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    Sony SZ340 has arrived!!!

    Discussion in 'VAIO / Sony' started by surefire, Sep 5, 2006.

  1. surefire

    surefire Notebook Consultant

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    What a joyful day for me.

    I have been waiting on this my whole life...
     
  2. bashy

    bashy Newbie

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    Very Happy now that this is out I can get on this forum and be a contributing member. I'm however looking for the Premium Series of the SZ340, I'm a sucker for the Edge and Brighter screen. Any idea on how soon after the standard model the the Premium models come out?
     
  3. biumoc

    biumoc Notebook Consultant

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    The price is not so expensive compared to SZ2xx. Good news!
     
  4. surefire

    surefire Notebook Consultant

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    Differences btw Sony SZ240 & SZ340 are:

    SZ240
    Intel Core Duo
    DVD+R DL/DVD±RW
    Modem V.90
    Battery Life 5.5Hrs (all settings are at lowest)

    SZ340
    Intel Core 2 Duo
    DVD±R DL/DVD±RW
    Modem V.90/V.92 Compliant
    6Hrs (according to sonystyle.com)
     
  5. Juz_Follow_ATI

    Juz_Follow_ATI ATI all the way

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    I'm not very interested in Sony so I'm not as happy and excited as most of you's are.
     
  6. biumoc

    biumoc Notebook Consultant

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    It seems that Sony will not provide SZ2xx with Bios update for the upgradation.
     
  7. hendra

    hendra Notebook Virtuoso

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    Sony has posted SZ340 in their website:
    Click here!
    It's now on sale!

    Beware that SZ340 has MAGNESIUM casing and not the premium carbon fiber casing. Magnesium casing is thicker and probably less durable than the premium carbon fiber casing. The nice thing though you can configure the notebook up to 2.33 GHz Core 2 Duo so if you don't need premium carbon fiber casing, you can save considerable amount of money while still getting the fastest core 2 duo currently available.

    FYI, The last alphabet of the model number indicates which casing the notebook uses.

    X = Premium Carbon Fiber
    C = Regular Carbon Fiber
    B = Magnesium Casing

    For example: SZ381P/X has premium carbon fiber while the SZ370P/B has regular carbon fiber.
     
  8. shadowx

    shadowx Notebook Enthusiast

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    Holy S#!*... do I see reasonable RAM upgrade pricing??? From Sony??? Must be a typo... ;)

    Standard 1GB (512X2)
    Upgrade to 1GB (1024X1) +$25
    Upgrade to 2GB (1024X2) +125
     
  9. starstreak

    starstreak Notebook Deity

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    must be. I thought I just saw it at $450 for the 2gig on their site
     
  10. PHiZ

    PHiZ Notebook Guru

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    And yet here you are on the Sony forum...
    -PHiZ
     
  11. whwtan

    whwtan Notebook Evangelist

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    *laugh*

    I was thinking of the same thing PHiZ.

    Not interested, yet browsing the Sony forum and actually spending the time to make a post. :)
     
  12. Yair

    Yair Notebook Consultant

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    Where actualy can one find an SZ***/x can't see any on the Sony website...
     
  13. buddy1065

    buddy1065 Notebook Evangelist

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  14. ceyms

    ceyms Newbie

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    How long did it take to receive after you placed your order?
     
  15. buddy1065

    buddy1065 Notebook Evangelist

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    I don't think anyone has actually received one yet...
     
  16. foo

    foo Newbie

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    Would you be so kind as to tell me the BIOS version on your shiny new SZ340?

    Congrats and Thanks!
     
  17. foo

    foo Newbie

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    From what I was told, C is regular carbon fiber (hence the "C"), and B is magnesium. At least that's how it was when I got my SZ160P/C. It's definately regular carbon fiber...
     
  18. hendra

    hendra Notebook Virtuoso

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    My bad :) You are right! B is for Magnesium and C is for Carbon. I have corrected my original message!
     
  19. hendra

    hendra Notebook Virtuoso

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  20. jeepguy_1980

    jeepguy_1980 Notebook Enthusiast

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    So what does a P mean? I just bought a SZ340P8 the other day.
     
