Official Sony VAIO Z vs. SR Thread. [+screen comparisons inside]

i still think its subjective.. you don't know what "standard" the reviewers have to say if they are great are not..
obviously the SR screen tramples a dell screen.. but if you're used to a higher standard, then it may turn out to be washed out..

not trying to put the SR down, its a neat package for its price, but the screen is really disappointing once you've owned a Z or something better

 

Well, yeah, that is true.

Heh, but I couldn't even tolerate looking at that Toshiba screen for very long. It did look faded and dull compared to the SR screen.

Even my iMac screen looks somewhat faded.

I've seen a lot of mention of how white the whites look and how black the blacks look. It really depends on the screen manufacturer.

The only thing is, is that who knows how long it would take to make something like the Z a standard in terms of screens to shoot for for good production.

But yeah, I know, the SR looks faded and lame to you, but your Z has full color saturation. Of course, I know people have looked at my screen and gone like, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?! That looks too colorful noooo. It's because they aren't used to having more color saturation.

 

I believe Sony only has 1 LCD supplier.

 

But they don't make their own screens then?

Anyway, all of the screens are made at different times, which means they can use different materials and the screens can turn out differently. Why do you think that hard drives can turn out differently yet they can be the same model? I dunno. My screen was probably made before the CTO screens though, since I had an early SR model.

But you probably don't understand what I am trying to say since I keep trying to say the same thing like 5 times now.

 

All right, just so this argument ends - yes, there are two screens for the Sony Vaio SR. Check these part numbers here: A1562065A or A1562064A both correspond to the VGNSR130E - based on the information from the website, I believe the first one is a Samsung screen (LTN133AT05) and the second one is a Toshiba Matsushi ta (LTD133EWZX) screen.

 

Am i just really far behind the times, or am i just plain crazy for saying that the Z590 has an ECO screen and the Z540 and Z570 have the DuraView screen? The 590 is supposed to be the top of the line with the higher resolution, but you all say the ECO is the sub par screen...

Sony Z comparison

 

esigned with the executive in mind, the VAIO® VGN-Z590UAB notebook is built business rugged. Wrapped in carbon fiber, featuring a stunning 13.1" scratch-resistant XBRITE-DuraView™ LCD display

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665415900

 

hmm well they seem to be going against each other...i have no doubt in my mind though that the 590 also comes with the duraview...just thought it was weird that they would get that wrong.

 

Ah right. I bet Samsung is the one that some people describe as 'washed out' and the Toshiba is the one with higher contrast than the Z series, according to Notebookjournal.de. That's the way it usually is.

 

Z is surely better in terms of beauty, elegance and more importantly: Performance. Sure it costs a little extra but if you are a Vaio fan then you know that it is still a very good deal even with the extra few bucks.

 

I don't think so. In common tasks they will perform similar, while in GPU demanding tasks the HD3470 will be faster than the Nvidia 9300.

 

I can't agree that it's "surely" better than the SR in performance.. and seriously they look almost identical..

 

In terms of VAIOs, I've pretty much narrowed down my choices to the Z or the SR. Both are in my screen size range, and are lightweight (with the Z being obviously... quite a bit lighter).

Obviously... the huge difference in price is a bit of a turn off for the Z, but I thought it would be prudent to ask owners of either unit, what they thought about their purchases.

I'm kinda partial to the SR, for the price, and it does seem like a solid laptop, however, the Z kinda appeals to side of me who wants to splurge on a high spec laptop... can anyone help me out here?

EDIT:

I should note... I am in Canada, and will be buying from sonystyle.ca online if I end up purchasing a VAIO.
As such... I think i'm limited to the Vaio Z555 and the Sony SR210 series... we also still have the SR100 series... but I think only in pink, if not ordering a CTO.

 

They are similarly spec'ed
The Z is lighter, better built quality and material, better screen, longer battery life.. etc

there has been tons of threads like this...
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=294673
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=294400
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=274743
http://forum.notebookreview.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1239&ppuser=9709
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=272877
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=303042
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=288484
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=301169
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=296701

 

Well, the Z is made from carbon fiber, which is supposed to be a better material than the magnesium alloy of the SR. It's lighter, and it has a better screen. Plus, switchable graphics = better battery life. Obviously, all this comes at a hefty price tag and it's a personal decision whether the above factors are worth the price premium. I decided the SR was just fine for me, since the screen is far from shoddy, even though it's not as nice as the Z's screen, it still feels very solidly built (aside from minor flex in the palmrest) and I'll take the extra 0.5 lbs to save myself $$$s.

 

I agree with most of what you say but not the screen. I personally love high contrast screens and I'd take a well calibrated SR screen over the Z any day. The glossy coating on the SR enhances colors, contrast and vibrance making photos look more realistic.

