Questions for SZ owners

Hi everyone,

I picked up an SZ120 today, but I have 15 days with no restocking fee in case I don't like it.

So far, it's a great machine. The keyboard flex doesn't bother me, and I like the layout and large keys anyway.

I have a few quick questions:

- When the battery is full, does the machine stop charging ? My last laptop's battery is almost flat because it would constantly charge, and I'm afraid that the same will happen to this machine... any ideas on battery health ?

- Is the Magnesium casing (SZ120) more, less or equally strong to the Titanium casing ? (SZ160) I know it sounds like a dumb question, but who knows, Sony may be using a little thin layer of Titanium to keep the weight down... which makes it lighter but not much stronger.

- Do you use the biometric finger print, or did you disable it after a while ? I'm not sure if it will be more hassle than benefit...

- Man ! So much BLOATWARE ! (AOL ? MS Office AND Works ?! Quicken AND TurboTax ? WTF ?) What was your stragtegy to remove it ? My idea: Remove the bloatware, do a registry clean, then do a Norton Ghost, a Recovery Point and a backup CD. What do you think ?

The guy who sold it to me said they're getting OEM extended batteries next week, so I'm gonna try one out and let you all know how they work !

Hope to hear from you all soon ! Thanks !

 

I don't know if it stops charging or not. I do know it still indicates that it's charging and that this is normal according to threads here and elsewhere. I do not know what it does to the battery.

I'm not sure about the strength of the casing. My 120 feels plenty strong.

I use the fingerprint sensor all the time. For logging into sprint, my work webmail, my encoded repository of passwords, and lots of other stuff.

I really need to get rid of more bloatware myself. I just did a bunch of uninstalling.

My suggestion--Do a partial restore as suggested in another thread on this forum.

Where did you buy yours? Have you considered a third party extended battery for less than $150 rather than $300.

 

Hey, thanks for the reply !

Well, I know some other laptops stop charging once they reach max... so I was hoping I wouldn't have to constantly be removing my power plug since I want to keep the battery in top shape as long as possible...

Good to hear about the SZ120 strength, but I'm trying to find someone who has compared the Titanium and Magnesium bodies... anyone ?

Also, cool to hear about the fingerprint sensor... I had no idea it was so flexible ! I will certainly learn how to use it more then !

I did a lot of un-installing too... I will look into the partial restore as well !

As for the OEM battery, it is just that... an OEM battery... so it is cheaper, probably about $150 as you suggested...

I will give it a whirl and let you all know if it's good or not !

Edit: Oh, and I bought mine at a new store here in Montreal caled Neulogic...

They have a no-fault insurance plan similar to Dell's CompleteCare... i.e. Coffee spills, dropping, etc... all covered... you go in, fill out some paperwork, and they hand you a brand new machine... worth it for sure !

That broke the tie between the Dell D620 and my brand new SZ120...

 

Well, as far as I can tell, the led that flashes stops flashing once you reach full capacity, but the icon on the taskbar does not change till you unplug, but I believe the icon is just to tell you your on AC power. Either way I always
unplug once it reaches full capacity and never leave charging overnight, just to be on the safe side.

Have not seen a SZ120, but the SZ160 casing feels pretty strong.

I use it do login to windows, but for the internet sites since I use Firefox it does not always work correctly even with the patch. It asks me to register a page that I already have registered and stuff like that. But whenever I use it, people get impressed and ask me about it

You can try a clean install but you need your own copy of the OS + some of the things won't work correctly(stamina/speed switch). Or do the partial restore listed on another thread on this forum. If done correctly works perfect and you don't have to worry about bloatware leaving anything behind.

Other than that enjoy!

 

Thank you for all the information !

I will take all of this into account...

 

The bottom half of the all the machines are made of the same materials. The colors are different but the materials are identical. The top half (display cover and display) of the machines are different. The 110-140 machines have a magnesium lid and a traditional display and backlight. The 150-180 machines have a carbon fiber lid with a thin display and LED backlight. The carbon fiber lids actually feel a bit more rigid even though they are about half the thickness of the magnesium lids.

