Official Canadian vaio user thread

Just been reading about the Sony VGN-Z11WN/B but can't seem to find it on sony.ca...what gives?

 

Simple. That's not a Canadian model.

The only models availible for purchase in Canada for the Z are the following:

Pre-built:
Z555DN (1600x900 res screen, 265mb VRAM GPU, 3GB DDR3-1066 RAM, Core2Duo P8400, etc...)

CTO:
Z540 CTO
Z590 CTO

 

Yeah, where do you get these coupons and discounts? I'd be leaning more towards the Sony SR or Z series laptops if I could get a discount.

Should I try to capitalize on the X-mas promotions (if there are any?) and get one in Dec. or wait until mid-Jan. like some people here are doing? Are the current Z-series inflicted with some technical flaw (GPU perhaps?)? I could wait if the price will be similar. Perhaps, they would be low because X-mas is over and they want to sell some new models? Afterall, most of the sales/buys would be before the end of Dec.?

The Sony Z series (I guess Z540CTO) have most of the specs I'm looking for (i.e. LED screen, good screen for watching videos?, DDR3 RAM, either a DVI, HDMI or DisplayPort interface - I don't want only VGA and the Centrino 2 CPU).

I can't find any other laptop that contain all of these specs and if there is, it's probably an 'import order' or ordering from the U.S. and I'm not sure I want to deal with that.

Also, the Sony store is nearby and they have some deal with the company I currently work for. I am hoping I can get a further discount but if I can locate some coupons or something similar, that would be a bonus. The Z-series is still a bit pricey for me so any reductions would help (steer me towards Sony).

Thanks for any info and/or advice.

 

lol yes, you are right unfortunetely. I spent like 30 minutes on the phone talking the Sony office in Toronto trying to get it.

I didnt see that at the bottom. Sneaky advertising no?

Oh well, the $150 coupon still applies though.

 

On the sonystyle.ca website click on promotions. Then is will show you all the promotions that are currently going. One of the is the "My Vaio PC" event where any custom vaio over $1500 is eligible for $150 off.

Why are people waiting until January? The My Vaio PC event ends on Dec 31, I believe.

 

Just about to pull the trigger on the Z555 at BestBuy. Do the stickers on the palm rest come off easily? I would like to remove all the stickers eventually.

 

the stickers do come off easily, i thikn they were designed to not leave any residue.

 

Actually, they do leave residue, but the Z's palmrest material is so awesome that you can rub/wipe of any residue till it's clean.

I removed every stick except the centrino2 and nvidia stickers... though I might get rid of those soon too.

 

i believe people are waiting until jan. for the Vaio Z6xx series refresh? there may be some awesome deals you may score if sonystyle stores are trying to get rid of the Vaio Z555 series

 

I wanted to get the Z555 from the Sony Store but unfortunately all of the stores in Ontario have either just open box or demo versions of the Z555. Bestbuy and some small computer shops seem to be the only hope if you are looking for a pre-confired Vaio Z in Ontario.

 

The Z555 doesn't have any discounts at the moment in those stores. Unfortunately, sonystyle.ca seems to have also removed the Z555 preconfig from their online store.

You can purchase a Z540 or Z590 CTO though online still, and there is a $150 coupon for all CTOs above $1500. I'd recommend that.

 

Yes, the Z590cto is better since it does have an English keyboard, instead of the bilingual on the 555.

 

Im about to purchase Z590CTO but as we all know
sonystyle's price on the Z is just ridiculous
Does anyone happen to know vaild eCoupon code that will save some?

Sony Canada is killing us by selling everything at way over priced tag
or support nothing for anyone who got their sony from overseas (inc US)

 

Since it is a discontinued model now, some sonystyle stores may be trying to sell thier demo models at discounts.

I bought my Z555 at best buy for 1300 as a demo model. Any other laptop maker I wouldn't bother with a demo, but this laptop is built very well, and since it costs so much, people take one look at the price tag and usually walk away.

I looked at Bestbuy's stock levels on the Z model in all their stores and they only have some at the west coast stores (B.C. and Alberta), so unless my store gets a return or something, you'll have to get it from sonystyle (or on ebay =)

 

1300 dollars? wow that sounds really sweet
I gotta check out my local sonystyle but looks like Bestbuy dont carry Z atm
hopefully they have some openbox model (w/ higher resolution)

 

It wont be on best buy's website anymore as it went clearance before christmas. The only way to tell for sure if a store has it is to phone. They'll be happy to get rid of it too, as it is a very expensive notebook at a store that doesnt cater to high end consumers.

