Question about the sony vaio tz

I just want to know from the sony vaio tz owners if you order just the 160gb hd version with no optical drive and no ssd drive. Is it possible for me to add the ssd drive later in the future or if you order the tz without the ssd is the internal build different where you cant put an ssd in later on just like if you order the 2.5" 160gb hd you cant swap it with a dvd drive. Basically if no ssd drive do they cripple the hardware to where you cant put an ssd drive later on?

oh and one more thing, I own a 13" macbook and I was wondering if this is much smaller. Like how do you like its portability as a notebook, is it perfect lightweight and size or you rather see something like a 10" screen or something even smaller??

 

Try www.sizeeasy.com, input the dimensions of whatever you want to compare and you can compare that way.

 

that's really an odd question,I think you can take apart your tz and see if there's any space left for future upgrade.

 

i'm curious about this too. I don't have a TZ to open up, so I'd like to know if I bought a TZ w/o the SSD whether I could upgrade to the SSD in the future? Also, is adding memory easy? I noticed some posts in this forum saying there was 1 slot, but on the US sonystyle website, it says 2x1GB for the 2GB models. So, can I get a 1GB model and buy another 1GB stick? What type of memory is it?

Thanks!!

 

There are connections for the SSD inside of the machine. Whether the connection works or not no one knows. If someone is willing to send me a SSD or 1.8" drive with a ZIF connection I'll certainly try. It looks do-able but until someone tries we won't know for sure. You could always replace the 2.5" drive with an SSD. That would definitely work.

My wife has a MB and yes the TZ is significantly smaller. The weight in particular is about half that of the MB. The size is great and it doesn't feel too fragile.

There is one RAM slot that comes filled from the factory. Mine came with 1 GB I removed that and installed a 2 GB DIMM.

 

the memoy type should be ddr2 533 cause of the FSB's limitation.the brand like sumsung,kingston,or A-data would be ok.

 

I would assume that to be a typo as there is a total of only 1 slot. its either 1x1GB for a total 1GB of ram or 1x2GB for a total of 2GB.

 

Outrigger i tried to update the BIOS from Sony US but it didn't regognize the model. What should i do?

 

thanks for your replies and especially to duffyanneal. I own a sr macbook pro 15" led as well and its awesome dont you agree? And now i'm eyeing this beautful tz. The sr mbp is nice but I dont want to lug it around everywhere I go feels a bit too big even the 13" macbook feels a bit bulky. I hope this coming tuesday that they will release a new subnotebook in cupertino, which I doubt... But anways I'm going to order the tz with only the 160gb hd.

Also one last question, will any external dvd drive work if you connect it either usb or firewire on the sony vaio tz? Because I need an external optical drive to use to install whatever os I want to put on it. And if you guys know which optical drive on ebay I can buy that's the cheapest, just for something to read dvd's that's compatible with the tz. I know from the past that sony only works with certain models of external optical drives.. hope its different with this model..

 

Someone mentioned a recent bios update for the TZ90 on Sony Japan:

http://translate.google.com/transla...P-014674-07.html&langpair=ja|en&hl=de&ie=UTF8

Changes:

- Stability of wireless LAN communication it improved.


But do this at your own risk...

 

oh and one more thing duffyanneal, how does the led lcd on the sony vaio tz compare to the led sr macbook pro.. this xblack lcd is it much more vivid and awesome? and which you think looks better? Man the 1366 x 768 on a 11" should look awesome, its only 1 step down from the 1440x900 on my 15" screen..

 

Both LED screens look very good. The TZ's is better IMHO. The screen is brighter and the colors much more vivid on the TZ. The MBP's screen is better than the majority of the notebooks on the market...the TZ is just that much better. As far as resolution goes the TZ's is perfect for the size. I think the MBP could go a bit higher.

 

Ditto. I've always been disappointed with the relatively low resolutions that Apple has put on their MBs for the most part. With a 13"+ screen, they should at least be offering a higher res option.

