New Z model with Intel Core i5 CPU

The lower resolution screen (1600x900) is 900p, which is between 720p and 1080p.

 

Oh, that's not bad at all. All my TV's are 720p anyway. And if I understand HD, most TV shows are shown in 720 (though Blu-Ray can go up to 1080). Still, on a screen this small, will we even notice a difference in the HD-ness?

 

anyone know which co's RAM piece(4GB stick) sony uses? I want to buy an additional stick from the same brand to pair it up. Thanks!

 

I've read in one of the japanese reviews that the Full HD Z comes with an .icc profile.

 

I am taking it for granted the bare bones silver 2.4 ghz and the 2.53 Ghz 256 GB premium models will be the ones to hit store shelves at $1899 and $2499. I doubt the top glossy premium carbon fiber $4499 model would show up unless Sony wants some of their in-store customers to fall out from sticker shock and require CPR.

 

That's good news. It should help the great majority of people who don't buy a colour calibration device and make their own profile. It will be far from perfect, but it will almost certainly help. Perhaps especially for printing, but even for web browsing (as long as people stop using Internet Explorer, that is - it doesn't do ICC information) and uploading pictures to the web -- people with different monitors won't wonder why your skin is so purple when it looks fine to you.

 

Does this mean the Blu-Ray equipped Z cannot play 3D when movies like Avatar come out this summer?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJwODudeU0w&feature=channel

If true then I'm skipping Blu-Ray on my Z and may consider buying 3D enabled set top device when it comes out.

 

Depending what cellphone you use you can just tether the Z to it and have internet without requiring a seperate data plan. That is what I always do as I don't feel it's right for them to charge for 2 service plans, one for your phone and one for your laptop.

 

Zii....

 

I dont have a data plan on my phone nor do I want one, so I wouldnt really have two data plans. Verizon charges a whopping $60 in all for their tethering plans (something like $45 plus $15 for tethering) so its really a better deal to get the Mobile Broadband plan for $60 and thus allow multiple devices free wifi (via cradle point or mifi)

Im limited with battery life in this case though, so I would have liked the built in for my laptop and then perhaps the Mifi/Cradle point if I ever get any other devices that need mobile wifi. All with one mobile broadband plan of $60.

 

ATT unlimited data is $30. I tether my iPhone wirelessly to my laptop. Are you sure verizon will charge an extra $60 to your phone bill if you add unlimited data? Doesn't sound right. Not sure what you are saying.

Phone Battery life is a moot point since USB charges the phone if plugged into a wall or laptop or vehicle.
My total iPhone bill is $82 including unlimited Data and all other taxes/charges. Actually it is $39 for the calling plan combined with $30 for the unlimited data. For me to get only a $40/month calling plan and then get a $60/month card or USB dongle for my laptop does not make sense.
But then I am jailbreaking and I understand iPhones produced after October 2009 have different firmware installed that complicates matters.

 

What's a GB Premium model? Anyway, I expect the base silver model to hit retail stores too. I question whether any premium carbon black will be stocked at retail shops, as it may be exclusive only through Sony, as in the current Z. However, Fry's did carry the SZ/XC at one time, but never the Z/XC, so I'm hoping Sony this time around will allow Stores to sell, other than the Silver. When I got my Z550, about a month after its debut/release, Fry's discounted it by $300. I'm hoping the same for the new Z.

 

Ouch! Yea mine is only 24.95 a month for the phone and I don't pay anything for the tether. The tether sets up my phone as a WiFi access point so any device with wifi can use it. Those prices are outrageous for Verizon though, I wouldn't do it either for that much money!

 

^ Verizon is the most expensive provider

The Unlimited verizon data plan is $45. It equals out to $60 after you factor in the additional $15 charge for tethering.

As for the battery life, I was referring to the Cradlepoint or Mifi set up.

 

I tested my current Z's battery life using the EVDO modem plugged directly into the Z and then I tested it again with the EVDO modem plugged into the Cradlepoint router. Using 802.11n wifi and the Cradlepoint gave me an increase of battery life by 90 minutes. The EVDO modem draws more power using USB than from the computer using the built in wifi.

 

Good info ehosey, in other news..WOW! Just called a Verizon rep and they said if I were to get a laptop with their built in verizon modem I would have to pay $60 a month. Nothing out of the ordinary so far, right?

