the Z2, if it was then lots of people would just get the new PMD. Have you ever seen a Sony Dock work for more than one model series?

 

Using plenty of laptops with small sized SSD I definiately spend that little bit more and get 256GB. It will make life so much easier comparied with 128GB and its not really expensive like the 512GB.
However if you HAD to go 128GB, get urself a 32GB SD card from dealextreme or something which will help ease the storage pains...

 

For me the operable word here is his use of ONLY. Companies can make money without losing their focus on service or their responsibilities as community members. It isn't as if companies should be expected only to be able to focus on one thing, right? That implies they are essentially retarded or psychotic. IMHO, the monomaniacal, short-term, bottom line focus has been the source of an array serious societal problems. It's time we stop letting corporations off the hook this way. There is waaaay too much rationalization in the name of profit. Sorry for the rant.

 

um, no. publicly traded corporations that operate in the states exist SOLELY for getting profit. its illegal for them to support an initiative that doesn't show a profitable forecast.

the reason companies care about customer support is that it is cheaper to keep customers than get customers. if research showed that getting customers was cheaper than keeping customers, you can bet your that there would be no aftermarket customer support.

ps, providing warranty is a legal thing. if there wasn't government pressure to fulfill warranty requests, then they wouldn't exist

so yes, every publicly traded corporation in the states exists SOLELY for making profit.

pss, you're thinking of non-for-profit organizations which have relatively significantly more freedom to spend their money.

psss, tax breaks count as saving money which is effectively the same thing as making money.

 

Some CEO's like Steve Jobs do not believe in producing crap. I wish more companies were as committed to overall quality of their product. And don't get me wrong, I'm getting my 3rd Sony Z because it's one of the best PC laptops and still beats macbooks in several areas.

 

Hey guys anyone in the US thinking about replacing their order to receive the upgrade discounts i have good news. For people who already did it, this could potentially be bad news.

I called sony tonight to cancel my order and reorder the exact same config to save $237.50. The lady I was on the phone with said that she could just credit my card $237.50 to save me the hassle of reordering. I was like YES. I remember her mumbling "Price protection to prevent cancellation." Im guessing this is what they usually use to prevent customers from cancelling orders, but in this case it was just a means to an end. She said this way I would also maintain my spot in line.

What she did was go through the sony website and make the exact CTO selections and see what the price that came up was, just to see i wasn't lying. And then she just subtracted that from the original price and credited that to my account. I received an email notifying me of the credit and now I have 2 orders in my order history. The 1st is the original order and it still says $2821. The 2nd order's is the same order number except with a letter at the beginning and some numbers at the end. and that order shows the credit.

So if anyone else is planning on doing this ask for price protection to prevent cancellation so that your spot in line is maintained (Of course it might not matter anyways since it looks like they're all getting here the same time)

 

Maybe I wasn't clear, Generic User #2. I am not talking about legalities. It is culture with which I am concerned. What I meant is the culture which has grown in the last 30 or so years that has nurtured this idea that gaming the system and/or, nickle and diming the the customer is an acceptable way to do business and be a citizen. (If you've been on an airplane recently and been frustrated by the lack of regard to customers, you will have some sense of this.) You can argue the legality of any action ad infinitum, which is exactly the playing field on which entities seeking to avoid responsibility love to play. I am well aware of this. I work for law firm. Parsing legalities or, if that fails, rewriting laws is the chosen ground for organizations with deep pockets. Splitting hairs or counting angels on pin heads is the home turf for those who want to rationalize.

If we really believe that companies cannot focus on anything but profit, we are talking about real animalism. All organizations are made of people whose ideas affect the actions of that organization. I never said a word about how corporations spend their money nor about initiatives. What I am talking about is cause and effect. The culture of this country has changed, as those with influence have sought more and more openly to work the loopholes rather than abide by a spirit of community. There is nothing in any law anywhere that prevents a publicly traded corporation from operating with a sense of responsibility to its community and customers. What, in fact, has contributed to the fiscal debacles we see unfolding is this very idea that profit above all justifies nearly anything. This IS the problem.

The analogy that comes to mind is resources. There was a time when the accepted idea was that they were infinite. It is clear now that isn't the case. In the same way it should be obvious that a society based purely on this gaming mentality is inevitably unsustainable. I am not talking about what is right. I am talking about the effects of this approach and understanding what works over time and what will not.

I will remain quiet now, lest we go further off topic.

