New Sony Vaio Z speculation/news thread

well, i'm staring at the press shot, and i failed to see a hole

 

POST THE PICTURE!!!

Also, do you know the press release date for the Z21 if it isn't tomorrow?

 

i don't know the exact date, but expect 2-4 weeks from now.

 

Actually, I totally agree

 

Taiwan is a small market at all.

 

Well I've stared at actual working units Perhaps some thermal design changes have taken place (I haven't seen one in months). The units I've seen had no vents on the left near the VGA. The intake was on the bottom...hence (I assume) the hole in the slice battery.

Maybe they even switched the airflow direction so that the vents in the rear are intake instead of exhaust. Guess we'll find out soon enough.

 

you mean NOT soon enough

 

nice case, yeah?

 

^looks a little thick, I would probably prefer a neoprene sleeve.

can i PLEASE see the picture of the battery slice

 

It's uncanny!!!!

 

I'm pretty sure it's alot smaller than you think

 

I was shopping for external HDs and I came across one that would perfectly complement the Z. Seagate Goflex Slim. Thinnest HD in the world (9mm), and the styling matches the Z alot. And it has usb 3.0, 7200rpm, 320gb, and NTFS. $84 on amazon, elegible for prime.

 

When is the Sony Vaio z put on the market ????

The New z 2011 >

 

Beaups has informed us that the shipping date is around july 27th.

 

Very slick!

Are there any images of the back of the dock?

S

 

Looks pretty good IMO, I would say it doesn't look quite as thick in real life. I would agree though if I was putting a lappy in a small-ish bag I would still use a neoprene sleeve, but that case would do the trick for other occasions.

@eddieaus, put the poor man out of his misery ;-)

 

Oh i wasn't even thinking about using that case as JUST a case without putting it in something else. Yea it would be perfect for that. But I'm going to be a college student in the fall so i would need to put it in a backpack, hence a sleeve would be better for me.

 

So I can plug several USB hard drives in the external unit and USB tv tuner and have them all connected to my laptop by plugging in single thunderbolt connector? Do we know if laptop requires separate power connector or it's married with thunderbolt one

 

I think thats the idea. It was rumored before that the external would connect through a thunderbolt/ac power combo. If you notice in the pictures, the thunderbolt and ac power ports are right next to each other.

 

I have read probably 1/3 of the posts here so my knowledge is scattered. I am planning on buying a laptop before I go back to school this year and I need some thing other then a macbook pro. Mainly because the engineering programs I have been using are not compatible unless I run parallels or some 3rd party software to clone a pc on the mac.

So I have been doing my fair bit of research and it has finally come down to these three laptops. The Lenovo Thinkpad x220, HP Envy 14", or the Sony S. But as I browsed around a bit more I found out that there is the Sony Z which sounds like a better version of the S over all.

The problem I have with the lenovo is that it has integrated graphics, and the Envy's problem is it has a lower resolution display on it (1366x768) So when I stumbled upon the Sony laptop line up I was pleasently suprised to find the S. Do you think the Z would be a better option? what are the biggest differences?

I am looking for light, quad 2nd gen i7, and a discrete graphics card with hope fully 1Gb of RAM that will render nicely but also play games on medium settings.

So I guess my final questions are, when do you think would be a good time to expect the VAIO Z? I have heard end of May, but that boat has already sailed. Also my price range tops out at around 2 grand so if you guys think this baby will be too expensive for me then that would be nice to know too. Thanks guys

 

Sorry one last thing, I just read it is extremely hard to upgrade Sony laptops with new Hard drives and RAM on your own. Is this true? Because I would like to install my own 256 Gb SSD and add 4Gb of RAM to the computer myself instead of paying out the nose for them to do it for me.

 

First of all, from all the other forum members I heard in here it is easy as pie to upgrade RAM and HDD... I don`t have experience yet but I`m finding a way to buy myself an SA and then I will upgrade RAM and HDD and have a clean install


but with the Z you won`t have to do an upgrade because it will only come with SSD no HDD options. plus the Z will be special since the GPU and ODD will be external... So Z is nothing for me personally and SA all the way! even if it doesn`t have a premium screen like the Z

rumors on the Z are there will be an official announcement very soon on when it will be released

 

z will have SSD and ram onboard, meaning that it will be very difficult (impossible?) to apply aftermarket upgrades to it.

Note that though Z will have discreet graphics they will be housed in an external box.

Given your pricepoint, desire to apply aftermarket up grades, and need for discreet graphics (if you want them conveniently on the go), I'd go for the SA.

 

preolt, I suggest you buying Vaio SA. It has a good display of 1600*900 and both types of graphics - integrated and discrete. Also, it has 256 Gb SSD on board.

Z21 has NO discrete card on board - it was relocated to the external dock here. You can play your games only being attached to this dock.

 

Correct me if I am off on this but I think the S display is low resolution, so that may be a disappointment for you. If I remember correctly the projected figure given earlier in this thread was that the Z will start at about 2 grand. I'd guess that would get you an i5. Of course no one knows for sure. I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will weigh in on your questions soon.

