Refurd VPCZ12 or 13?

I was checking out the sony outlet and they have a Z12 for $1299 with an i5 cpu and 258 gb ssd. I also saw that they had a Z13 for $50 less with a 128 ssd but 6 gb of ram as opposed to 4. The weird thing is it said the Z13 had a 1080p which I thought only the Z12 had. Assuming that they have different resolutions, is there any difference between the screens in daily use?

Also, just to throw this out there because its been constantly on my mind, how does the SA compare to the Z's in terms of price vs performance/quality right now. I figured the SA had better specs for the price (about $1000 with student discount) but the trade off was color quality in the screen.

 

1080p screens were available on both Z12 and Z13 models. The additional 128GB of SSD is way more valuable than the additional RAM, and there are no meaningful differences between the Z13 and Z12. The 1080p screen vs. 900p is a matter of taste. Some here swear by the 1080p but easily 50% prefer the 900p. The former has the resolution (but recall, it's a 13" screen!) and has slightly better color gamut, but both are great in that regard. The 900p screen is much brighter and has much better contrast, but again, the 1080p is no slouch in those depts either. The 1080p screen was a free or at most $100 upgrade new, but in the used market they can add $250 or so to the price. Thus, when new, the Z12 as you describe it was probably $200 more expensive, but used the 1080p screen inflates the value, but it's not illusory - if you want to resell it, the 1080p will get you more $ too, all else equal.

The SA has a horrible screen, really horrible. Other than that, it has somewhat better cpu and gpu specs, a USB3 port and Intel WIDI 2 wireless 1080p computer to HDTV abilities. Even with the faster components, the SA you are comparing will seem slower in most uses because it does not have the RAID 0 SSDs that the Z has. The Z is almost 1 lb lighter and the SA gets about 2 more hours on a std battery and it can use a "sheet" battery to get almost 12 hrs. You can get an extended battery for the Z to get it to 6-9 hrs on a charge.

Bottom line, the Z is a "luxury' computer with about the best screen in existence. The SA is a better "value" if raw capacity and features are what you want most. It's very hard to imagine anyone being indifferent between the two, and nearly 100% of Z1 owners i've known have kept their Z1 rather than "upgrade" to a new SA.

Hope this helps.