So I Bought The VGN-Z590UAB Today ...

I got your point. I sold my TZ for the same reason.

I was giving a tip for others

 

I wish that Sony would just offer one "speed" that could do either 1600x900 or 1366x768 - not one or the other.

I hear you on the TZ. It's my main gripe with it, and a big (but not the only) reason I got the G instead.

 

How is that even possible? All LCD screens are fixed pixels. Its not like a crt monitor where they can support multiple resolutions without scaling.

 

BTW, finally had a chance to return the Z to the SonyStyle store. I did get hit with the 15% fee. Better than a $4k paperweight. Now I'm just waiting for my Z from Conics

 

I went into the Sony store last night and took a look at the 1600 x 900 display ... I had to see it firsthand for myself.

I couldn't agree more with FenderP ... I've also owned too many laptops and never had to think about resizing/scaling ... personally I can't believe Sony offers that resolution with that screen size - the Manager at the Sony store agreed as well, he said the small font is already the biggest complaint from people who've checked it out.

The incorrect advertising about the screen resolution - advertising 1366 x 768 on the box and in their ad's but when you open the box SURPRISE it's 1600 x 900.

This messed up a lot of Canadian Customers I'm sure, you'll have some who won't buy it because it's not the resolution they expected < they're the smart ones, imo ... then you'll have some who buy it with hopes they'll get used to the small font, I think this group is setting themselves up for long term dissapointement, hopefully they'll realize that before the return period ends...

I wish your post was over in the Canadian Z owners thread ... some has received their Z and while they like you can sense the unsureness about the screen res (and the funky Canadian billingual keyboard) ...

I say, ORDER FROM USA ... that's how I got my 570, with the 'right' font and the 'right' keyboard ....

 

It sounds like you're blaming everyone who would choose the higher resolution. You should know that there are plenty satisfied users of T line (as well as me) and they will be probably happy with Z's high resolution as well. I got good eyes, even though I'm watching screen since I was four...and if there would be possibility, I would go even with higher resolution than 1600x900.

btw...I really don't like the 'right' US keyboard with small Enter and big Space key.

 

The point of unique's post is thta apparently on the box and in ads it is advertised as 1366x768 but you get 1600x900. It's a big difference if you were expecting one or the other.

The choice of resolution is completely subjective. One man's pain is another man's pleasure (so to speak).

 

I have a question guys because I am a little confused with all these Z-information. Is it possible to take a Z with the 1366x768 and the blu-ray drive or it needs the extra 128mb vram?

 

thanks FenderP, yes that is exactly my point.

For sure resolution is a personal choice - it's too bad Sony didn't see that and allow the Consumer to make that choice on each of their Z models - after all whats the big deal for Sony to do that; other than an 'inconvenience'.

Further, if Sony Canada was going to allow only one resolution on their Z555 then they should of went with a resolution that the majority of people prefer. By far the majority of computer users do NOT prefer such a small font, Sony 'went against the grain' - again and to what benefit for the 'majority' of consumers - none!

The result for the Canadian Consumer is a lot of people are going out to buy their new Z555's now and MANY are concerned and surprised about the font size. Sony staff says "just resize it - it's perfect when you do that".

The fact is the font is not 'perfect' when you resize it from 1600 x 900 to a lower resolution or via the DPI settings, that means all these Canadian consumers who are buying the Sony for it's amazing screen, true colors and clarity are instead going to be sitting behind a screen with blurry / resized fonts instead - and that's really too bad.

Sony, being the large innovative company they are, and this Vaio is "designed by users for users" - really? Then I wonder how many users they surveyed and polled to come up with the idea of the high resoltion, 13.1" screen and chiclet keys, I think giving "real" Vaio's users a choice they'd of come up with much different spec's and options.

Maybe I should just shut up and quit *****ing and quietly slip away over to the LG forum I would, but there's nobody there, LOL, (mostly because LG doesn't sell notebooks in USA so not many posts from our US friends).

For sure in MANY ways I feel the LG P300 is a much better notebook, it's a surprise it's so much less expensive, but that notebook has gone to my wife and she won't give it up ... I'm more inclined to keep and use this Z570 for some months so I can see first hand what all this Sony hype is, as of right now I don't see it - EXCEPT to say that the 'true color' of the screen is incredbile, and that's about the only reason I'm going to use ths for the next few months, otherwise I'd put this thing on eBay and go right away and get another P300 for myself - it's better in MANY ways over the Sony Z line - IMO, of course

 

BR can be done with either, however that config is only available in Japan as a CTO.

 

Any link Fender?