We had the same problem last year when we sold the SZ series. We eventually sold that for 850 with included 3 year service (down from 2 grand as well!). Dont expect it to be THAT cheap though, it hasn't been on clearance that long (yet).

 

London drugs in western Canada has the Z555 for 1999 and had a bunch NIB models scattered around. They'd go $100 off for a display model or half price extended warranty neither of which I thought was a much of a deal. If they go on clearance within 30days of sale they'll price match. They don't charge to ship between stores.

No new in box models from the local sony store -- $100 off for a display model and said they can't get any new ones. Not enough off to appeal to me.

I checked with Future shop (owned now by Best Buy) and they didn't have one and had no interest in tracking one down. I'm thinking the $1300 was a mistake in the other poster's favor since that is exactly the "clearance" price future shop had for one of the SR models. More power to them (stick it to the man!) but I wouldn't expect to find that price anywhere else.

I replaced the drive in mine with a 320GB 7200 G-force from NCIX for $99 which gives me slightly better performance than the stock drive and still a bit better than the Z6xx models I think which still have a 5400 rpm drive. If another 2GB memory stick gets discounted I'll probably bump it up to 4GB but don't expect to see much of it.

Doug

 

does anyone know on which part of the sonystyle canada website i can buy the accessories available on the US site? such as an extra battery or a messenger bag for the laptop?

EDIT: nevermind, found it! the canada site sure sucks compared to the US site

 

Yea I bought a z555 brand new for $1600CND from Best Buy since a buddy of mine works there.. brought it back 2 weeks later since i couldn't stand the stupid bilingual keyboard.. I speak French and it serves no purpose.. why Sony would do such a stupid thing i don't know..

If anyone is interested in my z570 let me know.. English keyboard I have a z590 coming so I am selling this one!

 

Part of the reason I got that deal is because since I work there I got to see it every day, just waited until it dropped to what I wanted =P. I don't think future shop stocks the Z series, but then again I work at the blue store, not the red one ("rather be dead than red")

It costs best buy and future shop 1860ish to put that laptop on thier shelf, so I would imagine london drugs pays the same if not more. Gotta keep in mind people, laptops for the most part have absolutely razor thin margins. I got that deal because my store is located right close to a GM plant that is closing down, so alot of people around it don't have the money to spend on high end laptops.

The guys at future shop wouldnt want to sell it for lower unless you were getting a service plan or something, as they would already be taking a big loss (for the store, and their comission). Since Best buy and Futureshop don't do in store shipping, they wont want to track it down... they'd want to show you an alternative in their store . Anyway I asked one of the guys I work with today to check stock, they are almost completely gone from all best buy stores. SonyStyle (or London Drugs I guess) are about the only places left.

 

Bios update for TT is now available in Canadian esupport:
http://esupport.sony.com/CA/perl/swu-download.pl?mdl=VGNTT180C&upd_id=4348&os_id=29

 

,

didn't realize that there are so many canucs here..., ey!

Greetings

 

Well... I just saw on SonyStyle.ca... Z690CTO is availible, and Z620 prebuilt is up too.

 

haha! you are not a canuck, and you don't know how to say ...eh!

 

nobody says I am )))), just noted that there are so many

 

anyone know of anywhere to get one of the discontinued vaio z online for a bit cheaper?

 

lol that's funny a discounted vaio in canada

the cheapest i ever found one was on ebay and that was only once.

 

Red Dragon's right about that- SonyStyle.ca almost never discounts their computers.. However, I have had luck at my local SonyStyle store in Montreal, where a sales rep offered to discount a Z620 by 100 dollars, or 200 dollars if I purchased an extended warranty. I've had much better luck on ebay tho. This morning some guy in Ottawa sold 4 new Z590NJB computers (2.53 GHZ, 4GB ram, blue ray, 1600 x 900 pixels) for 1725,1526,1482 & 1626$ USD (mine was the last), which if not fraudulent, is a pretty good deal..

 

When I bought mine London drugs will go $100 of the display models of the Z555 or maybe more off an extended warranty. Same with the sony style store. Stuck with the bilingual keyboard though. The price for a new-in-box model was $1999 which I think is also a couple hundred off the current Z6xx series of similar specs and was the same price at the sony store but they had no more NIB.

