New Sony Vaio Z speculation/news thread

I completely agree. The loss of choice will be loss of allure for me. As you say, the ability to choose between cutting edge blistering speed (and the ability to game) and competing in a battery life marathon - all within a notebook just barely bigger than a netbook - is what initially lured me into the "Z fold" and compelled me to buy the newer SSD version when it emerged. For me, the loss of this flexibility is a loss of the distinctiveness that made the Z a truly unique and potent alternative.

I guess I'd better start being even more careful with my Z...since it now appears that it's going to have to last until some other company decides to re-fill this niche.

 

That is what I am thinking. I am just going to upgrade and mod the hell out of the Z that I have. The new Z is not a winner for me.

I pay over four dollars a gallon for premium, get about 12MPG

 

^ not a diesel ?

 

Probably the optional feature most ignored by manufacturers. They just don't understand that there are people who do not want/don't need/can't have a camera with them.

 

^ Sony Japan had a no camera option. You can also order it like that from conics

No not a diesel, 460ci big block, It was in production vehicles from 1968-1997 they still sell it as a crate engine. Like I said before they just don't make 'em like that anymore. My '97 truck is the end of a long run of solid vehicles. It is not particularly efficient, but then again I was looking at a GMC 2500 a few months ago that only gets 16-18 MPG... so it is not like the latest tech has made much improvement in efficiency (30% whatever)

 

This is, unfortunately, true for mobile phones too. And especially Sony/Ericsson.
That I don't want a camera doesn't mean that I want a simple phone, or a simple laptop. Rather the opposite - it's because of work demands I both need high functionality and no camera. I wish the product developers would realise this, and start offering "no camera" options especially for the high end models.

 

The HP envy 13 also had a 13.1 screen I think. Their 1600x900 Radiance display on the 13.1" was the apparently best laptop screen ever, but unfortunately they aren't in stock anymore

 

^Probably the same panel as the Z?

S

 

Longest speculation thread in the history of speculation?

 

I wish somebody would leak some pictures or something like they do with apple products. I'm dying here

 

this thread has gone off topic so many times...i forget what it's about sometimes. lol

not to mention the quality of posts have also decreased drastically...people are hungry for some new information and a damn release!

=)

 

I don't know how accurate this is, but this is all I've seen.

This thing has to be as powerful as an X1, higher res matte display, longer battery, backlit keyboard, thinner and lighter, and under $2000..USB 3.0 and Display Port are a must. Powered eSata, Ethernet and HDMI are good but not deal breakers

http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/6562/vaioz21.jpg

 

I swear this thing is going to surprise us all and it will be like convertible to a tablet or something unimaginable.

Maybe it will be the vaio transformer. The things in the picture you point out along the edges of the screen could be batteries if the top were a tablet. The little clips on the end of the book allow you to release the screen for tablet mode.

And if you believe any of this I have some ocean front property in Oklahoma that I would like to sell you.

 

i am really disappointed with these new speculations

no graphics card on board? What???

i aint paying 2000 bux for a slim laptop i gotta carry around some dock.. ?

i want slim, fast, good graphics card.

there better be no dock BS, also prob cost more money.

dock = find another z alternative for me.

PS: lenovo can you create a new z-style thinkpad x? like zx250, a 12.1inch with a graphics card

 

and add another 31 pages / two months if you include the first Z2 speculation thread from December last year until the SA was announced.

 

they cant and they wont, the X line is their enterprise class line, it was borderline absurd what they did to the X1, and now its treated as non sacred for the thinkpad purists, they basically calling it edge on steroids

 

i agree,

but i hate how the companies always have to stick to their "lines" so much

im looking for a awesome small laptop that can also play games, and id much rather give my money to lenovo then sony.

i like the x thinkpad more then the z in every single way except that it cant play games.

 

maybe sony's waiting for AMD's fusion series?

 

just release to grad some market
people are going for other laptops

 

Sony tablets, which were announced together with Z21 (let's say - even before Z21), will appear only in September, with the major sales scheduled for X-mas period... This adds some healthy scepticism to the info about mid-July sales of Z21.

 

You are incorrect, the Z21 was not officially announced. They just flashed us a little teaser image with no accompanying information along with a picture of that Freestyle Hybrid PC as well.

Beaups said it's going to be in stores late July and he has been pretty much proven to be credible.

I don't know why Sony announced their tablets so far ahead of their sale date. It was probably to keep themselves in the tablet game, as everyone else and their mother has already announced a tablet so Sony probably felt they had no choice, perhaps.

 

With ice cream sandwich coming in novemberish or so, it begs the question if sony will stick to honeycomb or upgrade the tablets to the new OS lol.

sony did have "design and specifications are subject to change without notice" in their press release for the tablets, so who knows how much the S1 and S2 will change before it hits stores

 

I really hope they give us the option to go with LLano. I loved Llano.

 

Google is making Ice Cream Sandwich the OS for Android as every device that comes out when ICS is released MUST run ICS. They are also trying to get older devices to run it.

They are trying to get rid of the fragmentation.

 

It's called "overhanging the market," and if Sony was bigger, it would be an anti-trust violation. Instead it's a somewhat pathetic attempt to get a few people to wait for the Sonys to come out before committing to a tablet.

 

From what I know, Sony released information of their "Tablets" at CES 2011. There were short and brief reports of this from tech. reporters at CES. But no mention of the Z2 on any of their reports.

 

I'm totally with you on the first two comments. The third is personal preference, neither right nor wrong, but do you not consider the screen quality, aesthetic design, backlit keyboard, and roughly .5 lb weight saving to be virtues with the nod to the Z?

