Sony SA Series Discussion Sony's next new 13.3 laptop

Actually, that is completely wrong.

And that is why computers sent into space still function properly for years, yet they have suffered massive irradiation?


The production of sony will be severely slowed, but that has nothing to do with radiation or nuclear power. Even in a 2 miles radius from the explosion, the exposure so far is less then what I get at work. It's ludicrous to even think you will be detecting radioactivity on those computers.


Manufacturing and shipping in Japan will be slowed because this type of industry is not essential. There will be a lot of workers that will not show up at work because they are gone tending to family or looking for close one, or asked to go help clean up, or lost their home or property or boat, that sort of stuff. The production line will be missing to many workers, and it will have to stop.


The radiation will not affect the performance of computers, and sony is not about to ship radioactive computers. You are trying to say that you farting would prevent the butcher in your town from exporting meat to another country.

 

flash news everybody the vaio SB is down on the US site.

and do please ignore adamj023, chemistry is not one of his strengths

 

So even that got down..

P.S. The only singular problem (avoiding the explosion of the reactors, meaning containing vassels) would be the deposition of a few of radioactive materials due to a leakage in the air. But we talk of something not likely to happen if the factories when are running are "closed".

 

strange enough the C series is still up in the air, while the SB got pulled out!

I guess that these are made in china instead of japan

PS: The more problematic thing that its going to happen is something on the scale of three mile island, and that is just far fetched, so says some physicists.

 

and we are back in business! SB is up again.

 

I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but if you look at the specifications more closely, the SB series appears to have a "500GB + 4GB SLC Hybrid" hard drive. Perhaps the 4GB is an ssd solely used for booting the OS (for speedier start-up) whereas the 500GB is for the user's data? This makes the SB series even more interesting...

The only thing that is still disappointing is the lack of a 1600x900 resolution display option. Otherwise, it is turning out to be a very nice notebook indeed...

 

interesting thing, now the question that comes is it a Z68 chipset?

 

Yes, exactly. This is very likely to be Seagate's Momentus XT 500GB. The idea is good, but currently users are reporting issues with the drive. Please note that Samsung will soon release a 1TB standard height(9.5mm) 2.5" notebook drive:

Whenever they do get here, the new HDDs promise to deliver up to 1TB per platter spinning at 5,400RPM -- meaning 4TB desktop drives and a terabyte of storage (courtesy of two 500GB platters) in standard-sized laptop HDDs​

 

For those with live orders, how was billing handled on your order? Sony placed an authorization on the funds (translation debited the funds from my bank). They're now telling me that will stay that way until the product ships and then I'll be "charged". From my bank's respective- there's no difference.
The problem is, I don't really have those funds available. I HAD them available for 48 hours after getting paid. I'll have them again in 5 days when a large check clears. Long story short, Sony Customer Care is insisting they can't release the funds until the order ships.. Essentially wrecking my budget as multiple checks bounce. This, despite the fact that when I placed the order, I asked repeatedly if the funds would be released following the initi authorization hold -and was told, yes.
What has been your experience? How can they claim the order is charged when it ships if theyve debited the money already? Last night I received an email from them affirming they can't release the funds without canceling my order. Thoughts...?
Sorry for the rant... I'm pretty steamed.

 

Sounds like its a problem with your bank or the fact you used a Debit card for purchase.

If you used a credit card to purchase, it would have just been an authorization hold, then they would bill when the item was shipped.

 

I used my debit card and online banking (ideal) and my mone was charged right away.
The momentus drive is probably the 15sec faster boottime they are talking about.

 

Ok had an update re my order. The original guideline was to be Delivered Monday to Friday this week, they have now changed it to Friday 18th to Wednesday 23rd.


I find it hard to believe that if the delay is due to the issues in japan it will only delay my order by half a week. I expect these delay emails to keep arriving for some time now.

 

i received an email from sony at 2am uk time:

"We are pleased to inform you that your customised VAIO laptop has now been built.

Your VAIO order will now be shipped out to our European warehouse. It will then be processed and sent for dispatch to
your specified delivery address."

I had been expecting to receive this email within the next couple of days. This points to me that manutfacturing is continuing without any or very little interruption. although whether it ships will remain to be seen.

 

When did you order ? I ordered on the 2nd and still haven't heard anything.

 

I just phoned up to receive my promised update, and mine has slipped as well.

Yesterday (Monday) I was told it had left Japan, and should have arrived in Rotterdam yesterday but they could not confirm that. I was told to phone today to receive confirmation that this was definitely the case, and to get my UPS tracking details.

Today the system apparently says that the laptop is still in production and will not be leaving Japan until the end of this week (18/03), for delivery next week.