I then inquired about their Mifi device and they told me if I wanted to then get their Mifi device I could not use the current mobile broadband plan I have with the built in and infact I would have to purchase a completely new plan for ANOTHER $60. $120 total folks.

Hmmm..$60 plan for built in verizon that I can only use exclusively with my laptop or $60 plan for Mifi that I can use with up to 5 devices including my laptop? Hard decision


The Cradlepoint with usb/express card would be most people obvious choice considering it can connect much more than 5 devices, but alas, its battery life is 2 hours shorter than the mifi and its ALOT bigger. Oh and I only ever need to connect my one laptop and my Ipod touch. Not only this, but the biggest downfall for me is that cradlepoint cant be charged via usb (please correct me if im mistaken?). The mifi can be charged via usb, and can be in use whilst charging which means I can plug it into my laptops usb and be charging the mifi while im browsing.

 

@yellowfrizbee The MiFi will be a great choice for your needs, and is definitely better than the built in modem. Have no doubts, your new Z order without the internal EVDO is the right one.

 

Agreed. Sony's noise cancelling models range all the way from around $50 to around $400. That is a huge spread in price and capability.

 

Thanks for the reassuring words, I can say I 100% agree. Now maybe ill stop bringing the thread off topic with this talk!! My apologies of course

Ill be off now, thanks all for the kind help.

 

That is just crazy talk. That resolution is way to high for a 13" screen.

Since the SR seems to be the cheaper version of the Z, I would hope they refresh the SR and offer similar to Z but remove

- Remove GPS
- Remove EVDO
- Able to use HD rather than SSD
- Still have the i5-540m and i7-620m
- Keep the nvidia GT 330m and resolution 1600x900

That might drop the price down to around $1400, would make that a perfect laptop!!

 

The Vaio S is almost what you want (it's the successor of the SR series).
It has i3-330M, i3-350M, i5-520M, i5-540M or i7-620M, HDD or SSD, Intel or GeForce 310M 512MB and 1366x768 display
Check the UK SonyStyle shop for CTO models.

 

For what the current and soon to be replaced Z is now and comparing it to the unfortunately being replaced SR with a new S series, I'd say the USA version of the S series with it's low resolution and poor quality screen...remember it was just being stated the SR was the cheaper ( outgoing ) version of the Z....that the USA's S series is in no way a cheaper version of the current Z, or even the new Z for that matter. The outgoing SR could be called the cheaper ( outgoing ) Z while the S series should be called umm, just a new budget Sony notebook ?

 

As mentioned sometime before, the noise-canceling earphones are different for the Z in the fact that the processing is done by the computer rather than on the headphones. Therefore, they don't need batteries or a large external inline box to do the noise canceling. I had a pair with the VAIO TT, and they worked very well for a long trans-pacific flight I took. It's well worth the money. I would recommend just buying them if you're thinking about it now; you won't be able to purchase them later if you decide you want them, as Sony doesn't sell them separately. From what I understand, the headphone jack is different for the noise-canceling model, as well (normal headphones work just fine, though).

 

As for the 1920 x 1080 vs. 1600 x 900 resolutions, enough of us here have already discussed the advantages of both, seen the differences on video of both, and most have already decided which is better for each of us. And reading back several pages in this thread, it seems many are choosing the 1920 x 1080 for their reasons already mentioned. If anybody feels it's too high of a resolution on a 13.1 inch screen, you can have the 1600 x 900 while the rest of us thoroughly enjoy our Full HD resolution Z's. And I think more would choose the 1920 x 1080 resolution....IF...the cost of entry wasn't so expensive.

 

For myself I would not choose the 1080 even if it was exactly the same price. I see no benefit to choosing 1080 lines on such a small screen. Having the best 1080 display on a 13" screen is kind of like bragging about being the world's tallest midget

 

Talk about yourself. For my money, I like having the highest resolution screen that is available for a model. No shortchanging myself by going with a lower resolution screen.

 

I'm in total agreement with you roweraay. And as for that previous poster's comments, he probably hasn't read enough of this thread to understand our reasons for 1920 x 1080 over 1600 x 900. Comments like that mimmick the whole " why do I need 1080p on a television set ? " without understanding the whole picture...no pun intended.

