VAIO VPC-Z1190 CTO on Canadian Site!

Really? Where are you getting this price? It's exactly in the ballpark of my budget! It is possible to purchase the Z now for under $2000 CAD tax included?

Also, since the SSD is not TRIM enabled due to RAID, won't it deteriorate over time and die after a while? Has Sony remedied this somehow or does the Z have a ticking time bomb in it? Since I also hear the SSD is non-user replaceable with either a new SSD or HDD due to its unique shape...

 

Does freshstart mean you háve to install drivers yourself?

 

I got an email back from Sony Canada about some questions I had including the notebook trade in offer they give. I will respond back asking question about TRIM and the SSD drive.

In a nutshell here is the response:

1. Sony’s VPCZ1190 comes with US English keyboard only. It doesn’t have bilingual keyboard

2. Yes it comes with backlit keyboard.

3. Unfortunately this model will not offer 1920 x 1080 screen resolution.

4. You can select any note book from the drop down manu and change it when we call you to place your order for VPCZ1190.

 

No, Fresh Start just means it doesn't come with a bunch of trialware/demos on the system.

 

Man, Canada just won't budge on their pricing. Which is extremely annoying as they'll budge for the US. :-/

 

With the Canadian dollar being so strong an option is ordering from the US. The only downside is I'm not sure if the warranty would be valid here. Would it be an international warranty?

Obviously I would have a friend from the US send me the laptop to save on the import tax.

 

No warranty, and I don't have any close friends in the US (just business relationships). An option might be to order CTO through a US Sony Style store, but there are absolutely none in Buffalo/Niagara Falls.

 

Ok, I called Sony Style Canada and the cheapest Z i was able to get still totaled to around $2100 taxed and shipped. ($200 March Madness & free express shipping) Do you think if I begged and mentioned a student discount maybe I could get it under $2000? Since that's the limit of my budget...

 

That was going to be my next question about going to Buffalo or Niagara Falls. I tried calling Sony USA and maybe putting an order through them a week or so ago and they won't accept a credit card with a Canadian address.

So this basically leaves having to maybe order it through my good buddy in the states, but the only reason to do this is to get that 1920x1080 screen and as well get that big discount.

Or find the next closest location from the Canadian border and drive down there to place the order....let me know what you think?

 

The main CTO page lists the following, one could assume these components are standard:
# Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor (up to 2.66GHz) with Intel® Centrino® i7 and i5 processors with Turbo Boost technology available
# Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, Professional or Ultimate available
# 13.1" display with scratch-resistant technology and 1600x900 resolution
# Backlit keyboard
# Durable Solid State Drive with RAID 0 technology - up to 512GB available
# Dynamic Hybrid Graphics with NVIDIA® GeForce® Graphics with 1GB VRAM
# Available Blu-ray Disc™ player/burner
# Up to 8GB of configurable RAM
# Supplied with Noise Canceling Headphones
# Built-in webcam and microphone
# Integrated Bluetooth® technology and WiFI
# Durable Carbon Fiber Casing

So my ship date in my confirmation email was March 16th, but when I assemble the identical configuration today, it says 23rd on the CTO page, and the 30th in the Cart page. Whoa! Anyone able to log in and update their est. ship date?

 

The closest Sony Style stores to Toronto are north of Detroit, or east of Cleveland. Which is to say not close at all. And just the two of them. Kind of odd since there are 14 Sony Styles in the GTA.

 

damn the estimated ship date did get pushed back to the 30th... seems like i can only pick either the core i7 cpu or premium carbon fibre option but not both to have it ship on 18th...

 

I wouldn't put much importance on the ship date. It seems to be moved up in even week increments and from past experience has almost no bearing on when it'll actually ship.

 

Whatever happens to the ship date, I hope it come soon, because the stores around here already got em so I want to my hands on my own.

I've already decided which 1.3b HDMI cables to grab from around town and see the video potential of the Z.

 

Yea, on the sonystyle canada website...when you checkout, input the marchmadness code and you will get $200 off... With tax I think it was like $2050 or around there.

 

If we went there we would get robbed the minute we stepped out the door.

 

I feel like an idiot. I ordered and totally forgot about that. I even called them today to ask for a shipping update. Gotta call again and get the discount... Hope they don't cancel my order

 

Stay positive they should give it to you, who knows maybe you can get a bigger discount if you ask.....let us know how it goes.

 

You should have no problem getting the $200, but they'll likely have to cancel the existing order and re-create it to do it.