Whatever stock/production control system they are using is an absolute joke. If any of you have been told your laptop has already shipped that is probably untrue - I ordered mine 28/02 which I think is earlier than anyone else who's posted in this thread.

Edit:

When did you order yours?

 

I ordered mine on the 4th of March.

 

Hello,

I've ordered Vaio Z on 3rd March instead.
I've just got a mail this morning telling me it has entered in production and should be shipped out between 18.03 - 23.03.

When I called them yesterday, they told me that recent events in Japan have no effect on orders right now. I still doubt that anyway, but I'll see.
They told me I should be expecting to receive my laptop on 25th March.

I think the production is still running, but the rate is probably low.

I won't really be surprised if it is delayed. Honestly, it's exactly the opposite atm.
I'll let you know if anything changes.

 

Obviously I hope you get yours soon, but I will be even less happy than I am now if you get yours before mine even leaves Japan - I ordered mine a couple of hours after the CTO went live on the UK site (I'm in the UK, I assume you also are from your reference to UK time) on Feb 28th...

 

Could be because of the order, they had to wait for something like the sheet batteries or a cpu. My order should be sent tomorrow.

 

I didn't order a sheet battery.

It could be parts availability yeah, but their system is so shockingly poor that they can't even tell me that this is the case. This is why I'm unhappy - I understand that delays can happen for a practically infinite number of possible reasons, but they need to communicate the reasons to me better. I also still haven't got to the bottom of how yesterday my computer was apparently in Rotterdam, but today it is still being built.

I now have no confidence that it will even be shipped this Friday.

I'm going to wait a while and try and get hold of the same person I spoke to yesterday, he seemed significantly more intelligent than whoever answered the phone today.

 

Stange that the VAIO SA hasn't been announced, my favorite online reseller now shows a model called VPCSA1Z9E/XI.EC1, and they never show something that is not on the way in the near future, I will ask to see if they have an ETA.

 

http://product.pconline.com.cn/notebook/sony/453498.html

The SA noted above. It does not give screen resolution.

 

1600 x 900. If the information in that link is correct, that particular SA model isn't going to be cheap since it also has a 256 GB SSD, the fastest Sandy Bridge dual core processor and 8 GB of RAM as well.

 

Just phoned Sony again, spoke to two different people, and have now been told four entirely different statuses & delivery dates in the space of slightly more than 24 hours - including, rather amusingly, someone who seemed to be under the impression that I've ordered two laptops. Who knows what they're up to, because they certainly don't seem to.

I guess it's back to the low tech solution of having to wait for a postcard through my door from UPS saying 'we tried to deliver your laptop (or two?!), but you were out'...

 

According to the website, the SB series is not even released yet. I remember this issue when I ordered an X series in 2009. It was held up in Holland until the range had been officially released in the UK market.

I agree that the Sony order process is far from perfect, but people also need to understand the sheer size of the company. It's no wonder people get conflicting reports. The staff you are calling don't really have any more information than you get via the automated e-mails.

I think people just need to be a little patient, especially with the current catastrophe in Japan...

 

They've taken the CTO back off the website, presumably due to what's happening in Japan. There's still one pre-built model so maybe they shipped stock of that to the Netherlands before the earthquake.

I understand that they are a large company, and of course I appreciate that they will be experiencing issues with everything that's going on out there, but that doesn't really affect whatever lame excuse for a stock/production control system they're using. Having worked on ERP software design teams, a fairly common requirement for companies dealing with SKUs that are worth several thousands of pounds each is to know exactly where each and every one of these SKUs are at any given moment. This seems to be an entirely separate issue from any natural disasters, and is what I have an issue with.

And yes, I can be patient, but what I could really do with is a delivery date. My patience is tested when they can't be any more accurate than 'thank you for that thousand pounds you gave us, we will give you a laptop in exchange for it at some point, but we can't tell you when'. I'm out of the country for a few weeks at the end of the month, so it's looking quite likely that I will have to buy another laptop to use temporarily.

 

The only people who really have an idea of orders are the people in Japan. The customer service wombles in the UK haven't a scooby...

 

...which brings me back to my point that it's the fault of whatever software they're using!

 

I think they aren't using any software, hence the confusion

 

well the CTO is now missing from the canadian sony site

 

(Tokyo, March 14, 2011) - Operations at several Sony Corporation and Sony Group sites and facilities have been affected by the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Earthquake and tsunami, and Sony is monitoring the status of each of these sites on an on-going basis, while also considering the most effective recovery measures. Sony also has responded to reports of widespread power outages by voluntarily suspending operations at several sites. No significant injuries have been reported to employees working at any of these sites when the earthquake or tsunami occurred.