If you go this route I would check to see when the machine was placed on display -- at the very least they can check when the machine arrived in inventory but also may write the date on the box when it went out on the floor. Also might want to clarify which resolution screen is involved since originally the Z555's were the low rez screen I believe. Here the local store's model had been out for 4-5 months which was too long for me and I bought a new one.

Doug

 

I just checked SonyStyle.ca to see how the value of my Z555 is holding up and I'm actually still very happy with my purchase. I paid 1899.00 for my laptop directly through Sony and got a brand new model, not a display laptop this past September. If anyone remembers, I was dead against getting a BTO model and I opted to grab a pre-configured "retail" unit, for many reasons. I really hated the bilingual keyboard at first, but I've gotten used to it and now I don't think about it much. I still think buying a pre-configured laptop is the way to go.

The current price of the Vaio z is quite prohibitive, especially considering the state the economy is in. $2300 is significantly more for a laptop then many I know are ever willing to pay. Especially once you go past that $2000 dollar mark.

The VGNZ620D at $2300 does have a few improvements which are nice to see considering the high price tag, but not enough in my opinion to justify the price. Strangely, the resolution is now much lower at 1366x768 instead of the Z555's 1600x900.

I just don't see this new model selling well in Canada. If the price were $300 lower it would be a little bit more reasonable, but it is just too high. I bet there are many people out there who now wish they had gotten the z555 when they had the chance...

 

Jeez...where are the lower specd Vaio-Zs? They just disappeared as soon as I decide to get one...

 

There's a demo Z555 available for $1799 however I'm sure they can be more flexible on the price. given that this unit has been on display for a few minutes, what would you recommend that I offer them?

 

Profit is not made on the laptop itself, its the extras. do you need anything lese with it? an extended warranty? a case? The price on the shelf is what they will sell it for. its very unlikely that they will give you a lower price on an already pretty good price. Especially when its only been on demo for a few minutes. If it was sitting there for a long time however....

 

Sorry..meant to say that its been on demo a few months and not a few minutes. I don't need extended warranty or a case.

I was looking at the Dell Adamo or Voodoo...suggestions?

 

dont get the adamo, you'd be better getting a macbook air than the adamo. read some reviews .

 

sad but true, the air is a better performer.

 

...and a pound lighter. Now can someone find me a Vaio Z under 2k in Canada.

 

They won't budge on the Z555 on the $1799.99 price tag even though its been a demo since just before Xmas. That seems to be on the 'shelf' for a fair amount of time.

 

thats pretty good. the store cost at best buy was abot 1850ish. granted however, that was best buy, if this is the sony store, then they would have a lower cost

 

I scored a great deal....Sony VGN-Z555DN for $1,650!!

 

I got mine for Free. Yup. The wife won a NR160E at her work in Dec 2007. She gave it to me ... and the laptop, too.
One GB Ram made it useless. I swapped a 512MB for 2GB and this thing is pretty good.
Took a while to get used to Vista.
I try to use non Micro$ost software, like Open Office, VLC media player, Google Chrome, bye-bye Exlporer & WMP.
The only Sony software I'm using is "Click 2 DVD" which was totally useless with 1Gb of RAM. Now, with 2,5GB RAM ... no more coasters.
The Firewire port has come in handy for my video camera.
I wish it had a S-video or MVI output.

 

Where did you get one at that price?

 

Also got a great deal on my 555DN, got it for $1550 from someone who was a lifetime Mac user and couldn't adjust to Vista, lucky for me. Was used under a month when I got it in mint condition.

 

Its from a local pharmacy chain that is also an authorized dealer and service depot.

 

If you would like a Brand New in Box Sony Vaio any series. Customize it and send me your specs for quote. Vancouver delivery only.

 

i got a brand new z620 for $1700 from craigslist hehe

1 question...
for all the bilingual z owners, my backspace button, shift buttons, and tab button all don't have the WORDS on them. They just have the arrows...

is this normal?

 

quite normal.

 

VGN-Z690 is 1600 on mine

 

Where are you guys getting these prices for?

 

Hey guys!, Gotta quick question about the Z555dnb. I am having issues with the Touchpad for a while now. It intermittently freezes a lot of the time, like not just Frozen, but go all over the place, no smooth movement. Anyone else have this big problem? I wonder how Sony will go about fixing it. Thanks in advance!