Sony SA Series Discussion Sony's next new 13.3 laptop

The problem with Sony's "Coming Soon" is that too often, nothing comes at all.
Which really irks customers who wait for months or even longer, or even make other purchases based on the "coming soon" specs.
Examples: LocationFree TV box which was silently withdrawn after being advertised for over a year, and now Qriocity Music Choice, which has been "coming soon" since last fall.

 

Some tentative and not official prices are there already in India, so for the top model of SB (VPC-SB1V9E/B with Intel Core i5-2410M on board +500 GB HDD) - Price in Rupees: Rs. 90000 – (Rs. 93600 with VAT) (USD: $1429 – ($1568), Euros: 1054 (1158); Pounds: 893 (981).

Seems it is not so far from what we get in March at national sonystyle sites in Europe. Some web-sites in Russia claim that €1100 is for the top SB model, € 1800-1900 for SA with 256 GB SSD, referring to some sources in Sony. So, nothing revolutionary.

 

So £2100 for SA with 256ssd would definatly want good dedicated gpu, high res screen for that. Sandybridge look like it will mean a number of new 13" laptops from toshiba and maybe Dell so hopefully Sony will have to keep an eye on prices.

 

New notebooks and the new SSD drives should be due soon.

 

By the way, SB disappeared from UK and Irish Sony sites...

 

This time the SB appeared on the Belgium sony site.
with price of 1099 Eur and a delivery date end of march...

VPCSB1X9E/B (VPCSB1X9E/B) : Technische specificaties : VAIO notebooks en desktop PC's : Sony


I wonder how long it will stay on the site


EDIT:
Same one appeared on sony.nl but no delivery date or price



EDIT2:
And 4 of them on the german site:
http://www.sony.de/product/vn-s-series/vpcsb1s1e-s
http://www.sony.de/product/vn-s-series/vpcsb1s1e-w
http://www.sony.de/product/vn-s-series/vpcsb1v9e-b
http://www.sony.de/product/vn-s-series/vpcsb1z9e-b

without prices and dates

 

Yeah, some re-surfaced on Eastern European sites as well. Good news for easterners! The machines come with WiMAX module on board!
Top model with Blue-ray!

http://www.sony.ua/product/vn-s-series/vpcsb1z9r-b

 

The Vaio SB has the slower AMD 6470M. According to notebookcheck, although they are not very reliable, I ready on forums that 6470M it is like 10% faster than the Sandy Bridge intel graphics. (Or is intel's faster?) What's the purpose of it then? Is anyone here going to buy a SB? If the higher resolution screen was offered on SB, would you buy SB?

If I buy a Sony, I'm sure I'll want a SA and not SB just for better graphics, and also the higher resolution screen. But because all the delay on SA, I might just wait for next Z this summer.

Or scrap everything and this Thursday if MBP13 is impressive enough (about 4lb, sandybridge, great battery life, black color), I'm going to jump on OSX. I don't have much experience on OSX, but I didn't like Windows 7 too much anyways. Windows 7 has too much tinkering to do (such as using Event Viewer to track down what is causing slow boot, why my thinkpad x61t digitizer is sometimes not working, graphics going messy after resume from sleep, brightness control not working after resume), and it still crashes often enough.

 

Don't know if this has been posted before, if yes, then just delete my post: Sony VAIO S Series get an updated design, Core i5-2410M CPU and Radeon HD 6470M graphics -- Engadget

 

It wasn't posted, here is the link to the press release on sony's site

http://presscentre.sony.eu/content/detail.aspx?ReleaseID=6522&NewsAreaId=2

the model on the site is VAIO VPCSB1A9E/B

note no SA yet.

 

Yeah... it's quite disappointing...
The graphics are only marginally better that Sandy Bridge graphics... it's just a waste of space.
There is still no option for a better (read higher resolution) display.
It's kinda heavy.
The dimensions are higher than a normal 13.3 inch... it goes into 14 inch space. My 2.5 years old LG P310 has thiner bezel than this new notebook.

Overall I think I'm not going to buy this one... looking forward to see what Apple has to say with the new MBP.

 

i feel sad by just reading that press release. end of march, are you kidding me? we can get new MBP in 2 days.

 

Could anyone explain me where is expresscard slot on SB? I can't see it, though the specs sheet claims quite the opposite. Any clues?

 

I don't understand your point.

 

For the record, the new S looks surprisingly quite nice. I am also pleased to see USB 3.0 support & specs look pretty decent too. I hope the new S isn't limited to 1366x768 though, as that's a bit of a joke of a resolution. 1600x900 would be ideal.

I look forward to reading some reviews.

 

[time for my first post I think! - have been lurking a while, and have now found out some information myself...]

Those of you in the UK may have noticed the first pre-built SB has popped up on the Sony website at a pre-order price of £899. (top tip - make sure you don't select your local Sony centre in the bar at the top, as it adds an extra £50 to the price!!)

