New Sony Vaio Z speculation/news thread

so... is thunderbolt available? i thought i read that it would only work with the pmd

 

First, remember that in this case, it's not thunderbolt. Thunderbolt is the trading name of light peak in the case of a display port used with this technology, and it's a trade mark by Apple. Using a USB 3.0 it's a sort of light peak.. and at the moment, there's no additional hint about the possibilità of use with other peripherics (maybe with adaptor) to attach in.

We'll have to wait Sony to speak and to wait third party announces..

 

1) thunderbolt aint trademarked by apple
2) thunderbolt is lightpeak, the latter versions with fiber are/should be compatible with what we have now
3) more than probably there wont be adapters for the sony solution the USB implementers forum already vetted anything using the USB connector

 

Sorry, my mistake.

 

Wow!

Yes, you have "bragging rights". So post a review and most importantly, photos.

 

It depends on what other manufacturers do. Eventually, Dell, et al will implement some version of TB/LP. Whether they use the Apple or Sony implementation scheme is yet to be determined. Other companies could always come up with their own version(s) although that seems unlikely.

 

That's not 100% true, Apple has an application on-file with the US PTO for the term "Thunderbolt", but it hasn't been reviewed yet.

 

Is the new Z going to have a 1080p screen? If not, its quite disappointing.

 

It's been stated multiple times in this thread that it does have a 1080p option. If you didn't want to read the last few pages a simple google search would have given you your answer. It's quite disappointing that people don't like to put in 1 minute worth of effort before posting silly questions

 

Yes, but it's optional.

 

How will that work for travellers, though? Is it capable of handling anything from 100-250 V 50-60Hz, or would one need multiple modules?

 

could you show me the file number?

seems very unlikely, as I said the USB consortium or whatever is not going to let the USB be used like that, they didnt cringe on the esata combo, because that was something that wasnt going to fly, as it didnt, but USB 3 is on a quest of hearts and minds, and with thunderbolt being faster its going to be a though competition. Thunderbolt is a port that is a jack of all trades

and more than probably intel is not going to let other ports be used, since it will render the thunderbolt move completely useless with a diversified ecosystem of ports and products, for example I buy a hd that works on the mdp port, but it wont work on the usb one, unless I buy an adapter, people dont like that, it should work always at all times the user wants

we want easy, we dont want hard

 

Don't most chargers work internationally now anyway?

 

There's a good article on Sony's implementation of TB/LP here, How Sony accidentally did the right thing with Light Peak | This is my next....

The article discusses the USB Implementers Forum. Of note, the article also states:

 

agreed. you still need to be slightly careful though, duvets are a stiff surface and could just end up ruffling up around the edges of the lappy and you're back to where you started.

personally, having my MBP on top of my blanket on top of me is wayyy too warm. Hopefully, the Z's sheet battery doesn't warm up - apparently, the envy's sheet battery was very good at being a 'heat shield'.

you're describing what SHOULD happen [for the 'greater good']. not necessarily what will.

for instance, how the hell did Sony get away with doing this in the first place?

 

PTO SN 85314959
Owner: Apple, Inc., 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino

 

Should go bundled with the battery. As in SA/SB series.

 

Apparently not. I've contacted Sony to see if there is going to be any other dock or power dock with DVI and been told no.

The only alternatives I've found are the Lenovo x220 and the HP 2560p - both can do 2560x1600 over DP. Neither have the design, weight or screen resolution of the Z, although the are pros as well as cons. The Lenovo has an IPS LCD and is a solid piece of kit with a nice keyboard and a dock with DVDR, and the HP has an optical drive on board and can run 16GB RAM, although it's heavy enough to be considered not really comparable and it's silver finish looks a bit trashy in photos. Both take standard memory and HDDS which can be easily changed.

I'm still undecided. I had a first look at the SA and SB yesterday but was not enormously impressed. Both felt poor compared to my Z, and the 1600 screen of the SA is not nearly as good as the Z panel.

S

 

Is there going to be a smaller version of thie new vaio z? like there was a tt version of the old vaio z...

 

x220 HDD is 2.5" but 7mm height so options are limited. There's a long thread on compatible drives here.

 

Thanks - I'm aware but was trying not to over-complicate a post about other machines within the Z thread. That it's easily changed is a good plus, although there are limitations. If I go for it then it seems to mean Intel 320 is default choice for SSD on it.

Cheers,

S

 

Videos - HardwareZone.com

 

What color Z was that on the outside? I liked it.

Also, does anyone know where in the Twin Cities, Minnesota I could see and feel the Z in person? Will the Microsoft Stores have them in stock?

 

I'm confused... so no two separate power bricks?
wasn't there two power bricks that came with this "kit"?

one to charge just the lappy and the other to power the lappy + PMD?

 

Gold. Its the color of the Signature Edition, but is also availble through CTO

https://shop.sony.co.uk/shop/ipc/di...cCharGroupName=$BASE_GROUP&isHideActive=)/.do

Yes, but judging from the pictures it looks like there might be a 3rd one for when charging the sheet battery only.

 

No, it aint happening for the greater good, I would imagine the R&D on there chips didnt come as free, to get to a multiple ports scenario is rather unlikely, but borderline suicide. What you want is to aggregate not to disperse.

