SE vs SA screen - why and ARGHHH!!

Finally made it into a SONY store before pulling the trigger on a long awaited SE purchase and am staring orangegate in face - hence the why and ARGHHH! Themachine and the screen is so nice otherwise, but this issue is BAD!

It`s enough to to make me consider the SA, the size works better in the SA anyway for me (proofing photos while away from a desk monitor), but I`d shied away from it because of all the comments about the bad screen. The display model for the SA they have is the 1388x768 one, and it sucks. My question is, is the 1600x900 screen on the SA considerably better than the lower res one, and is it good enough to move from the SE to get away from the colour fidelity issue? They don`t have the higher res screen on a demo.

Which is the lesser of the two evils?

I'm thinking it might be time to reconsider the Z option, one I'd avoided because of fragility fears, and I want everything in one package (no extra power brick, dock, etc).

I`ve been a SONY laptop owner for over a decade, but is this going to be the push to try Mac?

Anybody have any suggestions? Advice?

Thanks in advance.

 

Well, you could wait a month or two and see what Sony updates in their line with the release of Intel's Ivy Bridge. They might address the screen issues with a refresh. If you can't wait a month, then I'd say if you're picky about the VAIO SE screen you'll definitely notice the flaws of the VAIO SA. I'm not that picky, but for me the VAIO SA poor viewing angles was an annoyance. I loved the high resolution of course. As far as switching to Mac, if you like nice hardware and don't need Windows, then by all means give it a whirl. Of course you can run Windows on a Mac as well, though you'll need a copy of Windows 7 to do so and that's extra cost on top of already pricey Mac hardware.

 

It's funny. Everyone wanted IPS screens because they are "perfect". Now that we can get them we hate them.

 

People have been very vocal about the same orange screen problem on the 15" Envy. The added pressure from HP will hopefully guarantee the development a fixed screen for the SE. It will be a very nice computer..

 

It's profound irony. Since the demise of the 15" T60 IPS screens, people have complained about the lack of quality screens on ThinkPads. So Lenovo comes out with a great screen for the X220, for $50 no less, but it's still not good enough.

If you think it's that bad, perhaps if you exchanged it, you'd get a better result.

I sometimes think if Internet boards didn't exist if people would buy and be content to use their damaged notebooks in ignorant bliss.

 

No, we wanted them not because they were perfect but because they weren't available. Nothing like reality to spoil tech toy dreams.

 

Try a Mac.

The future of OS X (Mountain Lion, v10.8) looks a hell of a lot more useful than the abomination that is Windows 8. I don't know what has possessed Microsoft to try and shoe-horn a Mobile OS into a desktop environment.

Apple's hardware has no equal either. I have owned many VAIO's in the past, but Apple are on another level. Looking forward to the MacBook refresh with interest...

 

The Samsung 900X3B (this is the brand new "refresh" of their 13.3" Series 9, and' it's pretty much a ground-up remake) appears to have an outstanding PLS (same characteristics as IPS - eg, infinite viewing angles) 1600X900 screen, not yet measured in a lab, but by eye appears to be the equal of the Sony Z's 900p screen, but 400 nit vs. 280 on the Z. It has a ULV SB cpu (wait a bit and it will have the same in IB) and no discrete gpu (neither does the Z2 internally) and it is said to have excellent audio which the Z2,er, doesn't! Other downsides: only a 128GB SSD version is available now and it costs $1,300, so the 256GB version is likely to cost $1,599, which today will buy a Z2 with 256GB SSD and it will be far more powerful than the Sammy, especially due to 6gb/s RAID0 SSDs.

Oh, and, the 900X3B is about 0.33" thick!

See the Samsung review here.

 

Thanks to all for their comments and suggestions...while I first bristled a bit at some of the "what, you want it to be perfect!" comments (once ram upgrades, big SSD addition, sheet battery, CDN pricing, etc is added in, the $ value is approaching something that you would like to be approaching holy grail status, never mind something that can`t display one of the three basic building blocks of every other colour - yes it can`t even display red, but that also affects every other colour that has red mixed into it...there are a few, so I don`t think I`m nit-picking too much I had some time to reflect and can appreciate the point of the poster commenting on the role of forums and media in making it very difficult to be fully satisfied with a product, but I guess the ARRGH part of the OP just comes with my decision-making having a hard time coping with my real-life observed shortcomings with all the products I reviewed.

