Sony's response to Apples (unibody)?

What will be Sony's response to Apple's unibody design?

I'm a VAIO FZ190E owner and never owned a Mac but handled one at the store and was instantly impressed with the build quality. It's so solid.... I can tell right away it would never creak or bend.

My VAIO creaks quite a bit and the screen flex's when opening/closing/adjusting (it's about 2 years old).... it's a very minute flex, but after 1.5 yrs of opening and closing the screen is going bad (flickers on and off randomly, banding).

Apple really got it right with the unibody design.... it's just too good to be ignored.

 

its also heavy as a brick. and its only recently been out on the market. you realized your problems after 1.5 years, mac owners might find theirs then as well (if not sooner).

 

I thought Z series was in same leauge as Mac with its carbon fiber body.

 

I believe you've got your own answer. I mean if you think that Apple has got it right, then go for an unibody MB/MBP for your next laptop purchase.

 

its not heavy as a brick. anyone who has actually handled one can tell you that. that is obviously an ignorant comment not based on real experience.

 

But do you see SONY responding by coming up with their own "unibody" equivalent? What would it be? Aluminum? Something else?

They're really behind the ball on this one....

 

don't fall for their unibody marketing, the vaios are made of carbon fiber (what ferrari's are made of) while the macbooks are made of aluminum, like.. pepsi cans.. not saying that it's bad, because the Z also has an aluminum palmrest (for aesthetics), but there's a reason that notebooks, such as thinkpads and toughbooks use a different material for the chassis.. durability

the z also has a lot more features, from magicgate to firewire

 

perhaps its relative my friend. i have handled it every time I've been by the Apple store. Pick up a Macbook, and pick up a Sony Z. heavy as a brick

 

from my experience, the macbook is quite heavy, it actually feels heavier than my m1210 with a 9 cell battery, although the weight is lower, probably because of the larger surface area

i'd say that the vaio z "feels" around 2x lighter than the macbook

 

I personally do not see Sony coming up with any sort of "unibody" equivalent in the near future, but that is just me. I'm sure everyone will disagree with me on this one.

I think that Sony not doing a "unibody" equivalent does not mean that they are behind the ball. Why? The reason is simply because what is "tough" is subjective. Is the unibody MB/MBP really that "tough?" Only you can answer that yourself. Different people will have different answers to that question.

Furthermore, the casing of laptops not being made of aluminum doesn't mean that it is not "tough." Look at the Thinkpads. Over the years, they has been seen by many as the benchmark of "tough" laptops. Similarly, Sony or any other brand can build up that sort of reputation with reliable "tough" laptops. But the question is.... Are the Thinkpads really that "tough?" Once again, my answer to that question is that only you can answer that yourself (different people will have different views on this too).

 

the bottom half of the unibody is extremely solid. all around the keyboard and bottom ect. the lid however is what worrys me. you can tell there is a hollow space underneith. it doesnt flex or anything, but just by feeling it you could tell it would dent VERY easily.

 

I don't believe the question of toughness is subjective. Does it "seem" tough? Now that may be subjective. However, if you drop it, will it break? Does the hinge come lose after wear? If you throw your cellphone at the screen, will it crack? you get the point . Toughness is factual, and opinion doesn't mean much unless backed with aggressive testing. The level of care that is given to a laptop varies with people, so experience may be bad metric for toughness. Better to ask that one guy with multiple laptops of different brand, and ask his opinion on what he thinks is tough. That's probably more scientific, if anything.

I wish someone would start a website dedicated to running the laptops through various toughness tests. Watch a guy ride his car over his laptop and see how many components survive .