 

^ Your idealism is cool... but even you see the way it actually works. These are not times driven by peace and community support. These are times driven by false flag operations, the military industrial complex, corporate greed, mass media mind control, etc.

I will admit that knowing what I know and not fighting to make it better makes me just as bad as all the sheep that know nothing off what is happening. So I'll just keep looking out for number one while the world burns.

 

Thanks for the information. It just so happens that I called earlier this evening and the person I spoke to was clueless about this. They said that I would have to cancel and reorder. Guess I'll try them again tomorrow.

 

Thanks CC. Much appreciated. This isn't easy stuff to describe. Yes, I clearly see how it is working now, as I sense you do, but I don't think I am advocating idealism. Idealism is unhinged from reality and we have waaay too much of that. I am talking about making the effort to see what has brought us to the precarious point we are. I think it is realistic to say we are fooling ourselves with this idea that profit above all other considerations is sustainable or that it creates the kind of life we want for our families. That this has taken hold has not made us happier or more fulfilled. I think this is why you want to retire to somewhere away from this kind of culture. Of course, you and everyone must look out for themselves, but this eventually will come knocking on all our doors. The starting point is to look at clearly at the effects in our lives from the causes created by this. I say, we are fooling ourselves just like we did with the idea of infinite resources. I say that this idea of profit motive as the single and only goal, is simplistic, unworthy of humans and a source of great suffering for everyone, including the "winners". And I say it has to become alright to openly and honestly discuss it.

Shutting up now.

 

Sonystyle Hong Kong:
"We are using the 2nd generation..only Japan provides owner-made service which allows customer to choose the 3rd generation SSD. Taiwan uses 2nd generation SSD as well. In Hong Kong, Z217 comes with a 14 inch carrying case and you can entitle to a Microsoft Office Home and Business 2010 Product Key Card for FREE during presale period~~act now!!!"

So in Asia-Pacific only Japan gets gen 3 only via CTO.

 

Yeah, they didn't offer that option for me either, and I specifically asked if it was possible for them to simply adjust the price of the order.

 

Hey everyone,

I've ordered my Z2 on 28.07 and Sony told me that they had finished my build and that it's on his way to their distribution centre.
They expect it to be delivered by tomorrow (05.08.2011). I don't know if that's at the distribution centre or at home.
I hope it will be at my door , but I think it will probably be on Saturday, or even Monday. (Depends which company deals with the delivery in the Netherlands)

My order;
Premium Carbon
Intel® CoreTM i5-2540M 2,60GHz
128 GB SATA Gen3 Flash SSD
8 GB 1333MHz DDR3-SDRAM
No PMD
33,2 cm LCD, 1920x1080
Backlight keyboard

I bought the Z2 to replace my 4 year old ~3.6Kg heavy 17inch "gaming laptop". In the end, I never really used it for gaming.
So I don't need the PMD for the extra graphics and can manage without an ODD.

I've looked at Apple's air and the 13" pros, but they didn't really full fill my personal needs, especially not in the screen resolutions.
I saw a 13" 1920x1080 laptop in a store once, and wow .... I like !
I think it was a Z1.

128GB SSD is sufficient for me, I currently have a 80GB SSD in my laptop for my OS and programs.
At home I use my server to store my pictures, music and videos. If I need more disk space (on holiday or so) I can plug in my 2.5" 1TB external HDD .

I'll keep you posted when my Z2 arrives.

 

^
I hope you get it tomorrow!!!

 

After days of waiting, just oredered:

i5 2540m
Premium Carbon
256GB 3rd
Backlit
1920x1080
8GB ddr3
NO PMD

At the moment, oreder is in processing.. no deliver date available.

 

Pre-orders for Japan just went up, and I placed my order:

i7-2620M, 8GB, 512GB 3rd gen
1920x1080, Backlit keyboard, Premium Carbon
3G WWAN, Intel 6230 MIMO 2x2 + BT 3.0
NO fingerprint reader, NO PMD

Cost of i7 is only an extra $25 (over the top i5), and the 512GB is $250 off during the pre-order period. Decided to skip the LTE module (LTE subscriptions are too expensive for me to justify right now), and will mull over the PMD and sheet battery later. No fingerprint reader is a real boon; I never use them and won't have to worry about accidentally activating it!

The CTO will be completed and shipped on Aug 13, with free next-day shipping within Japan (including weekends). But because I have another schedule conflict I am rescheduling my delivery for another day. In any case, the US CTO estimate of Aug 12-17 seems correct, for anyone ordering from US.


