Sony TZ/TX as a travel laptop some questions

Hi i am considering buying either a Sony TZ/TX as a travel laptop and keeping my SZ for mainly home use. The SZ 3.95lbs weight is not an issue for me but in terms of form factor i think i would like something smaller size wise. A 13.1" would also be to big.

I would like a laptop with a webcam and finger print reader but i can settle without the webcam if i find one for a very very good price. I should be able to pick up a TX for quite a bit cheaper than the TZ. Having a built in dvd drive is also handy for me as well.

I would also prefer one with built in WWAN but i will consider using an express card slot/pc card slot for mobile broadband. The TX does not come with in built WWAN.

I don't really care about the specs as it is not going to be my main laptop. In terms of styling the netbooks do not appeal to me.

I have been reading that the Sony TX models suffered from quite a noisy fan. I was wondering maybe this issue was resolved for the later models like the TX5? I am in the UK and we had a different configuration and spec compared to the US over here. Over here the TX laptops only went up to TX5.

I have read that the fan noise is not an issue with the TZ is that really so?

Also what is battery life like using WWAN in power saver and mid brightness for both of these laptops?
I can pull of about 6 hours using wifi with my SZ with 30% brightness and Aero of and with other measures like using a flashblock but with WWAN the indicator starts of much lower it shows me about 4 hours or 4 hours something i think when i start of using the same settings? Will the above models maybe get me better battery life? What is the general battery life of this laptop like also?

Maybe there are other laptops in this category that i also should be looking at that have excellent battery life as well and are <11.1?
Edited to add:
Also just wondering what is the TX keyboard like it clicky sounding at all?

 

My 2 cents: My TZ was very quiet. The fan did not come on often and if it did I hardly heard it.

Other laptops <11.1" and good battery life include Asus 1000/901 with 6 cell and MSI Wind with 6 cell. Don't know if you are willing to consider netbooks though.

In the Notebookjournal test the Wind scored 230 minutes, while the SZ71 scored 170 minutes. (30% CPU load which is a lot)

 

Thanks PhilFlow maybe i should consider getting a netbook as well. I was a bit concerned with the fit and finish on those you cannot compare it something like a TZ.
It is not my main laptop so maybe i should not be so picky.

For dvd's on the go and doing presentations a dvd drive could be handy so i will think about that some more if maybe i could do without a dvd drive.

The Asus i think some models maybe coming with built in WWAN etc. I had a quick look just now at the MSI wind and i don't think that this notebook has a PC slot so for me i don't think it could be an option as i am not willing to use a usb dongle for mobile broadband.

 

I use a TX57 with a 2gb ram upgrade and i'm not kidding you when I have to keep checking the battery meter to see why it's not emptying!! I frequently get upwards of 6 hours of use with the screen turned down a bit. I have watched 2 movies from my hdd and used it for internet work for hours after that!! Fan is really quiet and it's not obtrusive in the least.
I prefer the TX to the TZ - too glossy and shiny for my tastes and there is just something not quite right about that keyboard..??LOL!!

 

I bought the TZ for size and battery life. My Toshiba is 14.1", but still a little heavy for me to be carrying around. I never realized how heavy an extra 5 lbs was on the shoulders until I carried it around all day at the San Diego Convention Center. Ugh.

I looked at netbooks, but some aspects (no CD/DVD drive, kind of chunky size, smaller SSD) didn't appeal to me. So, I went with the TZ with extended battery. When I spoke to several people about it, the consensus was that the standard battery will last about 6 hours while with the extended battery it would be kind of like a cell phone - charge it overnight and you won't have to re-charge it until the following evening.

My TZ is supposed to arrive tomorrow; I missed the FedEx guy this Saturday, so I'll see how the battery does.

 

I too bought a TZ for the size, battery life and its style. I had an old asus w3n before - 14.1" at around 2.2kg. When you are carrying it around for a whole day, every gram counts.

I had my TZ for a little more than a week now and it is really nice. The first thing to do is to clean install vista/xp. Everything is instantanous afterwards.

It also depends on what you do on the road, if you are just MS wording, then a netbook will suffice. You wont need much processing power, or HDD space if you are just emailing and typing. But I often have to do a fair amount of Photoshop and CAD work - That is a nono on a netbook. Also if you enjoy watching stuff on the road, I dont think the netbook can handle h264 encodes.

