The Official Haswell/Z Speculation Thread

Hmm... The mid-summer is good for rumors, while September is nice for firm hands-on. A sort of Berlin-centered optimistic view. Why not ?
Join the club, let's work on a collective karma to make it true earlier... and... better. The rest is rather philosophic question: to enable oneself see the ghost (an optimistic look) or just spirit (a pessimistic one) of Z in the forthcoming products.

 

For a moment, I thought this was real. It certainly woke me up.

 

Shouldn't we be hearing something right about now? Anyone have any information they'd care to share?

 

Sony will never sell a notebook designed like that. It looks too much like a Mac Air clone and I also can't see any VGA-port on the mock-up.
Given the success of the 11-inch Mac Air, I would bet my money that the first high end notebook with Haswell that will be released by Sony will not be a Z-Series, but a new X series subnotebook.

Jacob

Founder of the Facebook Z12, Z23 and SVZ13 Owners Club: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sony-Vaio-Z-series-Z21-Z23-and-SVZ13-Owners-Club/346926888761138
Current Laptops: VPCX128LG & SVZ1311C5E

 

It is just the time to relax, guys. Sony merges Chinese and Japanse computer business. New product management unit is coming! Would you mind to get Vaio Z4 made in China?
P.S. Though April 1st is Day of Fools, please read it carefully and enjoy for sake of further speculations. Just to revive the thread meanwhile.

 

The 730m announced today would seem to fit right in in an all-in-one Z1 resurrection.

The Z is dead! Long live the Z!

 

We need to speculate which Sony laptop this new Nvidia 700-series-M will appear in
Nvidia introduces new GeForce 700M GPUs for notebook

 

A Sony rep told me today that a Z (or its equivalent) will be coming later this year...

 

Did you get this info from a sonystyle shop?

Sent from my C6603 using Tapatalk 2

 

Sonystyle sthop. WHy, do you think their sources aren't reliable?

 

chfshifter,
thanks for your info. Unfortunately, their words in no way can be perceived as something reliable as these guys neither had in the past nor have at present any connection with product management. Yet we will definitely get something. Later. Even if Sony decides to sell out/outsource its PC business.

 

Its just that they rarely comment on future products.


Sent from my C6603 using Tapatalk 2

 

That's true. However he's a Z user himself so he is following the news closely, and he advised me to wait for the new laptop so I wishfully thought maybe he knows something about it...

HAHA,,,,probably because I kept asking him about the products (I've a wide range of sony products) , esp on where to find a SVZ (of which I'm still unable to find ANY in Hong Kong...).

 

I hope he returns, or at least some one with some information, since computex is slowly creeping up on us. I checked FCC, no new vaios that could be a Z or even new S, maybe sony is going to stick up the new FCC docs the same day they announce the new notebooks?

 

There was a big to-do prior to the official release of the VPCZ1, with a nice video ad and everything. Sigh.... not optimistic.

 

If it's not going to be announced this summer when would the next opportunity for a release be? Fall? I don't know the release schedule of Vaios.

 

As I've said more than once, the Japan refresh cycles are usually Jan/Feb(ish), June, and fall. Given that Haswell chips are not "officially" announced in laptops yet and that is coming in June, we're probably looking at earliest, something being announed at chip launch, or at worst, somethnig for the Octoberish timeframe (like the Duo, which was announced in July or August and in stores in late October).

 

Not sure this is relevant to a new Z, but there's some new interesting stuff on Is Intel Pushing Android-based Notebook Hybrids?
The article is mainly discussing Android-based laptops with detachable keyboards powered by Intel's Atom replacement chips "Bay Trail".

However, if Sony keep doing what they usually do, i.e. take things one step further, we could end up with a high end laptop base containing a high power Haswell i7, fast SSD and the usual HW. Whether this base runs Windows or Linux doesn't matter much to me. The screen, when attached, just works as a screen. But when detached, it works as an Android tablet with a low(er) power ARM chip. Looking at the Z tablet specs, it's a 10.1" tablet only 6mm thick. My SVZ screen is 5mm thick so I could very well imagine using an enlarged Z tablet as a screen to a 13" laptop.

Some HW needs to be doubled, but for example the WiFi antenna only needs to be in the screen (unless you need to be able to run the base as a server when the screen is detached). Hmm.. perhaps you could still use the screen in Windows/Linux mode when detached if the base is still online.

When travelling, you could keep the base in the bag (with breathing holes if you need to use it in non-Android mode. ) and watch movies on the screen only. And when you get to work, you have a high power work horse.

So, I guess the Android part is not really necessary, but I think it would still be neat.

I think I would want such a device, especially if I could use the screen in Windows/Linux mode detached.

Any complaints?

 

Yawn.

10char.

 

Welcome back, mind to share more?

 

^^

My guess is it means I'm just scratching the surface of what's to come. I take it as a good sign.

 

"Yawn" as in nothing to look forward to / nothing in the pipeline?

 

Some elaboration on the "yawn" much anticipated and appreciated.

 

Oh, I was just sleepy. But then, one can't hold their breath and yawn at the same time.

 

Hah! Good news, then. My curiosity is piqued.

 

So if you're opening your mouth to yawn, you must be bored. You could've opened your mouth to say anything, but since you chose to yawn, it must mean there's nothing interesting coming!

