Thinking about upgrading my Z to the new SB!

I'm really thinking about selling my Z and getting the new SB. My only concern is: is the 6630 better than the 540 in the timelineX 3830? Also, since its a 13.3 now instead of the 13.1 (Z) will I be able to put a normal size solid state in there or will I have to buy it preinstalled from sony since their's is much smaller. I ask because on sonystyle there isn't an option for 64gig SSD x2 and the 128 SSD x2 is an $800 upgrade. I could theoretically take the harddrives out of my Z and put them in the SB and put the standard hard drives in the SB into the Z before I sell it, but I'm not sure if it would fit. How does it do with heat, noise? Does the Z have any pro that the SB doesn't? Should I get the acer timeline X 3830 instead? I don't even think I can get it in the USA. I love my Vaio Z but I have to do a 30% overclock on the vid card just to get starcraft 2 to play smoothly on medium, and it'd be nice to have a better video card so I wouldn't have to bring my alienware on trips if I want to have a few really good gaming sessions.

Any advice would be great. Thanks!

Edit: I also like how light the Z is. Not sure how heavy the SB or 3830 is.

 

Um Z to SB certainly isn't an upgrade, nor is Z to 3830. They both have a better GPU than your 330m though.

 

Z is ~3.04 pounds, SB is ~3.8 with standard battery. It's ~5+ if you have the sheet battery attached.

 

I don't think you would be able to live with the SB screen quality if you're coming from a Z series. I bought one and returned it 2 days later. The colors on the SB are washed out and the screen is not very bright.

 

Z pros:

lighter
better res screen
CFRP chassis

SB pros:

longer batt life
better GPU.

That's about it. Am i missing anything?

 

SB has sandy bridge, all metal keyboard area which means no squeaky palmrests, and is cheaper.

 

What do you guys think about the timeline 3830? How MUCH better is the 6630 than the 330 GT? I'm sure a ton better. I love my Z but I would really like a better video card. Is there going to be a new Z coming out or is the SB replacing the Z?

 

What's the point of a better video card if the screen is garbage?

Rumor is that a new Z will be out anywhere from June-August.

 

Yes, the GPU is better. However, I tried out a MacBook Pro 2.3 with a 6750m and to tell you the truth, the form factor of my Z and screen far outweigh the 15 FPS jump.

Unless all you do is game, I feel both options will leave you empty feeling. Z owners are spoiled with what they have. I have read and witnessed the dissapointment first hand when trying to replace it. The only thing I would do to the Z is smash it down a little bit. But if that's what it takes to have a dedicated GPU in a small laptop, I'm good. Oh and remove the palm rests.

I looked REAL hard to find another 13" laptop to try out, but the Z is in a class of it's own.

 

Yea, maybe you're right. The 330GT works just fine for occasional gaming. With the 30% OC I can play SC on medium with pretty good FPS (55+).

Maybe I should just stick with what I have.

 

Yup! If you value portability with some balls, the Z is the only thing on the market.

 

it is a downgrade man/

 

despite being a acer timeline fan before moving to the Z, i tried the SB timelines on display in computer stores and they are just sitting there playing videos, and dang the keyboard and both sides of the chassis are quite warm to touch, so i have some concerns about the heat issues on the 3830

the z doesnt feel warm at all when playing 1080p video on the screen, even under speed mode

and also note that, i dunno about the config options available but at least here, the 3830 only has 1gb gpu ram, while 4830 and 5830 has 2gb gpu ram. 4830 is more or less the same price as 3830 but u get 2gb gpu ram and a dvd drive but somewhat heavier

 

If I could put a SSD in a 3830 (assuming it uses standard size) the 3830 would definitely be an upgrade, unless the screen sucks. Any info?

 

Did some digging and did not see any improvement mentions on the 3830 screen vs the 3820.

The 3820 screen was nothing special.

 

the screen on the acer will still be inferior compared to the one on the Z no matter how you look at it, what makes you think the screen on the acer an upgrade to the Z? i wouldnt call it suck but its just a standard quality 768p screen so i would call it a downgrade really. i would also call the sony SB screen a downgrade for mostly the same reasons

i dunno if its resolved yet but if you head over to the acer NBR forum, ppl have complaints about heat issues and the cpu throttling on the 3830

im not saying the sandybridge timeline series is bad but i think you should see what people have to say about it first, particularly from gaming and cooling point of view. what made the previous 3820 timeline series great and popular is its dual cooling system, which is, very unfortunately, no longer present in the sandybridge 3830 version.