For the record, here's what Notebookjournal measured:

SR:
durchschnittl. Luminanz cd/m² 248,00
Schwarzwert bei 100 cd/m2 cd/m² 0,20
Schwarzwert bei maximaler Helligkeit cd/m² 0,50
Kontrast bei 100 cd/m2 :1 500,00
Kontrast bei maximaler Helligkeit :1 496,00

Z:
durchschnittl. Luminanz cd/m² 276,00
Schwarzwert bei 100 cd/m2 cd/m² 0,30
Schwarzwert bei maximaler Helligkeit cd/m² 0,70
Kontrast bei 100 cd/m2 :1 334,00
Kontrast bei maximaler Helligkeit :1 394,00

These number show that the Z screen is brighter, but the SR screen has higher contrast and better blacklevels (schwarzwert).

Another important difference is the 16:10 aspect vs. 16:9 aspect of the Z.

My favorite Sony would be a carbon fibre SR. Or a Z with glossy screen in 16:10 aspect.

 

I should've said a "brighter" screen instead of better screen

 

.... Basically...

The Z's screen is clearly a higher quality, and battery life seems stronger for it too... The Z runs in Hybrid SLI, and has switchable graphics with that convinient on case switch, however, the SR's ATI card is probably a better performer, and generates much less heat, resulting in an overall cooler running laptop. Which means I'm torn. T_T

I'm really going for a low weight laptop since my last one nearly killed my back hauling it from class to class... on the other hand, heat is a huge issue for me too since my last laptop managed to melt my optical drive's laser. >_>

...and then being in Canada... the only discount we have is a 10% off on non-CTOs. So customizing a SR could be costly too, since my last check of SonyStyle.ca confirms that only pink SR100s that aren't CTOs are left, and all the 210 non CTOs are stuck with an old Merom T5800 core on the new Montevina chipset.

I had no idea about the heat difference between the two units, nor about the screen materials either. I guess I'm going with the Z on this choice, because the scratch resistant screen is a big selling point for me. I guess I'd better start saving up more for this splurge. >_<

Thanks for your help everyone!

 

As you can see by the measurements of Notebookjournal that isn't completely true. The duraview coating takes away some contrast and vibrance.

Don't know where you got that but the Z can't run in SLI. The Ati performs a little better, but the the difference is really small. Much less heat? I don't think so. Both have very good fans though that are also audible.

 

I was reading one of the threads Tony listed in his post. One of the posts said something about the Z being able to run the 4500 with the 9300... so that's not true?

Well... that's fine with me I guess... the convinient switchable graphics is still nice to have, however, I don't know if I really should be getting a dedicated video card at all... and if I do, that's obviously going to impact battery life which is where the Z's switchable is really nice to have in contrast to the SR, where I assume if I add on a GPU, there's no switch.

>_< Choices... choices...

 

Right you either use the 9300 or the 4500 on the Z.

If you don't really need the dedicated GPU the 4500 will do just fine. It has much better battery life.

 

Ok all Z vs. SR discussion can now be held here. I've merged some of the other threads.

 

Spiffy. Merged threads.

Well, I'd like to be able to play say... Warcraft 3 on my laptop. Can intel's 4500 handle that? I know the 4500 is strong enough for video playback and some old games, and if it can handle for example Warcraft 3, then there might not be a need to get a dedicated GPU and I can go with the SR.

I really hope sonystyle.ca will let us CTO the new SR200 series or something... having to get a SR with an old gen Merom core isn't very appealing to me. T_T

 

i have an old gen merom core . It's actually not that bad compared to the p8400, 8600. I went to Sony style to test the performances and the speed was unnoticeable when you do normal computer usage.

And hey lattice you have an Sr too? What is the specs?

 

Speed was never an issue. They're about the same speed. However, the P8400/8600 run on lower voltages, and generate about 10W less of heat. The power/heat efficiency is the selling point for me there. No more 65 nm process for me thanks, 45nm preferred.

 

Yes, Warcraft 3 will work perfectly and World of Warcraft will also run decently.

 

Well... the SR290 CTO is now availible on sonystyle.ca, so I'm back to where I started.

As it stands, the SR appears to excel in these points:
- ever so slightly better screen
- better graphics option
- better price point
- reasonable screen size to pixel count

The Z wins here:
- switchable graphics
- better battery life
- lighter weight
- insanely high res for screen size (a good and yet bad thing)
- 16:9 ratio for better video playback (no black bars.)

I also realized I'm probably full of crap, and will attempt to play Team Fortress 2, CS:S, and heck... probably even Starcraft 2 if Blizzard ever gets around to releasing it, despite the fact that my PC is way better suited for handling it.

