SZ6 (SZ650N) Poor Build Quality

In addition to having a bad hard disk (after less than a year of ownership it totally failed, corrupted data, bla bla bla), the welds on the palm rest screw posts (see picture attachment) have come undone. I have been able to fix this for the time being with krazy glue, but it's not perfect. Furthermore, because of this, the plastic piece on the CD drive side broke at the incredibly flimsy joint with the main carbon chassis. Also fixed for the time being with krazy glue.

The touchpad comes on reversed from time to time, there's a ton of bloatware installed by default, no official 64bit support (although I was able to get it working with help from this forum), bla bla bla. My friends think all of this is hillarious, as I "overpayed" for a Sony that has been a real bear in terms of quality.

I can't complain about the design, weight, battery life, gorgeous screen, or performance however... but the quality issues are canceling out the positives, I'd say overall it's impossible to give the SZ6 a better grade than a B: it's a pleasure to lug around (I'm moving around every day) but the poor quality means you can never relax.

Is there such thing as a thin-and-light ruggedized 13 inch machine? (if cost were no object)

 

Ah just to mention: maxing out ram to 4GB and 7200 RPM hdd (or SSD if you can swing the $$$) is a must, really rounds out the performance of this machine.

 

I'm really surprised by that. I have issues with the current crop of Sony's but the SZ's - and I've had a fair number starting from the SZ2 until the last SZ7's - have been real highlights in yes-flexy but ultimately-durable solidity.

If the SZ in question didn't have a manufacturing defect there but it failed in use, I'd say you're probably not going to be happy with the current Z. If it was a manufacturing defect - well, better luck next time.

The Lenovo T400s with an SSD may be an option. I use it regularly, but I'm personally not absolutely convinced that it's something I *need* to move to from the SZ's, which are - despite some Z acquisitions and subsequent disposals - still a mainstay of my laptops.

 

If you willing to pay for it and want a real rugged computer I'd look in to what panasonic offers. They don't have a 13 in laptop but they do have a 14 incher that weighs 3.6 lbs. Laptop looks a little weird though.

http://shopping.redorbit.com/product/panasonic-f-series-8421953/index.html

 

The touchpad that was a design flaw and a potentially faulty touchpad... if you put some masking tape between it and the palmrest that problem gets sorted.

The welding points of screws have come undone - how did you manage that?
Are you putting the laptop under a lot of stress?

I'm carrying an SZ7 to university every day - no problem.

 

My SZ7 came with 4GB - got a SSD in it - its nice, but not a must, the 5400rpm drive is good enough - but most importantly, from the spec sheet its the most energy efficient HDD I could find.

My SSD needs less electricity though - Intel 160GB G2.