TZ195 vs. SZ680

HI, i am looking for one of thinnest and nicest possible laptops, that is extremely powerful. I stumbled upon the sz680 becuase of the fact that it has nearly all the pwer of a 17inch desktop replacement in a small package but no SSD option. i was gonna configure it a with a t7700, 4gb ram, 160 gb hybrid drive...
but i am wondering if i can take a tz195 wiht a u7600, 2gb ram and an ssd at 64gb...
which will be faster in terms of boot time, lauch time, actual computing, and all that?
thanska lot

 

I have a TXZ190N and an SZ670N so I can respond based on direct experience. I don't think you'll find the two machines comparable. The TZ is a fabulous small package that has excellent battery lifetime -- I routinely see 5-6 hr w/o much effort to reduce power consumption. It's screen is about as bright as any I've every seen (brighter than the SZ series because it has approx. the same display squeezed into its smaller screen size making its color a bit more saturated and brighter. Its light weight (2.7lb) and small form factor make it among the easiest to carry, stow and use in a mobile situation.

BUT -- the "price" for these plusses is its slower cpu and gpu -- it cannot come close to competing with the SZ in most activities. The SSD helps make it speedier than its HDD counterparts, but you have to accept a lesser performance (Windows Experience Index = 2 vs SZ of 4 or more). AND.... the 32G SSD is very tight -- as rec'd I found it had about 12G available for installing my software -- by getting rid of Sony recovery partition I could increase this by ~5G but that's still very tight.

By comparison, my SZ670N is a super combination of speed, display and capability -- I have the 160G HDD with the 250MB cache (doubt the cache is large enough to really do much but it helps). BUT..... the price in this case is battery life -- I do well to get 3 hr with "normal" use -- if I reduce the screen to low visibility and allow the "max battery life" controls to manage my power I might stretch to as much as 4 but I don't like the "cost" in terms of functionality. And, this machine is noticeably heavier (3.9lb) with a form factor that, even though only a bit larger, makes it feel like a notebook rather than the comparatively "tiny" TZ.

Both machines are well-designed and good choices, depending on what's most important, but they are not directly comparable.

 

hi
okay thanks, performance is primary to me, i can carry up to 7.5pounds or so without a fight if the performance makes it worth it, one thing i hate is bulk.
so then you are happy with the sz?
do you think it will ever have an ssd, atleast soon, as then im sold.
cause it has practically the smae compnonets as bigger laptops, minus the gpu, but i dont care about that, if it had an ssd, it would be like an m9750 just half the weight.


speed and thinness is very important, but i think the lack of an ssd right now is a major detterent.
thanks a lot

 

You can purchase an SSD for the SZ now -- it uses a 2.5 inch SATA with ZIF connector -- if you do some reasearch on the hardware forum you'll find both sources for these and how to replace your HDD -- but it's pricey -- $2100 is best I've seen. But the point is, when the prices come down the 2.5 inch SSD will probably decline sooner and by more than the 1.8 in for the TZ. Keep in mind if you're interested in power, the SSD really only brings you speed -- the SZ design with its 160g hybrid HD or the 7200rpm HD options is a very powerful machine and the SSD doesn't add much to that beyond the faster data rate in a solid state device less susceptible to damage, but at the cost of $$ plus limited storage space.

 

hi
okay thanks, by performance i meant speed too, sorry iw asnt clear.
okay i understand but i wanted an ssd as an option from sony direct kinda like on the xps m1330...are you saying that the ssd alone was around 2100$...cause thats ridiculous?
thanks a lot

 

get the sz if you're gonna be doing more than just office/email/web surfing/watching dvd's

 

i plan on doing some photoshop ad often having many windows running.


thanks
ultimate from sony is it 64bit?
thanks

 

Sony does not support a 64-bit OS on the laptop. Only 32-bit.

 

yes sony doesnt support it officially. but you can put it on if you wanna go through the hassle

 

same with dell, it really bothers me, if ur putting in the 4gb of ram, they shuld really offer it, but i want taking sonys ram anyway...700$

 

Well, the TZ only supports 2GB of RAM so it's not really an issue. The SZ, different story. Although you can get about 3.2GB of usable RAM with the SZ and a 32-bit OS, which is more than plenty for most people.

 

ok thanks
is 64bit os cost more than 32 biut ultimate...i know it sounmds like a dumb question but ive seen varying prices, some the same others 200$ more.
thanks

 

I believe that you get both 32 bit and 64 bit versions if you purchase Vista Ultimate. This isn't the case with the other versions though.

 

i saw the sz premium edition in my local sony store, i wasnt truly blown away by it?
im gonna go back and take a serious look at it though...
thanks