Should I get the TZ?

I JUST bought a macbook and I love it. But, I need it to be a bit more portable.. and also, the battery life is not too great.

I will be using this laptop for school.. so the TZ sounds like a good replacement.

I don't mind using windows instead of OS X. I've got both at home already so I'm used to both and their compatiblilty between the two.

Is the Sony TZ150N/B or TZ130 a good buy? I've heard they don't run Vista well, but how does it run with XP?

I will be using it for word processing, web surfing, email, and the occasional movie.

If any other suggestions.. my budget is 1700.

 

I bought the TZ130N/B, happy with it. I installed XP on it right after booting up to Vista. Didn't even try it out.

Beware, it will be EXTREMELY slow when you first get it because of the slow 4200rpm hard drive, 1gb of ram, slow processor, Vista and all of Sony's bloatware on it.

Either do a clean install of Vista with 2gb of ram or go to XP and you'll be much happier with it. I'm still using 1gb of ram with XP right now and its fine.

If you didn't know, the TZ130 is identical to the TZ150 but lacking the webcam and WWAN.

 

rahulnirmal - what's the performance like on xp? i have vista business which came w/ my TZ/170 and it's usually fine, but on rare occasions gets sluggish. just curious.

also, where did you get your sony xp drivers?

 

I have only noticed slight slowdown when running several YouTube videos at once. The 4200rpm HDD is not as slow as I thought (but I have very simple uses as well).

Here's the drivers for your model.

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-list.pl?mdl=VGNTZ170NB&region_id=1

The web page will show the Vista drivers, select XP as your OS to get the XP drivers.

 

thanks for the speedy response! i'm slightly nervous about the downgrade, as i'm worried about losing my wwan capabilities. i guess i could always come back to vista, but for now i'm just soliciting opinions about the idea

 

This looks to be the WWAN driver that works for Vista and XP.

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-download.pl?mdl=VGNTZ170NB&upd_id=2987&os_id=29

I have never used WWAN so I can't help much.

I'm sure that Sony has provided all the drivers so that everything will work perfectly under XP.

 

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rgds.

 

TZ > Macbook

Order the TZ from Portable One with its bloatware-less Vista OS, and get 2 gb of RAM.

Don't worry about the TZ being too slow with Vista. Mine is responsive enough.

 

If you're considering the TZ150, I would recommend waiting for the TZ240.

 

I'm afraid of how slow it will be. I'm afraid it will feel too slow b/c of the 1.06 ghz processor, 4200 rpm HD, and Vista. I'm used to my speedy macbook and macbook pro..

 

Your only concern about the Mac is battery. So what duration are you looking at for your requirement ?


rgds.

 

If your uses are going to be "word processing, web surfing, email, and the occasional movie", as you stated, this notebook will meet those requirements. It will be very, very slow out of the box, in the stock configuration. But make some modifications (get 2gb ram, get XP, remove bloatware from Vista, etc.), it will be much snappier.

I would also try it out at a store to get used to the screen size and keyboard if you can.


And yes, if your looking for a notebook smaller and getting more battery life than the Macbook, there's many more choices out there for you, make a thread in the "What Notebook Should I Buy" section at the top of the forum.

 

More than 4 hours..

I tried it out for a little while and I liked it a lot. Screensize was just fine and keyboard is something I'm sure I can get used to.

I'm looking for an 11.1".. so far I've found the Sony and Asus, but I'm leaning towards the Sony.

I've got a 2GB stick of ram that I bought for my macbook. It's a 200 pin PC5300.. will this work with the Sony TZ?

 

I bought the Sony G11 a few months back (link below to my review). It has much the same internal hardware as the TZ except for the 1.33GHz single core CPU which means that it isn't responsive when I try to make it do several things at the same time.

The G11 is still running Vista but I disabled functions such a UAC and the indexing, set the Visual Effects to best performance + smooth screen fonts and put a 2GB module in the RAM slot. There's also a long Vista tweaks thread in the Windows forum if you need more ideas about how to improve Vista.

It's fine for the type of tasks you have in mind and offers the benefit that it will see you through the day without needing to look for a power socket. And if the G11 is fine then so would a TZ with two slightly slower CPU cores to share the workload. Sony have done a good job on the power efficiency of their small notebooks.

Any standard DDR2 SODIMM should work OK. The PC5300 will be downclocked to run at 533MHz but with a lower latency. I have seen some RAM sold as for the Apples and I can't see why it wouldn't work in other notebooks which have the same Intel chipset inside.

John

 

I was planning on keeping the PCR 5300 because I got 2, 2GB sticks.. I could put the other stick in my other computer. IS it safe to use the 5300? Or should I just return and get PC4200?

