VAIO TZ 10 Year Anniversary Japan Official

Well, considering they haven't even hit the market yet, who knows. It took Sony awhile to start using the 32GB SSDs in the UX series, so in August/September, you're still most likely looking at a 32GB SSD.

When the 64GB drops, I would expect it to cost more than the 32GB is now, so figure you will pay a hefty premium.

 

So what is Asian region customization in this case?

It still has the express slot?

 

Optional TV tuner thing that works only in Japan.

 

http://www.novatelwireless.com/products/expresscard/merlin-xu870.html - should do the trick. Anyways, still happy with my order

 

According to The Inquirer 27 March Samsung will have 64GB SSD 1,8 " out in Q2:

"The firm said it plans to start mass production of the 64GB SSDs in the second quarter of this year."

So, FenderP: It should hit the market soon, if it has not done so already. If we think of October, Sony may perhaps have included 64GB SSD in the TZ?!

 

perhaps to be dubbed TZ2 as well (or TZ91 in Japan)?

 

I can't believe I almost missed this one. I've been waiting for a 10" ultra portable, and this thing is nearly perfect for me! Here's hoping for a larger SSD, Santa Rosa and X3100 in the refresh. A back-lit keyboard would be nice as well.

 

It's incredibly tiresome to have to process all these speculative questions, when the first version of the TZ has not even shipped yet! Can we rein this in boys and girls? Just hold off with your questions until fall or 2008, if you're not ready to buy.

*Nobody* here has the answer.

 

I would agree with ubercool here - no one knows what the 64GB SSD prices are or if Sony will include them in any future generation product. Based on past experience, they probably will but we don't know.

If you need a notebook now, buy on today's specs, otherwise you'll keep waiting. It's what I did with the G and I don't regret it so far.

 

Two questions to TZ users when they have had "hands on" experience with the machine: 1) I guess there is a cooling fan in this model too, so how is the fan noise compared to the fan noise in the TX? 2) When the TZ has been carried in a bag/suitcase, has the location of the on/off button caused any problems?

 

To save battery life on an ultraportable, its not likely you'll see backlit keyboards anytime soon.

 

I'm currently living in Japan. I'll be getting the Sony TZ very soon, June 21 when the wireless N becomes available. Does anyone know how to install an English OS to the Japanese TZ?

Thank You in advance.

 

Just pop the CD in and follow the in-screen instructions.

 

What do you mean when the wireless N becomes available?

 

The current TZs have ABG wireless cards, in Japan, the versions with N wireless cards will be available June 21st, the ABG models were on sale there May 26th.

 

For those of you that are installing a fresh copy of Vista onto the TZ, where would one go to obtain the necessary drivers? I don't see any of the sony sites list TZ as an option, and since I can't read japanese, I don't know if they list the drivers for the TZ.

 

Just put your model number in here before .html
http://vcl.vaio.sony.co.jp/support/note/vgn-g1abns.html

The above link is for my G.

However, I find it easiest to get the full set of drivers from Europe ...

 

The drivers will be provided in the Recovery DVD.

 

Yea, but probably described in Japanese, so not very helpful.

 

yeah, the wireless N will be available in Japan on June 21st. If I install a fresh copy of Vista to my Japanese TZ, then what happened to all the sony features? I guess all the features will be erased? How to get the features back?

Thanks again for all your help.

 

You will need to download the drivers from somewhere. I don't think anyone knows where you can obtain them from at the moment but i am sure they will appear soon.

 

The problem is that sony europe doesn't list the TZ as one of the vaio notebooks, at least not yet.

Being that the internals of the TZ and TX are mostly identical (same platform, same wifi, audio, OS), would it cause a problem if I were to download the drivers for the TX onto the TZ?

 

In theory, no. Assuming the same components, it should just work. Things like the Sony Utilities DLL? Not sure.

If you get the original recovery DVD itself or can build it, do it. It will have the drivers and I think Sony does them for the most part in a multilanguage format.

I would also recommend using Acronis, Ghost, or a similar program to back up/make an image of the Japanese OS before you try to put an English one on *just incase* something goes wrong.

 

I've never owned a vaio so I don't know what comes with it. On the previous thinkpad I had, it comes in the hidden partition, so there is no physical discs which means if I were to wipe out and install from scratch, I would lose all drivers.

 

No official announcement about TZ from Sony US yet?
I'm curious to see the models and the prices...

 

I think Toshiba just threw a lot of cold water on the Sony TZ's pricing scheme:

http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c...ro_home&src=MAXZ&cm_mmc=wsj-_-all-_-r500-_-na

The Portege 500 ($2150) weighs 2.4 pounds now, going down to 1.7, once a 64GB SSD goes in this fall! And it's only .77 inches thick. Toshiba also claims the "world's longest lasting" battery. No time spec given for that battery, but it's a 5800mAh batt.

And it's shipping in 1-2 weeks.

 

I must say that is a very nice looking laptop, although I haven't had any experiences with Toshiba.

Lightest weight is based on an SSD but no optical which will be available at the end of July, and I wonder how much premium will a 64GB add to the current setup.

Pros: lightweight, 3 USB ports, slimness
Cons: No PC express slots which will hinder future upgrades, 12.1 screen (con for me at least, I'm looking for 10 to 11" screen)

a very tempting competitor to the Asus U1f and Sony's TX and TZ lines. Its pricepoint is very competitive as well.

 

Yes, the PC Card is a bonehead spec, but some might like the slightly larger screen.