The company is currently evaluating the full impact of the earthquake, tsunami and related power outages on Sony's businesses and consolidated financial results.

As of 11:00 am, March 14 (JST), manufacturing operations have been suspended at the following affected production sites:

　・Sony Chemical & Information Device Corporation,
　　・Tagajyo Plant (Miyagi Prefecture) <Magnetic Tapes, Blu-ray Discs etc.>
　　・Tome Plant, Nakada/Toyosato Sites (Miyagi Prefecture) < Optical devices, IC cards etc.>
　・Sony Shiroishi Semiconductor Inc. (Miyagi Prefecture) <Semiconductor Lasers etc.>
　・Sony Energy Devices Corporation, Koriyama Plant (Fukushima Prefecture) <Lithium Ion Secondary Batteries etc.>
　・Sony Energy Devices Corporation, Motomiya Plant (Fukushima Prefecture) <Lithium Ion Secondary Batteries etc.>
　・Sony Manufacturing Systems Corporation, Kuki Plant (Saitama Prefecture) <Surface mounting equipment etc.>
　・Sony DADC Japan Inc., Ibaraki Facility (Ibaraki Prefecture) <CDs, DVDs etc.>

In addition to these manufacturing sites, Sony Corporation Sendai Technology Center (Tagajyo, Miyagi) has ceased operation due to earthquake damage. While certain production sites in Japan other than those listed above have been moderately affected, there has been no report of employee injury or facility damage, and operations continue. Possible damage at other Sony Group companies in Japan is currently being reviewed. Additionally, Sony Chemical & Information Devices Corporation, Kanuma Plant (Tochigi Prefecture), Sony Energy Devices Corporation, Tochigi Plant (Tochigi Prefecture) and Sony Corporation Atsugi Technology Center (Atsugi, Kanagawa) temporarily suspended operations on a voluntary basis, to assist with the alleviation of widespread power outages.

 

In resume: no vaio SB or SA in a long long time.

 

^I don't think that's "necessarily" the case. But remember, SA isn't due for a couple months anyhow.

 

OFF TOPIC concerning Japan Nuclear situation:

All this mess.. I think it's an enormous series of errors committed by TEPCO, Japanese governament, Japan Nuclear Agency and International Nuclear Agency:

1) First of all, we know that the plaque fault is near the east coast of Japan, so why did they build nuclear plant on that side?? It's a fool decision, cuz the epicenters of hearthquakes are on that side.

2) These reactors are BWR second generation (and second generation of BWR).. these are BWR-3/4/5. But these 3 and 4 have containement vassel mark I and not II or III. Mark I has always been criticized because it was assumed that it would have been insufficient to contain the inside in case of complete failure of cooling system, cut-off of electricity and powerful hearthquake.

3) TEPCO had big problems of trasparency in early 2000 and a lot of voices talked about Yakuza.

4) waste fuel deposits are too near the sea.

5) these power plants (I speak for fukushima first site.. I don't know about others) have been constructed to resist hearthquake of 6 richter maximum. But this hearthquake reached 8.9 in epicenter and 8 at Fukushima sites.

6) No serious protection to the possibility of tsunami. Why? If it's possible to build concrete wall with special rebars which resist to boeing without problems, I think it's possible to do this too.

7) Most important: the black out and hearthquake killed first cooling system, Tsunami killed the generator of second cooling system. The third cooling system wasn't sufficient, so they used a pump to pump sea water into the reactor. BUT while they were doing this operation, the generator RAN OFF OF FUEL, lowering water levels and uncovering rods. This has been the BIGGEST problem. How they could have ran out of fuel??? ARE THEY CRAZY!?!?!

 

There is also a thread in the off topic section about this subject for those that wish to discuss the situation in Japan in much more depth.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/off...-strikes-japan-tsunamis-nuclear-meltdown.html

 

Customer Service rep just told me that all orders placed prior to end-of-day 3/11 (including cto) are expected to ship normally, without considerable delay.

 

Is this for the US, UK, or Canada?

 

Mine was for a US order...

 

Japan earthquake: Notebook players concerned about battery cell, MLCC, DRAM supplies

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Yen-Shyang Hwang, Taipei; Joseph Tsai, DIGITIMES [Tuesday 15 March 2011]

Taiwan-based notebook makers, after evaluating the damage caused by Japan's earthquake on their upstream supply chain, pointed out that supplies of notebook battery cells and MLCCs were both affected slightly, and makers will need to start planning measures to handle rising prices for components such as DRAM, according to sources from notebook makers.

