Sony SA Series Discussion Sony's next new 13.3 laptop

Would need the FCC ID to find out for certain. Obviously it is supposed to be lighter with carbon fiber elements in it.

However, components of the laptop are indeed made in Japan even if its final assembly is made in China. Same was for the SB.

The quake affected everything so I think 10 days is an understatement. One port was destroyed completely. One airport was destroyed completely. Lots of ships got destroyed as well as containers and cargo. Some plants (unclear which ones) experienced sufficient damage and transportations was destroyed along with power grids and the ongoing nuclear threat.

Supposedly some factories like Nissan just as an example have resumed limited production in Japan. That factory didn't get destroyed however they are experiencing rolling blackouts and power shortages which are affecting production.

End result: In a worst case senario it can take months or may be discontinued altogether till Ivy Bridge comes out or Haswell.

Rolling blackouts are in full force so even at a minimum there is a severe powershortage which will affect equipment at the plants.

In the USA they were discussing Indian point where I am and shutting it down but the honest truth is that shutting it down would hurt our electric capacity and unless we have a technological breakthru on the cheap to replace nuclear and give huge outputs before 2013 and 2015, we will be experiencing rolling blackouts here as well.

 

ya time will tell how long they are delayed. Hoping Sony has some plan to get these things together and out to market somehow in the near future. Maybe they will be only pre-configured models like what is on Sony USA and CTO's will have to wait longer. I could live with that if I only have to upgrade the RAM

 

They are shipping right now in Europe (including CTOs). Mine arrives tomorrow. Not sure what US issues are but the supply chain seems up & running.

 

Fingers crossed here in Canada........

 

Looking back at the E-mail I recieved from Sony Canada on March 10th, they said the Vaio SA model would be available at the end of the Month in Canada. Here is hoping that it really is the SA coming here with the better screen.

 

SB is in stock right now as we speak. Unclear if its in Sony Store yet. That is the base model in the USA. Units have been shipped.

The 2nd and 3rd SB models will be due out at the end of this week with the better specifications.

By the way SB CTO is still on the website. I thought it was removed because everyone said it was, but it wasn't just got into it via a different way.

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...52921666304162&categoryId=8198552921644768017

There you go. SB CTO. Shipping date is now April 6th for these. Configuration items are limited though.

It would be nice if all models had at least a Blueray reader standard though.

Other brand blueray drives can be had for less like Hitachi/LG for $70 if you self install.

http://www.blu-ray.com/images/drives/panasonic3.jpg

depends on the size of the drive but I don't think the readers should be hard to replace. Will need a screwdriver kit for the VAIO.

 

Any word on when the SB will be released in Canada? same date probably?

 

No, the current CTO wouldn't let me check out.

 

Speak for yourself - I quite like having the option not to pay for pointless things I don't need and will never use!

 

You found it on the sony website? I don't even see the SB on the Sony Canada website

 

If you don't want to use blueray fine. But the cost of adding blueray reader is nominal. It just makes manufacturing sense to include it on all models.

Just like DVD is included on all models today. Some people may not want a DVDRW either but you still are paying for it.

 

That's only your opinion because you want a Blu ray drive though! This is why CTO is good. We can all have (within limits) what we want.

& the cost is significantly more than nominal. Although, I concede, a lot less than they are gouging out of you for the upgrade.

 

SB CTO was removed from the canadian website.

 

They said to someone in this forums to wait for a release at the end of the month

 

Here is a nice microsite from Sony Japan about the new S:

‚·‚×‚Ä‚ð‚ŽŸŒ³‚Å—Z‡‚³‚¹‚½ƒ‚ƒoƒCƒ‹ SƒVƒŠ[ƒYŠJ”­ŽÒƒCƒ“ƒ^ƒrƒ…[ | SƒVƒŠ[ƒY | »•iî•ñ | ŒÂlŒü‚¯ | VAIOƒp[ƒ\ƒiƒ‹ƒRƒ“ƒsƒ…[ƒ^[ | ƒ\ƒj[

 

I just went to the link posted by adamj023 for the US Sony Style website to access the CTO

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...52921666304162&categoryId=8198552921644768017

But after I configured everything, it wouldn't let me check out.

And looks like they took off the CTO from Sony CA site after people were ordering their computers from there when it's not suppose to be up yet.

 

Ok they probably removed the CTO then till further notice due to earthquake related issues.