 

you can use that ram im using a cosair 2gb pc5300 at the moment it just clocks down t 533 but I also overclock my TZ so its great for that purpose also

 

How does it compare to your other laptops? (listed in your sig)
I'm still a bit hesitant after reading reviews.. Everyone says it's very slow. Especially the one I want, with the 4200 rpm HD.

 

I have the TZ195, running Portable One's de-bloated Vista. It does have 2G of RAM and the SSD drive, so your results may vary, but the TZ195 in any case is really very snappy with Vista -- completely satisfactory; actually by far the speediest notebook I've ever had, no comparison to my previous machine, a Toshiba R200 with the previous generation single core 1.2ghz ULV processor.

The Sony TZ is fabulous -- fantastic screen (best notebook screen I've ever seen, by far), great form factor, light, not quite as slim as the R200 but still good. Battery life ranges from 3.5 hours running full screen brightness and all the radios and DVD working to 7 or 8 or even 9 hours with the screen turned down a bit and the radios and DVD switched off. That's great; I never had a laptop that would go much more than two hours before.

Well, it's fantastic. You won't regret buying one. I recommend getting it from Portable One -- not the absolute cheapest but fantastic service and you get a fully tweaked operating system image disk to get rid of the bloatware.

P.S. -- there is one downside -- the keyboard is a tiny bit cramped for a fast touch-typist like me. Not seriously so, and the keys have a good feel, but it's a slight disadvantage compared to some other machines, like my previous R200.

 

out of all my ultraportables i love it the most of course the sz is faster and more powereful but its a tad big

 

I can see your concern about speed given that the TZ you are refering to does not have SSD and also not using the 1.20 GHz processor.

The TZ is essentially an up-market lifestyle notebook. As such, it does not come equipped with a fiercely powerful processor. You may even be aware that it is very limited in GPU capability.

As with your requirement of battery-life of more than 4 hrs, amongst VAIOs, I would suggest the SZ or G as alternative considerations.

The SZ has a very clever GPU selector switch which permits toggle between integrated graphics or discrete graphics mode. This means longer battery life if you do not need discrete graphics speed while still avail such graphics speed when you need it. This selection cannot be said of the TZ.

The SZ comes in processor speeds that matches or even exceeds the Mac.

From published information, a standard battery gives up to 6.5 hrs while the extended battery gives up to 9.5 hrs.

Admittedly that its 13.3" form factor will mean that it is heavier than the TZ, the SZ is still among the lightest in its class.

The SZ has the optimal balance of screen size, light weight, processor power, GPU selection, and battery-life. It even makes me regret on my ThinkPad purchase.

As for the G. it has a faster processor than the TZ as John Ratsey pointed out above, though it is single core. Battery-life and weight are both very attractive.

Best of all, the G is easily the most durable of all VAIOs.


rgds.

 

Well, IMO the SZ is not an ultraportable. It has a big footprint for be definied as one. Of course, is a great laptop and much more powerfull than the TZ. But you can't compare these two, totally different machines.
About the G, I really don't undrstand why one should go for this lappy when there is the TZ in the same price. Only if you like more the screen resolution of G that is not widescreen. The specs are identical no?

 

We are aware that the SZ is not an ultra-portable and is also heavier than the TZ.

Here, the issue is on the needs of the OP who did not explicitly rule-out non ultra-portables the size and weight of the SZ.

No need to be so critical. These are just merely suggestions for alternative considerations.


rgds.

 

I should add that the G1 / G11 are discontinued and replaced by the G2 / G21 with dual core CPU, so effectively the same as the TZ in that respect. The main difference between the G and the TZ is the display. The G has a bigger, lower resolution display which makes full use of the size of the lid. 1024 x 768 is a low resolution by current standards. Something like 1160 x 870 would be an excellent compromise as far as my eyes are concerned, but that's getting off topic.

I can't yet comment on the long term durability of the G11 but after almost 4 months it is showing no cause for concern.

John

 

My copy of the VAIO general catalog illustrates the G as "Lightweight mobility, Heavyweight Toughness", having :
- Three-surface carbon structure
- External pressure tested
- Open / close display tested
- 72cm drop proof-tested
- Flat-surface pressurised vibration tested at 120kgf


So far, only both SZ and TZ are known to be constructed with carbon fibre like the G. Still, it is the G that is known to pass the tests outlined above.


rgds.

 

I have used the G quite a bit and I can add that it's better built than both the SZ and the TZ. It really is a cool little laptop. I wish they offered SXGA on that screen though. Sigh.