SZ dissatisfaction: An idea

After reading the 8,192nd post complaining about the SZ, I have a theory regarding the dissatisfaction. The short version is that Sony has done too good of a job.

Usually ultra-portables make many large sacrifices for their form factor: they lose an optical drive, or they'll lose the widescreen, or they get a tiny keyboard. Maybe they lose a PCMCIA slot, or they'll lose hard drive capacity, or processor performance, etc.

And because of that people who aren't willing to accept those limitations never look at the ultra-portable market to begin with... usually. Sony though has crammed so much into the SZ that folks new to the ultra-portable market (and perhaps people that shouldn't be getting an ultra-portable!) don't seem to realize the tradeoffs needed in this market segment.

While the SZ is an incredible machine judged by the ultra-portable yardstick, if you compare it to larger heavier machines it doesn't look nearly as good. Suddenly the resolution becomes an issue... "Wow! It's even got an optical drive" gets replaced with "Ugh! That's a loud optical drive". And so forth.

 

Well said, but what they could have done is add a S-Video (yeah I know this goes against everything you just said but w/e)

 

I couldn't agree more, Roastbeef. I was considering a ThinkPad X60 before this, and when the SZ became available is was a VERY, VERY easy decision to make. The biggest issue for me was the X60 not having an integrated optical drive. Not only is it not integrated, it's NOT INCLUDED, i.e. YOU HAVE TO BUY IT. The SZ has (almost) the same form factor and weight, but with soooo much more...

Javier

 

Hahaha... really nice angle... and yeah, I agree I guess

And I agree with javylsu, even I had thought of X60 at some point in time, but then I searched around for the DVD +RW and well....

And after 8193rd complaint about the keyboard, I really have started loving it... it is full size and now I like the 'click'ety sound too...'Feels' like I am working )

 

wow, i never looked at it that way. i guess you are right

 

I agree, stop your whining people

 

Well, that was probably one set of buyers, but don't lump all of them into that category. You all may have gotten "good" copies of the SZ, but a lot of people didn't. For a $2k machine, it should have been more robust. The latches and keyboard were not worthy of a $1000 machine, let alone a $2000 machine. Perhaps, this is your first ultraportable and you don't know what to expect. I've owned 3 of them in the past and I can say the SZ felt like the most rushed and short cutted ultraportable I've ever owned. Sony could have done better, they HAVE done better. Performance wise, there was nothing to complain about. It was overall build. Ultraportable does not necessarily mean sacrificing build quality. Sure, you can sit around and try to come up with all kind of excuses to justify why people didn't like the machine, but at the end of the day, a lot of these complaints were valid.

I am now happy with my Thinkpad T60. The build of this 4.4lb core duo is like night and day compared to the SZ. It's about the same price, too. It's a shame. Sony was so close, but didn't reach that extra couple of inches.

 

You may have gotten a bad one, but, I don't see the same flaws in mine. There may havebeen some that were rushed out and some corners were cut, but I know I got mine the first day it was available at CompUSA. Maybe I got lucky. No one is blaming you for jumping ship after getting a bad product. It is just some real nit picky stuff that some are complaining about, stuff that is very subjective, that gets old. If you don't like it, thats fine. Just don't spend the rest of your life trying to convince me that I don't like mine. That is not aimed at anyone in particular, just the crowd of complainers

 

Uh, 4.4 lbs??? This is what the Lenovo website quotes the T60 weight at:

Weight: 4.65-5.08 lbs**

**Includes battery and optional travel bezel instead of standard optical drive in Ultrabay™ modular bay, if applicable...

READ: over 5 pounds. That's a little more than the 3.7 lbs of the SZ including the optical drive, my friend. If I took the optical drive out I'm sure I could get the weight down below 3.5 lbs... In the grand scheme of things, it's not a huge amount of weight, but anything NEAR 5 pounds does not qualify as an ultraportable. Let's compare apples to apples...

Javier

 

And 4.65 pounds versus 3.7 is 25% more weight. 25% is *huge*.

If you can live with a 25% weight gain, your wife must *love* you.