Replacing an SZ with?

I have just upgraded my old Sony Vaio VGN SZ370P to WIN 7 and I am very happy with it. The computer still performs beautifully. However, I know that as a laptop its end is near (Three years and hundreds of thousands of miles.) It is already running very hot, though that does not seem to be affecting it at this point.

My question is simple, I have noticed that the SZ line seems to have disappeared. It looks like it has been replaced by the Z line. From reading the threads here, it looks like the Z lines days may be numbered. Does anybody have any idea as to what the future looks like for Sony's thin and light hybrid graphics platform? I have a generous timeline, I hope, and really am looking at the next six months. No need to jump into the market now if an updated or refreshed line is in the winds to be offered by summer 2010.

Just a side note, specs out today do not crush my old SZ too badly. I am not sure what happened to all of the progress I had been expecting in three years. Where are the instant on computers we were promised years ago?

 

I disagree. Its end is not near. As an owner of both Z and SZ, in terms of performance, I don't see much difference between Z and SZ (especially Penryin base SZ). For me, SZ is a better machine than Z (of course, this is just my personal opinion). Penryn based SZs still outperform some of more modern recent laptops.

If your lapppy runs hot, what you need to do is just cleaning (esp. the cooling pan. It is very easy and will takes just a few minutes).

 

What happened to the SZ line? I have been out of the market for a while, so I apologize if I am simply rehashing old news, but that line was pretty spectacular from the days of my old SZ100 series, my current SZ370 and I would definitely look at seeing what they offered now. It was always light, portable and powerful with very little compromise on graphics ability.

 

I disagree as well.
If your SZ is tired a few tweaks can make it last years longer.

Hardware since your model hasn't changed dramatically.
Max out the memory, put a faster/larger drive (SSD?) and put a fresh install of the operating system (Win7?). Clean out/replace the heatsink/fan, make sure all the screws are tight, replace any lost keys. All can be done for well under $500 (even with an SSD). Like this, it will beat almost anything on the market short of something costing thousands with an SSD.

SZ's are not old technology.
If you want to update though, the Macbook Air (no thanks), Sony Z (not a big enough upgrade) or Dell Adamo (drool, and tempting) are the only things really close that I know of.

 

Maybe replace a Vaio SZ notebook with the successor to the Vaio Z notebook in the "not too distant" future?

 

I still have a sz220 and don't have a compelling reason to upgrade. If it's running hot try cleaning the fan. Everything is pretty accessible from the bottom.

 

A lot of 13.3 laptops now come with ULV processors and no dvd drive. The HP Envy 13" looks interesting if you don't mind not having a built in dvd drive.

 

Interesting comments from fellow SZ owners here. Bottom line is that there really is no compelling reason to upgrade our aging machines. I purchased my SZ370 when it was new in 2006. How is it that my three year old laptop is still hanging with the new class. What has happened to computer advances. I really considered buying new in 2007 just to upgrade to Vista (Glad I held off on that ) and now I have my three yo SZ running Win7 just fine. I am willing to purchase, I just don't see a compelling reason to purchase.

I will look at cleaning the fan out. I took the base off a few weeks ago and blew everything out with compressed air. I did not remove the fan housing. Just the keyboard and back cover plates. I may do a more thorough dis-assembly in the near future and actually pull the fan and heat sink.

 

Through the bottom plates you can completely remove the fan assembly "I think". I know you can at least clean things through there quite well.

As for what has happened to improvements, the biggest has been the UCLV processors, which sacrifice speed for battery life.

No one has really managed to take advantage yet though and offer a significant battery life though compared to the later SZ models. I can easily get 4 hours out of mine, do i really need more? not really.



One thing you can also do is what I did with my old Z505, look into someone selling a gutted base unit, or motherboard and place it into your chassis. Your battery, drive, ram, screen and more will swap right over. This would get you a nice pick-me-up for relatively cheap if you are after a bit more speed and battery life.

 

Someone looked into swapping a SZ6 motherboard into a SZ2 and it won't work because the connectors are different.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=374120

One of the things that newer laptops offer is a HDMI port. That really is about it. I do have a dock though and more connectivity options. As for battery life i can get over 6 hrs with a 100% battery with wifi on using these settings, 30- 40 percent brightness, BT of, wifi on, FF with a flash block and no script. This is only with the standard battery and well i can boost that by getting the extended.

I do miss a bit of colour sometimes and i did look at changing my lid to a special edition one that was sold in Japan but came to a halt with that.

I think if you want to buy a SZ replacement and you want to buy from Sony and you can wait i think you should probably skip the Z if you can and wait until the launch a new series with the next gen platform next year. The 9300GS is really on the way out.

 

Go for DELL Adamo 9.99mm !!!!! I'll buy it as soon as I have enough green

 

Some research before buying is in order before buying. There seemed to be lots of confusion in that thread regarding the pictures.

After a bit, it looks like if you buy a stripped base (chassis, motherboard, cpu. There is a chance you will need a battery, but it's slim), and possibly a battery) it will work for sure. Screens are interchangeable, as is ram, hard drive and at least some keyboards and possibly much more of it.

It's a matter of actually finding one though.I found very few SZ parts available.