Hard to custom configurate with the issues ongoing right now. Didn't realize the link stopped accepting orders.

Just be patient. Eventually one will be able to CTO. But right now I do believe Blueray readers should be standard and I bet in the not too long future from now they will be.

The cost differential for a DVDRW vs Blueray reader is minimal. Now a blueray rw would be another story. The savings doesnt matter, cause of supply chain and the like. Just produce more drives and add the blueray feature in stock.

 

The custom configurator has also been removed from the UK site.

There's only two pre-built models: the cheaper one says available for pre-order, delivery within 5 days of release, whilst the high end one can't even be pre-ordered.

So my above comment about SB series shipping may only be true of models already ordered. Probably they're building & shipping what they are able to from parts held at their assembly plant but are then experiencing stock shortages on Japanese-made components.

 

I think we need to stop going back and forth on Quake issues. Already known.

 

My SB just shipped (from Illinois!). Will post first impressions as soon as it's on my doorstep.

 

Guess the Sony Store's dont have them in stock then. Initial shipments must be coming from Customs from China then being sent to a distribution warehouse and injecting them into the closest points for shipment to customers (several locations).

Logistics has become extremely more efficient over the years.

Anyways its just a notebook. The question is it really worth $1499 or more depending on which model. Its a lot of money but it does represent a first world notebook PC and a best of breed product for its segment.

Depends what your using it for I guess.

 

you get a tracking number? mine says ready to ship tomorrow and i'm hoping they really do ship it

 

Yes they are all shipping apparently.

Looks like Sony's cranking these out in volumes now, the question is supply vs demand and the impact of the earthquake.

Demand seems very high right now and I bet no one wants last years models which are still in high inventories at the various vendors.

While I do believe that color choices don't really matter, it would have been nice if they had a Silver unit.

In the old days it was Black as the most popular color, than it became White, then it became Silver. Go figure.

Will I get a Sony VAIO? $1499 is an awful lot of money right now but its the only model that is closest to my needs. I would need to be able to turn this device that I pay $1499 for into a huge ROI for it to be worthwhile.

For $1499 I would expect it to also have the carbon fiber and the 1600x900 display.

 

Looks good but no Optical kills it for me Just due to the work I do on the road an optical is a must. That pretty much nails it then, looking at building up the best existing Z I can find.

Thanks again!

 

Say again? This has thunderbolt now? Seriously?

 

What chipset is this one?

4 compatible chipsets apparently. Is it the best chipset of the bunch?

Can anyone say which chipset these have?

 

apparently even the ready to ship low end model is on pre order right now

 

Question: Does the VAIO SA/SB have Vpro?

Also anyone know which chipset is it and do any other models have superior chipsets?

I know the VAIO Z had vpro models but I hear that vpro may not be ready yet for notebooks and Im hoping the SA/SB will have vpro in a business class model.

The specs are just too questionable right now for me to purchase. Going to wait this one out awhile even if the Japanese quake hurts supplies for a long time to come.

The free gps tracking on the vpro models and other features will be nice to have.

 

My earlier reply was in response to comments about the new Z model rumored to be coming in a few months... not the SA/SB. Sorry for the confusion.

 

Hmm, all this talk of bezel size

What alot of people seem to be forgetting is that the S11 series also had a fairly large bezel (I say as I am typing this message from one), in fact, considering the dimensions for the SB series are very similar to the S11, give or take a few mm, the bezel will be quite similar in size between them considering they both feature 13.3" screens.

These are currently on display in select locations in Australia, and will be reaching a place near me soon where I will hopefully be able to take a look. The higher-end models are meant to get the sheet battery free here in Australia, but due to recent changes I'm not 100% sure if I wanna go splurging my money on a (very decent) laptop.

 

I like to ask a big question.

Why cant Sony put the drive on the right side? Why does it has to be crowded with everything on the right side and my right hand mouse gets in the way?

 

The facetious answer here is: because that side's already full of ports, but I guess that's not what you're looking for!

Everyone goes on about the right hand USB ports blocking their mouse, but do you usually use it that close to the laptop?! If I only had an extra 2" of space next to the laptop I'd probably just use the trackpad.

Personally, as someone who's done many jobs involving a lot of cables, I think having all the ports on one side is a really good design. Makes your cable runs much neater.