I have just spoken to Sony UK on the phone for clarification over and above the details listed, and after some confusion - it's so new they don't have much of a clue either - have learnt that they are receiving 200 of this SKU into their UK warehouse for delivery March 14th (edit: I should make clear that I'm not 100% sure whether this is the date they're receiving them, or planning to deliver them. But will only make a few days difference anyway)

If you want one of this model, jump on it quick - over 100 of those 200 have already been spoken for.

Personally I'm going to wait for a better pre-built model or the custom configurator to become available, as i want a 7200rpm hard drive and preferably a black case. They are unclear on when this will be but within the next week or so seems likely.

A bit rubbish that the screen res is still 1366x768 but there's enough other improvements over the preceding S series to make this pretty good value at under a grand, I think.

Also, has anyone got their hands on a service manual or similar yet? One of the things that attracted me about the previous S series was that, unusually for a laptop, both DIMMs were accessible from the hatch underneath (rather than one being buried under the keyboard or soldered on), which meant I was planning to do the 4GB-8GB upgrade at reasonable prices rather than paying Sony an arm and a leg. Does anyone know if this is still the case with the new SB?

@ Aiga: it must be on the left hand side, since the right hand side is pretty full, although I can't make it out in the photos either...

 

My tip would be not to order it at all. It's gimped with a 5400RPM drive, 4GB RAM and no WWAN. Still, if this spec floats your boat for £900 then go ahead.

The model listed on the press release sounds like it's from 2011:

http://presscentre.sony.eu/content/detail.aspx?ReleaseID=6522&NewsAreaId=2

Obviously it would cost more than £900, but I struggle to see how the VPCSB1X9E/S is worth 900 quid!

 

ssssssssss,

there is nothing except ODD on the left. And no external microphone jack in!!
If so, this is not a business level laptop.

 

...which would be why I said further down in my post that I'm not going to order it - because I want a 7200rpm HDD

Paying for a new 3G contract for WWAN is unnecessary when I have it on my phone anyway, and as also stated in my post I'm waiting to find out whether I will have to pay Sony an exorbitant amount of money for the 8GB RAM, or whether I can do it myself (depends on whether both DIMMs are accessible)

Re. the model listed being worth £900 - debatable, as always with Vaios (personally I've had a lot of them now and consider them worth the premium) - but certainly a lot better value than the old S they're still selling for more money!

I mainly posted to let people know this was officially available for sale, after a few days of going up on the website with no price and then disappearing again etc.

 

It lists the mic in (not that I'd ever use that) and Express Card on the spec. If I had to guess, I'd say the photo is of a prototype or something, or maybe even a digital render? Can't see the spec being wrong.

My main beef with it over the old S, in the context of it being a business laptop, is the fact they've relegated Home/End/Pg Up/Pg Down to Fn+cursor keys. Whoever was responsible for that design decision should be taken out the back and shot - especially since it's slightly wider than the S series.

 

ssssssssss,

about the keys - I am agree - it is an extremely ambivalent design.
I saw official photos in Sony's press centre on-line, doesn't seem like prototypes... Oh... I see no reason to buy it without expresscard as in my region there will be no WWAN options. Dont' want to open the chassis and install miniPCI with 3G as in the current S.

 

Which region are you in? I'm in the UK and most 3G solutions for laptops here are sold as USB sticks.

Personally I think built in 3G is all a bit 2009 anyway, since I've got a HSPA smartphone which can make itself into a WiFi hotspot and provide data connection to multiple machines.

 

I am in Eastern Europe, to me, sticks are unacceptable in 13-inch machine. The only plus is that extended battery works simultaneously with the internal one. That's great. One more plus is hybrid graphics. That's probably all. Nevermind the Sandy Bridge.

Will see. To paraphrase the doctors, "unboxing will reveal" what's going with I/O ports in reality .

 

For me the main plus is the Sandy Bridge - I'm willing to sacrifice my dedicated document navigation keys and Firewire port (I'm trying to move away from FW anyway) for massively improved performance and battery life. The hybrid graphics seems pretty pointless to me given how little extra performance it gives you over the built in Intel, although I guess being able to slap an ATI sticker on it probably helps them market it. (although note that I generally pay no heed to graphics as I don't play games)

Do they just not supply the everywair models in Eastern Europe then? That's a bit lame...

And yes - only a few weeks until there will be some unboxing videos on the net!

 

Most data bundles from O2, Orange, Vodafone & T-Mobile dictate 500MB p/m fair usage allowance with a phone contract, which borders on the ridiculous.

There's nothing quite like having a dedicated SIM for mobile use. Having a nice sleek expensive laptop and a whacking great USB dongle jutting out the side has never been acceptable to me, hence why many users prefer the intergrated solution.

 

I get 2GB, and even going over it occasionally and paying for it at overage rates (unlikely, since I'm normally in range of WiFi) will work out cheaper than signing up to another £10+/month contract.

If it was free in the laptop I'd probably get it for the sake of completeness, but once the custom configurator becomes available, if it's like the S series where I can save myself over a hundred quid by removing it, it's a no-brainer to me.

Anyone seen a service manual yet? Surely you types with Sony connections aren't bound as tightly by your NDA any more...

