New Vaio 2008 model listing with indication prices - FW - Z - SR - BZ

Movies?
I said that it's a waste in my book. I thought it was silly when BluRay players were $1000 and only a few movies were available and people were buying it... the price came down quite a bit since then on BluRay hardware/media, but I still think it's a waste at least on a laptop. The future is in downloadable content. It's slowly becoming widely available. Xbox, Itunes, now Netflix etc... all have downloadable options for movies.

Data Backup?
Considering how cheap Hard Drives are and Home Servers/NAS I wouldn't want to backup data on a slow BluRay drive especially at $25 per disk... In the past I was backing up data on DVD-R, but... it was just inconvienent and I still have half of 100 pack of DVD-R disks that I bought probably 5 years ago. It's more convinent to access Home Server/Nas.

Games?
Can't comment on that. I've stopped playing games long time ago and donno what's the current need for BluRay disks. Although, as far as I know eventually they might also become downloadable once we move to faster internet.

 

LOL, I presume this is an attempt at humour? There are PLENTY of films worth owning on Blu-ray and worth watching again (but I'll admit most movies are crap and not worth wasting even a single viewing on). Eventually optical media may go the way of the floppy but it's going to be awhile. In the mean time and if I have a choice, I'll pick a laptop with Blu-ray precisely because I have a library of Blu-rays which I want to watch again!! It's about choices man.

 

I am curious what are your top movies that you would watch over and over?

 

What link did you get this SZ photo from? Can you post the link real quick.The photos are so sharp and precise. It looks very 3-Dimensional. It's like you can actually reach out and touch that lid. It's so cool. I have an SZ and even though I have the real thing, I would like to see more photo angles and perhaps save them as screensavers. Thanks.

 

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=N

I watch 101 Dalmations a lot, I love that movie.

 

Thank you, Thank you Jayayess. Great Photos. I don't read Taiwanese, but what great Photos. This is the link that I will be visiting when the SR and Z is released. This site will have the best photos by far. Precise and NO Photoshopping and manipulation of photos :smile: Thanks again.

 

good memories by looking at those SZ, eventhough it's a bit dated design.... 2.5 years or so... still it was a great laptop that served me well.

 

I agree. And it's still, for me the coolest notebook around by far: Design, Portability, everything about is just awesome. Other notebooks are just plain, simple and bulky looking. Or there's just too much going on with their design - to messy looking. Sony takes its design over the edge and I like that about Sony. Can you imagine if Bang and Olufssen made notebook computers? They are the only company that I think that can out beat Sony in the design department. I just hope that both the SR or the Z can convince me enough to upgrade.

 

the 1:1 ratio is really annoying , come on sonny is not even from usa. 1 € = 1.55 $ are you kidding me? they're mocking european customers.

 

One man's potion can be another man's poison. I could probably list 50 movies that I (that's me, myself, and I) wouldn't mind revisiting every few years.
How about:

Casablanca
2001: A Space Odyssey
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Alien
Titanic
Godfather
Die Hard
Lawrence of Arabia
Where Eagles Dare
Patton
Rear Window
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Jaws
Saving Private Ryan
Apollo 13
Batman Begins
Casino Royale

That barely scratches the surface. Again this is my list and changes regularly. You of course may not care to watch any of them again.

 

Ahh now, come on. Its not mocking us Europeans, its discriminating against us. Ask Apple, they have the same policy as Sony. We as Europeans pay so Americans and Asians get cheaper gear. And its not even those nations fault. Sony and Apple just treat us like scum because they feel they can. And the EU Commission do almost nothing. So much for protecting their citizens. I'll buy in the US or Japan thanks.

 

LOL! Your probably right, Your Euro dollars is so strong and is probably why europeans pay top dollar for stuff; however there is an economy crisis going on here in the USA, and as affordable as those Sony SR's and Z's may be, I'll be lucky to get a hold of one without thinking twice about it. I would buy in the U.S. as well, prices are probably more ethical.

And as far as cheaper gear is concerned, I guess you can say the same for what we have to pay for BMW's, Land Rover's, and Benz's even though their assembly plants are here in the USA - does not make sense to me.

 

The European Union has many issues to deal with, particularly the high costs. Also, look at their immigration policies. They are letting too many people into their countries and are making a mess of things...

Here in Ukraine, prices are still decent, although they are steadily rising as well. Notebooks are becoming more expensive compared to the prices in the U.S. and Japan.

 

Has anyone seen NotebookReview anywhere? It was here just a minute ago...

