New Z model with Intel Core i5 CPU

Would it be a financial stretch to afford the i7-620m? Then get the i5-540m, it's the sweet spot in the price/performance matrix.

Otherwise if you can afford it, go for the i7 since it's really not that much more, and is the best that's being offered.

 

I can definitely afford it, it's just that battery life and heat mean a lot to me. In general, I've seen the i7 bashed for those issues, but I'm not even sure if I'm getting the full story. I don't know what to believe.

 

Wassup with SonyStyle? Are they finally tagging a price on those pre-built models?

 

I still think the bashers have to be going after the i7-720QM or i7-820QM. There is absolutely no reason for the i7-620M to have any disproportional power consumption or heat production over the i7-540M. They're practically identical.

Not to mention I highly doubt that Sony would make 1 of only 3 offered CPUs kill the battery life claims.

 

Well physically what's the difference between them (the Z's i5 and i7)? What makes the other i7's hotter and more power-consuming than the Z's i7?

 

Quad core vs dual core.

 

Oh I see.

But what about the Z's i5 and i7?

 

Both are dual core. The i5-540m and i7-620m are practically the exact same CPU, just that the 620 has a little faster clock speed has 4mb cache versus 3mb. There are no other differences in production specifications or supported features.

The 620m WILL use more power and produce more heat, but only because it's faster. The difference should be similar to the 520m and 540m.

 

So then the question is: how much worse is this heat / power usage?

Additionally, if you're in a low use mode, like typing in Word at school or running Firefox, will it run at a speed similar to the i5? Like, when both aren't being used for work-intensive tasks, they run at a similar low state? I guess I'm asking if the difference is only noticeable when you're doing something like batch files in Photoshop, which would only be when you're plugged in anyway and battery life isn't an issue (though heat could be).

Sorry for all the questions.

 

How does one benefit from more cache 4mb over the 3mb? How is it more useful?

 

Well, as mentioned there is absolutely nothing about the specifications that indicates that the i7-620m should have any difference in power consumption than the i5-540m.

However, I have found an article - probably the one mentioned earlier but never linked to - showing a significant difference in power consumption:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Intel-Core-i3-i5-i7-Processors-Arrandale.25085.0.html

The difference is about 10 watts idle, and 15 watts under load.

However I would want to see confirmation of this from other sources before I take it as gospel; the fact that there's so little different between the chips has me curious whether these numbers are accurate.

 

Heya!

Quick question: What about the battery? Cells? Ah? Can't seem to find it anywhere, and yeah googled and search NBR already. Sorry if I missed it.

Cheers

 

I thought it was a 6cell standard (5800mAh) and the 9cell ''Extended battery'' is 7800mAh. Not too sure about the numbers, but it was something like this.

 

Thanks!

Remember where you read that info?

If using the extended batt, will you have to sacrifice something; cd-player or similar?

 

No not too sure where i read that, but i thought it was somewhere on the Sony website.

No, the extended battery will just make your laptop tilt a bit, cause the back will get higher.

 

Just if you opt for HDD instead of SSD, you will sacrifice the CD/DVD/Blu-Ray Burner/Player

Just a suggestion, instead of buying this so called backup computer, why dont you maximize the spec on CTO for new Z with that amount? or you can just buy extended battery, sleeve case, extended warranty etc.

and iinm, you do have the old Z right?

 

Info about the batteries:

The Dutch sonystyle lists these battery times:
Standard: 4.5 for graphics - 7.5 for stamina
Extended: 6.5 for graphics - 10.5 for stamina

 

We can't be sure until someone gets the new Z with an i7 and posts a review.

The new S also has the option for an i7-620M, so maybe we can get infos sooner from the S owners' thread.

 

The Sonysyle website is down. Could be they are refreshing the Z page?

 

Lets hope it contains ordering information for all of our CTO choices.

 

The i7s employed in larger laptops like the F-series etc are Quad-Core i7s (i7-820QM and i7-720QM), with the "Q" in their designation referring to them being "Quad"-core. The Quad-Cores have FAR larger cache memory (8MB, 6MB etc) versus the dual-core i7-620M (4MB) or the i5-540M (3MB). The Quad-Core chips don't have the integrated Graphics that the dual-core chips like the i7-620M and the i5-540M etc get. The Quad-Core chips can use faster DDR3-1333 memory (which the F-series gets), while the Dual-Core options can only take advantage of (slower) memory upto DDR3-1066. A quad-core chip like the i7-820QM has been priced by intel (OEM bulk pricing) at around $550, while the i7-620M is only priced at around $330 or so.