The TZ is not only great looking but the size vs resolution has it just about right (ie.- the size of text etc. is very readable and not too small like some high res ultraportable screens).

 

man I just tried to order from dynamism but on their website it saids instock.. but then I called and jeff told me that its been back ordered... =/ I just cancelled and going to wait till next week and maybe i'll just order from pricejapan.. theirs is much cheaper for the price of what they offer on dynamism I can get the same price range but get an ssd drive and a 160gb hd with just a couple hundred more. also my cousin saids he ordered plenty from pricejapan for his business and always had great experience and his buddies all ordered from dynamism and that 3 yr warranty really is limited and not that great. Only cover like doa and the machine is just completely dead and price japan offers the same thing but other than that he told me some horror stories and he's pretty reputable with his buddies on arstechnica as I trust my programmer cousin in law and his ars buddies that dealt with dynamism for years.

oh and to note on the sony vaio tz's screen.. man it must be *uckin bright cause i keep my mbp brightness like 3 bars down from highest or 4!!

 

I've read enough on PriceJapan over the past couple of weeks to have decided to place my order through Conics ( http://www.conics.net) instead.

I've volunteered to be the guinea pig with them registering the notebook under my name and purchasing VOS on my behalf, as well as getting wide (accidental damage) coverage. Neither were on offer before, but after chatting with one of the owners, Brett, he is willing to try it and see how it turns out on my order.

Some people have been complaining about PJ's lack of response to emails, whereas Brett has always responded to my (to the point of nagging) questions.

 

yea i'm having kind of 2nd thoughts on ordering the tz. I mean can you hook up an external optical drive and it will work no matter which company it is? Also the gma 950 is the reason that i'm kind of having the 2nd thoughts... if it was an x3000 I'd sell my own blood for it... and no dvi port.. damn but it is so small~ and no osx =(, I guess windows vista aint so bad... but I own a mac pro and I own a mbp and a macbook.. sony... sony... man would it really be worth it... I do need a small notebook though.. man apple c'mon 11" mbp with led backlight!! maybe this tuesday..?

 

I don't intend on playing any games on mine. I have a desktop for that. If I have some time to kill, I will play some movies or some TV shows.

In response to your query about external optical drives: Yes; any drive will work. As long as it is a USB/FireWire powered drive, you should not have any issues.

It is a big purchase. Make sure that you take your time before pulling the trigger.

 

Of course you can put an SSD in later if you don't get one now. You just have to figure out how to disassemble the thing or download the disassembly guide later on. As for the hard drive in place of the optical drive, well you'd probably have to order the TZ with that hard drive as they probably use some proprietary enclosure that fits in the slot that the optical drive would sit in.

The SSD has a regular notebook IDE connector. I think the optional 160GB drive uses a SATA connection.

 

hmm that was one of the big issues I was having if any optical drive will work via usb or firewire... i'm glad it does I guess cause the older vaio laptops wouldnt allow or at least that's what I've heard. pushes me towards to getting one now =) damnit if that screen is as gorgeous as you guys say it is its totally worth it! want something small compact and that I can surf the net and can play hd movies! Can this notebook play hd movies 720p and 1080p without any frame drop/studder?? and Yea I really dont game much either and occasionally if I do, I will with my mac pro.

 

I tried playing back some QT HD videos in 720 and 1080 with no issues. They were full screen.

 

hey duffyanneal one big question I guess I need to know to see if the sony vaio tz is really worth it. If you only had to choose 1 notebook the sr macbook pro or the sony vaio tz, which one you would honestly stick with. And not just because the tz is your new toy and this is a sony forum, if you absolutely had to choose.

 

If I could only have one machine and I needed it for heavy use as well as recreational use then I would have to go with the MBP. The full size keyboard as well as eye friendly screen would go a long ways when slaving away at work. In my case work pays for a T60 so my secondary machine doesn't have to be a work horse. With that in mind I would and did choose the TZ.

