VAIO TZ 10 Year Anniversary Japan Official

Actually, its predecessor, the TX also had two eject buttons as well just like the TZ. Now it seems that the drive isn't swappable at all. That was a huge selling point of the TZ for me.

 

we can't really base it on Japaneses specs. looks like there will only be 2 versions for the U.S. it looks like they have 4 different colors for Japan where as there will only be black and silver color lid for the U.S. it looks like if you want the option of the 32GB SSD you will have to get it from Japan. And there's also no 802.11n here, only in Japan.

 

1,8 HDD 100 GB is also sufficient for me. And I need an optical drive, so then I must do without the SSD.

Again: Anybody who knows about start up time from Stand By or Hibernation (or else) with Vista (2 GB RAM) when using SSD 32 GB vs. 1,8 HDD 100 GB?

To the swapping discussion: I am now afraid that you are right about it may be the case that the customer has to choose between predefined and fixed configurations when buying the TZ.

 

Has anyone ever tried to order something like this from Japan? The prices are hundreds of euros cheaper then here in Europe, even after taxes.

 

I just found out the Fujitsu Q2010 (world's most desirable laptop) is bigger than the TZ in terms of volume. Keep in mind that the Q2010 does not have an integrated ODD. Sorry Fujitsu, but Sony is about to steal a lot of your thunder.

Asus U1: 74.8 cu in. ( no ODD)
Sony Vaio TZ: 75.5 cu. in. ( integrated ODD)
Fujitsu Q2010: 75.6 cu. in. ( no ODD)

 

Perhaps you could try an importer like Dynamism? Though I think they add sustantially to the price due to them installing an English OS, sometimes an English keyboard and their support.

It is unusual that when I looked at all the configs for the TZ on the Japanese site, they had an option for a Japanese keyboard.

 

Yeah it seems they offered English style keyboards on the site already for 5,000 Yen extra. It'd kinda suck if the BIOS were Japanese though

 

In my last post, I meant English keyboard instead of Japanese, its strange their offering in Japan the option for a full English keyboard.

I'm thinking of perhaps importing it?

Man, I was REALLY hoping the optical drive could be removed to replace it with the 160 gig drive when you wished.

 

I'll just wait when the U.S. version gets here in July.

 

Yeah Importing might be an option, especially for Europeans. The TX goes for >2000 Euros here. The new one is about 1200-1300 Euros on the Japanese website.

 

2000 Euros? thats nuts. Wouldn't it be easier to order from the U.S. when its released here?

 

The Euro version is said to come in July, I'll bet the U.S version will come sooner, Europe almost always seems to get the stuff from Japan last it seems.

Are you sure Outrigger that options like N wireless and 32 gig SSD will not be available in North America?

I'm just still upset that the optical drive can't be hot swapped with the 2.5" drive, is there no way at all to do it? Its strange that they'd sell some versions with the optical drive and then others without it with two hard drives instead.

Thats the feature I really would love to have in the TZ.

Interesting, in small print, it says that with the 2.5" 160 gig hard drive installed, you cannot use the AV Mode, eh?

 

nothing is absolute certain because it hasn't been officially announced for the US yet. but it seems that other web sites already have the model numbers for the US tz. they only differ in hard drive sizes and minor things. no SSD and no wireless N. Just because the Japanese has it doesn't mean we will. Just like the G series was exclusive for Japan, unless you go the import route.

 

Eh?

The two American models being released don't seem to have an option for the 2.5" 160 GB 5400 RPM hard drive, only the 1.8" 80 and 100 GB 4200 RPM drives. If the TZ won't support a hot swappable bay, I wonder whether or not the 2.5" drive will be compatible with the 1.8" bay ...

 

Wheres the info on the American models?

 

Yeah but there's no SSD for US models

 

read post #52

 

Name one company that went that far and physically modified a hard drive to prevent a third party hard drive from being installed? It doesn't make any sense for Sony to do this for their PC. Some people would want to upgrade their notebook and it would not be in Sony's interest to do this.

 

I think the better option for the TZ is to go with the 1.8" SSD and a 2.5" HDD. How often do you guys use an optical drive anyways? If you do need it, you can always buy a slim external DVD drive. I just realized that this notebook doesn't have the X3100 integrated videocard! Doh, it could have been like the perfect notebook for me.

 

you can't go with the SSD and a 2.5" HDD, does not exist for the US versions. And its not based on the SR platform either due to Intel does not have the ULV cpus for the SR chipset.

