Sony SA Series Discussion Sony's next new 13.3 laptop

That's really really fast... Ordered on 04th April and arrived on 25th March...

 

Future Technologies!

Months corrected!

 

I went to mediamarkt here and they had no SBs yet, wasted almost 2 hours :/

 

Yep, I'm from Florida but living in Berlin for a few months. In the past couple days I've peeked in Mediamarkt, Saturn, and the SonyStyle store and none of them have the SB yet.

Strangly, the SonyStyle store no longer even had the prior S13 on display, nor did they even have the Z series on display. (Not sure of the reason for that).

 

The SonyStyle Store in nyc still has Zs on display and the new Fs but no SBs.

 

This has been a bit of a mess of a release from Sony. The Z in most countries right now is a discontinued product. May be they sold that Z on clearance.

The SA was meant to replace the Z for a short period of time. The SA though has issues that has led to a marked delay in it being released. To me this is pretty poor. They had a long time to get this right.
Sony has now started selling some Z models again in some countries because of this delay.
The SB is meant to be the S replacement. The issue with Intel also complicated the situation for the SB. The earthquake in Japan has also led to unvoidable inveitable delays.
They should really at least get some SB models out in showrooms.

 

I called them and they told me early april for the SB in Canada

 

does that include the CTO model as well?

 

They have the SB available on display in So Cal stores now. I didn't see any pricing display or anything for the computers so they can easily be missed.

 

Nomis, which store did you find the sb?

 

I saw it on display at the Sonystyle store at The Americana at Brand,

 

They didn't specify

 

What's your impression of it? Hope to check it out soon. Guess it's not for sale in stores yet?

 

Sony's intention is not for the new SA/B to replace the Z. Quote from Engadget:

"While Sony is holding that it will not replace the VAIO Z Series, which has just recently gone out of stock on Sony's website, there's no denying that it fills a similar high-end ultraportable spot."​

My local Canadian sonystyle store has the SB in stock, though with the 6470M, no fingerprint reader. It looks so much better than it does in the pictures. It's also beautiful to see that blue USB3.0 port on Vaios at last.

 

I would thrust rachel on this one, she based that off on the piece from beaups, which not incredibly is more reliable than engadget. Although that is really annoying.

 

Will Sony VAIO SB work with other operating systems like Mac Os X and/or Linux?

Reason I ask is because Windows is lousy with Spyware and Viruses and even the best checkers have high false positive rates which winds up erasing needed applications.

The MacBook Pro is a beautiful machine in many ways. However the problem with it is that it isn't coming with Discrete video like the Sony, and is too heavy and may not be as fully equipped.

I really would like to be able to put Linux and/or MacOsX on the system but Sony drivers and a lot of hardware I have right now is pretty much Windows 7 drivers.

 

with linux yes it will, the AMD gpu do support it. That is actually one of the reasons Im getting this one or the lenovo. So if you want linux dont buy anything from nvidia, specially with optimus.

There is no way that you can legally run OSX outside the hardware that apple sells to you.

 

nice, will be heading down to sonystyle to look at it!

 

It looks pretty good, I also saw it at the South Coast Plaza store. They had it sitting side by side with the old S series and across from the Z.

Compared to the old S series, it feels really big. It felt like it had the foot print of a 14" with a screen of a 13". However, weight wise, it is noticeably lighter than the old S.

I'm a bit torn on whether or not to get it because of how big it is...

 

Damn, the same size as a 14"? I suspect it considering the thicker screen border. It's thinner though correct? Lighter is good. I'm guessing the screen quality is on par with the old S? Thanks for the heads up and feedback. Also heard about the fan noise issue on the other thread.(Z vs SB) Maybe it's better with the lower spec model.(less heat I hope) Will see for myself too and post my impressions.

 

It's against the forum rules to discuss running Mac OSX on non Apple hardware.

What Mr MM wrote is quite correct. The SA was intended to be the Z replacement for a very short period of time, may be only a few months. It was said much earlier in this thread that many Sony divisions around the world elected to go for the SA as a temp Z replacement instead of opting for the Z14. In the US Sony had to bring back some Z13 models to cover this gap because of the SA delays. In many countries though the Z models are out of stock.
Now it looks like the next gen Z and the SA may be released both around the same time so the SA will likely not function as a temporary Z.

 

CTO is back on USA website cheers

VAIO S Series PC | Sony | SonyStyle USA

 

Does anyone know what BluRay write drive model is going to be used in the CTO? Are we talking another slow 9.5mm like the old Z? I assume the new hybrid Vaio talked about will have a full 12.7mm faster drive.

 

in Italy still no CTO....damn!

 

no CTO in UK yet, understandable given the situation but these delays may cause me to get a lesser option which is available than waiting an additional 2 months. Would really help to know the pricing differential for SA base-model (HDD & core-i5 i'd imagine) as if it's <£200 for lighter body and better screen (everything else the same) I'd be tempted.

 

is the i5 CPU upgrade worth the 50$? or should I stick with the stock one.