 

thanks duff. for being honest. I think im going to go ahead and wait until tuesday to order the tz just incase apple comes out with a subnotebook. thers still a tiny chance they might announce... if not I will go for the tz =)

 

ok I went ahead and ordered today from conics! It saids 1-2 weeks but does anyone know if there's any chance I could get it earlier than 2 weeks? Maybe a week? Maybe the demands gone down? also anyone else have any experience with conics??

 

I've read all the threads I can fine on TZ and the different importers, and have not read anyone saying anything about Conics. There were/are some complaints about PriceJapan's lack of responsiveness, however.

I replied in your own thread with my assumptions about current demand:

They will probably take 2 weeks to make, due to recent promotions and a back log of orders.

 

Oh well at least i'll get it just in time for school.

 

it won't really matter in terms of who you order from. They go through the same process of making a built to order request to Sony Japan which then puts together the TZ of your config and it will take two weeks regardless of how popular the one you have chosen is.

the only place I have heard of in which the customer received in a few days from ordering is Dynamism. The only reason is they ordered a few and just happen to have the config the customer wanted. Other vendors do not keep anything in stock, they're ordered as they receive requests. So realistically, 2 weeks and then a day or two for them to ship it to you depending on where you are and your customs laws.

 

=( I hope that because of the summer vacation that sony's taking that wont make the 2 week wait into 3...

 

can anyone tell me if replacing the 1GB RAM with the 2GB RAM is really complicated... i don't have too much experience with messing with hardware... like do i have to remove any screws to swap out the RAM?

 

You will have to remove a screw on the base of the notebook to get to the ram slot, but it's a fairly simple process.

 

Take a look at this PDF document (page 145 to 150):

http://www.docs.sony.com/release/VGNTZ100series.pdf

 

exactly what i was looking for.... thank you so much mr bonk.

 

I plan to get this laptop when I go to Japan in October.

No one here probably works for Sony Japan, but I was hoping whether someone could discuss if the TZ will stilll be on sale over there in October. I'm not sure how long laptops roughly remain in production after first release and especially as this is an anniversary edition.

Hope someone can shed some light on this for me.

Thanks.

 

I can see them in production at least until the end of the year especially seeing how popular they are. They still have the TX and thats been out for god knows how long.

 

What makes you think the TZ will stop being produced by October? The TX came out back in September 2005 and is still being sold though probably not for long.

The real question is when will the TZ be updated to Santa Rosa or whatnot?

 

so will a ddr2 667 or 800 make it faster? and are these speeds compatible with the tz? sorry if thats a noob question, just don't want to get the wrong memory upgrade.

 

hi does anyone have a disassembly guide for sony tz?

 

you can have DDR2 one million MHz and it won't go past 533MHz. its the FSB that sets the overall speed in a computer.

 

SuperShinobi wrote: "No one here probably works for Sony Japan, but I was hoping whether someone could discuss if the TZ will stilll be on sale over there in October. I'm not sure how long laptops roughly remain in production after first release and especially as this is an anniversary edition."

I hope he will answer rahulnirmal's question about WHY he asks such a question!

I can't see any reasons why Sony after 5-6 months should discontinue such a success! Speculations - just speculations and fantacies! - can be made on the basis of this being a limited anniversary model? And BTW, what will Sony call the next series in the T line? (T is used, so are TR and TX, and TZ is in a way "the end" of letters in the T line?!)

 

I opened mine, and wrote a thread about it a while back... Forget what it is called. basically you need to do the following :

Remove all screws from bottom of computer
Remove the rubber foot just below the right monitoring hindge there will be a hidden screw there
Remove the battery and the three screws there
Remove the memory cover and the screw there
Remove the three front screw covers on the front of the case and remove the three screws
That should be all of it, from what I remember.

 

I'm probably going to use the 160gb with 5400rpm for a while but I will save your comments via notepad for future disassembling =D

 

Thank you for your advice, a nd I guess in other forum , I saw even with pictures , Below is the link where you can see the pictures also.

http://www.leog.net/fujp_forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=11670&whichpage=2