Conics doesn't offer this option. Only SSD you can take with both resolutions.

 

Even in Japan you can CTO Blu-Ray just with 1600x900...

 

I just ran the Configurator (lol) over at http://www.jp.sonystyle.com/Product/Vaio/Z/z90us_ns_s.html. I'm wrong. Looks like it is only 1600x900. Here's th e translated bit under the DVD/BR selection:
- When "Blu-ray Disc drive" is selected, "SSD about 128GB" and "SSD about 64GB" of "13.1 wide types (16:9) WXGA(1366×768) [ clearness and the solid liquid crystals ] (rich color and LED)+ NVIDIA GeForce 9300M GS GPU (special video memory 128MB)" of "1GB(1GB×1)" and display + graphic accelarator of the memory and storage cannot be chosen.

Although there should be no technical reason a 128 vs 256 card should make a difference. I wonder if there is some good explanation.

 

I'll put my vote in in favor of the 1600x900 screen...

In fact that's the primary reason I'm interested in the Vaio Z. I have a 13.3" 1280x800 screen at the moment, and whenever I'm on the road I'm less productive due to less screen area. It seems wasteful to me to not have higher res available on smaller screens (it's almost impossible to find, Lenovo X301 being one exception), so full marks to Sony for providing the option.

I've seen the 1600x900 in store and it looks fine to me. My partner has a Lenovo Ideapad 11.1" with 1366x768, which is almost identical DPI, and whilst small it seems perfectly usable to me (and she loves it, 1.1kg . For laptop work the screen is close enough that I can lean in a bit in case some text is too small, in most cases there is no need. The only problem with Ideapad is that the screen is grainy... whereas the Sony is crystal clear.

In any case I don't think generalisations like "most people prefer 1366x768" are helpful unless this is based on more than personal opinion and reading a few forums (not a statistically random sample by a long shot!)... as a number of posters have said it it very much a subjective thing, provided your eye sight can handle it in the first place.

btw. to set custom screen resolutions you can use nTune, which is nVidia's advanced config utility for their graphics cards. I've created custom resolutions without problem, so you should be able to set 1366x768 on the Z series with 1600 screen.

 

The Problem is not the setting of a custom resolution. The Problem is the native screen res. You loose either quality or estate.

 

Understood, but this was specifically referring to FenderP (I think!) not being able to change his 1600x900 Z to 1366x768 resolution to see if would be more usable for him.

 

Didn't FenderP already mention earlier that he had already messed around with the resolution settings/options but it still didn't work out as what he wanted?

 

Yeah, I don't think I stuttered when I posted way back about that. It doesn't matter at this point anyway; the Z590UAB is long gone and I have no remorse. The Japanese Z I got is way better for my needs.

No one should spend that much on a laptop and have to "get used to it" or use software to interpolate resolutions if a screen can't natively display it. It either works for you or it doesn't. It's a personal/subjective thing. I have no ill will or whatever towards those who love 1600x900. It just wasn't for me.

And for the record, there is no loss of quality on the 1366x768. Having owned both screens, taking resolution out, you don't miss anything on the 1366x768 screen. Sure, you have more "density" on the 1600x900, but for normal use, you won't miss it. If you watch a lot of movies, maybe. Maybe not.

 

Looks like im gonna do a FenderP! Won the Z for a bargain price, but I simply cannot stand the 1600x900 resolution, even if I tried hard enough. Changing the DPI doesnt help because webpages are out of wack if there is a static image, or if the program doesnt support proper scailing. Definitely going to return this one and import one from the states for a 1366x768 screen.

 

I got my Z590 last Saturday and I'm still getting used to screen res. 1600. Comparing to my "old SZ" I can say everything appear much smaller, and you need an extra efforts to handle your daily tasks. I hope I can live with 1600x900, as I got it from US (and I'm in Vienna) so it would be real pain in the a$$ sending it back, kind I regret not getting 1366 res.

And Yes, like many of you already stated here you can simpy forget about DPI change, scaling, zooming.... anything but "native" resolution sux (big time).

BR
Miki

 

My Z591 to Z570 exchange is in process, for the same reasons discussed by FenderP. Some folks can and do love 1600x900, I'm not one who can.

 

After owning a Z 1600x900 for over a month, I need to tell everyone that works with MS Office to get 1600x900. At first I thought the fonts were too small and used 120DPI. In fact I started to wish that I got the 1366x768 but after you get used to the amount of information on the screen, you appreciate the 1600x900. The screen is also really clear. I prefer the Z screen over my desktop at work which is 19" 1280x800. I don't play games or watch movies. The 1600x900 was really designed for the business person that uses the laptop for applications - the clarity and screen information in incomparable to any other laptop (IMO).