In regards to the fan. It is pretty silent, depending on your room temp. The CPU does pretty hot ~70C under heavy use, but I think its the norm with portables. You can actually adjust the fan under VAIO settings - a total of 5 levels from dead silent up to a quite whirl.

Havent had a chance to fully testout the battery, but I believe ppl are getting around 6hr of normal use on it.

My decision on buying a TZ also came down to style. I dont think anyother can match the TZ. I didnt really like the look of the TT either, so for pretty much the same $, I got myself something a generation behind becuase I like the style.

It all comes down to the budget I guess, if you can afford a TZ go for it.

 

Thank you all for your help i will get either a or TX/TZ. The TT has not yet been launched yet in the UK so the prices of the TZ haven't really yet come down. I am still on the look out for a good deal for one though.

 

I ended up buying a TT and then i cancelled that because it was a lot of money and i was unsure how i would get on with it as my only computer. I need to be able to write papers on it and sometimes spend up to 5 hours a day or more writing.


I have gone back to wanting to get a TX/TZ again as a travel laptop. The prices of the TZ second hand are just to much. They go for like £700+ on Ebay. They seem to have a bit of a niche market in the UK.

Anyway i have reserved a TX with this company ( see link below) and they are due to call me on December 3rd to take my order when they get more stock in. I mean £379 for a TX is really excellent. They import these new from the US. I don't care about having a US keyboard i plan to change that anyway or maybe i can live with it. Maybe i can even mod the webcam if i wanted one as i have heard people doing that anyway. They buy a bezel with the webcam and parts and just swap it over.
At least the trackpad won't get all shiny like they do on the TZ/SZ (premium) models. I may even as well downgrade to XP to make the laptop boot and run faster.
http://www.clicktechnology.net/index.html

 

Just get the Sony Z rach

 

Sonoritygenius thanks.
I did consider getting the Z but the model that i would want is very expensive. The top end model that i would want is like £1,808 with a £100 Sony discount. The TT high end model for me was a bit more reasonable price wise. I got that priced at £1,5XX with a £100 discount.

I have already been offered like £750 for my SZ i might even be able to get £800 for it but i cannot be bothered with selling right now on Ebay. I also don't want to fork out that much to make the difference for the price of the Z.

I could get a super portable laptop like the TX and keep my SZ which is not even a year old (and under warranty until June 2011) and still keep back like around £600 in my pocket.

 

I bought a Samsung NC10 2 weeks ago. At first I thought the touchpad and screen would be too small for me. After spending a couple of days on it I'm convinced. It's great laptop with excellent value for money. Screen is excellent quality (high contrast and bright), touchpad is big enough. Battery life is 6 hours without any tweaks. I paid 340 euro for it. 1024*600 isn't ideal but I'm surprised how well it works.

No more overpriced laptops for me... at least for a couple of weeks

 

LMAO. 10char

 

I saw an 8.9 Acer and the build quality of that surprised me. I should consider getting a netbook really. When i think about it if i travel abroad if i bought a TT i probably would take that as my only laptop but if i bought a TX i would take my SZ and leave my TX behind. So i don't need a dvd drive that much.

I guess the build quality of the Sony TX/TZ/TT and the fact that the TX/TZ were premium laptops with a premium price tag entice me. I guess if i change the keyboard then i am looking at paying more like £430 which is still ok.
.............
Scratch that about changing the keyboard i can just buy a UK TX single £ and @ keys of ebay and swap them over.

 

My daughter has a TX which is very quiet, fast altho it is only single core and 512 MB ram, and the battery lasts all day. I like it so much for travel that I bought a TZ, returned it due to too much heat. I now have the TT. TX is two models back, but is still very usable and nice looking. If you can get it, get at least 1 GB ram.

 

Have you got the TX yet? get the TZ! they go for 800 plus

 

TZ300 thanks that is good to know.

Ashan Ashraf thanks i don't want to spend that much on a second laptop. I haven't bought the TX yet i hope to buy it next week when the company that i want to buy it of get more stock in.

 

I do love the TX though, what a sexy little computer. Core solo 1.1 Ghz is still enough for XP. But at the current prices of netbooks ...

And I actually prefer the slightly larger pixels on netbooks, too bad they're not coming in 1280*800. Well the Dell Mini 12 does, but I can't buy it here in the Netherlands.

Maybe that's something for you though, the Mini 12 with XP.