I took the advice and took a lot closer look at the 13" and 15" Macbook Pros, and while I like a lot of what I saw (the trackpad functionality alone is pretty sweet, I'd ditch my mouse in a hurry....) I couldn`t get over the glossy reflectivness of the 13" (I work in a lot of environments where I can`t control the lighting or move my orientation, I think I`d want to tear my eyeballs out after a few hours..), so I said, fine, I`ll just swallow the xtra$ and concede to lugging around more weight for the 15" which has a higher res and "anti-glare" screen option, but when I finally managed to find one to look at, I was a little underwhelmed...things looked dirty, low contrast, less bright, just generally not super inspiring and my eyes were balking at something intangible, like they were getting tired. I chalked it up to the comparison with the glossy 13" right beside it, but I thought, shlep yourself across town one last time to rule out the SE: low and behold I have an ah-ha moment and my eyes say YES, they relax into the SE res and contrast, the perfect screen size, clean colours, CRISP text, more accurate blacks.... I could almost feel them relaxing as they thought of the marathon sessions they`d be subjected to...not sure if it`s less matte than the macbook that makes things look that much nicer, but it was pretty apparent.

So now I`m back to where I`m started at! Hence my understanding of a few of the above comments - maybe I should just swallow the red issue and appreciate the SE for what it does offer, use an external monitor more (see my other post re dual link DVI), etc.....but that`s a big pill to swallow....

This is brutal! What to do?!

 

I am still using my old T60 with the IPS display. I seriously considered the X220 and would have bought it if it had higher resolution. Therefore, I am considering the Sony SE or HP envy.....or wait a bit longer.

 

Book 'em, Dano. (sorry, couldn't resist! You all remember Hawaii 5-0, right?)

Wait for the refresh of the SE. I've been fooled before, but I cannot believe that both Sony and HP will continue to buy those color blind 15" IPS screens, nor that the mfr won't figure out how to "put the red in." If I'm wrong, and they continue to sell the same panel in the refreshes of these machines, well, I'd get the heavier ugly-duckling Dell XPS 15 and put an anti-glare screen protector on it if need be. I've seen pics and the XPS 15 IB refresh is far thinner and sleeker, but apparently retains the best in class audio, and colors, contrasts and excellent viewing angles except vertical from above. It's bad enough that they continue to sell the Orangegate panels in the current run, but if it is not corrected in the refreshes, they don't deserve your money!"

 

Unfortunately can`t wait for the re-fresh since the account funds need to be spent by the end of the month. Also there`s no indication from Sony whatsoever that they acknowledge the issue.....so, with a heavy heart ends 10 years of Sony laptop ownership that started with an R505 in 2002 (machine still runs fine and is used as a field beater because it`s indestructible). Decided to try the darkside and ordered a 15" hi-res, matte Mac. I figure if Sony pull their heads out of where the sun don`t shine and deal with the problem, and I don`t like Mac OS, then I can always flip it and come back, but if it turns out I like fruit then maybe they`ve lost a longtime customer for good...

Thanks to all for the suggestions though, the time taken is much appreciated!

 

If you want a high quality, powerful 15" laptop with an excellent display, I can't think of a better decision you could have made. (And since you appear to have more money than God, may I borrow some? ) Seriously, I meant what I just said (the first part!) but it is pretty ridiculous that you had to pay, what, $1,800, just to get a quality laptop with a SB quad cpu, mid-hi AMD gpu, mechanical HDD and a very nice but hardly (in 2012) tour de force of a display. Oh, and, I'm guessing it weighs about 6.5 lbs.

Let me say again, provided you have the funds and can handle the weight, there was no better choice for you, though this is indeed an indictment of the consumer PC market segment. With so much attention focused on tablets and smartphones - which do not, contrary to the media's prognostications, substitute for the majority of tasks performed on notebook computers - just about nobody is bothering to make more than incremental improvements to their laptop products, while they continually leapfrog themselves and each other to make even better tablets that don't expand materially the utility of the tablet format, but do suck the design and R&D resources away from most of the top notebook makers' laptop lines.

I have spoken.