Sony SA Series Discussion Sony's next new 13.3 laptop

Yeah, I think the best place for it is on the side but towards the front rather than the back.

Or get rid of it entirely, since they always sound awful, but that certainly won't please many people!

@bradsh as I posted above, I'm sure the extra sales gained by being able to plaster ATI branding on the box outweigh the internal space lost, and small cost of the part itself.

 

Thanks (although it's a bit of a shame they can't afford to employ anyone who can work a digital camera!)

So - no Express Card, and also interestingly, no fingerprint reader, so this must be a lower spec model than the one Sony are listing online, although the rest of the specs sound the same?

 

ssssssssss, ha-a-a, they killed expresscard on new C series as well. Welcome to the world of Acer. A joke (a sort of). I am off with SB, sadly.

 

Personally, I don't think the expresscard is too much of a loss as they've obviously used the space to accommodate USB 3.0, which is a massive plus point. If the notebook had a larger chassis then maybe they wouldn't have had to sacrifice it?

I think the new S has a good clean design, but I fear the top end models (which will interest most customers) won't be too far off the Z series prices, which makes this 'mid-range' model rather expensive. Let's not forget that the 1366x768 screen resolution is quite unacceptable for a machine that will cost >£1000.

 

Agreed on all counts. But I haven't really seen anything better at this price point. Unless Apple pull something stunning out the bag for a decent price on Thursday I will probably end up going for ~£1200 worth of SB (i.e. base model with a couple of custom extras), as that's my budget, and the form factor/portability issue is a big one for me.

The thing that really hacks me off about the loss of vertical screen pixels & move towards 16:9 is that it's coincided with Windows Vista/7 & Office 07/10 having these enormous taskbars and task ribbons that look like they're designed for three year olds. Office 2010 running on Windows 7 must leave you space for only about ten lines of text on a 768 pixels high LCD!

 

That's the fault of the resolution rather than Windows, hence why 768 is completely unacceptable in my book.

I run Windows 7 at 1680x1050 at work and 1600x900 at home on my VAIO Z and it's perfect.

Everything is going to be a cramped mess at 768...

 

Oh definitely - was just commenting that the coincidence (Windows redesign & vertical shrinking of screens) was a really annoying one. I had more screen real estate on a 14" 4:3 Thinkpad five or more years ago.

Sadly I've just had to accept that I can't afford 1600x900 if I want to keep to a 13" laptop, so I'll just have to suffer when I'm out and about, and use a second screen when I can.

I have 2 x 1280x1024 at work, & 2 x 1920x1200 at home, so the laptop will always feel a bit undersized...

(edit: question - was your choice of the lower res Z screen motivated by price, or dislike of the higher density of the HD panel?)

 

Here is the comparison of 3 models on the German Sony site: (link) (click the Technische Daten tab)

The VPCSB1S1E does not have a fingerprint reader, nor a security chip. But all of them are listed having an express card slot (what we can't find on the photos).

 

There's something screwy going on with Sony's computer system I think. Perhaps a data entry droid is about to lose their job?!

The left hand (silver) model is listed as having a fingerprint reader on the overview, but not when you click through to technical data. They all also list the lower resolution webcam, ExpressCard slot and microphone socket, which from the other sources I've seen would all seem to be lies/mistakes...

Nice to know that they're listing some additional pre-build SKUs though - even if none of them have a decent hard drive.

 

The S looks like a nice replacement for my brothers SR. He has one with a P8400 and ATI 3470, and it at most gets 2.5 hours.

 

It was choice, full HD is just too much on a 13" panel

 

Certainly will be until developers have all figured out how to code for wpf properly so Windows dpi settings do what they say they should!

/exasperated GUI designer blog

 

Don't know how reliable this site is, but according to these specs, the top-of-the-line SA won't have express card slot either: (link - google cache)

 

SA announcement on Engadget:

Sony VAIO S Series get an updated design, Core i5-2410M CPU and Radeon HD 6470M graphics -- Engadget

I'm liking the matte black one... but i prefer my Z

 

why so many stuff about SB and nothing about SA? is SA to be released later?

 

Maybe, but isn't the SA just a better spec'ed and better screened SB?

 

also much lighter... it´s the only option to me in S line...

 

Looks to be smaller too

 

I think the weight difference is due to the SSD(standard?) in the SA vs the HDD of the SB.

 

Apolagize if someone else posted this...

Here is a nice little review. The most interesting tidbit is:

This explains a lot. there is not a big gap between HD3000 and the AMD 6470... but since this laptop only comes with the lower powered HD2000 the gap is wider.

Sony VAIO S Series review: first look | PC Pro blog

 

That will contribute to some but the SA has a carbon fibre plastic reinforced lid and the SB lid is made out of i think magnesium.
The SB looks good and i'm almost tempted but it's the white SA only for me. I'm also interested in what Apple will do.

