The Official Haswell/Z Speculation Thread

Yeah, too bad for the poor selection of notebooks in EU.

There is an official sony store (the only one in the country) about 150 km away but they're not cheaper, quite the opposite actually since I've yet to see a shop sell it without discrete graphics. The problem in my country is that a lot of people are technologically retarded and don't know the difference between 3rd gen and 4th gen CPU, between ULV and full voltage so the vendors and online shops benefit from this and won't lower their prices. There is also a 2012 refurbished model in the oulet for 600 euro's but that's been sold and returned about 3 times (from 3 customers) and of course sony reps won't tell me what was the reason these people returned the machine. I'll think about it this week and decide either way. Thanks.

 

Was it confirmed somewhere that both the Pro 11 and Pro 13 are made in China?
If this is true, then this alone would be a reason for me not to buy a Vaio Pro. A really "pro" Vaio should be made in Japan. (I know that the quality of a product does not necessarily depend on the country where it was produced, but I don't care)

 

Sony needs to move production to China. It's cheaper. And if you aren't used to Chinese made goods by now, then I am not sure what to say. There's nothing wrong with Chinese made tech unless you are buying budget garbage.

 

I believe all Vaios besides their flagship (previously the Z2, now the Duo 11) are currently made in China. My Vaio F2 was made in China, as was my wife's 2008 MacBook Pro.

 

Let's hope IFA will bring us the model with Iris 5100, Core M with 37W or Core i7-4558U with 27W at least, and WQHD panel. That would a be a true successor. It must be.

 

While I'd love to be wrong I don't think we are going to see anything we like until at least next year (maybe the next refresh of the vaio pro will be full voltage if the energy usage of haswell and its derivatives is really that good...)

 

Sony has long ago moved their laptop production to China, except for their high-end model(s). And I'm fine with mainstream commodity electronics being made in China, but if I buy a flagship product from a Japanese company (for big $), I would like it to be manufactured in Japan, not by some Chinese ODM.

Btw. Steve78, it seems that you like Apple and you probably know that they will soon have a made-in-USA Mac. They may have had various reasons to do this, but I definitely think that it's good for their corporate image and that it's not only me who cares about where a product has been manufactured.

 

Why does it matter where a laptop is manufactured? Just for the cool factor?

 

So it looks like the pro has gone up on the UK sony site:
VAIO® Pro | Laptops & all-in-one desktops | Sony

While I couldn't see any customization options, from the looks of it, the i7 model uses HD 4400.

 

Customization options will come for the 9th june so we need to wait 24/48H.
Dont forget that computers you can customize and computers with basics customizations like you show Aric are really differents.

check this link : Sony Vaio Pro 13 - Laptops - CNET Reviews

They tested it with a Intel HD 5000 graphics (probably the best you will be able to get for the PRO 13). Like i said before the french sellers from sony.fr told me that you will be able to get 12 Gb RAM MAX. With the best options, the PRO 13 will be around 1700€ i think

 

If you understand french, there is a really good and full review of new intel haswell :

Intel Core i7-4770K et i5-4670K : Haswell en test - HardWare.fr

The summary is below of each page (pictures and graphics are in english at least ^^)

 

Interesting! I read the cnet review - don't know how I missed that bit on the HD 5000.

I guess all that's left is to find out how much $. Thanks for sharing.

 

Ok, this is getting more interesting with these better configurations.
To comfortable replace my Z1 I now need some good replacement of the docking station.
I need to left my desk very often for meetings, so would like to have easy and fat plug unplug option.
And I have 2 monitors. What is the best SUB 3.0 sock out there that supports 2 monitors without lags (for office work)? Don't want to plug/unplug HDMI every time.

 

Wonder how that HD5000 holds up against the HD4000 in the Quad SVZ.

 

I wouldn't be rushing to sell that gorgeous SVZ of yours anytime soon, Maven. (But if you do, you better PM me first )

 

No. I'm against the idea of "let's move all the production to China, because it's cheap". I trust and respect Japanese manufacturing more than Chinese ODMs, and I'm willing to pay the premium for it (and thus indirectly support it). I know you cannot say in general that quality of made in Japan > quality of made in China, but nonetheless that's how I feel. I'm more comfortable with having a laptop (or any other gadget), which was produced by Sony's own specialists in their Japanese factories, than by some Chinese workers in a factory with unknown conditions. I think when you want to do something, which you are good at, right, then you do it yourself and do not outsource it to someone who is willing to do it for the least amount of money. It's not a coincidence that usually the flagship electronics of Japanese companies are made in Japan.

