SR or SZ ?!

Hi everyone!
I want to know which one is better: carbon fiber case or magnesium one?
I do hesitate between sony SR and SZ (with carbon fiber).
carbon ones are of course lighter, but maybe also more fragile?
one more point is that, easy typing is important for me, but not at all gaming.

 

well, carbon fibre has high tensile strength, light weight and minimal thermal expansion which would be ideal material used on an ultra portable laptop such as the Z. Race cars, motorcycles and even sport equipment use carbon fibre because of these properties... in terms of which you wanna choose, really depends on what your needs are and how much you wanna spend. The specs between the two are very similar, so in terms of performance, either would be fine. The Z model is a lot more costly compared to the SR because of a smaller form factor, carbon fibre build, higher resolution, aluminum finished keyboard and a whole bunch goodies such as Blu-Ray option, HDMI, SSDs..

to answer your keyboard questions... both models have chicklet keys similar to apple's macbook keyboards. Apparently, this design helps people type faster and reduces typing errors. I guess you'd really have to go to a Sony store and check out the laptop/keyboard yourself to see what you like

hopefully that answered some of your questions

 

Depends on which keyboard you prefer. Have you tried the SZ's keyboards? If not you should go and try it yourself as some people like it and some don't.

 

I recently saw a video of TZ (youtube?) where the SONY Rep said that carbon fiber was 3x(?) stronger than magnesium.

 

thanks alot for your fast replies, and for your help
in fact Z is little bit expensive for me, and so I was more intrested in SR, and SZ; and except the fact of carbon fiber, SR is prefered to me.
but I have another question plz! can the GPU of SR be disabled, like SZ, in order to have more battery life, or not?

 

No. If you get the ATI GPU, it is always on. The switching between GPUs is only on the Z series (and the SZ)

 

The SZ will have weaker options(components) than the SR, but the carbon fiber SZ will probably be lighter... and the screens should be comparable. The GPU on the SR cannot be disabled, but it cant on the SZ either. What youre refering to is the SZ and Z's stamina and speed mode, which either use the Discrete GPU or the integrated GPU, the integrated one being less powerful and saving battery life..

The SR's integrated GPU is as powerful(if not more powerful) than the discrete GPU on the SZ, and will get around 4-5 hours of battery life. The SR has a Intel x4500HD which is supposed to be similiar in power to the GeForce8400(what the SZ uses). So...the GPU's on the the integrated SR and the SZ i guess are identical...except the SR has some newer DirectX support...

If your only concern is the power-battery life ratio, the SR with integrated GPU is a better choice. BUT, if you want lighter weight, and the non-chiclet keyboard, go with the SZ. I cant comment on strength differences between Carbon Fiber and Mag, but it's a laptop, you shouldnt drop it from 5 feet either way, lol

 

Actually SZ has a little bit better screen once you've got the calibration right. It's less glossy and a bit brighter and a bit higher contrast.

http://www.notebookjournal.de/tests/inspection/483
http://www.notebookjournal.de/tests/inspection/628

 

I'll personally recommend either the Z or the SR instead of the SZ. However, this is all subjective. My suggestion is that if possible, you should check them out yourself in the stores before making your decision.

 

I want to thank you all for your useful comments.
but there are still 2 more things about SR that makes me hesitate again!!
first is about its sound quality. is it really poor?
and second is about its reflecting display. some says it is one of the negetive points of SR... would it harm the eyes when gazing for a long time?

thanks again,
Jupiter

 

No the reflection is only a problem when you use it outside, with sunlight.

 

re sound quality, someone posted a couple days ago that the new audio drivers made a big difference. My personal feeling is, laptop sound quality on anything small is going to suck compared to almost any real speakers, so just plan on using headphones anyway.

 

thanks 4 ur help

 

I chose the SZ. I had an SZ and sold it. Since I had three batteries, external charger, T7600 processor (still worth 350 alone) I was able to sell the SZ for 1200. I went online and found a SZ691 with premium carbon fiber lid (I always wanted that lid) for $1286 on Amazon. I think it was a price mistake but Amazon did send it to me and the price remained available for a week after I bought mine. I still see SZ600 and 700 series going for under $1,500. Anyway, I was about break even on the new SZ so I bought the 320gb 7200 HD for 130 and 4gb ram for 60 and two more batteries for 300. All in all I spent under 500. Recently, I sold the stock T7700 processor and purchased X9000 for about 200 difference. I really like the SZ and PCMCIA slot, as well as, the size. I think it is a perfectly balanced machine. And I completely understand that the new SR and Z's are eye candy as well. There is nothing wrong with any of the different models. They are all very close. For me, weighing price and performance led me back to the SZ. I can still use my 4 power supplies and docking station. The SZ size is also very easy for my eyes and I use it 5 hours a day including work. If I were using it liike a netbook than I would get a Z. I don't think I would consider the SR.

Edit: HDMI does not seem necessary for me. All of the new LCD tv's have monitor inputs and I don't see a need for HDMI. I have PS3 and a hardcore SLI gaming rig. I would rather have PCMCIA and Expresscard slots than HDMI. Even an extra USB or powered 1394b port would be better than HDMI but this may be more important in the future. Now it just looks like marketing hype.

 

Hi!
I finally got my laptop, it is the lovely SR129E! it is really nice & comfortable
with my deepest thanks to everybody who helped.

 

Congrats on your purchase. You've made an excellent choice.

 

When Sony means "carbon fibre", they mean by carbon fibre composite/alloy... which means plastic infused with carbon fibre. Hence, it's not 100% carbon fibre and does not have 100% characteristics of that material.

Just FYI.

 

so none of the SR and SZ have HDMI? not even the ones with the ATI cards?

 

SR2 with ATI does have HDMI.

 

true, I just noticed on sony style. so the SD reader in the SR will read also SDHC I would imagine.
what is the battery life difference between SR with ATI and integrated card? Does the one with ATI run hotter and is it more noisy due to the added fan for the graphic card? Is it really worth it for someone who will use it only once in a while for games?

 

I believe the difference is approximately 1 hour of battery life... give or take.

It all depends on the games you play... if you play like... CS 1.6, StarCraft, WCIII, and other much older games... the X4500 is pretty good for handling them. If you're going for stuff on the HL2 engine, or more recent games... you'll be needing a dedicated GPU to enjoy them.

 

It's probably a bit more than one hour.

With some tweaking the Ati lasts 3,5 hours while the X4500 can get 5 hours.

I'd take the Ati just for the HDMI. It's a shame the X4500 doesn't have HDMI.

 

The sound quality on laptops are crap, regardless of brand. If you choose Headphones, they will be MUCH, Much better. On the screen reflection, there are hardly any, in fact right now I am in 30% brightness in an extremely bright room, and there are no reflections. Trust me on that.

 

SR screens are amazing, I would never doubt on that. Speakers are somewhat low but they're not irritating which is good. Its a laptop, if you want decent sound, buy some speakers.

 

is it possible to undervolt the ATI, or reduce the throttle on it but not on the core duo?

 

Hmm... I was very, very pleasantly surprised by the sound on the SZ's speakers.

Loud & anything but bass very clear too. They are a bit lacking when it comes to bass - but else I'd say brilliant for a laptop.