In addition to upstream components, PC demand from Japan, which is about 13-15 million units each year, may also be affected by the earthquake and notebook makers are currently in negotiations with their clients about their shipment schedules for Japan, and will consider making some adjustments.

Although Quanta Computer, Compal Electronics and Wistron have announced they have not been affected by Japan's earthquake, the sources pointed out that since information from Japan is currently still messy with both the government's new power brownout policy and the recovery of the transportation system still unclear, any impact on vendors may need some time to appear.

For battery cell supply, since most Taiwan-based notebook battery makers still have enough inventory, while demand from downstream partners is weak, the shutdown of Sony's battery cell plants will not immediately affect current supply.

However, in the long term, if the Japan government continues its power brownout policy and the problems with the broken transportation system do not get fixed, shortages of battery cells may still occur as Japan-based suppliers Sony, Sanyo and Panasonic are currently the major the suppliers in the industry, the sources noted.

As for MLCCs, despite that Japan-based Murata and TDK were both not affected by the earthquake or tsunami, their operations have still been forced to shut down because of power failures and the two firms have not yet set a schedule on the recovery of operations. Since Japan-based passive component makers mainly manufacture high-end products, as opposed to Taiwan's mid-range and entry-level models, notebook players will have difficulty finding replacement components.

However, notebook production is unlikely to see any major delays since most makers had already prepared a safe level of inventory, but the unclear information from Japan has already caused several players in rush to stockpile more inventory causing DRAM spot prices to rise over 5% on March 14, noted the sources, adding that the same situation may also happen to other components.

Quanta, on March 14, pointed out that Japan-based battery cell makers are mostly located in Western Japan and there was only limited damage to these makers; therefore the company currently does not have any strong concerns about supply issues.

Meanwhile, Compal pointed out that the company will continue to monitor the supply status of battery cells and MLCCs. Wistron noted that its subsidiary in Japan for product maintenance was not affected and its notebook production should not be affected by component shortages in the short term.

--------

 

the canadian model wasn't actually available for ordering, since the CTO orders did not go through.

 

Email received from Sony.. Order scheduled to ship on 3/29 has been delayed to 4/5. Spoke w/ customer service, then 'product specialist (sales)'... they're encouraging me to cancel the CTO and replace order w/ pre-configured machine which they report is 'built and ready to ship on 3/25.... I'll stick w/ the CTO for now... though I recognize there's a high likelihood that the CTO will be indefinitely delayed and the pre-configured inventory will be sold through by the time the CTO situation is clarified... Disappointing but completely understandable given the enormous trauma that's occurring.

Phil

 

Phil, when did you place your order?

I haven't spoken to Sony today as I got so frustrated Monday/Tuesday with the entirely different explanations every time thing I've decided to leave it a few days (whoever you're speaking to seems substantially more clued up than the UK customer service people). Latest seems to be that mine should ship Friday or Monday, although that will quite possibly change again.

(also, I was quite shocked then 'cos I parsed your 4/5 as 4th May the first time I read through & thought I would end up waiting another month for it, darn you USians & your backwards dates!!)

 

Right! 4/5, 5/4... Same thing
I placed my order on march 11. When did you place yours?

 

i also initially read it as 4th may, being a brit myself.

have you guys already received the email telling you that it had been built and was ready to go? im wondering what the email information process is.

 

I would expect stock to be delayed and/or in short supply for awhile.

Japan has to get through the nuclear disaster and rebuild and restore power plants and factories.

 

ive had an email to say it went into production at 1am wednesday morning last week. (Im pretty sure if thats true it would have been built by the evening) It is still showing online as in production.

I also had an email estimating delivery for this week, and another delaying that to next week.

So even before the earthquake the order status was hardly reliable.

 

Quick question for all of you.

I've been following this thread off and on for a while now and is the difference between the SB and the SA assumed/expected to be a higher res screen and magnesium/or some other alloy body panels? I ask because i'm sitting on a potential SB order and have been thinking of doing what i did with my old SZ, which was to buy the cheaper model, get a service manual and upgrade the machine throughout the first year of ownership.

I've tried searching the thread but have been having trouble pinning down a clear answer to this. Or is this just something we don't know right now.

 

SA = 1600x900 + Carbon Fibre this isnt 100% proven yet but its about what every 1 expects

 

Woah guys I just realized the 1499.99 pre config comes with a 500GB 7200 RPM 4GB SLC Hybrid drive its that seagate hybrid drive. You got to look very closely but it comes with the 500GB hybrid drive with 4GB of SLC SSD memory. Thats a pricey hdd makes that pre config a little more attractive. Just wish it was in white.

 

Thanks for the reply. In that case i'll most likely order it and upgrade the screen at the end of the year.