Ready to order TZ from japan. Opinions appreciated.

I think I've done my prework, and this is the config I'd like to order. This forum has been a great source of information.

Black (not sure if i want prem carbon instead), Core 2 Duo U7600 1.20 GHz, 1G memory (will buy 2GB myself), 160G HDD, 32GB SSD, 802.11 a/b/g/n wireless LAN, English keyboard, standard battery(VGP-BPL11), NO finger-print sensor, NO security chip, NO DVD

Sofar Pricejapan has been much quicker to reply than Conics so I prefer going with them. (Although they have had some negative feedback, i think they will deliver)

Pricejapan quote: (251800 Yen + 4.7kg DHL cost 14000 Yen) x shipping insurance 1.009 x our fee 1.05 / 159.40 (Euro ->Yen actual rate) = 1767 euros.

I have a DVD player in my current laptop and seem to use it once a year, so happy to leave it out.

It's not every day i transfer 1700 euros to a japanese company i hardly know, to wait for a laptop for 4 weeks. So if you have any comments about my config, Conics or pricejapan, or anything else please share. I won't be ordering untill tomorrow.

 

I went premium carbon, but then again I fully optioned everything besides the Oneseg tuner.

I can only think of two things to consider:

Warranty: whether a 3 year Japan-only warranty is what you want, or if VOS is what you would prefer.
Power adaptors: Do you have the right plug conversion for your country

There's probably something else, but someone else can think of that!

 

thanks Nanaki

I might do that too. did you find clear pictures of the differerences between black and carbon?

I will get VOS one year.

i will have a look.

 

I've seen pictures of both. This is what the carbon one looks like:



The black is basically the same colour black that you see on the rest of the notebook.

On the issue of VOS, to quote PriceJapan's own website:

Conics offer VOS for a lot less and give you the option of purchasing it at the check out. From what I read of the process on the Sony Japan website, it is 60 days that you have to purchase it by, and it is a simple process of calling them to order it by paying with a credit card. So, I don't know why PJ are so hesitant at offering it to every customer.

You will need shape adaptors such as the ones here: http://conics.net/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=25&products_id=114

 

Anyone with more input on my decision?

I'm planning to order tomorrow morning. (that's in 12hours here).

It seems that Conics and Pricejapan are very close in price. Conics delivers with EMS, Pricejapan with DHL.

Pricejapan is way faster in responding to emails sofar.

 

I think the 32gb+160gb drives will consumes a lot of power. If the 32gb+DVD drive works about 6 hours from the standard battery, your hungrier system will works about 3 or 4 hours.

Low power laptops consumes about 7-10w (with 5400rpm sata drives). The sata drives consumes about 1-2w. In the worst case the difference is about 50%.....

If the Tz90 consumes 5-8w with 32gb ssd, the additional 1-2w is critical...

 

Conics also will install a clean version of Vista English OS (which saves you a hassel).

 

Interesting. Can anyone confirm if the SDD+HDD option consumes more power?

If this will take down batterylife I may skip the SDD.

I thought I could use powermanagement to power down the HDD whenever I'm not using it.

Good point.

I'd like to do business with them but they haven't answered my emails for 2 days now, so I'm not too sure about them.

Pricejapan answered my 2 emails in 2 hours.

Did anyone speak to Conics on the phone? I might try.

 

I was in Germany last week. In the Saturn at Dresden I've seen an ultraportable Sony notebook. It was TZ11VN/X. The price was very high 2500 Euro....

It had 100gb hdd, 2gb ram, Dvd rw, ....

I think the TZ11 is the TZ90 in Europe...

 

True.

That's why I am ordering in Japan.

 

You cannot power down your hard drives in windows!
The antivirus/windows prefetcher/system diagnostic softwares always keeping it running. In linux you can power down the second hard drive.

I tried it on IBM t42 with primary and secondary (in the ultrabay) drives.

 

Then why does it say in my Windows XP power management:

switch off harddrives: after 3 minutes

In "notebook hardware control" I have even more options.

Can anyone confirm this?

 

I want to buy a TZ90 too, but cannot decide which version should I buy.
I like the big hard drives, I have 200gb/7200 in my X60s.

Unfortunately the Tz90 is not able to order with optical drive and 2.5" Sata hdd.
If I order it with no optical drive and 2.5" 160gb, then it will be the same as my X60s except the better screen.

My x60s runs 6 hours from bateery under Vista, and runs 7-8 hours under XP pro. Maybe I shuld buy az SZ5 or Sz6 if it comes out.......

 

If you leave the notebook idle for 3 minutes, it will switch off the hard drive ... like screensaver...

There is one possibility: if you remove/disable it in the device manager.
In this way the 2nd hdd will not spin. I used this for saving the power.

I dont tried this on Vista...

 

Yes I know, but that proves that it is possible to power it down.

An application like Notebook Hardware Control or something else would be able to power down the drive whenever I don't use it. At least that's what i think.

Anyway, I'd really like an answer to this soon, because i want to order soon. I'll make a separate thread so people notice this question.

So for powerconsumption issues with SDD+HDD: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=152083

 

Hi PhilFlow, My order is 32GB + 160GB,
I honestly think Power-thingy is a minor issue, YES, I will be using a Power-Management, too. In fact, I know Vista does this by default, because when I use my Desktop (Vista), and try to load some Divx files from other internal HDD, I hear it spinning up again, etc (and off when not use).

Thus, you can definitely save 160GB power by turning it off when not in use, etc.

Plus, Im likely to get BPX-11 battery which can go up to 18hours+. Ive looked at it, and they make the whole laptop weight 1.3Kg, (which is not bad at ALL!!!!),
In fact, I consider this the lighest, and yet the longest performance, thus the best-est solution currently... (or simply ask question in other way around, "any laptop that can go 18hours and only 1.3KG ???)" I know 18 is a manufactuers spec, but defintely, it is better than any other things.

And also, since I will be using TZ for travel (portablilties), I think having additional fat battery will definitely help.

Cheers

 

Are you contacting [email protected]? Also, with regards to calling, the +61 number, I believe, is Brett's mobile number, so you should get through to him easily enough.

 

I have Tz90 with 160Gb and bulk battery, I can go up to 11h (wireless off, screenlight min etc..) and 9h (wifi on)

 

If I order at Pricejapan, do I need to select "Wall mount plug adapter" or does it come with one included?

 

I have no idea. You should be able to purchase them from your local electronics shop.

 

Thanks for all your input guys!


I just ordered a TZ90 from Pricejapan.com

If you want to know the details, check out the order lounge.