Specific Questions regarding the capablities of the new 13" v 15" Sony S.

Hi all.

I've been narrowing down my laptop choices and have settled on some flavor of Sony S. I posted this here because it's Sony specific - please let me know if I put it in the wrong place.

There are three primary purposes the machine I need will be serving:

1) Everyday office use (email, web, spotify, office software)

2) Still photo work. This is -not- my workhorse for Photoshop, etc. That's for my workstation. However, this machine will be pressed into service for tethered shooting. To that end, it needs to run Lightroom comfortably, and not be horrible when it occasionally needs to fire up PS.

As a result, screen quality is also important - specifically, gamut, color accuracy, brightness and viewing angle. Resolution, less so.

3) Running VMWare.

All things being equal, I'd prefer the 13" form factor to the 15.5", but I'm flexible enough that other capabilities will be the deciding factors for me.

What I'm looking at:

I'm considering two machines:

1) the 13" S Premium kitted out with the i7-3520M processor, 2GB video card, and 12 GB of RAM

2) the 15.5" kitted out with the i7-3612QM, 2GB video card, and 12 GB of RAM.

Both machines will be ordered with the cheapest HD options, which I intend to replace with an Intel 320 SSD.

My questions:

1) I have to be able to use bitlocker. The 13" claims to have TPM on the main specs page. The 15" does not, although it mentions having a TPM on the configuration page. Does it?

2) How onerous is it to replace the drive with my own, from both a hardware and software perspective?

3) Am I correct in assuming there's no reason to bother going to a SATA III SSD, as SATA II is all the S supports?

4) The IPS color issues on the 15" display - are they fixable by proper calibration with something like a Datacolor Spyder or an X-Rite? IE: Is the panel physically incapable of displaying reds, or just badly adjusted?

5) How's the gamut/brightness/viewing angle on the new 1600x900 13" screen. Granted, it's not as good as the 15", but how does it compare otherwise?

6) What docking station options are available from Sony? From the website, I see the VGP-PRS2, the VGP-PRS20, the VGPPRS35 and the VGPPRS30. I'm a little unclear about the differences (other than the sizing) and whether they are for the latest iterations of the S.

7) For my purposes, will either of the processors (the faster clock speed in the 13" v. the quad-core in the 15") be markedly better for what I'm doing?

Thanks in advance all!

 

I just got my S15 yesterday. It has no color issues I am able to spot. I am thinking if Sony has fixed this issue with this model or if this is an issue that is completely overhyped on the Internet.

Good luck with your choices.

 

Hi there,

I saw the new S13 and S15 yesterday, and I must say that the S15 screen is STILL stuck with the red's being orange/reddish... It is really obvious when you put paint with red in full screen, but not noticeable while doing any kind of computer stuff except photoshopping...

the S13 is REALLY great and light, screen is really good, i mean it is better with colors than regular TN laptops but still not as good as the Z or the S15... If i were you I would go for the S13...

 

Is that tint correctable with a properly generated .icc profile?

 

Probably stating the obvious here, but the default palette red in Paint is quite a bit off pure red

 

Today I compared the S15 screen against Macbook 13" TN screen. The S15 blows the Macbook entirely away, except that the red is a little more red on the Macbook. So the Macbook wins on that issue but completely looses on all other counts, such as all other colors, clarity, details, 3D perception....you name it!

So it would be very foolish to choose a TN panel display over this IPS panel, just because the IPS is not perfect. The truth is that TN panels are even less perfect than the IPS.

 

While it's true that IPS is the superior technology and most IPS screens are of a higher grade than most TNs are, there are middling IPS screens and superb TN screens so you can't go just by technology to make your choice.

Examples of excellent to outstanding TN screens:

1) Sony Z - 2010-2011 1080p or 900p
2) HP Envy 14 Radiance (2010, 2012)
3) MBP15 and MBP 17 (now discontinued)
4) Dell XPS 15

Examples of so-so IPS screens:

1) Thinkpad X220/230
2) HP Envy 15 (2011-12)/Sony SE 15*
3) HP 2760p

Sorry, but as IPS screens go the HP Envy15/Sony 15 - they are the same LG screen - are middling quality for IPS, due largely to the color perception issue. Photo editing is a primary app. for an IPS screen and you can't get it right when it doesn't reproduce red and therefore shades of purple as well. It's all the more surprising because a primary benefit of IPS technology is color accuracy. Still, for the money it's an excellent screen. And IPS will always provide better vertical viewing angles.

 

lovelaptops:

How would you rate the TN screen on the new 13" S?

Can the tint issue on the 15" S screen be corrected with a properly generated icc profile?


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Outstanding TN is like outstanding Toyota. It is never a Mercedes. TN always has much shift in the viewing angle which limits its usage for photo editing. And I would not perform any serious photo editing on a laptop screen. I have an external IPS monitor for that.

So for general usage, people are not better off with a high quality TN than a so-so IPS, IMO.

 

I haven't seen it but Lisa from Mobile Tech Review said it is better than last year's but not close to the quality of the Z' s.

I know the answer is no but I don't know why. I trust that with all the attempts that have been made by others to no avail confirm that no significant improvement can be made with profile changes.

Sent from my generic electronic device using some lines of code and waves and stuff.[/quote]

I kinda thought the illustrations I gave make it clear that this is not the case. The Sony Z screens are hardly the "Toyotas" of the laptop display world. Ditto for the Dell XPS 15 B+RG. Those two are world class screens with with much, much wider color gamut, much higher color accuracy and higher contrast than the IPS screens cited above. They also have close to 180 degree horizontal viewing angles with not discernable shift. If vertical viewing angles was your sole criterion in judging a screen then I'd agree that no TN screen is even in the running. But I would take the high end laptop TNs - and there aren't many of them - over the so-so IPSs in a heartbeat.

I agree that it doesn't make sense to use a 13" laptop screen for high end photo editing, though I guess some people can get by with it in a pinch.

 

My workstation, with its PA301 is for the heavy lifting. The laptop is only for on location work/tethered shooting/showing to clients.


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