 

Could one speculate that the price difference between the SA and SB is going to be about $200 and that the SA will come with the "premium" 1600x900 display STANDARD along with the carbon fiber build? Or is this unlikely?

It seems like when they do come out with the new Z, the prices of the SA/SB line-up will significantly plummet.
Is this usually the case when a new line-up is introduced? Or does it take a few months?

Looking forward to hearing what you guys think...

 

I don't think the prices will plumet. I think the new Z will just be super expensive.

 

I agree, the SA and the new Z will be sharing two different market segments. The SA seems to take over right between the S series and current Z series. It's just a high powered conventional laptop design.

The new Z will take on where the TT and possibly X series is now, so ultra-powered, ultra-portable, and ultra-thin from what we've been hearing lately. (MacBook Air competitor)

 

Do you mind if I ask what city this is in?

 

then this year that passes, we will not have an option i7QM in SA or Z? a step back at this point if not there is an option for this year...

 

Haha, sure, that's justified. Vancouver. We're close to Japan and China, so it makes sense.

One thing I'll note about the SB's graphics switching is that it is nearly instantaneous. You flip the switch, you get a message saying the graphics have been switched, and that's it. No logging out and back in, or restarting.

 

Oh boy, that's quite from Ottawa where I'm at - I'll call my local store tomorrow anyway just in case

Thanks

 

I just checked at a Toronto Sony store (for the SB)... and they're apparently expecting them towards the end of this week, or early next week.

Also, the salesman wasn't sure but he quoted me at 1200 for the SB model with normal battery and the 6470 (512 mb) gpu. The additional long-use battery was supposed to sell separately for $200.00 as well.

@ajnauron - were these prices anything like what you saw in vancity?


Also...I couldn't find this being discussed earlier in the thread, but does anyone know if the CTO laptops that will eventually be available in Canada require the i7 processor in order to upgrade to the 6630M as is shown on the USA cto order page?


Thanks

 

^^no one knows if the cto in canada needs the stupid upgrade to the i7, since the cto page that was up, was so filled with bugs that its hard to say anything for sure.

If you do VM work, yes its going to bring benefits, if no, it will be a waste of money

 

Just ordered a CTO new vaio S series.
First vaio for me!

i7-2620M
4gb mem
AMD Radeon™ HD 6630M 1gb
500gb 7200 rpm
with fresh start!

I hope this unit will be great for some gaming as well as a good amount of photoshop work and minor video editing.

(please let me know if I am posting in the wrong thread)
but is there a thread with like first things I should do when I get the notebook?
i.e. uninstall this and that, check this setting to make boot quicker, etc?
I mean, my wife has a vaio and it came with a boat load of sony software.
I cleaned it to the best I can, but not sure what is necessary and not.

thank you all.

 

I saw the SB at SonyStyle and the design is simply an oversized X Series. IMO, it has no "WOW" factor whatsoever - not impressed. However, it appears to be well-built and more so durable than the current S. Also, was not impressed by the screen resolution and the hinge. The hinge just sticks out; needs to be flushed.

 

I configured an sb when sony canada had the sb on cto 'test'

no need for i7 for 6630
free upgrade to better i5 processor
bluray burner +$50
free slice battery.

all that at $1049/$1079 (white was +$30)

couldn't apply spring200 at that point or check it out.

 

I just want to give you the information, that my CTO ordered on the 4th March in the german sony online store just was delivered to my adress in Berlin.
First impression: the surface realy feels cold because of transportation in the truck ;-)
Otherwise: I am happy and will boot right now for the forst time .....

 

^DO IT! And post the specs and a mini review at the owners lounge please!

 

I'm really liking this laptop. Like, loving it. It feels very sturdy, and it has great battery life. Plus, Sony just released a BIOS update that fixes the fan noise. Again, very impressed.

 

I have been thinking a lot about the SB, and I don't think I will be getting it, my FW is fine for now, and as much as a new laptop would be nice, the SB brings nothing new for me, especially the screen since I have gotten used to a premium vaio display at full HD. Besides the bezel is massive and the fact that the vent is in the back and the hinge covers it, not the best design idea.

 

What's the battery life? May be you know how long will it last under heavy web surfing? And how long does it take to recharge battery completely? (from 0 to 100 %)

 

The salesman I asked said $1000 Canadian for the model with the 6470M.

 

waiting for the SB to be available in Italy with CTO options, I was just wondering if the 6470M (with 1gb) is better or not than 6630 (with 512mb).

sorry i f the question has been yet answered....I'm just curious as, from specs (and as far as I can understand from "crude" numbers) the 6630 seems to be more powrful than 6470.

is that true?

 

The 6630 is better than the 6470.

 

the 6630 has 1gb memory and the 6470 has 512mb.

 

The memory doesn't mean anything anyway.

Even if the 6630 had 256mb and the 6470 had 2GB, the 6630 would still be faster.

At 1366x768 resolution, you don't need a very large framebuffer at all.

 

But speaking of resolutions... will they ever offer a better screen on the S? 1366x768 is just horrid...

 

SA is supposed to come with 1600x900