So if I have to run things like, HYSIS, MATLAB, maybe AutoCAD, and want to game, but at the same time want battery life and portability... which of these two is the true "jack of all trades" laptop? O_O

 

If price is not a factor i would say go with the Z. You can get the battery life when you need it, and if you decide to play those games you can just switch it to speed mode! Neither models graphics card is going to blow you away anyways, so going with the slightly less graphics card wont be that big of a deal. Just my opinion though.

 

After going to Fry's this afternoon, I am definitely set in getting a Vaio Z. They had both the SR and the Z right next to each other, and wow... I was speechless. I'm a first time laptop buyer, and this was also the first time I looked at laptops with great consideration.

Anyways, I noticed that the Z had a REALLY flexible screen. The Fry's guy flexed the lid inches apart - literally. Also, I noticed that both the SR and the Z had a vibrant look in their screen. However, being a first time notebook looker, I noticed how small a 13 inch notebook actually was. I'm sure my eyes can handle the small screen, but I was just amazed at how small and how wide the Z's screen was - and I'm use to seeing into a 21 inch screen. Also, there was a difference in both the SR's and Z's touchpad. The SR had a more overall smooth touchpad, while the Z had a smooth (but not as smooth as the SR's) touchpad. Also, the touchpad sizes were huge, not as huge as the new macbook's touchpad though. The clicker for the SR took some force to make the button to click, but it was effortless for the Z. I also liked both laptop's scrabble-like keyboards. The Z had a clickier keyboard, while the SR had a more quiet keyboard which is one of my minor preferences. Regarding the Z's switchable graphics, when I flipped the switch, it only took about 5 to 8 seconds to switch graphics, and the system didn't have to reboot or anything. Also, the Z felt like it had a more solid chasis than the SR. I looked at the HP's, Toshiba's, and Fujitsu's in Fry's, and I have to say that the sturdiness of the Z was ultimately better than those other laptops. The SR also felt solid, but the Z's sturdier chasis attracted me even more. I also noticed that both systems were fairly cool under normal work. I noticed this when I was playing with the FW in display, and I felt that the FW was already warm on the palm rest when its under normal use. I couldn't really tell about the fan noise, however, because there were workers also talking to customers around me. But I could tell that the Vaio systems does not make loud sound or belch out heat, unlike my current (but old) Dell Dimension tower . Both system's weights were awesome. period. I used a friend's white macbook, and both Vaio's weights could not compare to the heaviness (and ugliness) of that laptop.

Pretty much, both laptops seemed superb. However, the thing that make me want to spend more on a Z are the following:
-gigabit ethernet
-switchable graphics
-16:9 screen ratio
-strong and stable chasis
-mobile broadband option

Hopefully this helped you guys out for comparison sakes.

 

Well, let's look also into some keyboard ergonomics.

I had the opportunity to compare both the SR and Z next to each other several times.

The SR has, imho, a much more pleasant keyboard. The keys on the SR are full size.
Only with such full size keys makes the choice of an "isolated keyboard" real sense.
Also the palmrests are larger, making long editing sessions much more comfortable.

On the Z the palmrests as well as the keyboard keys were shrunk a lot because of the
smaller dimensions of the chassis. The inter-key spacing, however, remained still large.
Hence a lot of useful keyboard area is just waisted. That's a bad design decision. I
would have preferred to see a conventional keyboard, with larger keys, on the Z.

For me the higher price of the Z was immaterial. It was the Z's keyboard which was the
real show stopper.

 

Interesting thoughts ssd4all, I hadn't really considered keyboards for either unit.

I've never used an isolated key design keyboard before on a laptop, so I don't really know if I like it or hate it or what. I didn't actually check keysize either.

I have some experience in using smaller keyboards, as my friend used to have an old VAIO, I don't know what model it was, but I believe it's about 4 years old now, and was like... 10" or 11" widescreen IIRC? I used it a bit in class, but nothing ever strenuous like typing up say a 50 page report. I kinda assumed I'd just get used to it like most other things.

EDIT:
In case you were wondering... yea... I'm definitely planning on typing up gigantic reports on this new laptop. I ended up staying on campus once last term from 7 am till 11 pm straight in our computer lab running MATLAB programs and writting up a good 40 pager or so. >_> I blame the rush due to the report being due the next day, and having 4 midterms just before this.

 

If you really need to type lengthy documents on your laptop you should better have a look
at both models at a local Sony dealer before deciding on one. I am going to use my SR
mainly for programming, so the keyboard is of paramount importance for me.

Also, I would recommend to buy from a local store, and to check every single key of the
unit you are going to purchase. There seem to be some issues with Sony keyboards
regarding quality assurance. I have sent my first SR back to Sony Style because it
had two sticky keys. I am going to get a new one soon, though.

 

I have been to my local Sonystyle store, and have seen both, but not really played around much per se.