Edit---
C-TEC3 is covering the Japan pre-order launch. They've posted some interesting numbers about which components people are selecting for their CTO models:
http://ctec3.blog.so-net.ne.jp/2011-08-04-4

The yellow columns are the components and standard upgrade price; the pink column is the discounted pre-order (promotional) price, and the light blue column is the approximate percentage of people who selected that option.

Interesting to note:
- Almost all CTO orders opt for the i7-2620M, 8GB, and 1920x1080 display.
- The majority of CTO orders are for the 512GB SSD (about 50% of orders).
- The WiMAX option is far more popular than 3G WWAN (probably on account of 6 months free, here in Japan).

 

Haha, I made EXACTLY the same order. The same date, 28-07, but in the UK. I havent recieved any mail yet. Your post is getting my hopes up

 

Cool . I was really surprised about the delivery date. When I configured the laptop in the sony web store, it said it would normally take 2 or 3 weeks. I expected more like 3 weeks instead of 1 .

Hope for the best, expect the worst!

 

why are SSD's so much less expensive in japan.......................

sony usa must be making some hell of a profit on them

i'm about to pull the trigger.. i am just uncertain if there is another laptop out there that is a better option... i'm going to have to spend a day looking through dell, hp, msi, acer, lenovo, compal, fujitsu, gateway, lg, panasonic, samsung, and toshiba.... even though i'm 99% certain that this is the one... damn my ocd

 

WooHoo.. Got an e-mail from Sony that said "We're now configuring your computer just the way you want it." "In the next couple of days, you will receive another email with your tracking number. When you get this you know we are done and your computer is on its way. Please be patient, great work takes time!"

How long does it generally take for starting configuring to shipping?

Oh, on the previous topic of corporations and profits.. I agree that yes, a corporation has to make profit. It is a business after all and not a government. But there is a thing called Corporate Responsibility, which generally involves the triple bottom line or the three Ps, (People, Planet, Profit). The idea is that what impacts a corporation is more then just profit, but social responsibility and resource management is just as important and without the balance of the three, a company can not thrive.

 

Got the same email even though this order was (re)placed 2 days ago. Estimated Shipped Date: 20110812

 

What country are you guys in, USA? I haven't gotten anything yet.

 

^
I think they are in Europe.

 

Oh thank god haha i was getting worried

EDIT: wait i think they're in US my friend got the same email why haven't i gotten anything!?!?

 

05.08.2011 is to the distribution centre. I've been given a home delivery date of 08.08.2011 - 11.08.2011 in the UK.

 

I think that people will begin recieving their Z2's starting from the 10th.

I can't wait till I get mine...

 

I am in the US.. I reordered mine on Sunday, the 31st... Have the following config. Black, i7, 8 GB, 256 GB, 1080p, blu-ray player PMD, windows 7 pro, No wireless broadband.

 

I have the same except 900p and dvd pmd. My friend ordered the exact same config as me and got an email. My order i didn't reorder though, i ordered on july 13th. I got an email saying my ship date was 8/12 but it still has 8/17 on my order history page. I wonder if the system was buggy the first day. THIS IS WORRYING ME.

 

I wouldn't worry about it. I ordered mine on the July 15 and the status still shows estimated ship of Aug. 17. I suspect that they simply never update the estimated ship date until the thing is actually built.

I haven't had a single e-mail communication back except for the initial order confirmatin e-mail which includes:

"You will receive a separate e-mail confirmation once your order has shipped."

As a result, I expect that I'll probably not hear another thing until it actually ships.

Patience is not one of my virtues

 

I just got off the phone with sony and the rep said that my order showed "in progress" which meant it was being built. And he said it should be here the 12th, so hopefully thats right.

 

First off, thank you all for your posts, I have been coming here for the past month while considering a purchase of the Z2, and almost all of you have been very helpful. This will be my first "premium" laptop and it's interesting to see what you all expect from one.
Anyway, it seems no matter the company that customer service absolutely stinks. There should never be this much discrepancy concerning price protection and the like. I do not know if it is improper etiquette to ask, but that $2821 you mentioned, does that include tax? I have a very similar CTO to yours, except I chose home premium, a full HD screen, and 128GB SSD (a choice I am not sure I am happy with, seems 256GB would be better). I also have the 3 year warranty with accidental handling, and sheet battery. My total with tax is $3000. Perhaps I should just reorder, but I am afraid I'll get gouged lol.
I am probably going to upgrade my Win7 Home Premium to Ultimate via Amazon for $100. Does anyone know if the warranty would be voided if I chose to do this. Also, does anyone know if it is possible to upgrade the SSD, and if i did would that void the warranty.

