Sony- No thanks.....Read on.

So Ive been really excited for either a SR or Z Series

the SR is 1399 on US and Z is 1799

I wanted to get one of these but....Im in Canada And guess what they charge for the same base SR to the US....While our dollar is pretty much on par...

1599.99

yes 200 bucks is the same as on par to sony.

I cant believe it- The Z will be 1999.99

Its ridiculus in the sense that I buy apple products taht are maybe 25-100 bucks more than the states (I also get a student discount that makes it cheaper)..

Theres really barely any companies nowadays I see that have this kind of pricing for Canadians..

Sorry for the rant but im sick of getting shafted!

 

Wow, that's weird, I had thought with the recent dollar plunge that Canadian and American prices were pretty much the same (give or take a few bucks). If it makes you feel ANY better I was looking at laptops in Moscow recently and comparing specs with American sites and a laptop that cost like $1300 in the US in Moscow was closer to $1800-1900 (even more expensive if you buy from a brick and mortar store). Does it cost 500-600 to ship/handle one laptop or are they ripping people off hugely? I think the latter.

Maybe you could try ordering from an American reseller?

 

I hate being a A$$ about it but yeah I mean most companies are up to the standard now but Big companies like Sony shouldnt be like this.

 

You're not being an a$$ about it really, if i lived in Canada I'd expect the retailer prices to reflect the currency values as well. Over here the dollar took a steep dive a few months ago too, so all imported goods that are bought with the dollar by the retailers (especially electronics) should have become cheaper in the national currency, but no such thing happened. Instead of just making a profit on each unit now they are making a HUGE profit on each unit.

 

if the Z is 1999, it might be the same model as the 1999 in the US, the FW is more or less the same price.

 

^^ Itll be the same base model just 200 bucks more- confirmed by sony style store salesperson.

 

The prices in europe are also mostly on par with the euro (and not just sony).. but for other retailers too.. so a $1600 SZ costs 1600 euros which is like $2500.

Its not just sony, its just the prices are set in local currency and no one is going to modify prices of fluctuating currencies..

 

I don't have a problem with sony prices, because I understand different markets with different curriencies. Justify different prices. The economic situation of a country plays a huge factor in pricing.

What do have a problem with sony is. NOT providing 64bit drivers for vista. Why bother offering 4gb of ram if you're only offering 32bit vista? All other manufactuers eg. Dell and hp provide 64bit drivers! I hope with the new Z, they will provide 64bit drivers.

 

the drivers 64 vs 32 is an easy answer... 90% of people buying a laptop / desktop dont realize that the 32 bit driver cannot utilize the full 4 gig ram Or in some / most cases they dont even know a difference between 32 / 64 bit drivers.. Vista is well... vista to most people

With most people not knowing the difference the company can charge more for the *installed* ram at a market up price which most people dont realize is super easy to install ... Companies are out to make money... simple as that

Shipping / pricing to canada Vs the states i agree is complete bs... And its not only sony that does this... take a look at dell, the bigger more substantial coupons they offer are for the dell.com states bases site, where you cannot order from canada, while these deals i have NEVER seen offered on the dell.ca site.

Comes down to fundamentals of business... people arent in business to loose money, if theres an angle that they can make some money, they WILL use it.

 

I echo your sentiments, fellow Canadian.

It's based on greed, plain and simple. You're right, prices should be very similar given the currency comparisons and similar economic situations (relatively speaking).

But, most companies think why reduce the price in one (similar) country when there is not much choice or there are restrictions in place (e.g. Newegg does not ship to Canada so there are restrictions on choices). They don't have to adjust to reflect changes in currencies/economies since there will be enough customers who buy anyway. They don't have much choice in the matter.

 

Can anyone else confirm Toronto Guy's estimate that the Z can be preordered in Canada August 7-8?

 

^^ Who cares lol... This thread is to get canadians not to buy sonys haha.

Just kidding. But I doubt it way later than it.