 

he means he now knows for sure about a future Z. Whether it's a yes or no, we'll have to wait for another clue

 

holy beaups, I'm excited.

 

OMG!!! beaups is back!!!

 

Is he back or was he just sleep walking around the forum? lol..

 

I think he's just taunting us! ;-)

____________________
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The Z will continue.

My thoughts on the "Yawn"?

Sony is taking their time crafting a strong and radical redesign Z.

 

I'd like something with the same footprint, even lighter, better keyboard and IPS panel (current panel resolution is fine, vertical viewing angles arent as good as you can get with IPS though), maybe a bit brighter while there at it. Keep it as carbon fiber (I'm a sucker for anything carbon ) and the sheet battery option for extreme battery life. Don't really care about the PMD, a simple USB docking station does the same for me but would be nice to have something with really high end graphics available. Please dont go in the duo direction, I prefer clamshell. Duo is nice for what it is but I don't want a 1+ KG tablet that converts into a notebook with limitations. I want a powerhouse ultralight ultrastrong traditional clamshell with that sexy VAIO flavor around it!

Overall, just take what we have and make it even better Until it's here, I'll manage with my SVZ13

A question to maven above me, your sig says 4x128 Raid0 array? Is that something for the US only? Because I've got the EU model with 2x256 Raid0 gen3, it still pumps out 1000+ MB/sec but 4x128GB Raid0 gen3 should be able to push out 1500+

 

I missed reading and posting in the Z forum. Any news or leaks of a Z, or even a redesign on the S?

 

Here's my interpretation of the "Yawn:"

"LOL NO ONE cares about you any more, power users... tablets and ultrabooks is where it's at, fools. Get prepared to be slingshotted back to the 90's when you used to pay $10K for a workstation with any juice. The golden age of the cheap powerful general-purpose computer is OVAH."

 

I read this as either he's not holding his breath because he already knows what is coming OR is telling us not to hold our breath because it will be a while.

I'm interested in Haswell generally, especially the Iris graphics (particularly the GT3e). It'll be interesting to see how they perform and whether this means a separate GPU will be required at all. For a Z this could mean a more radical design.

My two options are either get a Z (or other powerful but compact notebook) or build a custom desktop for gaming and get a tablet or something for web browsing. I'd prefer the Z option as I don't like having a big rig sitting around but not getting much use (I only game about 5% of the time, compared to 95% Internet time for the rest of my home computing).

 

My Z just broke so I'm going to buy a Z2 off eBay. Hopefully I'm not wasting my money only for a new one to come out later this year.

 

So if the announcement of a new Z is contingent upon the release of Haswell, when in June would we hear about it? At a specific conference, at the launch of the chip, ...? Trying to decide if I should wait a few more weeks without a laptop or just take the plunge and buy a Z2, heh.

 

You may as well wait a couple of weeks. Haswell is supposed to arrive 3rd June and the Computex trade show starts the day after so you should at least have some more information. Even if a new Z isn't announced the introduction of Haswell might reduce the price on current machines.

 

Or bring a Z equivalent from another manufacturer...

 

If a new Z isn't announced is that a sure sign it's over?

 

Not necessarily. In past refresh cycles for new CPUs Sony have often been later than the competition. It could be as late as September when we hear anything. I hate waiting for new tech.

 

As I've talked about before, Sony's (at least in Japan) refresh cycles are pretty regular. The June announcement of Haswell dovetails pretty much with one, but I think we'll initally see current models bumped with Haswell. The Duo, for example, was outed in August or September and in the wild in late October. It's not unreasonable to think that unless it's done already, we wouldn't see a Z until the fall.

 

Do not get excited much.

IFA, Berlin, September is possible as a full fledged public event. (On the margins: however... not much interested in just another skinny touchscreen hybrid supplementing Duo 11. Even less interested in fruits of "radical redesigning"...)

Hah, one thing more: don't expect anything of Vaio at Computex in June.

 

Well the 'Fit' series has just been announced ( Sony VAIO Fit 15 review (2013): Sony's mainstream notebooks get a makeover) so I don't think it's unlikely that the Z and S series will also get a revision. I agree, as you can see above, that it may not be until September/October.

Also updating the current line with Haswell would be interesting for the Z since it is out of stock in the US and parts of Europe. I don't think it would make much sense to revise the current design with Haswell only to completely revise it 3 months later.

 

This may be partially true.

However, since when has the Z series been a inexpensive piece of equipment? I willingly paid 3,000 USD for the perfect Z that fit my needs.

 

That said, the Z maxed out at 8GB while lower priced models like the S could max out at 12 or 16 ... so even Sony views premium weirdly. The next Z would be another no for me if it didn't have the ability to have at least 16GB of RAM.

 

"Premium" doesn't necessarily mean "highest performance", whether we're talking about laptops or cars or most anything else. A $2000 Lenovo W530 would crush a Z performance-wise (and goes up to 32 GB RAM!), but it's just a different kind of machine.

 

With Duo, Tap & Fit, it's probably a safe bet that if there is a new Z successor/equivalent, it wouldn't be called Z anyway -- unless Sony decide to just call it ZZZ, which obviously would be preceded by a big YAWN, like beaups did...

 

Oh wow, their new naming scheme is horrible. Leave it to Sony to confuse things even more. I want a solid Z successor and I guess I don't care what it is called.