New Sony Vaio Z speculation/news thread

I've been tethering on my iPhone before Android came out. What's the big deal? lol

 

I have been tethering on my WM phones before both the iPhone and Android came out!

 

android users do it and still legally keep their warranty?

 

Actually it's funny you brought that up. You don't lose your warranty when you tether, but instead ATT can trace it and try to get you to use their tethering plan. I just got caught last week: sad face.

From what I understand, a lot of Android phones have it in the software and it's not disabled by the carriers. I think they get to use it, and they don't have issues like I have.

 

Nah, mostly it's locked, you just gotta root it then use a custom room, which, in most cases, is really easy... Then again my parents' 5230 Nurons can USB tether even though it's supposedly a "feature phone" => that's why Nokia got big, Symbian was innovative for it's time... but they stopped adapting and that's how they failed. Well, let's not start a mobile OS war (Meego ftw )

I'm not a fan of apple because i believe Steve Jobs sleeps next to this giant red button that will turn off all the Iphones in the world if he feels like it... JK . But yeah, I feel Apple has too much control over their platform... The fact that AT&T can tell you're tethering through your Iphone... how do you do that if it weren't for some reporting process in the iphone

 

^easy, ATT servers pick up the NAT taking place via simple packet inspection. I'm sure android users will be next.

Back on topic? A tad earlier than week 30.

 

Right now the Mobile Hotspot service is still free on Verizon. Because it's so quick, I'm thinking of not having wired service at home (that will save some $$). Verizon supposedly will start charging mid-June, depending on how much that is and how congestion is handled, I may continue tethering.

 

i'm going to bet that it'll be released on July 14th

and if i turn out to be right, i'll brag about how i can predict the future

 

Is that the announcement date or the availability date? Thanks

 

^ Announcement. July.

 

^ nooo that sucks dammit oh well

Thanks for the info though

 

If the information from wizard84 is correct (that on the price list week 30 is stated), then the Z will be available in July. As beaups more or less backed up this statement, I assume that it's true.

 

you actually meant TETHERING? because i just thought you got the words tethering and hotspotting mixed up lol.

so verizon still has unlimited data?

 

1. Anyone know how hard it is to upgrade ram and harddrive on the old Z? Do you have to take off the keyboard?

2. Also if the Z comes with SSD in Raid 0..i think you lose TRIM. But if you get Z with 1x128GB...it SHOULD have TRIM..unless Sony used some crap SSDs for the old Z. Anyone verify this?


I'm thinking of grabbing an old Z....maybe...

 

RAM is easy, but for HDD you need to disassemble the laptop a bit. There are lots of threads about it here in the forum, so you should find enough information to be able to do it.

I don't think that the Z was sold with 1x128GB SSD. It uses sandwiched drives, so the 128GB version has one drive with 64GB on both sides.

 

Thanks emev. I guess the old Z has no TRIM support ! Eks. Unless you undo the Raid....which im not looking to do. The hassle of changing the SSD on the Z isn't for me.

new SA (new tech, but weak display) vs old Z (old tech, great display) vs. new Z (great laptop, but external GPU/ODD)....what to do...hmmm...

 

Yes, unfortunately TRIM does not work with RAIDed SSDs (yet?).

If you rarely need the ODD and you are not going to play games or do other GPU-intensive stuff on the go, then wait for the new Z. (that's what I'm doing too )
I cannot comment on the SA vs Z1, as I have not seen the SA.

 

hehe tru, the only other con is that it's going to be hell-yeah expensive and probably will come with mandatory Sony SSD drives (vs. buying it with HHD where you can save money and upgrade to better SSD yourself)

 

I think tethering and hotspot are almost the same thing, I think of tethering as providing a connection via a cable e.g. USB, the hotspot allows for multiple devices' tethering via WiFi.

I double-checked my wireless plan and it still says 'unlimited'. This is awesome... Something's supposed to change by mid-June though, if it's cheap enough I'll get the tethering/hotspot plan from Verizon. The advantage is that I don't have to manage an additional wireless router at home. Also, if the connection remains this good, I may not even have a wired Internet connection at home...

In Sony-related news: I guess since there's no mention of a price for just the secondary GPU unit, that means Sony isn't going to sell them separately.

 

As much as I love 3G, I would not be able to handle going from 24Mbps (actual speed) Cable, to 7.2Mbps (theoretical speed) HSDPA. You really can't be serious about this. I mean Verizon is EVDO but the speed is similar or worse. Are you talking about LTE? Even still, you won't get anything remotely close to a land line speed like Cable or FIOS. It would would be better than most DSL though.

