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

Has anyone here noticed the very strange "diagonal scan line" effect on the Z's screen?

I was looking at the Vaios today at the SonyStyle store and immediately noticed that. I appears when you move your head, or while moving our eyes around the image, like when following a moving object on the screen.
The Z was playing a movie and it was very very noticeable.
I cannot stand this! I was completely decided to buy the Z, but went back home without it.

The FW's did not have this effect, but I dont remember about the SR.

Does anyone know if the SR screen has this problem also?

I find the FWs too big, but could not accept this behavior of the Z's screen.

Maybe the SR will be the saviour for me.

Please, if someone can help me with info....

Thanks in advance,
Paulo

 

Just picked up a SR, screen is lovely, very vibrant and I certainly haven't seen the effect you are mentioning below.

 

This effect has been described quite often on these forums. Some people see it, some people don't.

On my 1366*768 Z11 MN/B I have never seen it.

The SR does not have this effect.

 

I don't think all Z screens are created equal. I have seen quite a few Z series from many different outlets and to my eyes, there were not the same. Some had diagonal scan line, others with unequal brightness across the screen and worst yet I have seen some with whitish washed out color, lack of focus and saturation.

Even the keyboard are not equal. Some have clicky sound, others were way too mushy, lacking of tactile feeling.

Make sure you buy from the store which offers 30 days refund. I actually went to the store and checked the notebook at least by turning it on before bringing it home.

 

Hello all...

I just purchased a Vaio Z/35 from italian SonyStyle. I come from an SR with integrated Intel graphics and wanted to "jump" to a better level so decided for the Z.
What to say... the display has gorgeous colors indeed. Maybe even too much for me given that pure colors kill my eyes. And the 1600x900 is wow... maybe my eyes are too tired to look at it for many hours. Anyway, that's not the problem.

My problem is the absence of vertical "tolerance" of the display. I mean... I must keep my head perfectly aligned with the display z axis or I start noticing annoying light dimming on top or on botton (mainly on bottom) part of the display. Also with the eye aligned to the display some dimming is noticed both to top and bottom. Another noticeable issue is the non uniform backlighting. It appears more strong on top and bottom edges and there is a slight dimming mainly at bottom left and right angles. I heard about this issue but I never tought they were so noticeable.

The SR has a slightly washed out colors, but the lighting is near perfectly uniform.

Am I an unlucky boy or all Zs are like mine? I'm seriously considering to get back to the SR series and buy one with ATI graphics.

Thanks in advance...

 

I'd also like to point out that those who described it had a 1600x900 screen, I don't think the 1366x768 has it. All we can do is hope some of the users with that resolution give feedback on it, though I'm not hearing any responses when asked before.

 

I have both models. Its clearly visible on my 590 but nonexistent on my 540.

 

Doesn't get any more concise than that.

 

I have the high resolution screen and I don't see the "diagnol scan line" and I'm not going to look for it. Just going to enjoy it for what it is.

 

Uhm... so you are saying that "downgrading" the 1600x900 to the lower resolution could save my day?

 

Yes.......

 

Sorry for asking one more time... since maybe i misunderstood the last posts (maybe they were referring to a previous thread regarding the "diagonal line" which I don't see instead of lighting dimming) and I don't want to risk anymore on the screen.

The lower res screen has not noticeable light dimming at edges and angles compared to the 1600x900?

Thanks again and sorry for my insistence. Umberto

 

I did not notice any of those problems on my Z 1366*768.

But maybe I was not looking for them.

PS. I have never seen Z 1600*900 in real life.

 

I know there is a store near me with a 1366x768 version.
When I looked at it I tought it was ok, so decided for the 1600x900 hoping that the quality was the same.

Anyway I contacted SonyStyle for the return and everything seems ok. I'll look one more time at the 1366x768 at the store and if it's ok for me i'll order this version (or purchase at the store). On the countrary, I'll go for the SR with ATI graphics (too bad it doesn't have the switchable graphics).

Thans for your comments Phil!

 

Can anyone give me a long term build quality / durability review of their sr or z? I would rather have the better gpu of the sr, but if the build quality is much better in the z I might get that. The sr has the perfect balance of performance/ portability for me, but the z seems like a good deal for 1500. There has been a thread about someone hating their z, so I started to doubt its build would be that much better than sr.
edit: how do they compare in terms of build with my s260, which has lasted for 4+ years and is still working well? sadly i think my ethernet port is broken, but everything else is solid.