 

Good point. Back to the topic now...

Will the Z series offer an option for a back-light keyboard?

 

I don't think this will be the year for Sony to offer back-lit keys on SR and Z. Did you see the photos a few pages back. The keys are similar to the TZ and they don't appear anymore different.

 

That Z series has everything I want out of a laptop right now. Hope the prices are reasonable.

 

I am not sure if it's Sony's choice or a result of the import taxes the EU has.

 

here here :yes: The thing that caught my eye right away were the nvidia gpu's. the 9600 is probably my choice for cpu, will be good enough for my gaming needs. The size at 13 inches isn't bad either, infact now that I think about it, 15 or 16 or 17 inches is a bit large for a notebook. I can't wait for pricing and specs for canada.

 

User 'bunbuns' noticed that on the specsheet of Z/MN a nVidia 9 600 is mentioned. I think it's a typo because the 9300 is mentioned first. Interesting typo though.

 

btw...if I remember well I saw an article before, that 9300 GS is just renamed 8400 GS...so nothing really new and nothing really good...

 

Since your all in the subject of liking what the Z has to offer, can you specify more details about it and why its so beneficial, say over the SR. I've read all the speculations and have heard both sides as to the likes and dislikes of the design, which we all somewhat agree that it will look better in the upcoming week, but what in the guts of the Z does it make it the most desired laptop and why? In bulletized form, please. Thanks in advance for your thoughts....

 

All specsheets of the Z and SR are available in the first post of this thread.

Biggest differences:

• Weight (1.9 kg for SR, 1.49 for Z)
• Resolution (1280*800 for SR, 1366*768 or 1600*900 for Z)
• Aspect ratio (16:10 for SR, 16:9 for Z).
• Switchable graphics and HDMI output on Z
• GPU: Z has Nvidia GPU, SR has ATI.
• Magnesium case for SR, Carbon Fibre for Z (not on the cheapest model though).
• Price. Z is more expensive.

(you want bullets? you get bullets )

 

I did notice that, wasn't sure if I was seeing wrong. I hope it is not a typo and the 9600 is also offered since going by this thread

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

the 9300 isn't that amazing the 9600 is a lot better and for me worth the extra money.

 

Question: The GPU rankings thread says that the ATI 3470 is better than the nVidia 9300M GS, but does anybody know exactly *how* much better? How much of an improvement would we see? I'm pretty tempted by the Z, but the SR has the better graphics card and price and as someone who does do some moderate gaming, it's looking more attractive to me right now.

 

Not quite. Speed is the same , but 9300GS has full directX 10 support, new Nvidia's HD decoding, consumes less power, and has 256MB dedicated memory comparing to 64MB on 8400GS.

Anyhow Z was never ment to be gaming oriented laptop.

One question: European model Z11VN has 320GB HDD, any idea about rpm's?
It smells to me like either 4,200 (which sucks) or 5,400 (more likely). As always, 7,200 rpm will be available through customization.

BR
Miki

 

Further Comparison (might be a few minor mistakes):

 

It's a 320GB, probably 5400rpm but could be 7200rpm. The SR/VN has 7200rpm so maybe Z has too.

It often happens that 7200rpm drives are outperformed by 5400rpm drives. I recently replaced a 7200rpm with a 5400 rpm drive, and the system is now faster. Link.

 

So we've seen the RRP of the SR at 1200E, what do you think would be a realistic online price for the base model?

trying to decide on whether to pick up an SZ on ebay or try and reach for a new SR

 

Does anyone have information on approximate battery life for the SR vs TZ vs Z?

 

No, but I like to speculate. With low load, low brightness and wifi enabled, TZ can get 7 hours, SR to 4 hours, Z to 4.5hours.

 

[OT, I realise... but 'real quick' as Gee said]

Thanks very much, I'm glad you liked them!

I'm very much an amateur - got into photography about 5 years back. I've only ever done one 'pro' job - my best friend's sister's wedding. Most photos in my gallery were taken with a Canon 20D or 40D (pre-2005 shots were taken with Fujifilm digicams). I use various lenses from 10mm to 400mm, mostly zooms but my favourite lens is my 50mm f/1.4 prime.

I've never used a Sony camera (yet), so not sure of the possibilities with T1 or T7 models. For some shots, e.g. very shallow depth of field, you will need an SLR (like the Sony Alpha series I guess) and a fast lens (low f-number).

Right, I'm sure everyone is bored of photo talk in this thread now but feel free to PM me if you like.