 

Lol why would that be bad etiquette? always good to play it safe though. I live in one of the 4 states that doesn't have tax.

 

Does anyone know whether Canada is getting second or third gen SSDs?

 

^
If it doesn't say then it should be gen 2.

Say...can anyone point me to a pic of the label of the battery of the Z2?
I tried the search but no luck...

 

I'm guessing that a Z22/23 PMD may be compatible with a Z21, but probably not sold separately, if only because Sony has probably spent enough on the LP connector not to mess with things and it really wouldn't effect much of anything. A relative handful of 2nd generation PMD would sell on eBay to Z1 owners but so what?

If/when Sony ever rolls out a Z31, it probably won't have a PMD at all. Physical media is getting obsolete an on-chip graphic advances will mean most people won't need a separate GPU.

Service and appearing/acting as a responsible community member are simply one way in which companies engage in image building to improve their bottom line. That's not a criticism, just a description of how business functions.

Steve Jobs belives in using de facto slave labor to make shiny, plastic toys.

 

The extra chunk of money for the middle spec is just a bit too much for me. I can afford it, but I don't want to spend all the money I just got.

Definitely gonna get a 32GB SD card. Just need to figure out which one that performs the best.

Oh, I got an offer from my local store which basically makes the machine+dock come included with the VGP-CKZ3 (case) for free. Not too bad. I'll try some more and see if I can get it even lower.

 

Excellent. Mine is still "processing" but at least that gives me hope that those of us in the US should be expecting our systems to be built soon.

 

Oooooh just got a text from Sony. My CTO will be delivered tomorrow! (UK)

 

There was a discussion somewhere else in the Sony forum about this, can't remember quite where; there are now 64GB SDXC cards on the market for about €100 / $140 depending where you shop, and they're very acceptable for storing large movies, MKVs etc. I'm not sure I'd go as far as storing my Photo library on there (browsing my high res photos would be too slow), but I think I might put the music library on it. Neater than an external USB, if not as quick.

I'm also happy to discover that the AC adapter I used for my old SZ will also work for the new Z2 (I'm 95% certain). I have two spares for the SZ so I can keep one at work the whole time.

In other news, I received an email update on Monday saying the configured laptop was on it's way to the distribution centre (somewhere in EU I'm assuming) and they expect it to be shipped to me 03.08.2011. Well it's 04.08 now and I don't think it's shipped yet, but on the other hand Sony are sometimes a bit slow issuing these emails (I always tend to get them in the middle of the night?), so maybe it's on the move.

Certainly I think the first batch of production Z2s will appear on doorsteps by Monday 8th in the EU, and maybe the following Monday in the US.

 

LUCKY!

Anyone know a good cable lock that would work well with the Z? Is the kensington ultrathin thin enough?

Amazon.com: Kensington MicroSaver DS Keyed Ultra-Thin Notebook Lock: Electronics

 

Likewise!

Clearly the idiot I spoke to on the phone who told me it wasn't gonna arrive at the European warehouse until the 10th didn't have a clue...

 

For all those living in Singapore, I've got some news for you. The Z2 will be launched imminently, and will cost SGD $3999 (USD $3284) including GST.

This is the highest specced version available, and will include -

• Core i7 2620M (2.70 Ghz)
• 8 GB RAM
• Full HD screen
• 256 GB SSD (RAID 0)
• Blu-Ray Reader (PMD)
• Carbon Black & Gold options

I'm genuinely surprised at the price, as I thought it would cost something in the mid $4000s.

 

I was recommended the "SanDisk Secure Digital Ultra® 32GB" by a friend. The 64 GB one is a bit too expensive for me.

Is this one among the faster SD cards?

 

Initial order placed Sunday 7/31 said it would ship 8/12 but I got a CTO build email today.

 

Haven't got the text get but just called Sony UK and they confirmed delivery should be tomorrow. No tacking number yet though - they will be allocated tonight and orders are sent on a 24HR International delivery.

All a bit odd as when I called earlier today they said it hadn't even reached the warehouse!

 

afaik all the Sandisk ones are rated at class 2, but ive heard they run faster than that. Sandisk are also reputed to be the most reliable.
I used that card in my HTC Desire and now Galaxy S2 for ages just fine.

 

I've not heard anything here, so I suppose UK orders coming in tomorrow, Irish order perhaps on Monday? I don't think any of the parcel companies deliver on Saturdays here in Ireland.