 

the sad thing is the $1599.99 SR is with IGP too, not even a 3470. ridiculous

The P8400, 3GB ram, a 250Gb hdd and the totally worth-every-penny VAIO notebook technology more than justifies the $1600 price tag. I'm sure

 

In sweden, if you order from sony, the price is 22000 SEK, which is about $3600

 

I don't see how it's more expensive in the States. I configured my own Sony FW on both sites with exactly the same specs:

*Intel® Core 2™ Duo Processor T9400 (2.53GHz)
*Microsoft® Windows Vista® Home Premium with Service Pack 1
*Powder White
*3 GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 2GB+1GB)
*250 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [5400 rpm]
*DVD +/- R DL / DVD +/- RW / DVD-RAM Drive
*ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3470
*LCD 16.4" (XBRITE-HiColor™
*WLAN (802.11a/b/g/n) with integrated Bluetooth® technology
*Standard Battery
*Microsoft® Works
*Video Plus
*Windows Live OneCare 90-Day Trial

And it came to a total of $1533.99 in Canada and $1538.99 in the US, so you see, Sony is not trying to screw Canadians, well not on that extreme level, though I'd still love to downgrade to Video Standard or nothing for that matter since I don't need it.

NOTE: The standard FW in the US comes with Video Standard, while the standard FW in Canada comes with Video Premium. Since you can't downgrade to Video Standard in Canada, I downgraded to Video Plus and upgraded to Video Plus in the US (for the sake of comparison).

By the way, this is actually the exact configuration of FW I want to buy.

What I still don't know is if I should get the full extended coverage. I know it's steep (at about an extra $300) but this laptop needs to last me at least 5 years (and if my Toshiba lasted, then this Sony should also be able to) and it will go through heavy use, I mean really heavy use. I don't turn off my laptop at all (I put it in stand by at night) and it will go through between 10 and 12 hours of use a day.

 

no sony for me. simply too expensive. all of my other electronic products are sony, but laptop. my laptops/ desktops are all HP
sony is my top favourite brand, but Sony VAIO??? what a rip-off

 

But HP designs are so damn ugly. :/ Theyre only slightly overpriced.

 

You think Sony laptops are overpriced? I couldn't agree any less. Sony laptops are well built and combine functionality with design. You know what company is really overpriced...one word: Apple.

 

There is something else to consider with Sony - when I first looked at the SZ there was nothing I could compare it to in the combination size/power.
So maybe Sonys are more expensive than some other laptops, but they are good laptops.
Yes you can get more powerful laptops, but then they are heavier and larger.
Or you get something light (lenovo) and the computer isn't as powerful and is missing a CD/DVD drive.
Maybe that changed now, but you pay for extremes (the very thin screen).

In fact, I believe my SZ took off some metal from the buckle of the belt on the aircraft when the belt banged against it the laptop didn't even scratch.

 

Ah the sad truth is guys that the US has the biggest market and therefore get essentially the cheaper prices compared to europe and Canada, not to mention all the hell that these companies get from the EU, so prices reflect that and not current currency exchange rates.

@w_tanoto I hope you realize why hp can be sooo cheap. The case is cheap plastic that burns up and can literally be broken down with mild usage. the other thing is for the high end gpus they show, the have horrible cooling systems on board. I don't understand the purpose of getting a 9600 GT on a laptop where the idle temp is over 60-70. And generally speaking hp screens are trash.

 

Yes, I know HP is cheap. But I love its quality. All of my computer equipments are HP (but my other equipment such as TV, Stereo, BD/DVD Player, Console games - are all Sony). Yes, I am sony fanboy, but not vaio lover.

HP has improved though. I now have HDX which is made of quality plastic which does not easily scratch. Also, the temperature is quite low because it has better cooling system. My previous laptops were HP Pavilion zd7377EA and HP OmniBook XE3, which I still own till this day. I am okay with Omnibook, but my experience with Pavilion zd7377EA was horrid. first, the notebook is very hot, then came the harddisk problem, leading me to replace the HDD. after that, came the monitor problem (it's very crap) - the monitor had pink line permanently. I sent it to HP and paid £270, came back to me normally. The most annoying is the nVIDIA card is broken. I replaced the motherboard myself (but the new motherboard itself has problem - not recognising my DVD drive). I switched back to my older motherboard, and disable nVIDIA driver from safe mode. So, I am limited to 1024x768 resolution.
After that pavilion 7377 disaster, I experience no more such thing with HP Pavilion HDX.

google on zd7000/zd8000 screen problem and you'll find a lot that experience things that I experienced - a permanent line on the screen.