 

I agree completely. The standard has become to put the optical drive on the right and the ports on the left. It's not that you need to move the mouse out two inches, if you're plugging in a lot of items (VGA cable, USB cable, Flash drive).. all of which could easily be in use at the same time, you'll find your mouse has to be over a long way to avoid the tangle of cables on the right. One HDMI cable alone would push you out 5 inches at least since they are not very flexible with big plugs.

Since most of the population will put a mouse on the right this is a HUGE oversight in my opinion. I really can't fathom why Sony would have done this. I suspect you'll see a lot of reviewers commenting on it.

 

Uhh... yes? It only makes sense... I personally do not like reaching halfway across the desk to use my mouse. In fact, i'd probably go for my touchpad, if only i didnt disable it when i used a mouse, which, come to think of it, should have a disable button. In any case, right now i'm using my new Sidewinder x8 from Microsoft, and it's annoying when i have to charge because there's a bundle of wires sticking out of my laptop (it is a gaming mouse meant to go all the way from your chassis to your mousepad after all). Also, what if you also got an external HDD or cellphone charging on that side? that's just more stuff that'll get in the way. Luckily on my Z, i got 2 USB ports on my left hand side and all is fine.

 

I'm not really sure what point you're trying to make there.

 

now try to design some logical slave boards to connect to your motheboard on the right side, and you've got the answer that you guys are looking for, this is not as an inexpensive item as the older S, this is supposed to still be affordable, and when you begin to add, "little" things you enter the realm of not so little cost.

 

Wrong. The lowest cost notebooks have the port design differently. The cheap Acer 13.3" has ports on both the left and right side so that point is moot.

You can put ports on any side you want in the notebook, all the chips are located on the motherboard inside then you use a cheap thin cable to locate the port on the right or left side. Cost differential between left or right is nill.

Designers chose specifically to put them all on one side.

I admit I wasn't part of the design team of any of these. As to why they would put them there, because they felt like it. They put all the weight of the port connectors balanced to one side so in actuality it probably wasn't a bad engineering move.

Most people on notebooks use wireless mice these days if they want to add one anyways and it will work fine without cable issues.

 

Cost will definitely come into it (adamj023 - the lowest cost notebooks save a bit of cash by not having the metal construction etc).

But I repeat - I think it's a smart design purely from a design & usage point of view. It's certainly better than those laptops that stack the USB ports on top of each other so I can't use half my flash memory drives. It means if I can't afford a docking station for a while, I only have to hook things up on one side to plug it in on my desk. Much rather that than having to plug something into all four sides of the laptop, as I have done in the past!

I'd rather have the VGA & Kensington lock towards the back rather than the front, but I don't use those all that much anyway.

 

Cost doesn't come into the reason why the ports are all on one side. We were talking ports.

The better construction is why people are paying a premium price on the VAIO's. But this has nothing to do with the cost of port design. In fact you can see the internals of any of these notebooks and you will see that the Sony VAIO uses a premium design all around. The reason for ports being on one side was an engineering decision made and in fact I believe was a smart one.

The comment "now try to design some logical slave boards to connect to your motheboard on the right side, and you've got the answer that you guys are looking for, this is not as an inexpensive item as the older S, this is supposed to still be affordable, and when you begin to add, "little" things you enter the realm of not so little cost."

was made and this is totally false and not true from a engineering and design perspective. As I stated, the Cheapest models have ports on both the left AND right sides. The Sony is a premium notebook and went their own way design wise. They did not try to reduce costs by moving ports to one side. There is no more or less cost for putting the connectors on either side. Same connectors just placed with thin ribbon cables on the inside.

As to what designers were "Thinking", I wouldn't know but having ports on one side does add for better weight balancing for the notebook so this could have been a factor. Other factors could have been related to cooling design considerations.

Overall the Sony VAIO design is a very nice one and the one I would get if I did purchase a notebook at this time.

 

aside that it wont come with a dvd/blu ray drive will it? so they do have the space, and they do have the budget to make it happen, when you account the build quality + components + sony tax = you end up with what the SB is.

No they have to put a slave board there, as all notebooks are done this way, there is no cable only solution, not even for desktops imagine for notebooks.

Aside that economics is not your strength either you save cost on the marginal stuff, and you gain on the marginal as well.

 

If you download the pdf posted earlier in this thread that shows a teardown of a prototype, you will indeed see that the ports (VGA, HDMI, USB3, 2 x USB2) are all on the same daughter board with what is presumably all their controller/driver chips as well.