 

it wasn't at CES, the show for the tablets was a separate affair in Japan.

this was the rumour
Exclusive: Sony 'S2' dual-screen Android clamshell and 9.4-inch Windows 7 VAIO slider due this year -- Engadget

this was the press event, april
Sony S1 and S2 dual-screen Honeycomb tablets get official (video) -- Engadget

 

Here is a recent interview with a Japanese Vaio manager:
Original (Japanese)
Google translated

Source (analysis of the Z21 rumors):
Original (Japanese)
Google translated

I did not find any juicy news or details while skimming through the "wonderful" google translation. Those of us who speak Japanese will probably find it more interesting.

 

Lol the google translation is horrible but thanks for posting though

 

in the tablet press conference, there was the info on the new z and hybrid pc and all that was said is that further information will be provided later on in the year, no actual time frame was specified.

 

I'm not quite sure how I feel about the dock idea and I like the old look of the Sony Vaio Z before. I never bought a Sony Vaio Z but I planned to for college. I feel like it would be better if I just buy the old model and forget about this one. Will I be able to buy an old Sony Vaio Z model and upgrade it so it can possibly even surpass the specs of the newest model that is coming out "soon"?

Can I have everyone's opinion? Thank you.

 

I am really hoping that I'll like the new model... but I don't think that I will.
I love the current Z.

I have thought of just keeping the current Z. You won't be able to upgrade the current Z to thunderbolt, the processor/chipset is not as fast as the one in the new Z. You could get a ViDock and have much better graphics than the new Z.

 

The looks of the old Z is unbeatable. And IMHO the specs of the old Z do not lose out much to the expected new one. That's y when i saw the supposed new Z's photo, I immediately bought an old Z cuz I love the barrel too much... In fact I used to have an old Z which I sold off. Then I missed the design to much and so I bought another one lol

 

You keep mentioning the vidock but are missing the point that it won't drive the internal display. It's a neat product but not very similar to what the Z21 is doing.

 

so I plug in this big clunky thing so I can drive the internal display... who cares?
If I am docked, why would I want to use the tiny internal display, FAIL!

 

^What is big and clunky exactly?

 

you know the external thingy that was supposed to house a decent gpu, but since you are saying that its tiny....

 

^Who said it's decent?

My point is this. Current Z, if you are doing anything that REALLY needs a discrete GPU (e.g. gaming), you have to be plugged in or suffer 1 hour battery life. Is it really the end of the world if a small box is between the AC adapter and the laptop?

 

I'm starting to think I'm the only one looking forward to the two-part design.

Would I prefer an SA if it had the Z quality screen and Thunderbolt? Maybe. Would I consider a different 13" if one comes out that's a legit competitor (FHD, SSD, etc.) to the new Z? Sure, but I'm not expecting there to be one.

I like the idea of a high-power 2.5lb machine. I need an ODD but only rarely and am not sure when if ever I would need a discreet GPU. If I played games, I would probably not get the Z. On the other hand, pong just isn't that interesting.

 

since its external we, or at least I was, expecting something decent, I didnt expect to have a 6970m in there, but a low power 6630m is.... terrifying....

So, Im still pretty torn for what sony is doing, If things keep up this way, I would be looking at the refresh of the thinkpad X1, since it would house a quad, and possibly add a thunderbolt port for my gaming needs, which arent that great, the most intensive gaming Im playing right now is Final Fantasy 8, due to talking to some old friends (that is a 99 rpg, which is a console port from the ps1 for pcs)

 

I'm fine with the two part design, it's just the dock, based on the beaups' leak, seems underwhelming at this point.

To me, if you have to make something external portable, you might as well make it internal. I would rather see a 5 lb dock that has Radeon 6970, optical and maybe even a 2TB harddrive that would always sit on my desk than a 1.5lb dock that only has 6630 and optical that if I leave it at the desk it doesn't allow me to outperform SA and if I decide to take it with me it also makes the package heavier than SA...

 

The external dock should be a desktop PC.

Just sayin'.

 

That works too, if file syncing is taken care of and the price is the same.

Although I think the appeal for Z has always been that this is the only computer you need -- you can do without a desktop/DTR.

 

I can't do without a desktop, I need my HD games and my 5TB RAID0 for music and movies.

Laptops for me is portable fun with a bit of work thrown in.

 

What you said is true, but at least the current VAIO Z notebooks can still run the dedicated GPU on battery, no? With the external box thingy, can the upcoming VAIO Z series notebooks run the dedicated GPUs on batteries only?

Sure, it may be just one miserable hour when using the current VAIO Z notebook using dedicated GPU on battery, but I'm sure there are still rare instances where one may need to do just that....

 

well put...

 

You sure you would not change your mind when the upcoming VAIO Z series is released? I'm sure you'll definitely change your mind & doubly love the new VAIO Z series after Sony shows you their engineers' fabulously influential "lecture" videos about creating the upcoming VAIO Z series!

 

With regards to the external box thingy, I humbly think that as more & more notebook companies & accessories makers embrace the Thunderbolt technology (especially if this Sony external GPU implementation turns out to be very successful), I wouldn't be surprised to see that within 1-2 years, companies such as the one who makes the ViDock are going to offer products exactly similar to this Sony external box thingy that works with all notebooks that have got Thunderbolt ports & also provide us with a lot of better & maybe even upgradable GPU options. Because it is through the use of Thunderbolt, I would like to think that those solutions will also be able to power the notebooks' internal screens as well.

Unfortunately, if that happens, then I can see how Sony screws themselves yet again in typical Sony fashion (Walkmans, MiniDisc, etc.) as they may probably lose some VAIO Z customers, for example, who would go with the Lenovo ThinkPad X220 (with IPS screen) & the external box GPU solutions by another company.

 

^It will run the both HD3000 and/or AMD on battery.