Quick VGN-G1 Update/SZ Comparison

So I've been using the G for well over a month now. Yes, it's only a Core Solo 1.33, but I really don't miss the SZ much. It does everything I ask of it. It even seems snappier than my Sharp which had the Pentium M 1.73, and blows away the ULV P-M 1.0 and 1.1 that were in my U70 and JVC 741 respectively. Some of the performance could be the fact that I have the 32GB SSD and 2GB of memory

I think I like the screen on the G a bit better than the SZ. It's actually brighter (believe it or not). The G has been my constant companion on the road and it's a great size - not too big, not too small, nice screen without the kooky T series resolution that is too small (IMO). I really don't miss the widescreen; there are times where a bit extra real estate wouldn't be bad, but I'm not worrying about it.

I powered up the SZ for the first time since early June today because I needed to run 4 VMs that consumed more than 2GB of memory. That's where the G does not shine since I'm capped at 2GB, and it's only a single core. The TZ should be better in this regard processor-wise, but it won't solve the memory issue.

What amazed me today in powering up the SZ is how heavy it is compared to the G. The past month or so has been great toting around such a light laptop. I get somewhere between 6 and 8 (closer to 8 depending on brightness, if wireless is on, etc.) with the standard battery (which is the higher capacity one). For example, I watched "Casino Royale" (a 2.5 hr movie) and did about 4 hours of work ... and had battery to spare. Not too shabby.

One thing I really like is that while the power management does not have as many options as the SZ (Sony I guess changes it for each notebook), it has some better stuff - like automatically turning on and off the DVD drive instead of a forced on/off.

Sure, the TZ was announced a couple of days before I got the G, but I really have no regrets. The G is a great travel companion. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to go back to a 4lb notebook (which is my upper weight limit), but I have the SZ if I need more power.

 

Thanks for the update -- to refresh memories, what is the configuration on your G? DVD? XP or Vista? What type of battery? Thanks

 

i was just looking at the g and was interested in buying it -- are there many others who bought the g1 -- is sony looking to refresh this model anytime soon?

also -- have you hooked up the g1 to an external monitor ?

i wonder if it can support up to 1900x1200.

 

Externally maybe it can support 1900x1200. I haven't hooked it up to an external monitor. To be honest, unless I'm giving a presentation, I never hook my laptop up to a monitor. 1024x768 is all it supports on the built-in monitor.

Sony hasn't announced any G refresh yet.

As for my specs, here they are:
Limited Edition Brown (looks great)
32GB SSD
Core Solo U1500 1.33GB
1GB onboard (I put the extra 1GB in for a total of 2GB)
DVD drive
Wireless LAN/bluetooth (unlike the SZ, you have to get both or none; my SZ I got with wireless but no bluetooth. You can disable bluetooth with SMartWi)
Fingerprint sensor (has to come with the brown otherwise I woudl not have ordered it)
US English Keyboard
Wide warranty
Standard battery (this is the extended battery)

Far and away the most usable ultraportable I've owned to date. I just got my 200GB Hitachi 7K200 7200rpm drive and an external case, so now I'm almost as good as the TZ90 lol (in some ways better). Even with the standard battery and the new external drive, I'm still at like 2.5 lbs

Right now I have a browser open and am running 3 VMWare Workstation 6.0 VMs. This used to choke my P-M 1.73 and the old ULV 1.1.

Would the Core Duo 1.2 be nice in this lappy? Absolutely. But I have no complaints to date.

Now that I have the 200GB drive, managing the 32GB SSD gets easier as to what I need to keep on there.