The reason why they have only put the Quad-Cores into larger laptops, is very clear. The larger laptops have more real estate to enable more efficient cooling (the Quad-Cores generate a lot of heat), while a machine like the Z-series or the S-series are small machines whose primary purpose is not to function with desktop replacement type power, but to have decent enough power while being highly portable.

Also, the FW-series never got Quad-Core chips in the past, since it always came with Dual-Core CPUs like the one in the old Z-series or the SR-series. It is only the newer F-series that has received Quad-Cores and certain other markets like the EU, does get dual core options like the i7-620M and the i5-540M etc.

If price is not a barrier, then I would get the i7-620M than the i5-540M, in the new Z-series. I intend to get the i7-620M, than the i5-540M or i5-520M, if finally I decide to get the Z-series.

 

I had the old Z550. Sold it back in Dec. So I've been using an over 5yr. old Vaio A Series. I'll be getting rid of it once I get the Z1190. I thought about doing what you suggested re: upgrading to better specs, but for what I'll be doing, I don't think I need all that "Turbo". Besides, if something should happen, I'll have a back-up. I would have liked to have had the X Series as a backup, but its way too expensive for the specs. Sony offered it.

Yeah, I may just pass on the TZ and get the new Y series later on as a back-up for about the same price as the TZ.

 

Sonystyle is back up.

 

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...10151&catalogId=10551&langId=-1&cmsId=zseries

 

If I remember correctly, the Z page's "more information" about the proc choices listed "8 threads" for the i7-620M and "4 threads" for the i5. Maybe I misinterpreted this, but I thought that meant these were both quads, but only the i7 had hyperthreading much like desktop i7s? That is to say, the i7-620 was 4 cores each with 2 threads thanks to hyperthreading and the i5 offering was simply 4 cores and thus 4 threads?

Was sony's page misleading? I didn't think that either of these chips were effective dual cores.

Edit: I guess it was. Further reading shows all Arrandale to be dual core. Wow. Well, I hope sony removed that info when they bring the site back.

 

Partially there, but still can't configure.

 

Yes, if they stated that the i7-620M had "8 threads", then that was wrong. If they stated that the i7-620M had "4 cores", then that is wrong too.

The i7-620M has 2 cores, 4 threads (2 threads per core).
The i5-540M has 2 cores, 4 threads (2 threads per core).

When in doubt, go to the source:

http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=43560&processor=i7-620M&spec-codes=SLBPD,SLBPE
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=43544&processor=i5-540M&spec-codes=SLBPF,SLBPG

 

The site is up now. VAIO Z Series Notebook PC vpcz11cgx/x is up for pre order for 2499.99 before any discounts.
fhx/xq is 4499.99. DGX/sj is 2349.99 for pre order.

The whole site is up now.

 

I want a 13 inch notebook for traveling. Apple better do something quick to their 13 inch MBP. In other words the new MBP better have a i5, a dedicated GPU, and at least a 1440x900 resolution display. If they don't, Sony is going to be getting my money again.

 

Just so you know, the 13" MBP is a ton heavier than the new Z. It's 4.5 lbs compared to 3.0 lbs!

 

Since it looks like mid March before shipping I will not pre-order by chance Apple has something before then. Blu-Ray is important to me though; too bad Apple doesn't seem to think so. Looks like it will be something for me to really consider deciding. Weight is also something to think about.

 

so I tried to customize my model based on the VPCZ11CGX one and it comes out to 100.00 cheaper? Plus theres the added bonus of telling them to fresh start.

Can anyone else see the benefit of the prebuilt over the same spec'ed CTO? Yes I chose the same color too

 

And Steve Jobs says blu ray is a " bag of hurt " which means that the MBP won't have it.....ever. Bring on the Z !

 

Thats really weird it shud be the other way around

 

Sony has a tendency to use larger power bricks, so this can be a factor too. I don't need Blu-Ray, so if Apple comes through with my other comment, then I'll get that over the Z.

Also, I hope Sony uses better displays than the old Z. To me they looked washed out.

Whatever happens, I won't buy either until I can see it in person.

 

Yes it is. However, I still don't get the logic of the $4500 pricing of the maxed-out Signature series model. Going through the CTO process, one can get to the same spec (except for the Full-HD screen and the glossy carbon color) for about $4000 or so. Am I missing something.