 

Yes it is LTE. It depends on my usage I suppose, the most I'll need to do is to stream from Netflix on the weekends. That seems to be ok, so for me there is no need for faster broadband at home But I'll wait and see if Verizon's LTE connectivity degrades...

In Sony-related news: Has anyone ever confirmed the Ultra Mobile PC is the same as the Z21?

 

Latency would suck balls too

 

It's about 68ms, I've been using it for the past few days and the biggest pain was having to put the phone next to a window, otherwise the signal degrades and it goes to 3G mode.

In Sony-related news: I can't think of anything.

 

I use a HTC Desire with Wifi tethering. The Desire has a 3G connection and is used as a Wifi hotspot for all other devices (PC, ...) connected to it... It works...

 

tethering is one-to-one over USB/bluetooth. wireless hotspot is one-to-many over wifi. its obviously the same use-case, but theres still a difference.

unlimited plans generally drastically slow down once you pass 5GB. fair-use and all. it may be different in your case, but thats the general rule of thumb.




for sony vaio z related content:

hopefully, they will CONTINUE to make eGPUs so that you can JUST upgrade the gpu if you want

 

I called UK Sony Sales this lunchtime to ask a few questions regarding the SA series. But we began talking about the Z series soon into the conversation!

The salesman explained that the UK press release (possibly EU as well) for the Z will be 27th July 2011 and that retail price for the base pre-config will be £1599 for i5.

 

That pretty much confirms most of the rumors on this site of around week 30. I just hope it's actually available to buy in July as well.

 

Yea I need to have the z21 IN MY HANDS before fall session starts aug 27th.

 

That probably won't happen, but hopefully we can run something better with thunderbolt, something like a ViDock but over TB instead of express card.

That might happen.

 

I would use the two words "tethering" and "hotspotting" interchangeably since MyWi does both for me in the same app.

Now what do you call sharing your internet connection over bluetooth?

 

Just tethering, but can't a computer share to multiple computers over BT? In that case it would be hotspotting again!

 

Scenario: Let's say I have the new Z..and im gaming in bed..with the external GPU plugged in...probably not the most comfortable...but lets say I decide to move or turn over to the other side of the bed...and the gpu gets unplugged.... what happens then!?!? Does the game crash?? does the laptop crash?? I just don't get it how it would work.

 

you game in bed??? i'd be more worried about your lappy frying your manhood.

EDIT:

if its anything like what happens when your graphics chip fries itself, it will BSOD.

 

damn it i was too optimistic, guess it's the 27th then

 

Or it could stutter for a bit and then revert to SB graphics.

And 27th is TOO LONG TO WAIT AGGGH!!!

 

Where'd the 27th come from?

 

apparently not from you, so what is the real date?

 

lol actually i don't. I haven't owned a real laptop in years...im a desktop guy...but really need a laptop now a days. i was just giving an example. lol

..im just curious to know what happens if the external gpu is in use and gets accidentally detached..

 

3 weeks to go.
already prepared $2500

 

o rly? I thought people said July 27th not June 27th...hmm...maybe i can wait for it....

 

It is all totally meaningless supposition, I mean what have we actually seen?

 

It is July, little earlier than the 27th though.

 

I was worried when Sony (at least their U.S branch) got rid of the Z on their website and replaced it with their Vaio SA/SB offering. Its certainly not a true successor to the beast that is the Z! I'm very happy to see its making a comeback. I saw a shot of the upcoming revision (mock-up or official, not sure). If I'm not mistaken, it will have integrated graphics and then a dock/slice with a dedicated GPU and other ports and functions?

Basically, the newer Sandy Bridge processors, USB 3.0 and newer HDMI to output 3D video?

 

The current Z has no problem with 3D output over HDMI. I really don't see why this keeps getting called new.

 

^ @ Rahul

Those 2 images of the new Z that have circulated within this thread, are they the same mock-up/official that you saw a shot of. Thanks.

 

^ 2 images? :-O

 

^ One. However, it was photoshopped and resized to 1600*900.

 

We need some new pics or something to keep things going until late july !

 

Do we have any information about the bezel? I guess it has to be similar to the old Z one, because the laptop overall is a little bit smaller with same screensize.
I just hope not to see an SA/SB like bezel.

 

I did the calculations from this diagram from the FCC filings, and assuming they are correct to scale then the new Z is actually slightly wider than the SB/SA. Now, considering the display of the Z is 13.1 compared with 13.3 of the SA/SB, then the bezel is going to be quite large. I'm thinking it may be used for placing the wifi antennas in the display for better reception but that is just an uneducated guess because I really know nothing about antennas and radios.

This would tend to match the clues from the picture we have, which show a large gap between the keyboard keys and the edge of the notebook.