 

For example I'm doing almost only text-related things on my laptop and I need readable text not to ruin my eyes. On the 1920x1080 display (without higher DPI settings) text would be way too small for me. The problem is, that on 1600x900 the text would be too small as well, in my opinion. I'll have to see it in person to be able to tell this, but right now I'm using 1280x800 on a 13.3" screen and I think higher resolution would not be good for me.

The point is that I'd probably have to use the Windows 7 DPI settings for both displays and in this case I'd rather buy the better one, i.e. the 1920x1080 display.

I'll just have to find out how well the Windows 7 DPI settings work.

 

Just wondering, does SonyStyle Japan accept credit cards issued outside Japan?

 

I am in the same boat, was initially worried 1600x900 would make text to small for me, there is no doubt 1920x1080 would. I think 1920x1080 is way to high resolution for a 13" screen but other people might have better use for it with photoshop and other programs which need alot of real estate. For me personally I do far more web browsing than photoshopping so the 1600x900 will be better but I am still worried that even 1600x900 will make text too small and make the laptop too uncomfortable for web surfing.

I do not much care for the dpi scaling of Windows, last time I used it it did make the text bigger but didn't scale properly with many webpages and applications making the experience worse using DPI scaling as opposed to just squinting to read the smaller text.

I am still pretty much on the fence if 1600x900 will be to small but have already written 1900 off the list due to the poor dpi scaling of Windows.

 

Did you try the DPI settings in Windows 7? Is it really so bad? I hope it works, beacuse otherwise this would be a serious issue for me...

 

My 5 year old PDA (Clie UX-50) is 180 DPI, and I have comfortably read hundreds of books on it, in addition to all the normal PDA functions. And I'm myopic.

For the record, 180 DPI is higher than the 1920x1200 screen of the new Z.

The trick to high resolution displays is that you have to invest the time in setting them up properly, with fonts that work well for the physical size you want the fonts to to be in. If you want things to work out of the box, without adjusting to your own needs, no, a high DPI display is probably not for you.

 

Guys, have you checked out this Japanese review comparing the "old" Z with the two new models?
http://plusd.itmedia.co.jp/pcuser/articles/1002/24/news021.html

On four pages there are many interesting benchmark tests (PC Marks, 3D marks, Crystal Disk etc.), but namely I'd like to point out the battery life test on page 3:
VPCZ119FJ/S (i5-520M, 1600×900)
--> high performance (AUTO/SPEED, brightness 100%) 3hours56min
--> balance (AUTO/STAMINA, brightness 64%)
5hours58min
--> battery saving (AUTO/STAMINA, brightness 40%)
6hours23min

VPCZ11AFJ (i7-620M, 1920×1080)
--> high performance (AUTO/SPEED, brightness 100%)
3hours2min
--> balance (AUTO/STAMINA, brightness 64%)
5hours7min
--> battery saving (AUTO/STAMINA, brightness 40%) 5hours43min

So there is almost an hour difference in battery life between the two models. The question is to what extent is the HD display responsible, and to what extent are the different processors to blame?

In all other benchmarks, there were not considerable differences in heat/noise issues, though understandably the i5-520M ran a bit cooler (at most 2C difference, page 4)...

Anyway, perhaps it's worth considering the tradeoffs between display resolution and battery life...

Cheers

 

If I were to buy, I'd get the 1600 by 900 resolution. I think Full HD on a 13.3 inch screen is simply too much. I mean my 20 inch iMac has a 1680 by 1050 resolution! A even higher resolution on that small screen? Even with dpi settings, you better have some darn good vision.

 

Yowch! But is that the processor or the Full HD screen causing that significant battery loss?

 

Sony Japan doesn't accept more order until monday .
Their server is completely full and they decided to not take more more sales (!?!).
So I had my cash and everything ready but I have to wait monday.
For the people who want to have it really fast, I had confirmation that the three models in Japan would be in stock for March 6th...
If I can't have a custom before March 6th, I think I will just buy one straight .

 

No. However, you could pay with an international credit card in person at Bic Camera or Yodobashi (at the Sony Owner Made section).

As an update on Sonystyle Japan, they have changed the official release date of the Z from today to Monday, probably due to all the website ordering issues. My order still looks like it will be delivered on time, however, and is listed as being in production currently.

Interestingly, the glossy carbon lid and the English backlit keyboard are showing lead times of 4 weeks, while the other components are 1 week. Either lots of people (for some reason) are ordering the glossy carbon lid, or Sony doesn't have them prepared yet.