  21. IdeaDirect

    IdeaDirect Notebook Geek

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    What makes you say that?
     
  22. biumoc

    biumoc Notebook Consultant

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    I could not see any official information from Sony about that.
     
  23. elizabex

    elizabex Notebook Evangelist

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    My SZ340 is currently on a FedEx truck, scheduled for delivery. :D
     
  24. jjloresco

    jjloresco Notebook Enthusiast

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    How about the Canada Eh?... when do we get that Eh? OH CANADA, I REALLY want an SZ for the sony store!!!
     
  25. nixon

    nixon Notebook Evangelist

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    There are a few "set" SKU's of the SZ340 out there, and the P is just to help out to know the different models i.e. SZ340P08 or the SZ340P09 which have different configs.
     
  26. nixon

    nixon Notebook Evangelist

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    I'd have to agree. For Sony to create a BIOS update for the SZ100 or SZ200 series that would officially support the Merom chips would cost them more than it would make them in the end. Why support old models, and let people upgrade their chips (and VOID their warranty at the same time) and cause a headache that would be a pain to support, when they could just push their users to the new SZ340 models, that make them money, not cost them money.

    That being said, I'm sure just a BIOS fix wouldn't be too bad, but I doubt we'll see on official "here's a BIOS update that supports Merom" from them unless the engineers manage to sneak it by the sales and marketing departments...
     
  27. jeepguy_1980

    jeepguy_1980 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Mine just came in today. I don't have much to complain about, though I haven't had a chance to do much besides remove programs.
     
  28. Aero

    Aero PC/Mac...Whatever works! NBR Reviewer

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    Good to know, how is it treating you so far?
     
  29. jeepguy_1980

    jeepguy_1980 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Been treating me well. It's very light and I can't even tell it's in my backpack. I just benchmarked it and was happy with the CPU score.

    I don't have any keyboard complaints like others or any others for that matter. The battery lasts longer than any other computer I've ever had.

    Here is the benchmark score.

    http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=523179
     
  30. hero_boy

    hero_boy Newbie

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    Could anyone with a Sony Vaio SZ340 please tell me what bays are accessible through panels on the bottom of the unit? In particular is the CPU accessible?
     
  31. xavifigui

    xavifigui Notebook Enthusiast

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    Could anyone with a Sony Vaio SZ340 please post some photos?
    i'm wondering buying a SZ2m but i'd like to have a core2duo, is the price diference so big with the sz2m??
     
  32. Yair

    Yair Notebook Consultant

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    I'm thinking of taking the plunge with an SZ370 soon, could anyone tell what the spacebar problem actually is please?
     
  33. thekm

    thekm Notebook Guru

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    striking the space bar towards the sides may result in a misfire. The solution is to pack up under the key so it's more sensitive to the side-touch.
     
  34. Yair

    Yair Notebook Consultant

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    And they didn't fix this with the SZ3 models? is it a problem with the premium ones too?
     
  35. jihoon

    jihoon Notebook Evangelist

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    no, I heard that they fixed the spacebar on the sz3xx models.
     
  36. hero_boy

    hero_boy Newbie

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    Can someone with a SZ340 please tell me what parts are accessible via panels on the bottom of the laptop? (In particular is the CPU bay accessible?)

    I am tossing up between the Sony Vaio SZ340 and the Asus W7J. Both have the same graphics card, but the W7J has a max of 1.5gig RAM, and the Sony Vaio has a max of 533mhz rather then the full 667mhz... I'm currently leaning towards the Sony because it is cheaper, comes with a Dual 2 Core CPU & can handle more RAM.
     
  37. jeepguy_1980

    jeepguy_1980 Notebook Enthusiast

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    My SZ340 does not seem to have any space bar or keyboard problems for that matter.

    I haven't taken my SZ-340 apart. However, I doubt the CPU is accessable from the bottom. I'm rather certain, you have to pull the keyboard to get to the CPU. I did that on my old Vaio to put some Arctic Silver in there and it only took about 30 minutes.
     
  38. bw1985

    bw1985 Notebook Enthusiast

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    The sz340 is NOT cheaper than the w7j. Its only cheaper if you get it with the celeron M and I doubt youre going to order it with that. The w7j is cheaper.