And specifically about the Vaio Z: In the past, the top-of-the-line Vaios were made in Japan and the budget Vaios were made in China. Suddenly there comes a new model, which is claimed to be the newest flagship, but no one is actually sure about it, and it turns out that it's not anymore in the small circle of made in Japan models. It makes me think that there has been an internal shift in attitude towards the product and it's indeed not a focus and pride of the company anymore.

But we're getting too off-topic here.

 

So if the HD5000 is true, and some reviews stating the heat management is not amazing with a bit high heat in some areas, wonder if this was with the HD5000 or the 4400.

 

No HD5000, even with CTO. 8 RAM max. Sony.com has got both Pro and Duo 13. Estimated ship dates are the last week of June for ready-to-ship models and the first week of July for CTOs.

 

There is HD5000 for the Duo 13 enhanced, there is only a standard pro 13 for now, perhaps if an enhanced version shows up, it should feature the HD5000.

 

ascariss
this Duo features more enhanced processor (4650U), while Pro is seemingly limited to Core™ i7-4500U and it is already there for the exact price CNET mentioned: $2,220.

 

I am aware of this, but there still might be an enhanced version of the pro 13 released in the future, or they may not due to limitations in cooling.

 

I may have to get the duo if the pro isn't even going to have anything better than 4400 graphics...

 

According to this, there is a model with the i7-4550U, ‹C‚ɂȂ鉿Ši‚́HF¢ŠEÅŒy—ʂ̃^ƒbƒ`‘ΉžUltrabook\\ŽÊ^‚Å‚¶‚Á‚‚茩‚éuVAIO Prov (1/2) - ITmedia PC USER

I might consider the Pro if it has this CPU

 

Maybe there is still hope for a higher end pro 13.

 

i7-4550U looks like i7-4500U with GT3 graphics but gives up on processor clock speed. So it seems that total power inside machine is limited but you can get either faster CPU or GPU focus.
May be ethere will be i7-4650U option but then you'll loose one battery and heat.

year 2013 same rules of physics apply, though sony constantly tries to break them

 

It will most likely be an option in Japan - I reserve the right to be wrong. For example, the Duo 11 got the i7-3687 there and had the options for GPS, S-master amp, etc. Sony generally reserves the most -and best - options for their home country. So I'd wait to see what options are in Japan, and order from Conics or Dynamism.

Neither the Duo 13 or either of the Pros are up on Sony Japan's site yet.

 

I placed my order this morning for a Carbon Black Pro 13 and although the site says "out of stock" it's just because Sony doesn't have a good way of handling preorders. I've been waiting forever to replace my Z, resisted the temptation to go Apple with an Air.

Just checked my order tracking, says my notebook is shipping on 6/11, free two-day air, I'll have it on Thursday.

BJ

 

Actually I do want to know what people prefers, e.g. for Pro 13, do you prefer
1. Made in China, priced at $1399, or
2. Made in Japan, priced at $1599, or
3. Made in Japan, priced at $1799+

for me, I think I'd probably prefer 2 > 1 > 3
$200 is the max I am willing to spend for a better quality laptop with the same spec.

 

Hey everybody,

I just bought a new 2013 S series with a GT640M LE. I wanted to know how it compares to the Vaio pro 13's Intel HD 4400? I wanted to know the comparison to see if its better to return this for a pro 13.Just wondering if you guys think there will be an update to the S series with a Haswell processor?

 

Aren't you interested what Apple is going to announce on Monday? May be they do it right this time. But you can probably see, decide and then either cancel or get the new Pro on Thursday

Btw, what config and on what site have you ordered? The CTO i did on sonystyle.com showed Jul 2 as shipping.

 

It's up in Japan
VAIO Pro 13/11 | gVAIOh | ƒ\ƒj[

Japan CTO simulation for the Pro 11:
ソニーストア VAIO Pro 11SVP1121A1Jの商品購入 | パーソナルコンピューター “VAIO”

Japan CTO simulation for the Pro 13:
ソニーストア VAIO Pro 13SVP1321A1Jの商品購入 | パーソナルコンピューター “VAIO”

I was wrong. No 4650 option for the Pro 13. As expected - limited to 8GB. If Japan didn't get it, France isn't. Pro 11 really limited to 4GB/256GB. Appears really to be one memory slot - so no advantage of dual channel. Blah.

So if you want a 4650, you need to get the Duo 13.

Looks like you can get the Pro 13 with TPM, and things like getting the router are optional. IN Japan, you can get the 13 in silver.