 

I think the Z is a very well built machine. As a piece of engineering I think it is more impressive than any Apple product. It has a better screen than any of the Macs (also much less glare), its as light as the Macbook Air, it has a built-in Blu Ray (no MBP has that), and its as fast as any of the MBPs. What's more, I'm sure it is just as tough as any mainstream computer, just look at the videos on the Sony website of the screen being bent and water being poured on the keyboard, etc... I don't think Sony has to do anything to respond, they make excellent products that are definitely comparable in all qualities to Apple's computers. I'm sure the Z is as strong and sturdy as any unibody Mac and I think in terms of features and weight it is more impressive than anything Apple offers. I can see why some people may choose a 15" or 17" MBP over the Z if the wanted a bigger screen but IMO the Z is the most impressive piece of engineering at its size.

 

lg's p310 is pretty impressive too, with the 9600 GT, too bad no optical and the fact that i think its lid looks hideous

here's a picture of the lid (on left) http://www.techfresh.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/lg-xnote-p310-1.jpg

 

I thought that this was more about the FW/FZ and not the Z. The FW/FZ is in Sony's consumer range and the Z is in Sony business range. The build is different.

The durability on the Z is superior to that of the MB to me and the durability of the MBP is superior to that of that FW to me.

I've seen all of these laptops. I am not impressed by the unibody design. I used to own a MBP and prefer the old design.

 

Just a question - unibody - what about RAM slots? Upgradeability?
Or is that a "sorry, we're Apple, you may not modify our product?"
(This is how it seems to me, any way)

On another note - the OP mentioned flex - flex can be a good thing, if you ever bump into something, bending the material without breaking takes energy away.

Simple idea - a ball of ice/glass and a normal football - drop both from say 4-5m - the ice/glass with shatter - its hard, yes, but takes impact badly.
The normal footbal will deform and then bounce back - overal it stays intact.

Same priciple applies to laptops, with flex/non-flex.

 

i agree, i preferred the old design too, but i think this post is comparing the z with the mb because they're both in the ultraportable/thin-light category

unless he's referring to the macbook pro, then i guess he'd be comparing the fw/fz =/ i don't know!

 

I think I can give a good opinion since I bought a Macbook in January, owned it for a month, and then decided to sell it to my girlfriend and buy a Z690.

The Macbook feels FAR heavier than the Z. That's the part I don't get since the Z has so many more features that the Macbook does not (express card, memory card readers, WWAN, more ports, etc.).

The screen is much better.

The unibody is nice, but I think the Z looks just as good. Even my girl, who's in love with her Macbook now, said the Z looked really "cute"....

Yes, memory and HDD are upgradeable and the battery is replaceable on the Macbook. In fact I had upgraded it to 4GB for 1/3 the price that Apple wanted for the in-store upgrade.

Battery life for the Z totally blows away the Macbook.

If you're a Windows user, then you definitely need to stick with the Z.

 

The real problem with MBP - rather easy to get it bent, dent etc. They are OK for people who dont move much their notebooks. For performing artists like myself it is serious problems, after 1-2 years they look like sh... but more serious is if they fall, once bent you cant straighten it up so perhaps DVD wont work etc, etc. I had vaio fallen from touring bus and to my surprise nothing happened except the battery lock.
Z, SZ, TZ,TT are definitely more solid though not like Panasonic or IBM but better then Macs not to mention cooling, again Sonys are not as good as IBM but better then Macs.

 

As an owner of lenovo, mb, mbp and a z I can say that the lenovo will survive the most harshest conditions, but when it comes to finish, the Z falls slightly behind the macs, mainly due to (in my experience) poor seals on their Z, which is airtight compared to my X200T lenovo! anyways, I still prefer sony, as the above poster pointed out the 16:9 aspect is better than 16:10 and it does feel much lighter than the macs (both the 15 inch pro obviously and the unibody macbook)

 

I LOL'd.

Seriously, I would have to reject the premise that Sony or anyone else needs to "answer" Apple's unibody. Just make notebooks that don't flex when bent.

 

vaio z IS awesome!

 

Vaio Z for the win!!!

 

I think it all comes down to preference really. Each company has a different approach to durability, upgradeability, and design.

