Sony VGN-SZ360P/C review

OK, I just got my SZ360 and here’s my review:

*Display*
The screen is simply incredible. It makes my Asus W5F of six months look like a murky fish aquarium, which should tell you something. I immediately checked the LCD with Screen Query 1.2. I saw no stuck or dead pixels in any of the colors (RGB+BL). Score screen eight out of 10. If it had a slightly more anti-aliased quality I would have scored it a nine.

*Keyboard*
The spacebar presented no problem whatsoever. Keys are flat, but big, so while a deeper keystroke is needed, fewer typing errors are made. I’ve already gotten used to the keyboard. I rate it pretty good actually. When typing fast on the Asus W5F you can catch the bottom edge of its keys, so each keyboard has its challenges.

*Palmrests*
I can’t feel any shock per se, either plugged in or not. However, because of our shared psychosis, you might eventually begin to imagine that you can feel tingling. After this happened once, I decided to move back ‘n forth between my Asus and Sony quickly to see if there was any difference and, bizarrely, now I could feel the same tingling on my Asus too! I’m going to have say that there’s nothing to be felt out of the ordinary here, because most of time you feel nothing, plugged in or not.

*Power Supply*
The power supply is large: 5.5”x2.5”x1.5” compared to 4.25”x1.75”x1.25” for the Asus W5F brick. I’ll replace it with the Kensington 120W power supply. I also have an iGo Juice 70, which has a three-prong plug. I will test that brick once I confirm that the correct plug for the SZ360 can be an A12, which I have, compared to the S12 mentioned on iGo’s site.

One downside is the very long time it takes to charge the battery. I can’t believe that such a big brick can’t charge the battery faster. My Asus charges its three-hour battery far faster. Since I’ve not yet reached 100%, I can’t tell you how long the battery lasts.

*Ports*
I would have preferred USB ports on both sides rather than two on the right.

*Drives*
DVD drive is not noisy and does not vibrate. Making recovery DVDs right now, but notice that the DVD drive is incredibly slow. It will take another 51 minutes to finish the first DVD, that’s slow!

*Wi-Fi*
Reception is not as good as my Asus, which shows four segments when the Sony shows three.

*Sound*
I was blown away when I visited a site with audio. This lappy definitely has loud and clear audio.

*Fit and Finish*
While the 4.5-mm LCD screen definitely feels thin, the chassis overall feels sturdy and well-made. In fact, assembly quality of this lappy, thusfar, is first-rate. Trackpad ergonomics are particularly nice, I did not even have to speed up the trackpad, it’s plenty fast in default mode. Pointer accuracy is also very good. Overall, a decidedly positive experience compared to the Asus W5F, which has positively given me repetitive wrist syndrome.

The Made-in-Japan SZ360 appears to be a very nice machine with a weakness in the power-supply and DVD-writing department.

 

OK, first bad sign: it has already turned two DVD-Rs into coasters. After about 10 minutes of burning, it said something about a DVD write error and asked that the DVD be ejected and destroyed.

 

Do you think the keyboard is loud? I want to type quietly. Ahhhh

 

Yea, the keyboard is loud.

 

According to the cofiguration, DVD drives of Standard models are much faster and more powerful than those of Premium models.

 

Figures!

 

OK, I updated the review, adding Wi-Fi and Sound comments.

BTW, I did the clean install with the recovery disks as discussed in an earlier thread and seem to have zero problems. Didn't even have to do the regedit to fix any potential Plug and Play problems.

So far, smooth sailing.

 

u should take some pictures.

 

... against the wall doing nothing ...

 

If I were getting an SZ, it would have to be a premium. It looks really nice with the charcoal black chassis.

As for the burner, I actually haven't heard many complaints about that yet for the SZ. I'd still go with the premium though, just for the looks and slightly lighter weight despite the reported slower read/write rates.

 

Yes, it is not quiet and takes getting use to.

 

Ah, of the computer!

 

It looks great and the light weight is a bonus for such a powerful lappy.

 

After playing with SZ360 for about two weeks, I returned it to Amazon for the following reasons. I know a lot of you are big fans, and I can understand that, but I just felt very ambivalent about this top-of-line Sony with a premium price that fell short in the following areas:

Wi-Fi
Given that I travel a lot and frequently try to pick up basestations that are far away in the same hotel or others, I thought having a notebook that had weaker reception than my Asus W5F was asking for trouble. Strong reception is mandatory.

Construction
You would think that a notebook that uses exotic materials would not have one of the cheapest bottom covers. Now I know that's not overly important, but since I frequently carry the computer with one hand by its bottom, it's a constant reminder of how far more sturdy my Asus was compared to this uberpremium-priced Sony. Not confidence inspiring.

Keyboard
I didn't really have much problems adapting to this keyboard, but it was a loud exercise, which would clearly become more irritating over time, particularly in hushed power meetings.

Power Supply & Charging Time
You think that if a computer comes with one of the world's largest bricks, it would at least be able to charge the batteries much faster. But the fact is my Asus charges its batteries in nearly half Sony's time, a major detriment when trying to quickly boost batt power prior to a meeting.

Display
While the Sony's bright screen is commendable, I found the unit suffered from a more "grainy" screen than my Asus. In addition to the graininess, I thought that the inability to change color-balance easily, like Asus' Splendid control panel, was a negative.

CD-ROM
Why Sony chose to include a relatively slow DVD burner remains a mystery to me. This is a major disappointment for such an expensive machine.

Vista
While a Vista upgrade was included in the package, after grappling with a partial restore to rid the lappy of bloatware, I was reminded of the challenges that lay ahead with the Vista upgrade. I'm convinced that it will be far easier to wait until Jan. 30 for Vista to be pre-installed.

Hardware Volume Control
Every computer should have one of these. But my next lappy, the Asus V2JP will not have it either, but at least it exceeds the Sony iin just about every department.

 

Just got my Sony SZ320CP

it looks so nice))

 

Hah! That's exactly how I feel about the palmrests!

 

I have been in great dilemma on what to buy, Asus A8Js or Sony Vaio SZ3XP (european version of SZ360). Due to unavailability of SZ3XP when I wanted to buy my new laptop I went on Asus. Since then I'm keeping my eyes gazed on SZ3 and asking myself should I sell A8Js and buy SZ3. Before Asus I owned Vaio T350 and it was a great lappy but I wanted something slightly bigger and stronger. That's why I look so much in SZ3.

Now, when I've read your post, I'm asking myself am I right to ask myself about selling Asus and buying SZ3...

What do you guys think ?

 

Hard to say. My suggestion is for you to try the SZ before you sell your Asus. That way, you can get a feel for the laptop and see if you like it. Some ppl can live with the problems with the SZ, some can't. Speaking for myself, I could live with most of the shortcomings of the SZ, but couldn't live with the current flowing through my body from the palmrest. The fact that the palmrest is not properly grounded speaks of a huge circuit design flaw. This may be a non-issue with the european models.

It's really a question of personal choice.