 

Beat me to it! I have a hard time believing that all the people ordering Zs brought down Sony's ordering system, but that seems to be the case!

Usually the retailers have stock near the first ship date, though with Sony, the price is often much higher for the same specs (I'm thinking particularly of the F Series).

 

Actually I don't think I have. Last time I used it I believe it was Vista but not much has changed between W7 and Vista it was more of an interface overhaul than anything. It is a good idea to give it a try again though. Going to turn it on on my 12" netbook and see how it does. Will post back about it.

 

Personally I think 1080 resolution is STUPID for such a small screen. Usability is going to suffer unless you're the guy that writes the fine print on contracts for a living.

With that said - what has me curious and actually considering the 1080 screen is the possibility that it's not 6-bit TN and is 8-bit something else (I would like to know WHAT). The improved color reproduction is potentially enough to make me hope that 7's DPI scaling works better than it does in XP...

 

Actually, believe it or not, I have read every single entry in this thread. I have followed it since its inception.
Your comment about 1080p on a tv set is amusing because that is exactly my point for not wanting that on a 13" laptop screen. The purpose of a laptop screen is not to try to give a home theater experience! The only use for the laptop screen is when away from my desk at home or work. Any other time it's going to be plugged into a real monitor anyway.
Summary: laptop screen for a 3 lb laptop needs to be maximally useful when on the road. I currently own a tx (2.75lb, 11.1" screen). I'll bet that no one, outside of this thread, is going to be impressed coming upon 1080p on a 13" screen.

 

hehe, you have so many useful information about the Japanese market that I have to ask you this question :
Do you think the Wan modem will accept the emobile sim card? I see only NTT docomo on the website so I am a bit affriad...

 

That's a good point. However, I want to mention 2 things:

1. In my particular case, I will be running Linux and OS2 (and possibly XP), virtualized. These other OS's are prob. not as good as Win7 at scaling everything. I am not so sure Win7 scales everything when surfing websites and such. So as a practical matter I feel that screen size better fits the lower resolution.

2. Your point about the 180dpi pda though makes me believe that for some people the 1080 screen might be a pretty good fit. I expect that perhaps the real issue may be more a question of pixel size relative to how far the screen is from the eyeball. With a fine enough pitch, it can be inches away and still look really good. Therefore one almost has to do the angular resolution calculation (relative to the observer position), to know what dot pitch to shoot for.

 

Except that the viewing distance from your eyes to a PDA is going to be, on average, less than the viewing distance from your eyes to a laptop... like the viewing distance to a laptop is generally less than a desktop monitor.

For the record, the Z's 1920x1080 screen has 168.2dpi. For the equivelant on desktop monitors:

24", normally 1920x1200, would need to be 3424x2140.
30", normally 2560x1600, would need to be 4280x2675.

 

As I said, I'll have to see and compare the displays myself, but right now I'm thinking that I'd have taken the 1366x768 option if it was available with the new Z. But unfortunately it isn't anymore and I suppose, that it's not going to be available in the future either.

 

Ouch! My eyes would explode!! I have a 1600x900 22" screen and it is nice

 

I would have taken this resolution too... It suits perfectly 13inch lappy in my opinion.

 

OK - a 22" screen with 1600x900 resolution would need to be 3225x1814.


There is absolutely NO DOUBT that the higher the resolution the better for video and photographs (which is why the medical community can buy super high resolution screens to view scan results - but you don't see them checking their email on it). However Windows is still "broken" when it comes to full and seamless DPI scaling, and parts of it are still stuck in the dark ages at a fixed 96 dpi... which makes some applications and websites a nightmare to view on a high DPI screen, either because they don't scale at all, the scaling breaks them, or scaling greatly reduces the quality (which defeats the whole point of a sharp, high resolution screen).

 

Would be sweet if it was available 1366x768, that is perfect resolution for me on a 13" screen. I am really hoping the 1600x900 won't be too small.

I just messed around with dpi scaling in W7 for a bit though it seems to be better as far as web pages go. I only visited a few so far and they all scale properly. Going to leave it on for a couple days as i'm sure I wll find the usual quirks with it when installing programs and on some websites etc...but so far it doesn't look to bad.

 

Is the premium carbon fiber color option going to be more of a silver metal grey or more of a black color? I only ask because this vid makes it out to be very silver in color at 3:24

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=813mS96RF6Y