To those who follow Sony, when will we see a TZ refresh?

I've been looking at the TZ, and my cursor hovered over the 'buy now' button at bhphoto for about half an hour on Tuesday night. I just couldn't bring myself to go through with it. Instead, I've decided to wait for a Fujitsu P7000 refresh (either this month or December, historically, in Japan), and to see what Apple pulls from it's sleeve. I'll probably get a Macbook or HP 2510p to hold me over.

But if both the Fujitsu and Mac ultraportable disappoint, I'll be looking back to Sony I think. Seeing that the FZ is already seeing a refresh... does Sony follow a certain trend? It seems there were a lot of TX revisions, too. When would you expect an update?

 

Historically, I believe Sony updates their laptops January & July of every year. Jan '08 you can probably expect the TZ to be outfitted with a ULV Penryn processor and possibly more flash storage or the same storage at a lower price point.

 

What imr2 said. If you plan on waiting, you could be waiting for the next one after that as well.

Have you looked at the Panasonic range? A Panasonic notebook would have been my second choice.

 

Yeah, the Y series definitely interests me, and the R and W do too. I definitely don't want to import those, though, because of the keyboard, so I have to buy a last gen part until they get around to releasing the 6/7 series in the states.

So, if I'm lucky, I'll have three or four notebooks to choose from in January. I expect Fujitsu will update the P in December, meaning January to February in the states, and I believe the current rumor is an Apple ultraportable in January. Too bad I'll be broke from Christmas, damned good will

 

I was hoping for both GMA X3100 integrated graphics and 64 GB SSD within the next two updates.

 

That's about what I'm hoping for. That, and a great desire for Sony to see the light and offer a modular bay allowing you to swap the optical for a battery or weight saver.

But then, if Fujitsu comes up with something as quiet as a TZ with similar specs I'd jump on it. A lower price and you actually get support, what a concept! I'm hoping for a Q2120, basically, but probably in the guise of a P.

 

I read some of the comments users are able to leave on the VAIO Japan website in the TZ section. If they follow what users want, this is what they have voted the top:

Top of current colours:

Premium carbon 48%
Bordeaux 25%

I went Premium carbon.

Top of colours wanted:

Blue - 20%
Silver - 14%
Red - 12%
White - 11%

I personally voted for green. I think it would look interesting!

Number of colours people wanted to choose from:

5 - 48%
10 - 38%

I voted for 10. After all, the more the merrier, right?

Next they ask what design of material do you think would be good in the future. The choices were as follows:

Different material (leather, wood and fabric etc) - 27%
Pattern (monogram, peduncle and polka dot etc) - 8%
Message carved seal/hallmark (I have no idea) - 15%
Colour order every part (top board, liquid crystal bezel, and keyboard) - 48%

To be different, I chose the different material option.

They then ask you to input your own ideas about the design. The most popular one is people saying that they want the glossy finish of the VAIO 505 Extreme ( http://www.vaio.sony.co.jp/Products/PCG-X505/feat3.html). One of the last comments is a guy saying you should be able to peal off a colour after 1-2 years when you get bored of it. He sounds a bit crazy.

They then ask about the drive selection. These are the results:

100GB HDD + DVD -36%
32GBFLASH + 160GB HDD - 22%
32GBFLASH + DVD - 15%
80GB HDD + DVD - 10%
Only the 160GB HDD - 9%
60GB HDD + DVD - 6%

SSD+DVD all the way here.

Battery size is up next:

Standard battery - 47%
Lightweight battery - 39%
Bulk battery - 13%

I went with the bulk battery, considering it is the best value for money. If I went standard and brought a bulk one later, it would be more expensive than getting a bulk now and standard later.

This is what people have selected for their wireless:

IEEE 802.11 abgn - 65%
IEEE 802.11 abg - 33%

Why would you not want to get N? Even though I don't have an N network, I thought it may come in handy later.

The last section lets users enter whatever they want in the next model. Every second comment is either about people asking for a 64GB version or Windows XP as an OS selection. Some want to be able to have two 2.5" devices as well, which I think would solve a lot of problems!

Let's hope that they listen, then the next TZ should be good.

 

To hope for a modular bay is, I suppose, to hope for too much. But more within reach is perhaps 64GB SSD and a launch already during the fall? Also hope that Sony makes a better contrast between the characters/letters and the keys - minding the feedback from users who have spelled out that the visibility could and should be better in sub-optimal light conditions.

 

Oh yeah, that's another thing, I'd prefer the keyboard plate to be matte.

I agree, green would be neat, especially if it's the bordeaux shade, kind of a forest green.

Hmmm... I'm starting to think I should get something bigger for my temp book, so it's more useful when I get an ultraportable. That 6910p looks tasty, but I'm being tempted by the T61... damn.

 

With those extra colors that are proposed, they will very much likely be Japan exclusive. I know a few months back, they launched about new three colors for the TX exclusive to Japan, one was Bordeaux Red.

 

But hopefully this means that for instance Conics will offer them also outside Japan? And can one of these extra colors be white?! I hope!

What do you think?

 

Anything is possible. I don't think they would put up a questionnaire asking for opinions, if they were not going to listen to them.

 

My guess: Here in holland each TX model lasted at least a year.

TZ11 has been introduced in june, so at least a year I would say.

 

We've got the Red TZ over here now too, as the TZ180.

 

ULV Penryn processors aren't coming until the second half of 2008.

 

In Japan, depending on model, popularity, etc., Sony tends to refresh every 3 to 6 months. For example, the SZ series got updated about 3 months into its run.

Outside of Japan, these changes tend to be slower if at all (i.e. until the next major upgrade).