 

Thanks for the info !

Essentially, I wanted to know how it compares to the magnesium series in terms of weight...

According to the website, it says about a half a pound... I'm having trouble justifying the difference in price for half a pound !

Any opinions ?

 

its not titanium, but carbon, which is what those custom light weight hoods for cars are made of.

 

It is lighter and a bit thinner. I've owned both type of SZ's and the weight is noticeable. You can't go wrong with either machine.

The extra $$ gets you the following:
*Less weight
*Better screen (better colors, less sparkle, better contrast, brighter whites)
*Thinner
*Better battery life (I see 45 - 60 mins longer)
*Looks better IMHO

 

Lithium Ion batteries do not actually like being deep discharged, so it's usually better for ultimate lifespan to do partial discharges and keep them topped up. I think the average "lifespan" is 500-1000 full discharges.

*All* lithium ion/lithium polymer rechargers are "smart" in that once a battery is fully charged they *stop* charging and generally won't start again until the battery is down at least 5 or 10% from full. There is no trickle charging as with NiMH or NiCad, as lithium ion batteries cannot handle this and can become unstable when overcharged (in fact improperly charged lithium ion batteries can explode or vent flame, thus the sophisticated recharging circuitry to monitor this sort of thing).

 

The speed/stamina switch works once you install the VAIO power management utility.

 

Thank you for the great information !

So, to be 100% sure, which kind of battery is in the SZ120 ? It says on the Sony website that they are Lithium-Ion.

If they don't like being totally discharged, should I keep it plugged in all the time then ? (except for over night...)

Or set a warning at 50% so I charge it then ?

 

Wow I didn't realize the higher end models had a different screen in them. Where could I view the spec differences? According to Sony's website, they describe the screens as the same between the 140 and the 160.
"13.3 WXGA display with XBRITE™ Technology"

Grr, their site frustrates me-- no mention of how the 140 is different from the 120 i see in the store, no customizing of the 160.. maybe its just me, but I just don't understand the logic and flow of their website. Dell's site I feel so much more comfortable finding information and comparing products.

 

I don't see WHY the battery life could be longer because of a carbon fiber casing around the screen, and nowhere else.

How could this be explained ?

I'd be *very* surprised...

If the carbon fiber casing was around the motherboard, I'd think, OK maybe it dissipates heat better... but its ONLY around the screen, so...

 

Mathias, ikaris:

The screen between the 110/120/140 models(regular) and the 150/160/170/180 models(premium) are diffrent. The diffrences lie in how the screens are light, I'm not sure how to explain the regular models, but there lighting is the one you find in most laptops. The premium however use a LEDs to light the screen, that way you get a cleaner image, much thinner screen, and consume less battery. There is a post around here, I don't remeber where, that explained the diffrences and had a little diagram to explain LED lighting.

 

I thought they both used LED backlighting ?

Are they really different ? I'm going to have to call Sony...

 

Yes, the screens are considerably different. Check out this thread...

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=42866

Javier

 

Thanks for the link... very interesting, and clearly quite different. I'm surprised these differences aren't highlighted more on their website.

Can anyone recommend any major retailers who might have demo models of the SZ160? I've been to Circuit City and Best Buy, but none of the higher end models are available there. Not sure where else to look.

 

The only place I've ever seen that has both is Fry's - I don't know if they have any where you live. Also, not every Fry's has them on display, but most do.

Javier

 

I called Sony to find out directly from them the difference between the screen light for the 120 and the 160.

They're going to call me back with the info. I'll post a message when they do.

 

Here's the diagram of the screen differences between the Premium and regular screens...

Javier

 

Great diagram.

thanks

 

I saw the sz120@compusa and the screensaver kept going on during the video I was watching on youtube. I will wait and get a premium when I have some dough...

 

Dude we already know the difference between the 120 and160. The 120 uses CCFL backlight while the 160 uses LED .