 

Behold:







Enough said.

 

I think I'll just stick with my Z until something definitively better comes out. Thanks for helping me make an informed decision. I honestly thought that the SB would be an upgrade from the Z in every possible way but, other than sandy bridge and the video card (sandy bridge may not be that great as aforementioned) it isn't.

Thanks a bunch!

 

give SA a look..............when it actually comes out, that is. the screen might be the same as the z, at least hopefully

 

From your lips to Sony's ears!

 

It's impossible for the screens to be the same since the Z is 13.1" and the SA/SB family is 13.3".

 

Another thing you guys aren't taking into consideration is the speed of the raid ssds in the vaio z...These things are pretty much always faster than the hdd's in the laptops.

Below is a comparison of my Vaio Z 256 GB SSD-raid vs a 7200 rpm (Travelstar Z7K320) in a ThinkPad X220 benchmark using CrystalDiskMark



No Contest.

 

^^he never heard of the crucial c300. Nor all the other sata III drives that got out in the market.

Aside that people with the envy 15 got similar results. (dont start with the size issue

 

I was comparing the z's drives to the drive's the OP would be getting if he had choosen the SB (traditional sata1/sata2 HDD).

That's like two people comparing a Camry and a Corolla and then you decide to toss a Lamborghini into the mix.

 

and the one thing that the OP could do, like several others did is to buy the SSD and install it yourself, there is also a guide in the S series lounge for this kind of thing, pretty easy.

he could also have bought the RAID 0 SSD option that comes with the SB

 

Dang! $830 for only 256GB and forced to upgrade the GPU & CPU for that option hurts!

How much did the 512 option for the Z cost?

 

I believe it cost $1,300 for the 512 option

 

WOWIE!!! Incredible.

 

I´m also in the position to replace my europan Z21 with a newer series. the sb might be good but i hope and pray for a new z series with good gpu power. in europe, most of the current z´s are sold out, so i think something is coming...?

 

Hack your BIOS so that you can stay up to date with the latest nVidia drivers. nVidia releases newer better drivers all the time. I have seen new features and improvements with every release.. especially with 3D Vision. If you are using the old drivers from Sony you are NOT getting the most out of the 330M.

 

I have no clue how to hack the BIOS. Wouldn't it mess up the stamina / speed modes?

 

It won't "mess them up" but you can disable them.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/473226-insyde-hacking-new-vaio-z-advanced-menu-bios.html

If you are really serious about the performance of the 330M you find the new drivers help a lot.

 

"DISCLAIMER AND WARNING: This is HIGHLY EXPERIMENTAL and for EXPERIENCED PEOPLE ONLY - IF YOU ARE NOOB, PLEASE DO NOT TRY THIS! - YOU MIGHT BRICK YOUR (EXPENSIVE) DEVICE!!! It goes without saying that fiddling with advanced options CAN (AND MOST LIKELY WILL!) VOID YOUR WARRANTY! I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY PROBLEMS THAT MIGHT BE CAUSED BY THIS - USE IT ON YOUR OWN RISK! THIS IS FOR NEW Z (VPC-Z) ONLY!! IF you decide to enable Advanced menu, PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH FEATURES YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND! YOU MIGHT MAKE YOUR NOTEBOOK UNBOOTABLE AND CONVERT IT INSTANTLY INTO A VERY EXPENSIVE BRICK!!!!"

Was on that post. I'm not a "noob" per sey but I'm not as tech savvy as some of the guys here. It may be more beneficial to just keep what I have. I'm definitely scared of bricking.

 

do what you like, I carefully followed the instructions and everything went fine. Now I have the advanced options menu and much greater flexibility when it comes to graphics drivers.

If you don't want to hack the BIOS but you want better drivers try the community hybrid drivers.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/342947-my-discoveries-vaio-z-s-hybrid-graphics.html

Using the hybrid drivers I was able to get 3D Vision to work, others have reported improved gaming performance. It is a much safer option than the BIOS hack.

 

Trading a Z for an SB is like ditching Jessica Alba for Joan Rivers. Just don't do it.