 

So, clear out for me - the new Z-series will come to substitute an SZ-series, right?

 

that would be very disappointing. i mean it is the new platform, it should offer more than that...

 

true that.

 

I am so so worried that between the release of so many netbooks and the Z at a 1.49kg weight Sony may decide that a revised TZ no longer has a place in the new range, or at least not an important one they should concentrate R+D on. Anyone have any ideas as I really wanna see a TZ mark 3.

 

Well I was told by a Sony sales rep that there's a TZ41 on the way soon. But I'm assuming that will be a refreshed/upgraded spec. - bigger HDD, faster CPU, etc - rather than a whole new version.

Everyone is assuming there's going to be a Montevina TZ later on in the year or maybe early 2009... but I guess that depends on whether machines like the TZ keep selling despite the onslaught of cheapo netbooks like the Wind, Eee, Dell E, etc, etc. The TZ fills a niche between the cheap and slow netbooks and the more powerful 13.3" models. Personally I don't think Sony will give up on the TZ size machines quite yet as they've arguably led the market in that area for the last few years. Just my 2p.

 

True! I'm not an expert in this field, but from what I know speed is important but not crucial issue. It has something to do with HDD capacity/density, if I understand correctly more HDD capacity means less seek time. So, yes it can happen that for example 320 GB 5,400rpm performs better then 160GB 7,200rpm.

I have SZ customized with 7,200rpm (200GB), but if Z11VN is with 320GB 5,400rpm I will not upgrade to 7,200 as my HDD runs pretty hot (regardless of what "independant" tests say).

Cheers,
Miki

 

Well it would be interesting to find out what specific drive you have because not every 7200rpm gets hot. In a couple of weeks (or sooner) there'll be extensive benchmarks on the latest generation 320GB 7200rpm drives. I'm expecting the Western Digital Black Scorpio to remain rather cool.

 

Its due to greater aureal density of the platters. The data on larger capacity drives of the same dimensions (3.5", 2.5" etc) is packed closer to together so the heads have less distance to travel to get to the requested data. Including the heat issue mentioned by miki69 I am gonna upgrade my forthcoming TZ revision to a Samsung M6 500gb 5400rpm drive for capacity, low heat, lower power draw due to the lower rpm and usually lower noise from a 5400 rpm over a 7200 from the same manufacturer and same series (just my own observations).

 

Ahh the noise, I have forgot about that. I have Mat****a (Panasonic) 200GB 7,200rpm's and when noise starts it like Harrier take off

 

I had a Seagate 80Gb 7200rpm which was completely quiet.

Here's how much noise 2.5" drives make and how much power they draw. As you can see some 7200rpm drives make less noise and draw less power than 5400rpm drives.

 

Nice article, but my problem is that I don't have much of a choice when I buy from notebook.de website, there is no choice of this or that HDD, and if I do it by myself (good guess) my warranty is void. That's why I'm kind of "stuck" with either original sony's HDD or notebook.de current stock.

 

I have a hitachi 200GB 7200rpm in my SZ and it's never gotten past noticably warm. Also the HDD noise is typically less than the fan. It's very fast and I'd say that incidences of a 5400 outperforming a 7200 would be highly manufacturer/model dependent.

 

This is similar to what I was thinking although I'd like for Sony to prove us wrong . Looks like the TZ is still my favourite for now

 

Is Sony able to notice if you opened up your SZ, if you do it really clean?

 

If you're looking for maximum battery life the TZ is still king of the hill.
Z packs a lot more horsepower though.

 

It's like this: when I receive notebook from notebook.de I have warranty list from Sony (of course) and inside everything is listed: what kind of memory, GPU, HDD (capacity and model no). I remember having problems with Sony 'cause I have opened my old FS for cleaning (Sony guys first check screws as if you have unscrewed them you peel a bit of original black paint with your screwdriver, that's how they know it was opened). They have accepted this as the end, so my warranty was not cancelled, but after this "experience" I don't touch anything until warrany is over (2 years, or with surcharge 3 years). And knowing me, my warranty never expires as I always change laptop before.

Maybe US is different.

 

It's good to know, and I live in Niederlande by the way

But I might just order at Notebook.de and tell them which harddrive I want.

 

good to know, neighbour

EDIT: They are very good, have OK rates, follow deadlines, I'm pretty much content with their service.

here is another nice comparison of 2.5" HDD's (speed, capacity, noise, heat...)
http://laptoplogic.com/reviews/detail.php?id=92&page=1

but let's get back to Vaio 2008 lineup