As for Sonys response to unibody? I don't think Sony really cares about Apples manufacturing process. Sony has taken a bit of a different approach to the situation, at least when it comes to the screen of the Vaio Z. The Vaio Zs screen is made of carbon fiber and the LCD is made in a way that it can flex so it does not break.

Its kind of odd that you ask a question and then answer it with your own opinion, BTW. It makes it seem like either trolling, or that you are trying to justify a purchase or decision. If you like Apples unibody design, buy it and be happy. If you are asking a legitimate question and are looking for help in your research the Vaio Z Owners Thread is a great place to start.

 

This is very simplistic, although the underlying point that the Vaio's material picks are better for something like a laptop is true.

The Crapbooks uses rolled sheets of aluminium which is chopped up into unit-sized pieced and machined. Alu is a soft metal, but it can be made tougher by squeezing it at low heat - and that's what the rolling process does. The thing is, to make reasonably cost-effective mass production viable, you can't actually make the metal too tough. The alu used in the Crapbooks can be made tougher to stay in shape better and also to withstand impacts better, but it would become more expensive to work.

And this is why the 15-inch UB Crapbooks are actually slightly weaker than the machines they replace, despite feeling more substantial. The 13-inch doesn't suffer as much as the structure is more rigid being more compact - and of course, it has a favourable comparison in that it's predecessor was rather underengineered and overweight. And a big part of having the battery built into the machine in the 17-inch Crapbook is because having a 13/15-inch equivalent panel - or even a half-panel - for battery replacement would have excessively weakened the structure.

However I think the Crapbook's move to the machined aluminium casing is actually quite a smart one given how poor their QC is. Having less in the way of human intervention in the part of a machine which the user sees/feels most means less chance of a botched assembly.

Sony can do the more involved assembly processes because they still have the quality to be able to pull it off. Apple do a great job manipulating the assembly process and the design attributes to give the impression of quality to those who don't know better, while Sony conversely do a great job of masking the underlying superior quality of their Apple-equivalent-level gear with chintzy, cheapo touches. But the simple fact is that Apple are just not as good as the non-Chinese guys (i.e. the non-ODM'd models) at Sony at screwing laptops together. How long that'll last though I'm not sure - I see the beginnings of some potentially bad shortcuts on the TT/Z.

 

LOL. I've handled both the 13.3 in unibody macbook and and 15.4 in unibody pro.

Yes, Both of them are "heavy as bricks"...

Also, because they are made out of aluminum, they dent easily too. A friend of mine's unibody macbook's already got a decent sized dent on the edge of the keyboard, and it doesn't look pretty...

Needless to say some people, including the friend of mine, had trouble connecting wifi at times with the new unibody macbook, since the whole aluminum body pretty much acts as a Faraday's Cage.

On the other hand, the Z's exceptionally well at connecting AND staying connected to a wifi network. Trust me when I say this, because no one EXCEPT me gets wireless signal in my dorm room.... Everyone who come to my room either grab a Ethernet cable or go out to the hall way to get internet.

 

Say what you want about any manufacturer, including apple. There is no "response" to the unibody because if there is any king of ultraportables its sony. Simple example; the x505, can you say macbook air but YEARS earlier? Exactly!

I'm not some fanboy here, sony has plenty of issues on the software side. As far as ultraportable hardware goes though, sony really is king. When I pick up my GF's eee pc and my 13 inch vaio z not only feels lighter but is 10x as powerful AND has a disk drive that just baffles my mind. This thing is more solid then I could have even imagined.

I bought my Z only cause it offered stuff no other laptop does and came away super amazed at the quality of the build of this machine.

I cannot restate enough times just how amazing the Z is compared to every other notebook I've handled. That includes ThinkPads btw, which might be over all more durable but they're ugly as a brick and just as heavy.

Those videos about the Z testing really impressed me and made me a lot less paranoid about my darling little Z.


Z! z! z! I love my Z!!!

Pancakes!