 

No white SB? Yeah I am also wondering what Apple's and Sony next move are now with 14 and 15in HP and Lenovo business devices doing 24+ hours of battery life spec'ed out of course.

 

^
It's very tempting, if Sony released the SA with a premium display that will be the clincher. I also like that the SA uses CRP and has a better graphics card but i'm not a gamer but still. I don't though like that the SA uses RAID drives, i am not keen on those so i hope in the EU we get an option to have a standard drive in the SA. I might even import one anyway.

Battery life this time i'm not to fussed by. 7 hrs is ok and like with my TT by doing a few tweaks may be i can improve on that. The battery slice is also there and right now this would be my desktop mainly.

edited to add:
If the expresscard is gone i'm not that bothered. With my SZ i mainly use it to use my SD card adapter and with my TT i use it as a vent to let air into my laptop lol. I have an expresscard USB 3.0 that i sometimes very rarely use it with my SZ but it's a bit of a hassle and i prefer of course having it built in. With built in WWAN and usb 3.0 i don't really have any need for an expresscard.

 

Yeah, I was thinking about the SA if the screen is Vaio TT good, but the 14in HP Elitebook and Lenovo T420s are tempting with their specs and battery life.

 

Sony released pink and blue VAIO SB in Asia and Australia/New Zealand.

 

I think that information from pcpro.co.uk is incorrect. All sandy bridge mobile CPUs come with HD3000 graphics. HD2000 are for most of the desktop CPUs.

 

Just off chat with sonystyle UK:

 

I don't like the looks of this laptop, but the specs looks pretty good! A double graphics card etc.

 

I'm assuming it s just to SB models that will be on order this week.

The 13" market does look intersting now, assuming a proper Z is a long way of it a toss up between new Macbook pro, Sony SA, Toshiba R830 and possibly a new 13 XPS from Dell.

All I really want is a top end sandybridge i7 dual core, 4 - 8gb of ram, 200g ssd drive, good quality screen preferable with 1600 x 900 res, backlit keyboard, 4hr of 1080p mkv playback on battery, weighing less that 1.8kg. For less than £2000.

 

Is that all?

In all seriousness, it is quite bizarre how Sony has gone about announcing the SA/SB/SC notebooks. The naming convention is confusing enough.

 

A matter of taste I guess It looks like an ironing board to me - no style - just an edgy plank with nothing individual to say "hey, I'm not a Toshiba, I'm a Vaio"... that used to be the cylindrical hinge with the power button, elegant and classy design in general.

Now it looks like a hermaphrodite between Lenovo and Toshiba, spitted by an Apple.

The design is a no-go to me. Would never consider it. And if Sony is thinking of having the "board-style" as a design-line for their future laptops - they will certainly loose not only me but many others who adored Vaio for the classy touch... up until SA showed up and all of us thought "This is a joke, right? Or is this just a standard casing before the real one is ready?"

Horrifying.

No matter whether you like the design or not, I hope you agree that SA can no longer be a business laptop, the way Z and S are...!? Can you imagine a businessman putting his glossy SA on the table in front of customers?? and those terrible blink-blink finish colors!? It looks like a gaming laptop for G's sake!! I'd find that insanely hilarious if anyone pulls this thing out of his diplomatic bag during a meeting.

 

Almost the same conversation (especially the answers) what we had in another thread, Gracy So it seems that others like the SA design too.

It seems as if you were referring to the design concepts shown on the CES. Those were really glossy and ugly, but the officially released model is not glossy, nor does it have extreme finishes (except maybe the blue and the pink colors, but they are not the mainstream ones anyway). Or were you talking about the CA?

I find the SA more elegant and more business-looking than the current S. TBH, I never liked the VPC-S. On the Z there were some minor things I didn't like as well (palmrest, battery sticking out, the colorful symbols on the keys).

 

That's strange. According to anandtech and wikipedia, all sandy bridge mobile cpus have hd 3000

 

I would hate the world if we all had the same taste - that would mean I would have nothing to laugh at

No, I was referring to the SA, but the fact that you are not sure which one I mean when I call it edgy and ugly, makes exactly the statement I imply - NO design symbol, NO signature, NO individual style, NO concept - just a flat piece of metal/plastic with 90° edges.

What I love about S and partially Z are the slightly oval forms, the clean, yet not kitschy design, the palm-rest that gives them ergonomics...
And this impressed me.

Now I see just another Apple - a metal plate. And another toshiba - edgy and blink-blink.

But I absolutely agree everyone is entitled an opinion so no bad feelings Just sharing my opinion - every train has its passengers, this one is definitely not the one I was looking to get on board of and will never do

But can you really imagine a businessman with SA?? Seriously?? Wow - if anyone pulls that out during a meeting I would take it as a "Is this meeting over soon? My 3D game is waiting for me, I need to finish this level"

But I do in fact agree it now looks better than the first one presented. Still nothing to compare with current Z, S, Y...
Just my 2 cents for the day.

