SZ went down fast in the "popular list"?

I have seen SZ position has been gone down fast in the list of laptop popular. Now HP is rank top. I am curiou to know if it has some problem with the quality or not?

 

SZ is one of the premier line of models from sony are have one of the best relaibility ratings out of the mainstream manufacturers they also have good service too i guess its gone down to the hpdv6000t as the hp offers more bang for buck....more features and less money and oh ya it looks good too maybe its that...

 

The HP is somewhat bigger than the SZ series, so doesn't quite fall in the same category.

That said, the HP is faster, partly because the memory runs at 667Mhz (SZ = 533MHz), and is certainly much better value for money. It is also a better workhorse because of the larger screen.

For travel I would still prefer a SZ360, thank you.

 

Poor built and lack of customer support have plagued this series for a long time now. Spend your $ elsewhere.

 

SZ is not poorly build, but the customer support is bad

 

Have you even owned a Sony business laptop at all??? Your statement is by far the biggest pile of s... I've read in a long time.

I've owned an S4 and now an SZ2 and never had a big problem. Both are built rock solid. I also owned a Samsung (this was built ok but with design flaws) and an BenQ (that was crappy built quality wise and therefor sold again). Servicewise the support of Sony for their business lines is GREAT. Sony has two different approaches here, a crappy support for mainstream laptops like the FE series and a really good and fast support for the business lines like the SZ or TX. I had a problem with my S4 once (internal DVD burned problem) and they fixed it in less than 24h!

I must admit that I've a mjor advantage. There's a Sony Style Store in town where I buy all my Sony stuff and where they service them. So when the problem arose I just called them, they said I should bring it around and the next day it was fixed. 24h support is part of the hefty price you pay here in europe for your Sony busines models. Maybe this is different elsewhere but here Sony service is one of the fastest and best if you own the right laptop.

If you went for an FE or something similar ... let call those lines "cheap at all costs" ... then what do you want???

 

Hmmm...All of the models in front of the SZ weigh 6 pounds. Not even in the same category as the SZ.

 

How is the "popular list" calculated? Does anyone know?

Javier

 

what i think is that he price factor is playing a major role here... hp dv6000 notebooks are real cheap.. SZ's are not!! apart frm that, i find no other reason for the sz being less popular... its an awesome machine even with all the problems discussd here... cheers.

 

Hey, FE is not a cheap lines notebook

 

isnt it calculated on the number of clicks that particular model receives...the more the number of clicks the higher the laptop...but then again i cant be so sure about this

 

i think what he meant by "cheap was that FE's are cheaper compared to SZ's and have a similar form factor like the rest chart toppers... like 15 inch widescreens etc. of course, if u have a VAIO, its a matter of pride itself! be it an SZ or an FE or whatever! VAIO is a VAIO afterall... these notebooks hold grandeur like the apple macbooks... classy and distinct!

 

Thanks. I owned 3 Sony laptops this year alone, one a BX (business line) and lately the top of the line SZ360 (paid $3000 for it). They all had major flaws, and I had to return them for the reasons stated in my previous posting. I'm glad to know that your experience has been otherwise.

 

My mom had a really solid Z505JE since the days of Windows 98 and only recently gave up that laptop because the keyboard finally gave out from all her tapping. So I agree that Sony's laptops can be very solid but in their zeal to create an under 4 lbs laptop, the SZ270P/C that I bought had an issue with open space underneath the touchpad that caused it to break. Unfortunately, unlike Europe, there aren't Sony service stores all over the US. The US is much more spread out so I guess the price premium isn't worth it. Shipping stuff back and forth is a hassle and can take a week if not 2 weeks to get stuff back.

Yet, I don't think I've learned my lesson since I sold my SZ270P/C to my mom when the keyboard on her old Windows 98 Z505JE laptop gave out. I bought a new SZ370P/C and it still has the same electrostatic grounding problem that the SZ270P/C does. I don't know how this will play out with reliability as it ages over the next several years but it doesn't bode well for Sony's current laptop offering.

Beyond that, I've loaded Windows Vista Business 64-bit edition on my laptop and I get stone-walled when I try to talk to the support department about drivers for Vista. Same thing happens when I try to talk to them about Windows XP 64-bit edition drivers. Sony creates proprietary software applications to make alot of functionality in their laptops work eg turning things on and off. Unfortunately, without drivers, the functionality doesn't work. As much as I paid for the laptop ($3,000), the level of compatibility is abismal. Only the narrow copy of Windows XP 32-bit that comes with the laptop.

Sony has promised a free upgrade and drivers for Vista but has not said when. It could be weeks, it could be months from now. I'd also be surprised if they publish any 64-bit drivers/applications for Windows XP and/or Windows Vista. Windows XP 64-bit edition has been out now for a while and one of the features of the SZ370P/C is the EM64T technology in Intel's Core line of processors. It doesn't make sense to pay for a laptop with a more expensive processor that Sony won't support and thus, will not be able to use to its full potential.

The question is if I've just gone completely mad by buying the SZ370P/C or am I just a hopeless romantic that Sony will come around and publish 64-bit drivers/apps. Not likely? I just checked HP's support site and I haven't seen any 64-bit drivers either.

I'm guessing that the reason for the popularity of HP's laptop is the cost and sleek design. It was similar to HP's sleek black re-design of a few of their consumer printers that blew their sales out of the water a few years back. People want things that are pleasing to the eye not just the same square boxes everyone has been building since the beginning. Isn't that part of the fan-boy attraction to Apple machines? Good design merged with technical prowess equals added value that makes up for their price premium.

 

I'm sorry to hear that but you cannot say that the business lines are flawed because you had some lemons. I had an IBM HDD die on my in 3 months, yet I still believe they (now Hitachi) are good drives. I'd never go that far to recommend to stay away from them just because I had problems.

I never had a bigger problem with any of my Sony products at all. That may be a reason why I became ... sort of a Sony whore. I own two Vaios (my SZ2 is the newest), premium LCD-TV with alumium front, hifi rack, Cybershot digicam, HDV camcorder - all Sony. And I was very pleased with them every single time.

On the other hand, I was more or less dissappointed by other devices by other manufacturers like a BenQ laptop (bad), a Canon digicam (ok, but not great) and a Thomson LCD-TV (yuck, that was bad). Of all the tech stuff I had in the last decade, Sony always provided the best product.

And to be honest, it feels good to use a Vaio SZ2 where everybody around you is using laptops they got at walmart for sub $1000. It makes you feel special

Servicewise it all comes down to where you are in the world. Sony service is and always has been very good in europe. And I know it has been mediocre in the states. But you pay a hefty premium in Europe for the same hardware. The cheapest SZ model you can get with T2300 and without BT/EDGE etc already costs over $2000 here.

That was a good one. That is clearly a thing of the past. Now Apple is going the same "cheap at all costs" way as so many. I had three MacBooks (the best white one) in 4 weeks and they were BAD ... I mean really BAD. I've yet to see a worse built quality.

And to make one thing clear, I see the FE as a cheaper entry level notebook. But that may come from the point that I don't consider the sub $1000 crap you get from supermarket chains worth thinking about at all. For me (and surely many people that need to rely and work with their machines) a good laptop starts at $1500 at least. Below that and bad bad compromises are required.