 

This is going to be difficult because the way everyone uses & takes care of their notebook are different & build quality is also a subjective topic. Then there is also the question of whether one is "accident prone" & the notebook assembly for that particular notebook......

I would like to give you my opinion of my Vaio Z but unfortunately I can't because what I feel about my Vaio Z may not be what you & the others feel. I do apologize for that though & I don't mean to be unhelpful. I certainly do not want to "wrongly" influence anyone whether it is good or bad about the build quality of the Vaio Z notebook. I personally feel that it is best for one to own it for a few days a least to use it in their usual working environment to see how they feel about it. I'll suggest buying the Vaio notebook from SonyStyle since they've got a wonderful 30 day return policy.

Once again, I apologize for not being able to give you any helpful opinion. However, I believe that other Vaio owners are in a better position to give you their expert opinions.... Good luck.

 

Why don't you give your opinion about it? Don't worry about influencing others.

You own several laptops including several Zs so surely your opinion matters.

 

yea, give me the worst. I actually prefer reading bad reviews so that I can figure out the weaknesses of the laptop. I am going through "Vaio z worst laptop ever" right now

 

I've owned a Z. In my opinion it's not the most sturdy laptop. But if you handle it with care it will do fine for years. Thing is, not everyone can handle a laptop with care.

I don't think the magnesium SR is higher build quality than the carbon fibre Z.

If you want higher build quality than Z I think Macbook Pro is the way to go.

 

I got my Z540 from about 8 months back. Has things changed with the screen?

I just place and order for a SR430.

I plan to sell my Z540. It has been scratched since it is 1 week old. I put it in my backpack and I guess it got press against the books. It has annoyed me ever since. Did this happen to you?

So watch out for the thin lids and screen. I will try to take care of the SR.

 

I am really in a pinch here guys.

For over 1,5 year I have been looking and waiting for a Ultra portable powerhouse. Around that time when I started looking, the first Netbooks came out, and then Ion was announced(9400 on the Chipset) so I was waiting and waiting, but I have come to the conclusion that their performance is nowhere near what I need(gaming and 3D editing).

I know the trade off of a small size and weight(that I want) is power. I understand. I have just been looking for the ultimate combo, which should also have a good keyboard, screen and bettery life. Apple is not an option, I'm afraid(not that I don't like Apple, I just need a Windows machine, and Bootcamp is not enough).


The Sony Vaio Z and the Sony Vaio SR, look like the only ones of their kind, as serious high performancers in the 13'' Notebook line. That is the top one for me.
There has been others Dell 13 Studio XPS(overheating, 9500 Hybrid not so good), LG P310(9600 GT, but no optical drive), and a few others.


Here in Denmark they just recently started selling Sony Vaio Laptops, but it's only done by their website. You can't go down in a physical store(Sony Center) and try one out, which is a bummer, and their Sonystyle.com(The Danish) website does not allow for configuration, which is really a bummer.

This means, that there is no option for Blu-Ray in either of these models for us(and other Scandinavians too).


The SR model have just been sold out(except for pink) but what is strange is that it's the VGNSR41M(the latest update to Vaio SR with the 4570 Ati card) that is sold out. Nothing stranger about that, but when I asked customer support, they told me that the model was expiring and it wouldn't get resupplied again, until new models, which she thought was maybe Sept/October. I need a laptop next month.

The configured model in the Danish store(was) a 2.0 GHz T6900 Core 2 Duo. Not very good compared to the maxed one insane one in the US store(2.9 GHz in a freakin 13'' Cassis????O_O Damnnn....) but I guess the T9600 is very battery efficent, so that was okay.

It also came with 4 GB Ram, A normal DVD optical Drive, a 3200 GB Hard Drive, Vista Home premium, and of course a SXGA/1280*1024 Display, which would be fine for me, for both games and movies. Putting it on in higher makes Aero run less snappy, due to more pixels on screen, so I like having it low, so it can multitask many things at the same time, more fluid.


The big deal was the 4570 ATI card. First of all, it was one of the best cards I have seen in a 13''. According to Notebookcheck, this Card gets almost 4000 average in 3Dmark 06, which unlikes the Vaio Z gets almost twice as little with it's 9300m GS(around 2000 points). The difference shocked me.
The SRs card was a big step up from it's previous and much less impressive 3470, from ATI.
And this 4570 even had GDDR3 memory(512 MB).




