Really wanna get the cool Z...but...

I posted my problem in the Z owners thread but i thought it would be more practical to create a new topic.

I looked at the Z back then and i thought it was the best laptop ever. Seriously. Just a bit too expensive. Now...i need a new laptop to replace my macbook. Not really looking for anything similar to it...dosent matter really.

however, i will be using it to edit high deff video with after effects, premiere pro...etc. U guys think the Z will b good for it. The hic-up i'm having with purchasing a Z right now is the screen. I'm trying to wonder if that 1600x...resolution on a 13'' screen is gonna bug the crap outta me when i'm editing. But i know if i dont find out and get the cheaper FW with a more than large enough screen, I'll always regret it and wish i went with the Z. I love it just wondering if its a smart choice for me.

 

Well, how's your eyesight? D:

 

its pretty awesome. think the small screen wont b a hic-up?

 

Pesonally, I would love any higher resolution screen.

Maybe you could see if any local computer shops have it so you could have a look at it first.

 

I think the high res screen is in my top 3 for why I love my Z, and I have HORRIBLE eye sight.

 

It's all personal preference & whether you can adjust & get used to it. I'll also recommend checking it out at a store near you, if possible. However, I hope the following thread helps you out a bit:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=370180

Good luck.

 

I'm near-sighted, and I am comfortable with small screen with high resolution (12" with 1400x1050, 12.1" with 1440x900, 11" with 1366x768, and 5.6" with 1280x800) It's a question of either you're comfortable with high DPI screen or you're not, and seriously, it's a difficult question to answer if you've never seen the screen directly.
Do you have any computer store near you that has the Sony Vaio Z?

 

You could take a look at the Vaio SR-series, which has a 13.3" (1280x800) screen, and the SR4xx is available with an ATi Radeon 4500 series GPU with 512MB dedicated memory, which will run circles around the Z. Build quality is excellent, the screen doesn't impact the keyboard, but the materials used for the chassis are more plastic than the mix of aluminum/carbon on the Z. Props actually go to SpeedwithJJ for pointing me in that direction when I was deciding whether or not I liked my Z. I bought an SR and am happy with it.

 

Actually the nVidia 9400M on the Z would be better for AfterFX and Premiere Pro since Adobe CS4 is now CUDA-enabled, including a very nice CUDA-based video encoder. The 9400M sucks for games, yes, but in this case it would be better than the SR's Radeon 4500. Also the Z has a screen rated for 100% NTSC gamut -- kind of moot IMO unless you have a screen hood, calibrator, and good interior lighting; but it could help down the line especially if you will be doing production-level video editing.

As for resolution, 1600x900 @ 13" comes to 140dpi; 1920x1080 @ 16.4" (on the FW) comes to 135dpi. So it's essentially the same, dpi-wise. But the FW also uses a Radeon card, so Adobe CS4 CUDA enhancements are out of the picture.

You'll have to decide how important CS4/CUDA is to you. For video encoding, the CS4 encoder could get a significant boost with the 9400M. For the rest of CS4, it's just interface enhancements; they're rather small, but I think they really improve the design process. Be sure to check youtube for reviews of CS4 CUDA enhancements.

You could also consider the unwieldy AW, which is what I decided on (over the Z) after I decided that I don't really carry my laptop around with me that much.

 

I'm very nearsighted, and really enjoy the high resolution of the Z. With a high DPI screen, if you set the DPI setting accordingly, the fonts won't be any smaller in millimeters, but just better defined, because the number of pixels increase.

It even lets me use serif fonts at a smaller point size than on a lesser resolution monitor -- there are enough pixels to actually display the serifs without distorting the letters.

So with bad eyesight, the Z is a good machine. You just have to get over the old habit of using "small fonts", and start defining the size in points (physical measurements) instead of pixels (logical).

 

thanks alot for the feedback. Helps alot. Still not sure with which one i will choose.

i'm thinking about how practical it would be to edit video in after effects and premiere pro. I mean the resolution would be the same as the FW but looking at the sampled video that i'm editing may prove to be less productive than on the FW.

am i right in thinking that?

 

I'm lost as to how you are measuring "productivity" based on the size of the screen, assuming you would pick the 1600x900 resolution for either model. I guess if your eyes are bad, the larger image on the FW will be easier to see; but as there would be no difference in resolution, there's practically no difference in the "quality" (refined-ness) of the image displayed.

If you step up from the 1600x900 to the 1920x1080 screen on the FW, then you would have significantly more real estate to use -- eg: being able to display more toolbars/palettes without covering up the sampled image/video, as well as having increased dpi for higher quality/refined-ness.

Again, if CS4 is your main tool, don't underestimate how useful the nVidia-only CUDA enhancements can be!

 

High-res screens are productive if you have to open multiple windows side by side. Helps save time switching back and forth. If your primary work is in a single window though, the high resolution screen still helps if you're dealing with HD video editing. All around, I would recommend a high res screen, and tune down the DPI for comfortable viewing (if you need help with this, wait till you got the laptop and post the question here).

 

Made my decision. I'm gonna join the " I own the most awesome laptop in the world" club and get the Z.

Thanks again. You guys are great.

 

Congrats!

If you are in the US, get the free rebate bundle with the dockingstation. Then you can still consider to get a larger high-res display.
If you do not work much "on the go", I would definitely recommend this. Even though my previous laptop was 15", I enjoyed it much more being connected to my 24" 1900*1200 display.

 

Congratz. You wont regret it.

 

Oh? How do you explain this?

 

No matter what he will do it

 

When you have bad eyesight, you need the fonts to be a certain physical size to be readable. Whether this is on a 1366x768 display or a 1600x900 display, you still need, say, 2 mm high fonts. The difference is that on the higher resolution display, the 2 mm high fonts will have around 40% more pixels, thus having better shapes and better readability.