 

Office applications (except Outlook) are not an issue as you can always zoom, and this works perfect. Problem (at least for me) is Outlook, where everything is so tiny, and web explorer ( PhilFlow thanks for the NoSquit plugin for FF). When I got my SZ out of the box it was very comfortable to work with, and prior to SZ I used to have 15'4 FS and FZ series. So with same screen res (1280x800) but smaller footprint, everything was nice and comfortable. Now lover res. Z is actually same res as SZ just different aspect ratio (16:10 vs 16:9). As for "business people" I suppose most of them are using Outlook and other office applications, so I don't believe that higher res was meant for them. Maybe for some Photoshop, Corel... users, but not for Office users (IMO). I will give more time to Z (as I don't want to look stupid and ask my SZ back from my company), at the end I can buy some kick a$$ external monitor and keyboard and solve the problem, but that's kind of last resort as I buy Sony laptops for their marvelous screen, so I don't want to use other screens.

BTW, do you know how to make everything bigger (font) in Outlook 2007 (folders on the left side)?

BR
Miki

 

I think we've already established that it's really down to personal preference. I also like the 1600x900 but for some people it's uncomfortable in exactly the situations you describe...

 

Ive given it a few days now... the result is, its not working. I am getting constant eyestrain. Will now install Vista to see if their advanced DPI scaling works better than XP. Fingers crossed that it does, otherwise, im stuck with a notebook that is so darn nice, but impossible to use!

Anyone know if the refresh for the Z series in HK/Asia will provide a lower resolution screen?

 

Outlook 2007 with 120 DPI has its quirks. Sometimes I get small fonts and somtimes I get large - with no changes to anything. I guess its the DPI problem that was addressed - but I do not know the answer to change the Outlook fonts on the left - that would be great if we could.

 

I always though I'd prefer 1600*900. Untill I had a chance to really work on the 1366*768. Now I realize the 1600*900 would be way too small for me. On a table it might be ok, on my lap not.

 

interesting comment Phil, been following your posts for awhile and you seemed to have preferred 1600*900 all along till now.. i guess one have to really go work on the higher res model for awhile, the proceed to use to use the lower res model to see if they really like it or not huh

 

I appreciate the extra real-estate too much to use the lower resolution, even though it would undoubtedly be more comfortable for long browsing/office sessions. I think it partly comes down to why you're buying the Z - are you going to use it for your primary PC or for occasional use while on the road? In my case, I use my desktops (at work or at home) for long web/programming/office sessions and use my Z when I'm out and about... so although the text is a little small, it's worth it to me for the extra space in Photoshop etc. The Z makes my photos look fantastic, too.

I would urge anyone making the choice to go and see a Z 'in the flesh' before making their decision re: resolution!

 

Yep, screen resolution is subjective.

 

I have used Vista for a day now, and have no eye strain so far. As much as Id like to stick with XP forever, looks like I will be staying with Vista for good now. Scaling on Vista is so much better compared to XP. While there are certain applications that dont scale properly, the important ones do scale - Microsoft Office, Firefox + No Squint Addon makes it a pleasent experience. Will give it another few days before making a decision on whether to keep it or not.

 

Do keep us updated...
i see you are from Aussie? How much are they selling for over there? sonystyle selling it at $NZD2999 for the z16 model over here

 

Hey, it costs $2999AU for the Z16, $3699 for the Z17 one. Will keep you guys updated.

 

Ha, i have jumped on board for the Z16 as well!!!
"No Lemon" had a 20% sale~! I got one for $2400NZD...
good deal????

 

Well, due to the current financial crisis that is engulfing the world, and how the dollar has tumbled so low from 95/96 US Cents, im keeping it with the intention of upgrading to a lower resolution screen. Vista rocks with DPI scaling compared to XP, and is the main reason why I am not selling it soon. Thats essentially the only positive thing I have to say regarding Vista. Here are some annoyances that are really getting to me:

- Hibernate has no progress bar
- Hibernate tends to "hang"
- Hibernate take a century to turn the notebook off
- Vista takes its sweet time to boot, and load just the basic applications
- Very, very sluggish performance for multitasking compared to XP

 

That neatly summarises how I felt about Vista, hence I downgraded to XP.

I guess I'd have kept Vista and put up with its slowness, had I needed a Vista only feature (like the DPI scaling, in your case).

 

Follow the Vista Tweaks thread..

Most problems were resolved/or partially success for me on a Vista Business SP1 with NO bloatware