Sony SZ price drop...just like the FZ

The SZ series just dropped its base price $100.

Which model will be next?!

 

Ask Sony, their the only ones that know what's gonna happen next.

 

I wasn't really asking which model will have a price drop next, it was more of a sarcastic question because Sony has dropped the prices on two models within two weeks, understand?

But yeah, just letting everyone know about the SZ price drop.

 

is this price drop only reflective on sonystyle.com store or will I find these price breaks at sony authorized dealers (online)?

 

The price drop is due to Sonystyle are offering the WWAN upgrade for free.

 

wwan integrated sux... better to have an express card so u can upgrade as teh cell companies do.

 

No I don't, care to explain again?

 

Alright, I'll PM you.

 

Got it, thanks

 

Great .

This free integrated wireless makes it seem like an even better deal now...

Also, can anyone tell me if the Carbon Fiber Case option is the all black model? Because I don't like the 640 that has the silver frame and the black lid, I like the whole thing black.

I am asking because on the website, when you select black keyboard on the 680 (carbon fiber case) it still has a silver frame in the picture...

 

If I've gotten it correctly every model from 650 onwards is all black, and has carbon fibre casing, the 691 has special carbon fiber finish.

 

Yes, that's correct.

 

Alright great, thank you!

I went to Best Buy today to check it out, and see what the whole "weird keyboard" thing is about, but they didn't have one on display, but 8 in stock...figures. They were all 650's too .

 

What options are available for wireless internet from cell companies? Pricing?
How do the speeds compare to the typical cable modem/router/wifi way?

 

Not surprising considering bestbuy.com only seems to list one SZ model that is available for purchase (the 650).

 

Yes seriously, silver is starting to get boring.

Anyway I can get an all-black model with that snakeskin keyboard?

 

I don't believe theres a all black FZ available.

 

We are currently talking about the SZ series Sponsi .

And yes, the carbon fiber cased SZ is all black, the 650 and upwards. The Snake skin, I am not sure about .

 

I think you can option for the keyboard in the SZ680 CTO to be black...its like a $29 discount that way too! The keyboard doesnt show up as black but it should be black. I asked a Sony Style rep in-store and he said it might just be a website problem, then showed me an SZ680 CTO model which was his own. The guys at Sony Style are pretty nice and friendly.

I like my laptop all black as well...thus I own a SZ650. It looks very slick and looks very good.

 

vaio2k7....how is it going with your fans running now? Better?

-Mike

 

Fan works much better now, thanks to your advice of changing some settings. I changed settings to Adaptive for most modes.

 

vaio2k7...I am glad it is working well for you and fan is behaving. Sony definitely gave people many choices in the Vaio Power Management. You will find even ambient temperature of your environment will affect how fan runs. I would love to have your machine! After you have had your machine a while longer I would love to know your thoughts about the Hybrid-HD.

-Mike

 

My SZ will be 2 weeks old by tomorrow and so far its been so great for me other than the 2-3 day period where for some odd reason there was a high CPU usage (which solved itself ironically). I really like the hybrid graphics in this notebook. I use the nVIDIA graphics while plugged in (unbelievable graphics) and the Intel X3100 graphics while on battery (6.5 hours average battery life, ran it down to about 20 minutes remaining twice).

Its so light, you feel so good about how powerful and mobile it is...plus the all black casing makes it look stylish. I cannot make a full assessment of the Hybrid HDD but it is very noticeably faster while reading and writing files to and from flash drives/CDs/DVDs. Converting video files for my iPod is most noticeable...little hard to believe how fast the mpeg4 video files are created, written to the directory and then copied into iTunes. With some tweaks to Vista, startup is about 25-30 seconds while shutdown is 10-15 seconds.

I think the more you use it the faster it will perform for you, since it will build up cache and access files faster, similar to Vista's Superfetch technology.

Overall...powerful, mobile, and responsive.

 

startup 25-30 s? Mind posting a little abut what you tweaked? Or did you just go with one of the guides out there? (ex. flamenko )

 

vaio2k7....thanks for the input! I wanted to know how the Hybrid-HD is in "the real world". Sounds good. I am really glad all is going well with your SZ650.

-Mike

 

There are even fewer pre-configured models on the Sony Style SZ page now. I think they will definitely update their 13" range sometime Q1 next year. Hopefully they will change the keyboard to the CR/TZ style flat, separated keys.

 

They dropped the non configurable 640 about two days ago (it was sold out prior to that so they just removed it since it looks like they are not manufacturing anymore).

 

6 hours of battery life? Are you using extended battery?

 

I'm using normal 6cell and had 6h when typing in word, showed 7h+ with sony ultimate battery. Btw found out whats taking so long in the repair process, there's some strike going on in France and results in 4h working days.. Oh well... Hopefully I'll get it back this week.

 

If Sz gonna last 6 hours while using word only that I'll might consider that over Tz

 

No, 6 hours of battery life on average with a standard battery. Often times its over 6.5 hours. About 5.5-6 hours with Wifi on the entire time.

 

So you're using the 6-cell standard battery?

That's impressive!

 

Is that actual time, or what the notebook tells you. I'm having trouble believing that figure.

 

Well I had actual time about 6h on my 6 cell (the 2 days I got to use it..) And it showed 7h the last day with vaio ultimate battery (booted with plug so had 100% when I started typing)

 

That's pretty darn good.