 

Yeah luckily that wasn't necessary. He said they'd be willing to credit the amount back to the credit card subsequent to puchase, so I end up saving the $200 anyway. I'm surprised to be dealing with good customer service. I've been dealing with Dell so long, this entire process has been unusually pleasant for me. (Aside from the limited options, overpricing, and delayed shipment dates of course)

Any updates on CTO ship dates? When'd you guys order? The gal at SonyStyle called me again today to try and convince me to go CTO through the store b/c of the discount as well I didn't answer her lol...

 

I went to the Sony store today and they have the Sony Z on display. They just got them in yesterday. The stock on it is 128GB...it was selling for $1,999 it had 4gb, with the i5 processor and a DVD drive in silver. The keyboard has a sensor for when it goes dark the keys light up. The stock in store has a bilingual keyboard but the CTO has an English version.

I tried to get the manager to give me a discount if I ordered from the store but he said it was not possible with a CTO model, and I tried pretty hard. So I think the U.S clients are very lucky.

He also told me the March Madness discount ends in March and there won't be a discount for a while after that, apparently Sony fiscal accounting ends in March and this is why they try to pump out the sales.

I was in the store last minute and wanted to run the TRIM command line to see if the 128GB drive has TRIM support or not but there were a few people ahead of me using it and I had to leave, maybe tomorrow.

Hope this helps.

Cheers.

 

Check out the other thread ("Unboxing"), Trim support on a firmware level has been confirmed.

March madness goes until March 31st, so it probably would be good to buy before then since I actually agree that there's not likely to be much until Back-to-School season.

 

Thanks for the info!
Which location did you visit?

 

Toronto Eaton Centre.

From what I saw looking at other people fooling around with it the programs launched pretty fast, like around half a second.

Cheers.

 

Well, I finally ordered. However I was unable to get more than the stock $200 off... but 4 phone calls and 3 different reps is my limit!

 

Congrats Sunfox. What specs did you settle on? When's your estimated ship date?

Yea I used the one at eatons center as well.. the base models really aren't the real stars of the Z11, it's the high end CTOs! I'm glad to know that the CTOs come with English keyboards though lol you were right, the bilingual keyboard is pretty nasty

 

hey

anyone who has ordered one in canada could you tell me how accurate so far is the estimated shipping date? or is that not very accurate?

 

I went for i7-620M, W7 Pro, 8GB RAM, 512GB, Premium Carbon, DVD, Fresh Start.

Also added on the 2 year extended warranty, and will get another year from my credit card, so I'm covered for 4 years.

Estimated shipping is March 30th. This seems due purely to the Premium Carbon - without it, it's March 23rd.

 

Next shipping date is April 6th.....with Premium Carbon.

 

it seems us canadian folks are having a harder time getting any discount more then the 200 dollars off..whereas the people from the states are getting more luck regarding discounts...why is that so....

i called in today and all i could get was 200 dollars off and free express shipping...

 

Trust me, I tried *very hard* to get more than $200. I even spoke to a manager/supervisor for about half an hour and was unable to get anywhere. Yes, I brought up all the points about Americans getting 10% or 15%, the increased base cost of the notebook (a couple low-cost parts are cheaper but for example the SSD I wanted is over 20% more expensive), the fact I was spending way more than the minimum purchase...

Right now it's $200 and free express shipping... or not. It probably doesn't help that the Z is brand new, barely shipping, and apparantly selling quite well.

Anyone who actually manages to get more than $200 - excellent work, you deserve it. But don't feel bad if you can't get more than $200, because I tried quite hard on a very expensive configuration and had to settle for the stock discount. I guess it's better than nothing.

 

Hey

yeah i can understand what your saying its just that this item apparently flying off the shelves ..but i can only imagine how expensive your configuration was in your case they should of at least gave you a little bit more of a discount..

either way i am very close to placing an order ...but what do you guys think is this the only promotion that will likely be available for a while? should one jump on this opportunity now? or wait it out until summer time maybe there will be other promotions out?

also with this type of high end laptop does the price of these units ever drop in price?? even with the older z models online and in stores ive always see them at around 2k ive never seen them drop ever..whereas other low end laptops tend to have sales and stuff...i guess the z holds its value well...

 

Probably the next promotion won't be until Back to School. Normally coupons are $100 or $150, so $200 is an improvement.

 

Let me put it to you this way, I saw a "display" model in the store that had only a "discount" of $100 off the retail price of a previous Z model. Sony Canada are tight f^&*rs!

The March madness is the best you're going to get as SunFox has stated probably until the fall. If you can get a bigger discount you deserve not a beer but a case of it on me.