 

Steve78,

me too, I use Vaio P with internal unlocked SIM - the integtated solutions are fine, and Sony always tried to advance them.

ssssssssss,
everywair 3G is istalled only on most expensive Z series in my region. They tried to compensate it with WiMAX module instead of 3G, but.... the country that organizes Euro-12 championship has only one working WiMAX network within one particular city-center . So I use the card slot for modem and SSD card (plus 32 GB) as interchangeable drive...

 

I think the new series looks great, I just need the 1600x900 screen, then I'm ready to buy.

 

I'd like a 1600x900 Z-quality screen and a video card with an actual purpose please.

 

Although we won't know until we get some more models or the custom configurator, I've got a horrible feeling they're reserving the 1600x900 for the SA series (which I believe is delayed due to the chipset issues)...

Oh for the days of 4:3 laptops... I might start a company making them, I'd make a killing in the business market I think, going by the comments on forums and things people say. Even 16:10 would be welcome these days!

 

For those asking about the express card slot, it's not on the left hand side, it doesn't appear to be on the front and it's certainly not on the right:

 

The problem is that you're locked in, and not future proof. I tried enabling the Sprint EVDO card in my two year old Z the other day, and got a message that service for this product was no longer supported, after which the software disabled the device (and my wifi and bluetooth too - I had to do a Windows Restore and full powerdown to get it back).

 

What is locked in? The 3G modules are unlocked in Europe allowing you to use any network/SIM you want.

 

3G in the States (where I presume he is, given the ref to Sprint, who use CDMA) is, shall we say, 'interesting'...*. I agree with you that that isn't a problem you'd see in Europe.

Thanks for the picture btw - I wonder what is going on with this Express Card... surely not ditched in favour of the USB3?

Do you have links to similar pictures of the other elevations of the laptop? I see you hotlinked that off sony.co.uk but can't find that photo on the site, I can only see the low res ones on the product page I linked to earlier.

*as in the old Chinese curse

 

Steve78,

do you have any similar photos of what is left hand and on the front?

 

Can you exchange the provided SIM without voiding the warranty? If not, you are indeed locked in.

 

I can't speak for this particular Sony, since it isn't out yet, but I've never seen a laptop of any brand where you can't. Indeed, quite a lot of them come without a provided SIM in the first place.

In my work Dell it just goes in a SIM slot under the battery.

 

arth1,
I can use any SIM I want, including prepaid schemes, no ties with warranty absolutely!

 

Hi,
I used to have the previous generation Z (VGN-Z51) from the Netherlands with the 3G everywair and I could use any sim card I want.

 

Yep, can on every VAIO I have purchased (and I have had a fair few!).

I know in some countries, some particular VAIO models are locked to a particular network, which should be illegal in my book! People should have a choice.

 

http://presscentre.sony.eu/ImageLibrary/DownloadMedia.ashx?MediaDetailsID=197884

http://presscentre.sony.eu/ImageLibrary/DownloadMedia.ashx?MediaDetailsID=197890

 

Re. the ExpressCard being on the spec & not in the pictures, here's another discrepancy I've just spotted:

The Sony website spec in the shop bit lists the webcam as being 640*480 pixels/0.3MP, like the older S series, but on the press release it's given as 'HD webcam powered by Exmor' (which sounds more likely given the old one was a pitiful resolution)

So the moral seems to be: that spec @ £899 in the shop is unlikely to be entirely correct!

 

Thanks, I saw them earlier... Well, specs should be clarified then, given the mythic microphone jack, absent expresscard slot and standard webcam... Too much meanwhile...

 

Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about the microphone thing. Although I can't see a headphone socket in any of those pictures either, so maybe they're both in shadow on the front somewhere. Can't see them leaving out the headphone socket.

I would ring Sony again and ask them to clarify the specs, but they were pretty clueless when I spoke to them earlier and I feel too tired to put myself through the same pain again at this stage in the afternoon...

 

ssssssssss, they put a headphone hole on the far left side, where usually AC adapter plugged in previous series.... I can only imagine how inconvenient this in fact in case you listen and eject CDs on the same side.... That means your cable will mesh with CD tray. Crazyness...

 

Oh yeah, I see it now. Must've assumed it was the power connection when I looked at it earlier.

I will never use the built in sound card anyway, but I can see how that might annoy people. Mind you, the place on the front where a lot of laptops have it is not without problems either; I've seen people snap headphone jacks on the front when they've been sort of reclining on a sofa with the laptop on their knees, if you know what I mean.

 

That 6470m on SB must surely be a joke? That's only marginally faster than integrated intel 3000 gfx... you may as well just not have dedicated graphics at all.

 

Sony Vaio S series hands-on - Pocket-lint

 

I really like the look of the SA/SB but damn is that bezel huge. Also, I'm still crying a little bit inside when I see all that new found space on the rear of the notebook. You know? The space that could be used for bulky ports like VGA out and Ethernet but isn't.

I think it looks very reminiscent of the X series.

 

Yeah, yet the front side is optimal. Otherwise you must keep headphone cable underneath the CD tray opened - plus that's an essential cut out of the standard cable that makes you attached to the machine almost in direct sense.
In general - Sony, this is quite a contraversial design.