 

I have a TX37GP. They are great on batteries.

One note I like to make is to make sure you buy the extended warranty from Sony. After a year I have read reports that the motherboard might need replacing due to power issues. Which causes the notebook to freeze.

 

psykosonik thanks for your help.

A Core solo can handle Vista ok if you do not have to many processes running but XP is faster. I did use a family members 10.6" P7230 for a while and that notebook i think had a 1.2 ULV Core solo processor and a 4,200rpm HD and Vista HP ran ok.

The fans can tend to be a bit of a problem in some of these notebooks though.

The one i am hoping to get has a 1.33 ULV Core Solo processor and that performs about the same as the Atom 1.6 processor.
Lol i am already thinking about upgrading and putting an SSD drive in the notebook but i may not bother as i found the 4,200 1.8" in the P7230 to be fine for everyday tasks.

 

I got my TX today and i am really loving it so far. I don't know how much my SZ will be used now. I'll keep onto both computers though. I paid £350 for my TX and it is in fabulous condition, it looks new. Everything screams quality with this laptop. It is only running 1GB right now and it runs fast enough. I will upgrade to 2GB later on today. I bought a PCMCIA HSDPA card for this laptop so that i can use mobile broaband on the go.
The speakers are good for a notebook this size. The keyboard is just about quiet enough to use it in class without a keyboard protector. The touchpad is really nice as well.

I was thinking about upgrading to a 32GB SSD but i don't think that i will bother. Btw, i didn't get it from that company i linked to as they never came through in the end. The model number that i own is in my sig. Quality of the picture below is not great.

 

Excellent!! I think you'll continue to like the TX. I got a TXN15 about 8 months ago and still love it.

 

It seems that Sony has stopped selling batteries for this laptop on the Sony UK website. It seems that Ebay is my only option to buy a 2nd battery now.

Also, just wondering anybody who owns a TX or a TXN i bought a PCMCIA WWAN card for mobile broadband and the card just seems to flash blue when a network is near. This is the only way that i am indicated when a network is near. Is this normal and as good as it gets? With my SZ the software informs me when a network is near and it also tells me what type of network i might be joining, 3G, 2G, Edge etc.

Edited to add:
I have got my 3G PMCMIA card connecting with my software and working normally now. I am so pleased with it.
Btw, i installed a 2GB module so the laptop has a total of 2.5GB of ram installed but the computer only makes use of 2GB.

 

Sorry to drag this old thread up again, but I was searching for comparisons between netbooks and the Vaio TX. I'm selling my Latitude XT to get something a little more portable. I was looking at getting:
1) A used TX5 on ebay (US) and putting my Mtron 32GB SSD into it

OR

2) For a little extra cost buying the new Toshiba NB200 netbook (with nice silver 'chiclet' keyboard and upgraded Atom N280 processor) and spec it with a 9 cell battery. I don't think my SSD will work in it so I would have to sell it on.

I just can't make my mind up! Any advice much appreciated.

 

Well the TX performance will be better. It is also better built with a better screen. With the extended battery the TX weight is still under 3lbs and it can obtain over 11 hours battery life.

Btw, my TX has got a 32GB SDD drive installed and it is insanely fast in XP.
One thing about the TX is that it lacks a built in microphone and a webcam.
If those things do not bother you then go for it.

 

Thanks for the advice - the TX is making more sense to me now over the Toshiba netbook. For a little extra outlay, I could buy a used TX, a new battery and upgrade the RAM to 2GB. The lack of webcam/microphone is no deal killer for me and by the sounds of it the TX is only slightly bigger than your average netbook. I would probably install Windows 7 on it though.

 

My daughter has a TX651p which has 512 MB memory. I want to buy extra memory for her. What is the max that it can take in the empty slot (I do not want to open up the tx to replay the original 512 MB). What speed should I get? PC5300 (667 MHz) or pc4200 (533 MHz). BTW she still has win xp and there is no intention to upgrade (I can't find win7 drivers for this model).

 

my sister has the tx3p and I installed a 2GB module and the bios now reports 2.5 GB of ram, I bought a 2GB 667 Mhz module but as far as I know the tx only supports up to 533 Mhz so go with whatever you like. Here they only sell 667 Mhz modules anyway, so it really doesn't matter.

btw. I installed win7 on the tx3p, most vista drivers work flawlessly on win7.

 

Thanks. I'll buy a 2 GB stick for her.