 

Yeah, it could be just a mistake by that reviewer.

But look here:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Core-i5-2410M-Notebook-Processor.45317.0.html

 

Of course, we agreed in the other thread as well, that this is simply a matter of taste

I was just a bit surprised that you hate the design so much. I was reading comments about the SA on other English and German forums too and almost all the users liked the looks (except the silly port placement).

But let's not flood the CA thread, we can continue in the SA topic.

 

You don't expect people who absolutely don't like it to spend time to even open a thread about it, do you? Of course you will read mainly from people interested in it, even if they are only 10% of all I won't be writing here much further either, which absolutely wouldn't mean I will start liking it

But yes, let's not spam here, absolutely agree

 

excellent find, but that's still only a 7.6% difference. it still seems odd to put such a horrible dedicated GPU with sandy bridge

 

To be honest, that's exactly what I wanted. I like the Apple notebooks in terms of design but I would never buy one (for various reasons which can be discussed somewhere else since I don't want to start an Apple vs. Microsoft war), so I'm glad Sony released this slab-like design (the white SA even looks so similar to the Macbook). I mean, it's a personal preference, I like simple modern designs in everything with clean sharp lines (I hate rounded corners), not just laptops.

Not gonna lie, I hated the design of the SA in concept form, the tacky glossy buttons were horrible but I'm glad they fixed that.

In the end, at least we have choices, the current S model is still available for those who don't like the new SA design. And on topic, the new C-series never appealed to me like previously. They look so tacky with the bright colours and mediocre build quality. Speaking of which, are these the laptops that Sony was talking about which are made by a third-party division?

If anyone remembers this: Sony announces 'division two' series of VAIO laptops built by other manufacturers -- Engadget

Seems like all the E-series from before and these new C laptops are just cheap, forgettable models.

 

I completely agree.

But Lenovo, HP and Dell are all using weak dedicated graphics. The ATI 6470 and the NVS 4200 (which is between a 415M and 420M in terms of power.)

I think this will be the last generation where we see low end dedicated graphics.

I was much more enthused when I was reading about things like the Edge or SA using the 6630, which is at least somewhat capable.

 

Yes, this is the best about it so far - I hope they don't discontinue S, I love it the way it is.

I suspects that all those cheap-looking models such as C, E are made from a third company... pity Sony is willing to use their name on those...

 

It says up to 1300 MHz. I know wikipedia is not a trustful source either, but according to the chart there, it shows standard clock are 650 MHz. The max clock should be thought of as a overclock speed. The intel graphics shouldn't make much difference between different CPUs in the mobile sector.

So I don't get why they included a low end AMD graphics in Vaio SB. That space would have been better used for more battery, or better air flow.


On another note, I was paying very close attention on the new mbp13. We'll have to see tomorrow, or until actual release, but I am kind of disappointed at the current leaked info for macs. Same dimension, same weight, same low res screen (as their current MBP13). I don't know what I'm gonna do now.

 

^leaked MBP specs (if they are to be trusted) also show 4.5+ lbs. Too heavy for 13" MO.

 

What's so silly about the port placement? I like all my ports on one side, and more importantly - NOT on the same side as the optical drive. Seems my drive always gets caught up on USB cables, etc.

 

people still use optical drives?

 

Plus, the leaked MBP, at least for the 13in models, show the intel GPU. Not much difference there spec wise, unless they are offering some dedicated gpu better than what the SB is getting.

 

Only enthusiasts/techy types worry about names. The average buyer simply chooses a laptop based on what it looks like, it's price & the brand. In that order.

 

For this enthusiast/techy type, the name is by far the least important bit!

 

I'd find it better if the ports were somehow sensibly distributed. The VGA and HDMI ports would be better behind the USB ports. Maybe the LAN port should be moved away from the charger port to the other side. But what I really don't understand is the audio out jack on the rear left edge, behind the optical drive. This way the ODD would get caught up on the headphone cables. Furthermore, I'm often using a headset and as far as I can see, there's no audio in jack.

 

For someone contemplating upgrading from the current S series:

+ Battery life - if I could get 14 hours with the slice that would be pretty good.
+ USB3

- No Core i7 option without customizing
- No Expresscard slot (I've been using a 50Gb Expresscard SSD this year and it's been fantastic)
- Same 500Gb HDD Option (No SSD)
- 1600 * 900 would be nice.
- Loss of page down/ up dedicated keys (i do development so I use these a lot)

I'm not that bothered about 3G, or switchable graphics really, so I suppose the S11 I have now has everything I need except USB3. I like the look of the new model, but there isn't that much of a performance or feature increase to make me want to change really....

Whats that small square hole underneath one of the card readers?