Questions to VAIO TZ owners

Hey all!

I got a few questions to you TZ owners out there.

Performance, is the TZ very limited by the CPU? Can you multitask good? (Running a movie while doing something CPU intensive). Not experiencing any strutting or lagging?

Also, Windows XP? Anyone run it? How does it affect battery life and performance? My brothers girlfriend has a TX, and when we installed XP she gained over an hour of battery life.

 

Don't use XP, but the TZ runs very well under Vista with the SSD drive. I wouldn't recommend trying that slow, standard hard drive.

 

The hard drive isn't usually whats slowing a system down, it's usualy CPU limitations.

Have you tried any basic games? WC3, CS(Half-life), and so on. The GPU should handle them easily, GMA 950 can even run HL 2. What im wondering if the CPU can handle it. Thats whats been the problem with laptops equipped with ULV before.

 

If I have some time to kill this week, I will install HL2 and test it out. Although, I'll need to find my disks, which may be missing.

 

i play counter strike on my tz with no probs at all!

 

Thanks, would appreciate it Since I'll have to decide before thursday if I want a TZ I appreciate getting any info from u owners so I can decide

Thats cool, thanks for the info. CS is one of the few games I occasionally play.


On another note, how well can you cope with just a VGA port? Thats the main issue, since there are many LCD-TVs that do not have a VGA port im thinking I will be limited. I really think I need a DVI/HDMI port.

 

I love my tz. It runs very fast and nice on vista with the ssd. but YOU HAVE to do a clean install. I did it after 10 days of NOT doing it, and you can DEFINETELY tell a difference. I have 22gb of space left with Office Installed, AVG, Codec packs, ccleaner, and some minor things. And I love the premium carbon fiber. Looks high-tech

 

Well, to give you hard-edged comparison, my Sony TZ with 1.2Ghz dual core is nearly as fast as my 2.2GHz ASUS VX2 lappy, a non-Santa Rosa platform too. The difference is the SSD, not the CPU alone, obviously.

 

I've been lucky in that my TZ wasn't loaded up with any junks on purchase, all i did was uninstall the norton security and it was speeding like a bunny rabbit

 

Nah Only thing the SSD drive would help is loading times. And while multitasking the HDD does about nothing.

 

many people with the SSD version will agree, while the CPU plays a crucial role in multitasking, the hard drive plays a bigger role than you think. All the information thats being accessed is still stored on the actual hard drive! I have been able to multitask with no lags whatsoever, such as opening several firefox tabs, transferring a file over wlan and download files over wlan.

 

Why are you selling your tz outrigger?

 

Yeah true, but that's not really multitasking. The SSD will help you loading things yeah, but the CPU will limit you way before the HDD does It would probobly be different if it wasn't a ULV cpu

 

Is it me or are several people selling their TZs now because now they realize they need to use a different form factor laptop? Why did you buy it in the first place then?

 

The ONLY reason why I'm selling the TZ is because the sudden change in my work. I'm going to be using a laptop in the field 4 out of 5 days a week. and I'm not talking about a starbucks, it'll be used in construction sites, and its the last place I would want to use a TZ. I hate having to put it up for sale, but I have no choice. It has nothing to do with form factors or being too small, I just need something I won't mind tossing around at a job site. I bought the TZ because I couldn't see 3 months into the future, I don't know what the others' reasons are.

 

I sold mine and bought another! Proof positive that it's a great lappy! I tend to be so picky when it comes to laptops, for years there was nothing I wanted. Thank God Sony came up with the TZ90, I would have still been on that V2X, which weighed just too much!

 

Why did you sell it to get another one? Was it exactly the same or did you upgrade?

 

He found out he wanted the 2.5" hard drive instead of the DVD drive or was it the other way around? Too many TZ owners here to keep track of.

 

Yeah, he changed to a SSD+HDD model.

 

I was wondering.... can't you just buy a SSD hard drive and install it yourself... Can someone tell me or give me a link to the disadvantages on the TZ with a regular hard drive? I'm really thinking of getting a TZ (regular hard drive with DVD drive), anyone care to give me some info before i make a big investment on this laptop. thanks in advance.

 

SSD > HDD in speed, seek times, etc

I say its > in speed if you are comparing the same inch models e.g., 1.8inch we are talking about.

but obviously SSD is more expensive, and you might as well buy TZ90 that is customizable, and thus, you don't need to open TZ yourself (which will void your warranty, I guess)

 

problem is you cannot get a 5400rpm hdd with a dvd drive, only the slower 4200rpm. so when you combine that speed with vista you get a very slow laptop.

 

thanks for the replies, I'll have to think hard on this one... my first laptop as a old hp laptop got in 2004. I was telling my self the max on the next one is $2500, but for the TZ190 with 4years warrantee I'm looking at $3500 to $4000, that's pretty expensive.

 

But its worth it. I hope. and get the tz191 you wont regret it

 

Is there a version of the TZ that allows you to swap in different drives relatively easily?? If so, how does one get it, and how are the drives swapped?

 

Sorry no, I've been asking this question as well, I would love a TZ that would easily swap out the DVD drive with a 2.5" hard drive, a modular bay. Looks like if it is possible, it is extremely hard to do.

 

Looking at all the pictures I have, I don't think it would be that difficult to do. It's just Sony being Sony.

I'd love to see it as well.

 

With the ssd + 160GB hd, is there anyway to fully disable the 160gb Hd so that it wont consume any power? Perhaps a software that would make the hd fully turned off and invinsible.