Now, on the other side was the Vaio Z, which can still be purchased in the store, but it's price is roughly TWICE as much as the SR. Yes, Twice as much. Roughly 3400 Dollars, but it was also configured with a Intel® Core™2 Duo processor P9700 (2.8 GHz and 1066 MHz FSB), 6 GB Ram, 400 GB Hard Drive(also 5200 rpm), Vista Business, a Standard DVD Drive, and the Geforce 9300m GS, with 256 MB GDDR3 memory.


It's the oppesite situation. The Vaio Z lacks in Graphical power, while the SR lacks in Processor power. Depending on the game on application either will be bottlenecked.
Some games like Team Fortress 2, WoW and such will benefit more from a better CPU, while other games such as Crysis and Far Cry 2, will benefit more from a good GPU. Annoying. The gods are toying with my emotions. Yes, I am saying this without being religious.

And no choice of Blu-Ray besides the nifty price. I also found out, that it's actually against the rules to order from a different countries sonystyle store, and I also think Illegal. Plus I would have to pay 25% in VAT taxes and 15% in Shipping, which would further increase the insane price. And Warrenty would not be convered in a different country.

Thus buying from a different Sony store did not seem like an option either, even though I feel desperate enough to forget the "Danish keyboard" and just live with an english one.



I am torn. Should I wait for these models to get bumped up? Will either of them recieve a Blu-Ray options soon? Apparently the Swedes have had Vaio Laptops for years, and their Blu-Ray has been limited to the FW as well. Which is annoying. If Sony is trying to push Blu-Ray to surpass DVD, why not support it in all their products? It makes me a bit annoyed.
I stopped buying DVDs 2 years ago, because I wanted to adopt to Blu-Ray. Just makes me sad that I can't adopt fully when not all their devices(in my country) supports it.

I could also just look for some other brands, but I cant see nything comparable to what Sony offers. But its frustrating not knowing what to do.

I do have the option of buying a Vaio Z as I can buy that. I found a model(that cost 2,650 Dollars roughly) Intel Core 2 Duo P9500 / 2.53 GHz, 4 GB, 250 GB Hard Drive, 9300m GS, and 1600 x 900 ( WXGA++ ) Display.




But I don't know... I just don't know. If you managed to get to the end of my tail, then I salute you, and I shall drink to your name.

 

I think you are expecting too much from a 13" laptop. Are Asus sold in Denmark? You could check out the 14" N81vp with ati 4650 gddr3. Basically FW in 14' size, poor battery life though. I've read there's a new toshiba 13' also with 4570, should be cheaper than the sonys.

also, the thinkpad t400's ati 3470 is somewhere between the sr and z in performance, around 2500 3d06, but has excellent battery life with 6cell and around 2.5kg. Usually you can get them for low prices.

also, consider the fact that the z is made in japan, while the sr is made in china. that is one of the reasons i'm looking at the z at all.

I guarantee the cpu will not be the bottleneck in SR, the 4570 will be maxed out before the cpu runs out. this only applies in gaming though, in other apps you may be able to see the benefits of a faster cpu. Cpu are almost never the bottleneck unless you have something like a 4850 desktop card.

mainly, I think you should just lower some of your expectations

 

Here, if you order from resellers, my Z came assembled in USA.

Dont worry if you dont have blu-ray. Rip it from blu-ray on your desktop, then play it on your laptop. Problem solved.

 

Not totally true.

For the U.S.A. market, the following applies:

Vaio Z CTO models - Assembled in U.S.A.
Pre-config Vaio Z models - Assembled in Japan

Vaio SR CTO models - Assembled in U.S.A.
Pre-config Vaio SR models - Assembled in China

 

Pre-config means buy from resellers?

 

No.... It means non-CTO models.

An example:

Vaio Z pre-config models: VGN-Z720D/B, VGN-Z750D/B, VGN-Z798Y/X, etc.
Vaio Z CTO models: VGN-Z790 CTO, VGN-Z790DND, VGN-Z790DKX, etc.

Vaio SR pre-config models: VGN-SR410J/B, VGN-SR420J/B, VGN-SR430J/H, etc.
Vaio SR CTO models: VGN-SR490 CTO, VGN-SR490JCN, etc.