 

Intel has Santa Rosa ULV. Its the same CPU, just with a different chipset. The HP 2710p and 2910p both use the ULV CPU and Santa Rosa.

This does nothing to explain why Sony based the TZ on the older Merom architecture.

 

You're preference is pretty unique. If you're looking for performance just because of the bottleneck made by the 1.8" hard drive, my suggestion to you is this:

Buy a 60GB TZ for now (if you do have enough money), since the form factor is ideal for hardcore mobile users. It's pretty hard to resist a sub 0.9" inch thick laptop IMO XD. After that, wait for it until the price of a 64GB (or 128GB) SSD drops to a reasonable level. That is when you can replace the hard drive. Then again, I don't know how much hard drive space you want in a laptop.

I am a much more patient person. I would wait until the TZ has GMA X3100 so that I would be able to play more games.

 

Yes, the X3000 is a big jump over the 950, roughly 1.7 times better performance. Would suck to see the early adopters get shafted but thats notebooks for ya.

Since it comes out in Japan the 26th, when can we expect Dynamism for example to have it?

 

First of all, I don't think the U.S specs have been announced so I don't think you can assert that to be a fact. Second, I will be travelling to Asia there and I might purchase it despite not having the X3100 video card.

Yes it does have ULV cpus, but not SR chipset as you have already stated.

 

Needing a dvd (optical drive) often, I must go for a 1,8 HDD 100 GB.

On the other hand: If I should have the benefits of a 1,8 SSD 32 GB and a 2,5 HDD 160 GB, then I must have an external dvd drive (via USB?). Anyone who knows whether threre are such devices that will work with the TZ and in addition that are really portable? But then again: You have to carry another unit with you when travelling, and that's too bad.

 

The US specs have already been announced including model names, its just not official. Of course, ANYTHING can change from now until its release date. I was not asserting it to be a fact, but people always tend to believe in the most optimistic things and then when reality sets in, they get disappointed.

 

It does suck to pay a premium on yesterday's technology. However, my worries kind of went away after playing with a TX at bestbuy yesterday running Vista Business. I'm sure the boot up time is slow, however, when actually IN windows, things were very zippy and I experienced no lags or hang ups or even saw the hour glass. Of course, I was just opening folders and simple programs. But I WAS surprised to see how smooth it was despite it having just a core solo.

For my needs which is very simple for a laptop like running firefox, simple games, burning DVDs and such, this is more than enough horsepower for me. For anything that requires more power, there's always the desktop.

 

People who buy ultraportables are not interested in performance. They're interested in portability, durability, and longetivity.

 

Whatever. The TZ smoked the TX in performance (especially with Vista) while making the TZ slimmer, thus more portable.

 

Well of course. Upgrading from Core Solo to Core 2 Duo is a huge leap in performance

 

I had assumed in the beginning you could swap out the optical drive with the 2.5" 160 gig hard drive, hot swappable, but its not possible I guess huh? That had really gotten me excited about the TZ.

I guess its like the G series that you can order with or without an optical drive but for those models without an optical drive, you can't install one in it later on.

You can only buy the TZ in fixed configs, with an optical drive or with the 2.5' hard drive with the 1.8" main hard drive, only one or the other?

Its strange because in the Sony Japan website, it says that if you don't have the optical drive inside the notebook, you cannot use AV Mode, so those that pick the TZ without the optical drive can't use that mode at all? Doesn't that mean you can swap them then?

 

So I contacted Dynamism to find out if they will be selling the TZ, here's their reply:

"Management is currently in discussion with Sony Japan regarding the new TZ series. We expect to have info on our site shortly."

Hopefully they will be able to offer us a variety of TZ configuration options like on the Sony Japan site.

Has anyone ever purchased a laptop from Dynamism? If so, was it worth the additional costs? Do they provide all the original Sony software, drivers, etc.? I'm a bit concerned that they may not install all of the original Japanese spec programs/drivers on the English OS....any thoughts?

 

They're a highly lauded company for their customer service and attention to detail. Besides, I know the CEO, Doug, so if you have any issues, PM me.

 

Hi

I currently use a Sony Vaio TR3A, which i have had for 3 years and never had any problems and it stills work perfectly. But it is time for me to upgrade to a new Vaio. I am very interested in purchasing a Sony Vaio TZ90. I have been reading peoples thoughts and feedback on the new TZ series.
I am thinking of ordering one once they are released, especially cos it will cost around £1000, which is like $2000 and that is very cheap considering in the UK the TX series costs around £1800 ($3600).
I don't understand a lot of the technical stuff people have been going on about. I am confused by the 1.8 and 2.5 drives. I am assuming that is in reference to the physical sizes, right?