I definitely am not buying from my local retail locations as they won't even price match the prices I can get online, nor would they offer me anything else to help sell the deal. I'll take my chances with an internet order instead.

 

At the very least, do try typing something on the display models to get a feel for the keyboards. I personally love my SR's keyboard. It has a much nicer response/feel than my old Toshiba keyboard, which now feels mushy to type on in comparison. I think it'd be a great choice for extended periods of typing.

 

I don't mean to be a nag. IMO, keyboard preference, just like screen preference, is subjective. What works for me may not work for you & vice versa.

 

True.

I think I'm basically at the stage now where I'm just trying to find as many faults as possible with the Z. I figure if I'm aware of any possible faults there may be, but have decided that they're not important to me, then the Z is probably what I'm going to buy.

If the Z's faults are kinda where I don't want them to be, I'll end up leaning towards the SR.

...sorta like preparing for the worst case scenario, but not actually getting there. That way whichever new laptop I do buy, I should be pleased no matter what. XD

 

Like Lattice had said (& which you've done), it is always good to really try the keyboards out of the store's demo units before making the decision on which to buy, if possible. I'm sure you'll be fine with either the SR or Z. Good luck.

 

Much appreciated!

Now if only the online store would get those Z555s back in stock soon. >_<

I want to give Sony my money... and then I'll have become a complete Sony fanboy.
(Favorite Console now: PS3 (wii is fail this fall, won't touch the 360), Favorite portable console: PSP (DS games are kinda boring lately.), Favorite earphones brand: Sony (been using Sony earbuds... forever.), and soon, a VAIO. XD)

Fortunately, I don't use a Sony Ericsson phone, nor a Sony mp3 player, or Sony monitors/tvs, so maybe not that fanboy-ish... but definitely getting there. (...this can't be healthy.)

 

My g/f has a SR and i have a Z; i am a touch typist and don't have any trouble using either keyboard and i'm a die hard thinkpad user so i know well built keyboards lol.

If anything i am just having trouble adjusting to having no trackpoint.

 

Well... I'm a Z owner now.

Thank you everyone for all your help!

Can't wait to get it now.

 

Congrats! Remember to update us when it arrives with some thoughts.

 

I am a touch typist obsessive typist actually and am wacky about keyboards. I am on a Dell 8600 which is pretty comfortable, imo however....

I spent yesterday in J & R in Manhattan, where there is a large amount of notebooks on display. Truth is that I went to see the Thinkpads as I was planning on a T400.
I am soooo glad I changed my mind. The Thinkpad has a great keyboard feel, granted. But the rest of it is a plastic piece of garbage. I was, and am, so disappointed that in todays market they have the nerve to put that out.
Enter the Vaio Z. My search is over. The keyboard bothers me without a dedicated page up down/home end, and there is space, and there is no trackstick, which bothers me. but it is a beuty hands down, even nicer than the SR all around.
And a really HOT screen

 

im still deciding which notebook is better for me, i still have to see them in person at a store to make my choice, but i was wondering after seeing the pics, is the Z wider than the SR? I thought they were the same in terms of length but with the SR being longer vertically.

 

I'm pretty sure the Z is wider
it has a 16:9 real widescreen
the SR has a 16:10 screen

 

The Z and SR are both the same length (12.4"), even though the SR's screen is larger:
SR
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&categoryId=8198552921644570898&parentCategoryId=16154

Z
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&categoryId=8198552921644570897&parentCategoryId=16154

 

Yeah you're right
it looks like they are the same length

 

Thanks! XD

 

I can help you out here. Forget about brightness and saturation. I was recently debating between buying a Z or an SR, and I sttled on the SR largely because of its display. They both have backlit displays, however the backlighting in the Z is uneven, bright around the edges and dark in he middle. The SR screen is slightly glossier, and really doesnt scratch easily. Its not glossier to the point where reflections are an issue though. The Z is WAY lighter and a more impressive casing/package, but I really like my SR. MUCH better display (nice even brightness and very crisp image), and as for they sony-scrabble-key-keyboard, it takes a couple hours to get used to, but it has a great feel, really nice feedback. I dont even bother using another keyboard at home becuase i like the feel of the keys. Something I should probably warn you about though, is how awful sony is with their sales team. I ordered the XP pro downgrade disc (vista is evil) and they didnt process that part of the order.....they never sent me the disc. Oh, and my order was delayed 3 weeks....and nothing i could do about it.

 

Back from the dead.

 

Dear StrongerThanAll

It seems that you unfairly compared the two machines as the Z has the power cord plugged, that mean it has full brightness,
and the poor SR with lake of Electricity, that may be wasn't on the full brightness

I don't know if you set the SR to full brightness, but if you don't that mean you unfairly compared the two screen, Although i know that Z is much better than SR. but it seems you miss this point.