Sony and apple were partners in the development of the thunderbolt, thus they get it earlier, however the price of the cable is killing me, I do now that apple jacks the price of every cable or accessory they sell...

thank you, but that is unlikely to fly

 

This thread gets like 100 posts a day so I don't know if this video has been posted already.

YouTube - ‪Sony VAIO Z laptop video demo‬‏

 

its been kinda slow lately actually =/

 

Are you sure it's the gold color? It is black on the inside and an aluminum - goldish color on the outside. With the option of gold on that website, it is gold on the outside and brown on the inside.

 

That's a really great article. Everyone debating the Thunderbolt implementation on the Z should read it.

Just suppose the standard did fragment into two things as follows.

#1 "Thunderbolt":
-copper
-mini display port plug
-mini display port compatible
-10 Gbps

#2 "Light Peak":
-copper + fiber optic
-USB 3 port
-USB3 +USB2 compatible
-100 Gbps

... just on paper, without the standards or who was first precedent, would anyone choose #1? I'm guessing only those that want the mini display port for their 1920X+ monitors, but they'll still need an adapter for mini DisplayPort to DisplayPort. I assume both #1 and #2 were designed by Intel to be capable of that task.

 

So.. it's "sure" that light peak inside Z... is THAT light peak (I mean.. with the presence o optic fiber)?? And.. USB 3.0/light peak in Z.. is connected to PCIE in wich modality?? 4X? 8X?

 

Time will tell whether or not we see 3rd party support here. But ask yourself 2 questions

1.) who's the big player in the USB-IF?
2.) who designed the light peak implementation Sony is using?

Hint: The answer to both questions is Intel.

 

oh damn, no expresscard 34mn anymore in this new Z ?
How will I be able to connect my eGPU (formerly known as diy vidock) now...

 

so why did intel veto itself?

the other problem is the connector problem, why would intel launch thunderbolt with the mac, and announce product availability in the summer?

To own several cables just to use thunderbolt dont make sense, nor to buy adapters. People want it simple, it has to work all the time that I want it to.

The thing with standard is its standard, there are small variations, but they follow a visible pattern. Its illogical to follow an ecosystem diversified when you are competing with product that has already traction in the market

Why did intel delay so much the implementation of USB 3 in the chipset?

And sure only time will tell. But from an economic point of view it doesnt make sense, if it were another market sure the diversification of the product would lead to a dissolution of the lead that the other brand has, specially if you attack in all segments that the company aint the leader by a large margin. Although it would pay to weaken the other brand, your brand would be devaluated since it has spread so far and so much and lost the essence of the former products.

Im reading a MIT study that tells how people react under pressure, and they usually go with the first idea, that has little flaws, there is no clear rationalization nor weighting of different propositions, its almost like a shark, stop swimming and you die, and thats our behaviour regarding tech, specially computers, you skim through your web pages, you dont want to think you want it to work.

 

^understood. Really, we have to understand the mission behind lightpeak. It was never designed to be USB 4 or FireWire 3. It was created to support different physical mediums, transports, connectors, etc. All I can say is intel worked very closely with Sony on this one (internally it's called converged I/O). I'm not optimistic we will see third party support, but we will see. We hasn't exactly seen third party support for apples implementation either. He'll, they just released the first cable 2 weeks ago?

 

the new port will be call "SS", Sony will be releasing a new external hard drive with SS port. i don't really know what "SS" stands for though.

 

Schutzstaffel. Certain abbreviations are probably best avoided even 60 years later. (Let's just hope Sony never extends this naming to an SS-TV)

 

it's obviously the Super Sexy port

 

I'm scared that one of the "S"s is for "Sony", hence proprietary.

Thanks for the info.

 

Looks like you may get three. One for the PC, one for the PMD, and one for the sheet battery. The bag for carrying it all might make the Osborne 1 look more attractive again.

 

i lol'ed

 

What kind of external drive? SSD or conventional HDD?

 

Interesting article

How Sony accidentally did the right thing with Light Peak | This is my next...

 

At least all my USB3.0 devices are "called" SS -> SuperSpeed. So no surprise there I'd say. They will just release USB3.0 devices for the Z -> In this case an external USB3 hard drive.

 

wth...do you want everyone sharing the same port or not? I was saying I AGREE with the idea that everyone should use MDP.

EDIT: continuing on. I don't think the issue is that everybody will develop their own implementation of lightpeak, rather, will other manufacturers pick lightpeak/SS OR will they choose thunderbolt. I just wonder if there will be a 'PC/Mac' divide over this issue.

 

I went back several pages and i saw that miki69 posted a kunkoku youtube video on the 5th.
There are some comparison pictures and links to videos on their website that I think was not posted. Here are the links.
???????????:New VAIO Z Series????????????
???????????:VAIO???????????????????????????VAIO Z?????????
???????????:VAIO???????????????????????????VAIO Z?????????
???????????:VAIO???????????????????????????VAIO Z?????????

 

What's the gold laptop that's bigger than the Z when the Z's stacked on top?

 

The smaller laptop i think is an 11.1 X series and the bigger laptop the Z.The smaller notebook looks like an 11.1 anyway.

 

There are some great comparison pictures on that site thanks Rachel. First time I have gotten an actual idea of the real size of it. I noticed they compare it to both the VPC-Z1 and SB.

 

nice catch Rachel.







too bad those image are not hi-res.

Cheers,
Miki