I spoke to a manager as well and it was a no go getting anything more (pulling teeth would have been easier) and I didn't even tell him what I wanted to spend on the CTO model. Considering that SunFox has purchased top specs at top price and Sony gave him $200 basically means they are sticking to their guns.

SunFox did you buy the standard or extended battery?

 

I just received an email from Sony earlier Friday..

This is to advise you that production on your customized VAIO computer has begun

Wohoo!! Wait, wasn't this supposed to happen on Monday? So how long does this procedure take?

 

Yup, they are REALLY sticking to their guns at Sony Canada. I forgot that in addition to the 4 calls and 3 reps, I also tried to get a discount through a Sony Style store - no go on that front either.

I went for the standard battery, as I don't need super-long runtime and prefer being able to use the system with a flush battery (such as it is on the new Z design). If I decide I need more runtime, I'll buy it later as an accessory (hopefully with 20% off).

 

is it true that the us call reps are based out in toronto with the canadian call centre?

if that is the case i wonder why there is such a difference when the people in the states order and when we call in its different

 

I'm not entirely sure the REPS are the same, but they're both handled in Canada. However the corporations (Canada/USA) are entirely different.

Sony Canada does a lot of things differently - for example, the extended warranty you buy in the US is handled by a third-party, but in Canada it's an actual manufacturer's extended warranty handled by Sony.

 

Are you going to keep the RAID configuration with the 256GB or un-raid the drives?

 

Are many of you purchasing extended warranty? How is Sony support?

 

I'm putting it on a specific credit card that gives you double the warranty like Sunfox has done. That's usually what I do with electronics.

 

TD visa? I've always wondered how this works, do you have to submit something in order to get this extended warranty?

I'm thinking I'm going to order soon, anyway to get the 200 off AND free shipping online? Or this must be done by telephone?

 

Most Platinum card offer one year warranty over the manufacture warranty, some Gold Card will offer this option as well
Best off you call in to order to get discount and free shipping there are March Madness going now but im not sure this offer including Z or not

Goodluck

 

i have a sony platinum mastercard as well and they said that if i purchase anything using the card that they would extend the manufactures warrenty by one year and i get double the points since its a sony product im purchasing...with those points i could get a free notebook bag or wireless mouse from sony so it isnt too bad

also can anyone tell me if i went into the sonystyle store and ordered a cto would i be able to have it shipped to the store for free

also would the march madness coupon be able to be applied if i were to order a cto in a sonystyle store+

 

It depends. I'm waiting to get a cross-section of the 256 (Logical, Virtual, Partitions) as delivered to myself or anyone on the forums. Using that info I'll decide how it works out. What I understand is that Quad raid is frickin' ridiculous, but we don't have access to anything beyond Dual raid in such configuration. Even isn't guaranteed. It all depends on speeds offered, concerns with degradation in different setups, and space allowances. These are all variables which enter into a very difficult formula, which is the optimal RAID for me, and this could very well be different from nutman, and arth1, and Zoinks2k. So we need to see how the different formulas work out then pick the best solution.

I'd like to keep the fastest speeds possible though. If we could find a way to make sure we get that... I'll do it

 

Premium Carbon must be popular. Selecting it now pushes up the shipping date to April 6th.

 

hey

i wanted to know if you order the cto in a sonystyle store can you have it shipped to the store for free? or would you still have to pay for shipping? also would you be able to apply the marchmadness code in stores for a cto purchase? thanks

 

Yes from my understanding, the Sony rep told me they can order CTO on your behalf in stores. They can also apply the march madness code in any instance and this is part of the discount they're providing.

Call in to your local store and ask them, I'm sure they wouldn't mind, as you're a possible lead for them. As far as shipping goes I know many of gotten that included.. I opted to pay for it extra since I ordered online.. and got the discount done afterwards.

 

My ship date got pushed back from the 16th to the 17th sometime between last Thursday and now.

 

Just a note for those looking to buy from the US due to the Canadian dollar edging towards parity.

I had purchased a Z from PortableOne, a US-based Sony reseller. There were some electrical problems that killed a number of batteries. However, when I called Sony Support to get the thing fixed, they couldn't do it. Reasons:

1. The serial was US and therefore Canadian sony support couldn't fix it.
2. I was located in Canada, so US sony support could receive and fix the laptop but they couldn't send it back to me.

Lesson in this case would be to buy from Canada if you are going to be using it/residing in Canada. Great laptop though, just wish they would get their "international"ness in order, not only with support but also with discounts, etc, etc.