Should I buy a Duo 13?

I know what it does - that's fine, it's what I'm looking for. And in the absence of the ATIV Q (which I'll also be buying) this is in my sights as one of the machines to buy now.

My question is more structural. I eventually came to the conclusion that the Z2 sucked from an 'everyday use wear resistance' perspective - the pairing of flexible carbon / carbon-plastic and rigid aluminium was, I think, a disaster. Have Sony learned their lessons with their new-generation 'carbon' notebooks, or is it more of the same and it'll look thirdhand after a month of use?

 

i used the Z21 nearly every single day for 6-8h a day for the past two years. left front corner lost its paint. the spacebar had difficulties from time to time (it had from the first day tho.. common complain).
the hinge area lost some paint with friction over time..

it went through everything..it fell on the floor, it stayed outside in the grass for hours, it stayed on in a closed bag til battery died a few times, had water drops on it, stayed in the sun longer than I wish it had... (yeah, i suck, i know..)

.. this is NOT what I call sucking for "wear resistance" , quite the sharp opposite. the only stronger laptop i got so far is my good old panasonic toughbook (which also lost some paint here and there)

my apple laptops for example, are a joke in comparison, after 2 years they've failing all over.
did i mention that the battery still lasts about the same as the first day?

So yeah.. think you should learn from sony. It's not because the laptop is flexible (and the Z21 is a little flexy) that it's not resistant or anything. In fact, I'm calling bull on what you're writing, pure and simple.


Now that doesn't mean the duo is as resistant of course, but i wouldn't base myself on such hasted conclusions.

 

I don't dispute that the machine does quite well against potentially machine-killing impacts in terms of it's ability to take a drop and stay functional more than e.g. an Air.

It's what I said about everyday wear resistance. The flex of the carbon / carbon-plastic shells vs the rigid-but-not-rigid-enough-in-this-usage-context keyboard plate and the bezel means that metal contacts against metal often and results in premature wear, including but not limited to a) metal fatigue, b) very visible marking of aluminium parts and c) extremely premature screen marking.

And I didn't need to have it for two years to figure that out. In fact, the keycaps alone exhibit premature wear compared to any decent-quality machine after a week.

Either way, I've ordered the Duo now so we'll see how it holds up. If it's another Z2 (or a TT, first-gen Z, etc) in structural terms, it's out of contention for sure.

 

theres zero "metal fatigue" on my 2y old Z2, and the paint wear offf about 3 month ago... because i know where it is really.
theres is no screen marking if you wipe the screen (thats what i do) or if you put a tissue (some people do that). It's not due to the flex tho, its just that the screen touches the keyboard, that leaves traces when closed (again, wiping the screen is enough to get rid of it).

i have absolutely zero key cap wear also. they're like new. i'm programming for hours daily on this.. its the spacebar spring that always (since day 1) was capricious. that's not wear. that's a design fault.
the other keys, and the key material itself looks pristine. all caps are, again, in absolutely *perfect* condition. i type on them for several hours every day... i'm not sure if you realize how much that is.
In fact, i have several keyboards from older computers which have no more marking on the key caps. (including mac laptops, altought they changed those since a few years)

i used the duo some at a shop today and it doesnt have flex, but i personally find it a pain to type on if you don't have a table. and it's heavy for a tablet. the hinge mechanism seems surprisingly strong, albeit time will tell.
it certainly has more moving parts than the Z2 or the pro.

as to settle the "argument", people basically often ask me where i got this sexy new vaio - they don't realize how old it is.

 

Post a photo of the front edge of the Z2 - the SD card area. I'm curious.