 

I stand corrected. The SA does have 1600 x 900 screen but it seems the quality isn't on the same level as the Z. See the thread on the SA.

 

Another issue with the S is that the battery life may not be great. This may be an issue for a student if you're in lecture/lab and may not always have a power source to hand. The x220 seems to be the big winner for battery life this round. (But as you say, it has only integrated graphics. But perhaps a ViDock would be an acceptable solution?)

 

the sa has a sheet battery though which might help remedy that. also, said wont have quad i7. I don't know any laptops that weight class would.

 

One can always get the sheet battery

 

I found the GPU in the external unit. YouTube - ‪Crysis2 DX11 on Unreleased NVIDIA GPU‬‏

#hopesAndDreams

 

i cant wait


I wanted to buy MacBook Pro but the problem is that everyone complained about the heat in the MacBook Pro 2011.

I'll wait for that giant Sony Vaio z 2011 to be up to the Middle East.

 

I can pass on the discrete card if the external one is pretty good. I wouldnt be gaming or doing CAD work unless I was in my room or at a coffe shop/library where it was quieter.

The size is appealing but I would really like to replace the stock SSD with a nicer one that I could get after market and install, same for the RAM.

The screen would be nice if it really is 1920x1080 but that is gonna take a beefy graphics card to play at decent resolution wont it?

 

N00b question, but I assume that an external GPU would exclude me running anatomy software when I'm at school (med. school) away from the docking station, correct?

 

The VAIO Z series will be using proprietary SSD sizes, so it will not be a straightforward swap with an aftermarket SSD. It is likely that an aftermarket 1.8" SSD may fit into the VAIO Z, but the aftermarket SSD will have to be stripped of its case & so on.

As for RAM, I've not read any concrete info about it, but with the VAIO SA/SB/SC series already going with one RAM module soldered onto the motherboard & one RAM slot available for user to upgrade, I honestly will not be surprised to see both RAM modules soldered onto the motherboard of the VAIO Z series, given that this will likely save some space & that the VAIO Z series is thinner than the VAIO SA/SB/SC series.

 

You can bring it with you, it just need to be plugged in the base unit docking station (if there will be released one not required at all). I guess it also can be powered off battery.

 

Cannot be powered from battery. Also, looks like they settled on a 6650. And while there's some fancy I/O goodness happening...not exactly thunderbolt. Lastly the vents on the left are actually exhaust (no longer in the rear). That's about all.

 

The external will be at least 1gb of 6630m. There is a slight chance we will get something better, like a 67xxm. The main unit will have SB graphics, which are actually very good for integrated graphics. They are slightly better than a 310m i believe.

Replacing the SSD will be possible, but difficult. Same for RAM, although there might be 1 user replaceable slot.

You don't have to play games at that resolution. You can tone it down a bit. You also don't have to get the 1080p upgrade. default config is 900p.

If I were you, I'd go for the Z. The screen quality and build quality blow the SA out of the water. And it will be about 1.3pounds lighter. And likely better battery life.

I know you said you had a budget of about $2000, which will most likely be the starting price of the Z, which will get you i5, 4gb, 128gb ssd, [likely] 6630m, and 900p.

Does that software require discrete graphics? I'm sure it can run off the sandy bridge graphics on the main unit as well, just maybe not as smoothly depending to intensive it is.

 

NOOOOO I WANT WHISLTER-XT!!!!

 

Well if Gameloft would get off their duffs and bring Modern Combat Domination or N.O.V.A. to PC, I would be ok losing the GPU daily. They have some pretty good low powered games that would suffice in a pinch.

 

Beaups any info on a press release date? and does the july 27th ship date still stand?

 

For the external GPU/ODD or at all? If there's no thunderbolt port, is there at least USB 3?

 

Its probably some sort of super fast usb3.0 like the original f2f product page displayed.

 

yes, and then some.

 

And i guess im okay with 6650. At least its a significant step over the 6630. That would be embarassing if it had the same gpu as the SA

 

Is there more than one USB port on the external unit?? I had my hopes high on having it work as a dock

 

What are they calling it? superspeed usb 3.0? usb 3.1? usb 4.0?

How does the speed compare to thunderbolt (which is 10gbps io i believe?)

U can always get a hub.

 

Looks like Sony Europe has made it official: Press Release

 

"finally officially official" Best vaio z quote of the year.

it looks like they aren't offering 1080p?

EDIT: nvm they are YOU ROCK SONY!!!

 

Nice, the photos in that link shows that the new VAIO Z series has got 2 fans! It should run super, super cool!

Akihabara News

But with 2 fans, surely Sony could have included the dedicated GPU in the main unit?

 

"There’s a full range of official accessories from Sony, style-matched to complement the looks and performance of your VAIO. Many more configuration options – including a Full HD (1920 x 1080) LCD – are available exclusively to online shoppers at Sony Store.

The new 2011 VAIO Z Series of ultra-portable performance notebook PCs is available from the end of July 2011 (actual date of availability varies by country)."