Definitely cheaper from a manufacturing perspective.

 

Totally false. Acer seeks to reduce costs completely on the notebook design itself.

Im not sure what you are referring to when you talk about "slave board". Your comments about slave board make it seem like there is actual controller logic that is designed into these boards and this is what slave board implies.

I think you are talking about that very thin PCB board where connectors are soldered onto. The cost to add a PCB board with solder is nil and that has absolutely nothing to do with why it was designed. Remember the PCB board you are seeing in the machine are cut into smaller sheets. The PCB components in the motherboard are many of various sizes which need to be cut and in fact there always is extra PCB which becomes waste byproduct.

Has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with economics and a factor of reducing cost. It could have to do with cooling design and weight balancing of the notebook itself where they thought it was a better design overall or felt people would want it like that.

Sony uses premium japanese components included in the design itself. Now if you took a look at the internals of the cheapest notebook you would see a much cheaper design in every direction with less evolved engineering teams.

 

Of course it does!!

Having one daughter board with five ports and their respective controllers on, as I described above, is obviously going to be cheaper than having one for the left hand side with two ports, one for the right hand side with another two ports, and one for the back with the VGA port.

Can you honestly not believe that?!

 

Totally false. Ports can be put sideways backwards and forwards or even on the top of the unit for the same production cost. Why? Because the PCB boards are bought in advance in large quantities where they have to be cut. In fact in the VAIO you see multiple cut pieces already with multiple boards inside the system. All the PCB is produced in extremely large sheets.

You are looking at the notebook and saying oh theres another piece of board there it has to cost more and this is incorrect logic from a manufacturing and design perspective.

Controller logic for ports such as USB for instance are handled by the Southbridge and processing chipset.

In the old days of PC design for desktops for instance: You had a totally seperate card included for all the controllers which are now built into the southbridge of the PC chipsets. This new design saved cost but also was a factor of advanced manufacturing processees which didn't exist before due to the fact that you can have much more power in a smaller chip with more combined features and circuitry. Other connectors were on the motherboard itself and just connected by cable to the parts of the unit.

Whether you put a port for a pc microphone, headphone, VGA, USB and the like on the right or left sides does not cost anything extra since the supplies are already budgetted in the manufacturing process.

Your insinunation of a Slave board which implies driver circuitry is wrong. You are just soldering the down on the right or left side which connects back inside the system itself. Multiple ports or small pcb boards on the right, left back, sideways, front do not increase cost. You are just spreading the components out to different sections using existing PCB stock.

Just adds slightly more labor (seconds of time) in the factories and the like. Total cost for one way or the other is literally nill from the manufacturing side. Total net additional cost from a manufacturing perspective not even registerable in any significant dollar amount whatsoever.

Sorry you are wrong. If there was additional cost to this process then also even Acer would have designed it just like the Sony. I can assure you of that as well.

I think you are just looking too into the process and saying oh there is an extra pcb layer slice put here. Its gotta cost more! Which is totally wrong no matter how you look at it.

You can mount something down directly on the board itself or use a physical cable to increase distance and range. When you deal with a notebook you need a side pcb bar to mount the connector onto. That is all that is changing.

Removing ports from one side can also impact cooling and affect weight balancing of the unit itself and I say its a very nice well built and thought out design from the getgo without negative issues and the engineering prowness here is shown. Added pcb for no useful reason also increases weight of the laptop itself and in a 13.3" ultraportable you want every unnecessary addition removed that can be.

So then you may be asking why is Acer actually designing it with the added PCB while Sony does not especially as Acer seeks to reduce cost and why isn't Acer actually removing it when it doesn't cost anything either way.

Well Acer knows just like people on this forum are saying the ports are usually on most notebooks (even the cheapest of the cheap) are on the left and right so its more design asthetically correct from a users perspective and so just add the small pcb.

Even Toshiba has ports on both side as well. But as a consumer, I say having ports on one side is better than the tradeoff of having them more conveniently located.

Sony made a smart design move that others didn't. As simple as that.

If you want a more traditional design, you can get other makes.

 

Does anyone have a review of an actually shipping unit to share, yet?

 

If there would be ports on the left, where would the ODD go ? In the back there is a screen so you can't put ports there and in the front/left is the Battery so it would be very tight to put a usb port where you need a little room for the connector to go in. Where would you put ports then ?