But, there's one key consideration for those, like me, who have suffered with ASUS and Sony's "have to ship it back to the factory and miss your computer for two weeks for a typical repair problem" syndrome, Toshiba offers on-site service.

I can't stress this service enough, now that I'm going through major, friggin hassles with a US$3000 lappy.

 

I'm quite impressed with this Toshiba... If the model of July with the 64GB SSD had also optical drive TZ would have a very serious competitor. But anyway this one has a 5400 rpm with 120GB (i think is the biggest HD for an ultraportable) that is not bad for an ultraportable, wireless n.

 

Sorry, but the SSD will not be offered until later this year. I'm sure you've seen the related 64GB announcement from Sandisk made at Computex, Taiwan this week. Sandisk says it will have a 64GB SSD available in the Fall.

 

it doesn't state that it will be using the Sandisk brand. Of course, it could always be pushed further back. Toshiba is an OEM, so they would be able to get their hands on something not available to consumers.

 

Here are some pics of the R500

http://laptopmag.com/News/Notebooks/Hands-on-with-the-Toshiba-Portege-R500.htm?page=2&image=0
In the site there is also a review, the battery life goes from 8-10 hours...Even though Toshiba claims 8 to 10 hours of endurance, they saw only about 4.5 hours of runtime from this system. But no Santa Rosa also here...

 

I think that apples to apples, this is a much better buy compared to the U1F since they're both 12" ultras. Esp Toshiba with its more updated design, c2d, integrated DVD drive and max RAM at 2GB, the correct placement of the right shift key, and much longer battery life which I consider one of the most important aspect of an ultraportable. It will have an even longer battery life when its equipped with an SSD disk.

If the sony TZ's 11.1" is a tad too small for you, I would def. jump on this either now or when the SSD comes out depending on your budget.

I still think the TZ design is one of the best I have seen to date, but thats personal preference.

Dell is also coming out with a new 12" ultraportable D420 http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/20/dells-new-d420-ultraportable/in their lineup.

Gateway E-100M has one also http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/30/gateway-announces-e-100m-nx100x-ultraportable/
it looks like this summer is looking great for those that are in the market for an ultraportable 12" or less size. Competition is such a great thing.

 

It looks as though the 2.5" 160gb hard drive option to replace the optical drive is only available in Japan? Its not listed at all in Sonystyle Europe and I'm quite sure will not make its way to North America.

 

I am quite sure the North American models will have WWAN, the SZ, TX and UX have gained WWAN when they came over here.

 

I agree that the Sony is far sexier than the Tosh, and with the SSD option available today, it's also slightly ahead engineering-wise, dismissing the transflective display for a moment.

But like you say, competition is good! It ultimately benefits us all.

 

Generally, I think Sony always has been in the forefront regarding high tech solutions. Personally I clearly prefer the "transflective display" if by that one means the "glossy" one. I guess this is a matter of personal preference.

 

Yep, they were the first to introduce LED backlighting in the TX, switching between integrated and dedicated graphics in the SZ, glossy screens in the TR, Blu-Ray drives in the AR, etc.

 

Not to mention, the Walkman, Trinitron and Betamax!

 

http://stuff.tv/review/id-6163/default.aspx

Another TZ highly rating review!

 

Thanks for the link bmnotpls. And this review is with weakest model of TZ with 1.06 GHZ, 1GB and the 1.8". Can't wait for a review of this with the SSD. The king coul be already dead write trustedreviews...

http://www.trustedreviews.com/notebooks/news/2007/06/06/Tosh-May-Best-Sony-TZ-With-Portege-R500/p1

 

Another review of TZ:


http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/laptops/0,39030092,49290810-2,00.htm

No 3G Sim card...

 

great links and great read.

The Tosh is def. a serious contender to the TZ, however, I still have not seen an ultraportable thats 11 to 12" that looks better than the TZ imo.

If 11.1 is too small, then my next choice would most definitely be the Tosh due to its modularity of its 7mm optical. Rahul, the Tosh might be your calling.

 

I was playing with the ASUS S6F while dropping off my V2X for good and that screen was fine, and so was the keyboard. I think the TZ will be awesome, particularly with that killer LED screen and SSD drive.

 

Things to note about the Tosh R500:
-The world's thinnest optical drive cannot write dual layer discs.
-R500 is 1" thick at the back (there will be some dead spaces inside the enclosure unlike the Vaio TZ)

 

Well, 1 inch of thickness might equal to very fragile PC. TZ has at least a carbon fiber shell.

 

I contacted pricejapan.com for learning the taxes and shipping issues.
They told me that they will declare very low price 450 euros so i will pay the VAT of this.
This is good and also bad. If something goes wrong and the TZ goes lost the insurance will pay only the 450 euros...I am little scared of taking the TZ from japan for all this plus the drivers issues and the OS in japanese.
What is waiting the Sony US to announce TZ???

 

I'm not sure I understand. If its your home country that charges you the VAT, it would make no difference if the US comes out with the TZ, you would still have to pay the VAT.

And what driver issues are you talking about? I'm not aware of any issues other than if you decide to install XP on the machine. There are other places will install the OS in english, but you might have to pay a bit more.

 

Not trashing the R500 cause its a very nice laptop, but they make the claim of the world's thinnest, however, its wedge shaped, meaning its thinner at the front and thicker at the back. The TZ is .89 inch front to back. I guess its the world's thinnest depending on which part you look at.