Is it possible to purchase the TZ90 with the following specs:

Core 2 Duo 1.20GHz Processor
Windows Vista Home
2GB RAM
160GB HD
DVD/RW Drive

Or is that since the 160GB HD is 2.5 that it cannot fit in to the TZ90?

Kind Regards
Zak

 

It is in reference to the physical size. The drawback of 1.8" drive is the rpm, which slows down seek time, thus creating a bottleneck in the entire system. The only way to include the 2.5" HD is not to include the optical disk drive. That means the maximum amount of HD space you can currently get while integrating the optical disk drive in the TZ is from the 100GB 1.8" hard drive.

Keep in mind that this may be the biggest leap forward in terms of performance for an ultraportable in a very long time (perhaps ever), it is still half the jump. The other half will be the switch from Napa to Santa Rosa, which is yet to be revealed (likely the next step for the TZ). Since the new chassis is already capable of handling power coming from a dual core processor, it will not be hard for Sony to make TZ the SR ultraportable.

 

How long would you think a Santa Rosa TZ would come out? Sucks to be the early adopter but you still have the laptop early. Took a little while for the TX to go from Pentium M to Core Solo. Whew, when am I ever going to buy my ultraportable!?

 

My first guess would be September, but I can be wrong of course. Have you checked out the battery lives that comes in three sizes yet? What would be the best choice for you?
For me, even the lightweight sounds reasonable. I believe I can get 4 hours under normal use with a dual core ULV. I never trusted their claims and I never will be. What do you think?

 

Yes, that sounds reasonable to me, it should be very much possible. I can't wait for more info to get out about it.

 

There's already a lot of info. Moreso than the TX when it first came out.

 

I'm just in such a dilemma here, I really want an ultraportable notebook ASAP, but should I just keep waiting and waiting, it would suck to spend $2000 on a ultraportable and then have it refreshed a short while later, thats all. Hmmm........

Also according to the specs, it can only take 34 Expresscards, not 54 right?

 

Sept for SR TZ? Highly unlikely, esp. when it won't be out til July (non-japanese). I don't see Sony releasing TZ and releasing TZ with SR a couple of months later and have all these napa platforms sitting in inventory. I would guess next year, but thats just my guess.

 

Maybe next year for non-Japanese just to follow the six-month refresh rate with mid-November release of SR TZ in Japan. After that, the TZ may be refreshed with the Penryn ULV, which may not happen until next July and still to don the SR platform. By then, 4GB RAM sticks will be out on shelves all over the place while the TZ still only supports up to 2GB.

 

Considering Sony updates their line in some way every 3 - 4 months, you'd never buy something. At some point, you're just going to have to make a decision.

 

Er, no. No laptop running XP or Vista is rated over 4GB. No one makes 4GB DIMMs, and since the normal memory for most laptops is 2 slots, it makes no sense to have 2x4GB when it isn't supported.

 

Totally possible. Sony went from the Core Duo to the Core 2 Duo versions of the SZ in the span of about 3 - 4 months.

 

You can also have Dynamism order the TZ for you with the spec you want. You're not limited to what's on their site (I should know - I've done it 2x from them for the G I'm getting as well as the SZ90 I got).

They don't put all of the Sony apps on from Japan, but quite frankly, not sure why you'd want all the Sony bloatware. You don't get any Sony recovery DVDs or anything. They generally put all the drivers on the HDD.

They're old pros at this. I would highly recommend them.

 

http://apcmag.com/5956/4gb_on_one_stick_of_ram

There are laptops that are rated up to 4GB.

http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/toshiba-satellite-u205-s5057/4507-3121_7-32327351.html?tag=sub

However, it may take at least over a year to have 4GB support on the TZ. It will be needed eventually, since the TZ only has one slot and nothing else.

 

For me the refresh of TZ should have a 2'5 HDD with 5400rpm and an integrated optical drive. It will be quite the best ultraportable.
About SR platform i'm not so convinced yet. How much in terms of perforamnce would change TZ with this platform?

 

exetlaios wrote: "For me the refresh of TZ should have a 2'5 HDD with 5400rpm and an integrated optical drive. It will be quite the best ultraportable."

Agree, but is this possible given the limited room/space that the form factor gives? If it is possible, Sony should produce this combination as soon as possible!

 

I just looked at their prices, wow they're pricey.