Ofcourse it has to do with costs, an extra pcb will cause extra tests to control, extra pages in the manual about that pcb, extra training for the people servicing, extra time for the people servicing, extra time for the electrical engineers making the pcbs, extra time for the testing engineers testing the pcb etc. Labor by engineers and service people is quite expensive, altough i think in this case the ports are all placed on the right to make the case smaller, thinner and lighter.

 

"Ofcourse it has to do with costs, an extra pcb will cause extra tests to control, extra pages in the manual about that pcb, extra training for the people servicing, extra time for the people servicing, extra time for the electrical engineers making the pcbs, extra time for the testing engineers testing the pcb etc. Labor by engineers and service people is quite expensive, altough i think in this case the ports are all placed on the right to make the case smaller, thinner and lighter."

Totally wrong. Extra tests on a pcb module? Its a pcb for goodness sakes. QC takes the same even with a small slice added. No extra tests. Components are just being tested on a different side of the unit. Same QC testing with or without the PCB added.

Extra page in the manual? In the technical manual it wouldn't even be an added page. Just an added diagram in the existing part listing and an added part #.

Extra labor? Amount is negligable. Not even registering. Cutting PCBs and adding an additional bar would very so slightly affect anything.

Ive seen producers reduce equipment based on cost when they specifically knew there has been design limitations where they know it isn't as good.

In this case, by not including it, the outcome is better. Nothing to do with costs as to how to save a quick buck.

I believe Apple MacBook Pro also has all the ports on the same side. The designers for Apple have been open and forthcoming on the decisions they made in making it directly on their website.

I haven't seen a link from Sony to see rationale as to why they did this but it probably closely resembles what Apple would say when they designed their own models. I think someone did post a Sony link from Japanese designers though.

See Apple and even Sony engineers understood the design philosophy of notebook computing quite well. Others like Acer make different decisions, in fact its a different team producing the notebooks.

Acer went with the routinue more asthetically correct design. Thats really in all likelyhood the difference there.

Nothing dramatic and in fact with the total weightloss reduction, in fact the Sony is the better product than the heavier Acer unit.

Acer was 3 lb 14 oz for the 3820T. I presume 3830T will remain similar.

Sony is 3 lb 8 oz. Decisions like removing the pcb and unnessary heft remove weight from the unit as well.

Just engineering and design choices made, not attributable to any real world cost differences.

If you like traditional design, then go for the Acer or Toshiba or whatnot which are heavier to boot.

That is why competition in the marketplace exists. You have different teams making different decisions but to say Sony did it for an "economic" benefit and cost savings is false.

 

Reading this on one. Will post first impressions in the Owner's Lounge thread when I've had a bit of a play.

 

Then you have never used a FW series, a barrel hinge design that was weak and poorly designed and would bend and break loose. If one did not baby the FW the barrels would easily break and just touching the power barrel on my FW shows how loose and weak it is.

Sure sony may use premium design on the inside of the TT, Z and other high end notebooks, but lower down the range, I doubt it is as "premium" as you imagine. In the end there are limited suppliers for parts and even though sony uses some of their own parts, a lot of their stuff is supplied from the outside, and most other manufacturers have access to the same parts.

 

The Lowest range I would even look at is the SA/SB/SC or whatever.

Anything else is more of a consumer desktop replacement and isn't great for realworld usage.

While manufacturers may make millions of product lines like Sony, sometimes you wish the manufacturers would only carry those models which actually make sense.

Like for instance: The Notebook PC market today is wide open. Loads of them are sold and notebooks are widely used today. Used in a variety of different fields and usages all throughout the planet. From home personal usage to business usage to congressional usage and so on and so forth. A zillion usages for these machines.

People I never met before are using notebook computers somewhere in their lives or people I know or know of.

Sony's marketshare is huge and I bet they sell product in all their market lines even if I am just one user and am buying the product that is right for me that fits my user need or segment.

But in actuality the segment I am looking at is probably also their highest volume segment as well.

Everyone keeps pummelling onto the VAIO SA/SB/SC bandwagon for instance.

Do I think all of Sony's notebooks make sense? No, some are likely rebadged notebooks just as good as other competitors for a higher "Sony" price however Sony does have a higher reliability factor built in so even on the lower end models Sony is likely a decent choice.