 

I am with you on this. Apple treats the 13" as an "entry level" notebook and prices and specs it accordingly. I basically want the power of the presumed new 15" MBP in a 13" package. I hook my laptop up to a monitor and keyboard/mouse at home, so I'd rather have a smaller screen with more portability.

So if the 13" is still an integrated graphics deal with Apple, I'll be moving to this Z. I don't game much, but I at least want the ability to. And the Z's video card is the same as the Alienware M11X - aka, awesome for the form factor.

 

After seeing the pre order prices, I feel

The higher the models go, the more absurd pricing you get from sony

 

The pre configured models are priced higher than the CTO models with the same config

I like the black carbon and looking either for a cto or the 256gb pre order.

Also the higher end model can only be pre ordered and can't be configured.

 

As far as I can tell, the i7-*QM isn't a true quad core chip, but two dual cores in the same package. There's two separate secondary caches, each used by a pair of cores.
Does this matter for performance? Well, yes. If a thread loads a chunk of code or data and it's saved in secondary cache, if a second thread opens running the same code, there's a 75% chance of it having to reload the same chunk of code or data to its secondary cache.
For certain multi-threaded apps that mainly process memory (like compressing/encoding routines) it can sometimes be more efficient to lock the processes down to only using specific pairs of cores.

 

Apple isn't accounting for the power adapter in their stated weight figure either. And while the Apple adapter may be a bit smaller, its not light by any measure. So the Z will still have a considerable weight advantage, any way you look at it.

 

Just called Sony Style and they told me they offer a 5% student discount on the new Z. I thought it was 7% or 10% originally... They also said if you buy it at the store, you'll get your's earlier than someone who buys it at home.

 

I hear you. For me, the weight difference between the MBP and the Z isn't a deal breaker.

I want to know if the Sony stores will get the model before the 12-Mar-2010.

 

Don't forget that Sony Style salesmen work on commission.

 

So no option for HD screen yet?

 

So how does that affect me if I'm getting a 5% discount I can't get otherwise? XD

 

Perhaps it means that some salesmen will tell you anything, especially an early arrival by shipping before it hits the stores. In my experience I've seen different. I will wait to see how the land lays. No hurry since I have a laptop, so it depends on your situation...and how much laptop fever you have.

 

I've been reading through the many pages of this thread and I haven't had much luck finding out details about the SSD drives. If I plan on buying a 160GB Intel SSD for the second SSD slot, would it be best if I purchased:

128GB (128GBx1) Solid State Drive with RAID 0 Technology
or
192GB (128GBx1 + 64GBx1) Solid State Drive with RAID 0 Technology

I am just worried about having problems setting up the RAID 0 by adding an additional SSD. Also does the whole taking out your hard drive on the Z series laptops still void your warranty?

 

The problem is that the laptop is not even out thus nobody has a 100% knowledge of what is inside. Thus, the best advice is to wait until it actually ships before committing to anything if you can wait. However, based on rumors and reading the thread and such, it seems that the SSD inside the Z is unconventional (ie custom PCB) thus, it would be hard if not impossible for a owner to personally change it to the standardized SSDs sold in Newegg or something. Though I do think that the models that are sold with a traditional hard drive in some countries might make the swapping of hard drives easier. Though you do lose the optical disk drive.

tl;dr have patience, and wait until the laptop actually ships.

 

I have been doing some digging into how well the new i7-820QM (in the new F-series with 8GB DDR3-1333 RAM) has been performing and seems like what used to take around 30-45 minutes on the Core 2 Duo P9700 (2.8GHz) (with 8GB DDR2-800 RAM) is taking around 3-6 minutes on the i7-820QM. That is a HUGE leap in performance, however one wants to look at it.

I am talking about setting off a RAW photo-processing batchjob (DXO Optics pro) with a couple of hundred pictures. Maybe the gap may not be this wide when compared against something like the i7-620M with its 4 threads etc but nevertheless, the experience with the new i7-820QM has been encouraging thus far, and I would not have any hesitation to pick it up, if all-out performance is what one is after, and especially if one would not mind the computer to be plugged in, when it is going all-out. On battery, with wireless websurfing etc., the F-series with the 830QM yields around 2.5hours (with around 18% of battery remaining, as per the monitor) which is not too bad for such a powerful computer.