For fun, here's the Duo 13 CTO simulator:
ソニーストア VAIO Duo 13の価æ¼ã‚·ãƒŸãƒ¥ãƒ¬ãƒ¼ã‚·ãƒ§ãƒ³ | パーソナルコンピューター “VAIO”

Again, appears to be single channel for memory (ugh).

There will be Red editions
http://www.sony.jp/vaio/rededition/
More expensive but no different specs as far as I can tell.

Overall, very underwhelming and disappointing.

 

Just ordered the Pro 13. I'm going on a business trip in a week, so I hope it ships fast.

I'll see how happy I am with the performance, build quality, and battery life and return if any of these aren't up to my standards based on my current Z...

If I end up returning this, I think I'll be done with Sony for a while and the next laptop on my radar will be the new S7.

 

Ugh, Intel HD 4400 is the only option at least in the US. Sony, Sony, Sony---what have you done.

I'm still holding out for a 13-14" notebook with IPS and a GPU. All the manufacturers so far seem to be allergic to such a thing, but who knows---perhaps Apple or Dell or Lenovo or HP will save the day.

 

sounds like there's major build quality issues with the Pro 13 - flimsy keyboard that sinks in whenever you type, flimsy screen moves back whenever you touch it, trackpad not great. at this price, sony has a major bust on its hands.

 

Asus UX32VD:
ZENBOOK

 

Thanks! I'm intrigued! It's IB and the graphics capabilities are on par with a Z1 (hence not really worth upgrading to from a Z1), but perhaps when it's updated to a Haswell they will put in a 730m.

 

Nice. I look forward to your review!

I am very tempted by the Pro 13. I'll wait to see some reviews & UK pricing for custom builds first though.

 

Wasn't those comments made in The Verge's review? As much as I love that site, I'd take any reviews of Windows based notebooks by them with a pinch of salt.

 

Also, the Acer Aspire S3:
Acer Aspire S3 Preview: The S7, Plus a Little More
(though I've never been a fan of Acer)

 

The new Asus Zenbook "infinity" seems very nice too. Sony really need to step up their game or they will be left in the dust.

AnandTech | ASUS Zenbook Infinity: Hands On with the Most Beautiful Notebook at Computex

 

I'm a very wealthy businessman and use Windows exclusively.

Unless Apple makes a Windows 8 machine, I'm not interested. I've been waiting years for Sony to release an Air sized Windows notebook and am thrilled. I ordered at the Sony 800 number at 10:01 yesterday, was the first US order for the Pro series.

BJ

 

ASUS released the UX31 successor with Haswell at Computex: touch and glossy just like its predecessor. A successor to the UX32 with Haswell and discrete graphics was not announced. I really hoped ASUS would not bend to Intel's Ultrabook moniker spec and simply push out a powerful laptop, with a matte finish and non-touch display, just like the UX32D. This seems to have not come to fruition.

The entire market seems now focused on ultrabooks and touch. Sad, really.

 

just found this video on gaming performance on the base pro 13.

Intel Haswell gaming performances - Sony Vaio Pro 13 - YouTube

 

they should of named this the sony vaio POO rather than pro lol

this is epic fail on the biggest scale, why have two ultra books in the range is just beyond me?

Sony in future will regret ditching the Z for this POO. I am now gong to get a SVZ now,

 

"Sony will regret this - I'm buying a different, more expensive Sony product!"

The Pro seems more in the spirit of the Vaio X than the Z... I'm still holding out hope that we'll get a real Z replacement at some point, something with a beefier CPU and more RAM.

 

another video on processor performance:
Sony Vaio Pro 13 gaming and processor/graphics performances - Intel Haswell - YouTube

 

Yeah, here is the review of the preproduction unit with HD4600:
Sony Vaio Pro 13 review - great Haswell business ultrabook

 

And MacBook Air get's HD 5000 and 802.11ac Wi-Fi along with 12 hrs battery life.
But does not have PCIe drive and have same crappy screen.
Damn now can anyone marry MacBook Air and Vaio Pro?

 

Yes, I notice that the new thinkpad T431s (which replaced the full-voltage T430s) also uses a low voltage chip, so even business laptops are going that way.

 

You couldn't be more wrong.

Most of us just want a thin and light 13" Sony for business travel and believe that performance is not as important as the ultimate weight and size reduction. If I want a powerhouse I use my work computer or home computer. On the road, different story. It's what the Z always was, not sure why you think something is going to change here considering the spectacularly stronger competition now than 2003.

BJ