 

If gaming and 3D works are your priority, get the high end SR which havin P8700 Core 2 Duo along with ATI 4570 GPU. Avoid getting the Z since the NVIDIA 9300M GS is pretty weak card and this machine tends to run hot when running with NVIDIA 9300M GS.

I would just say this again:
The backside of the notebook where the switch , power connector and power button sits is fragile. A few hard knock on this part would certainly crack it.
The other part of the notebook are fine and feel solid than the backside.

And I agree with Phil. After playing on new MBP at store, the built quality way better than the Z.

 

I think things have changed.

My Z540 that I bought 8 months ago from a reseller is assembled in USA.

 

@ Miyabi:
Luffy said the p8700 is not available on the SR in Denmark

 

Nothing has changed. The Vaio Z540 is a CTO model, that's why your Z540 is assembled in the U.S. instead of Japan.

The following are the CTO models of the first Vaio Z series (the Z500) in the U.S. market:

Z540 (1366x768 screen)
Z590 (1600x900 screen)

 

Is there supposed to be difference in the Z's assembled in Japan vs the US? My Z590 has a great build.

 

Nope. They're the same IMHO. However, others may not think so.

 

thats bad then..
the preconfigured in my country or Asia usually has high end settings.

 

I can't believe what they allow to be configured in America.


On the American Sony store, you can configure a Vaio SR:

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T9800 (2.93GHz)
Microsoft® Windows Vista® Ultimate
8GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 4GBx2)
500GB Hard Disk Drive (5400rpm)
13.3" widescreen display with XBRITE-ECO™ LCD technology (1280x800)
ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 4570 with 512MB dedicated video RAM - HDMI™ out with ATI graphics.
Blu-ray Disc™ playback/burning
Large Capacity Battery
Enjoy up to 8 hours.


... In a 13'' Box:O I wonder what weight and heat will be in this kind of power in such a little machine. But it's amazing. It has to be the most powerful 13'' on the marked. I would say it's more powerful than the LG P310 simply due to it having so many features removed for the sake of its 9600m GT.


edit: Another wonderful thing is: Ingraving! That's so awesome! I did this with my Ipod Touch, and it really gave the whole thing a personalized feeling of the machine having been build to my needs. I wish my companies would do this.

 

you can't return an engraved vaio. I think it looks good but the cost-benefit isn't worth it.

 

Hi everyone, so I've been wanting the Z for awhile now, and then started looking at the SR. I know the SR is about a pound heavier and its screen isn't as nice as the Z's. But I really like the better gpu option for the SR. Anyone have battery life info with the extended battery and the ati gpu cause if battery life sucks than i'll just stick to the Z.

 

I just got my SR last night and I am selling my 9 mth old Z next week.

Here are some of my opinion:

I notice the SR screen doesnt tilt as much back as the Z.

Sound on the Z is much louder.

The SR glare is not that bad at all.

The SR left side palm rest get a little warm. It stay cold on the Z.

Fan on the SR is not loud. Very quiet. Fan on the Z is loud.

 

Oh what a quandary after reading this thread!!! Much research since posting my likes, dislikes and needs in the other thread has brought me to the following shortlist:

VGNZ46MD/B....
SR46MD/B

Is the screen and overall build quality that much better on the Z?

 

May I ask the reason why you prefer SR over the Z? Graphics power I assume?
Thanks.

 

I have screw up my Z the first week I bought it.

I put it in my back pack and I guess it got press and I see scratches on the screen the first week. You guys better be extra careful.

8 months ago there was no support for 64 bit on the Z. So I use all these drivers that someone try to help here. It didnt work for me. My screen would dark out at any moment and I had to reboot all the time. I had do a clean install 3x and it still doesnt work.

In the end, I give up.

I will hang on the SR for 10 months, then its time to sell again and get something else.

 

Although I don't a Vaio SR notebook, that's what me & the other Vaio SR notebook owners have been telling you previously. That is to not worry about the glossy screen on the Vaio SR because it really is not that bad in terms of glare/reflection.

Anyway, congrats on your purchase. I really appreciate reading about your opinion of your new notebook too.

 

How do you like the screen and how do you compare it to the Z?

 

JJ, what is the diff between the SR and SZ? Have you consider selling your stuff on feabay?

Phil, I wear a minus 12 contact. So you can see I am not the expert to judge screen.

To me they look the same. One is little glossy and one is not. I also do not put both screen at full bright. It seems to hurt my eyes. If I have to choose one, I choose the Z screen but they almost the same to me.