VAIO Z SSD vs. Blu-Ray

Hey guys,

So I'm planning on ordering a Z pretty soon, but I'm at a dilemma here as to which I want.. I mean, the Z has a HDMI port which would be useful for watching blu-ray movies in high-def if I were to go with the Blu-Ray option.. I mean isn't that the whole point of having a HDMI port in the first place? Or, I could get the 64/128gb SSD drive for obvious reasons regarding performance and noise.. although I do want to ask whether or not SSDs produce more heat? and what is the generally the life-span of SSDs compared to hdds now?

Anyways, I would like to hear some opinions and comments on which option you would choose?

Thanks,

 

HDMI is also useful for connection to LCD monitors, not just HD TVs.

I would not pay the premium of a bluray player in the Z. Just buy a separate bluray player. Cheaper and better.

I'd take the Z with 1600*900, P8600, DVD and buy an Intel X25-M 80GB SSD or Seagate 7200.3 320GB.

 

When you order from the sonystyle site, how do you know what brand of HDDs Sony installs onto the Z?

 

They use Samsung SATA II SSD as far as I know. An excellent SSD.
http://www.laptopmag.com/review/storage/intel-x25-m.aspx?page=4

For HDD's they use several brands. The 320GB/5400rpm is most often a Toshiba one. Not very fast and a bit noisy.

200GB/7200rpm is often a Hitachi 7K200. Good choice.

 

It really depends on usage.
I can'T see what Blueray is about.
I watched standard TV on a 50/52" Plasma TV and it looked OK to me...

Anyway:
The SSD only makes sense if your laptop will be required to work "on the go" a lot.
Its got less memory than a HDD. In cotnrast, if you are going to "shake" it a lot, travel, work, environment, the SSD would be the obvious choice.
(I'd always want a tried and tested HDD though )

Now your BlueRay. There was a slowly getting heated discussion about it.
On your average laptop you don't need it, period.
Now with the 1600*1200 screen it could be a useful feature, although I would possibly fail to notice the difference...
(I can hardly see individual pixels on an SZ... and I'm short sighted...and not too old... (getting 19 in about 1,5 months).

So unless you need BlueRay quickly and on the go, leave it. I'm also worried about the durability a bit.
CD/DVD drives are old, well established and I suspect way more robust than the newer BlueRay drives, additionally laptop drives will always be subject to more stress than "stand at home" drives.

It will depend a lot on your use of the laptop.

 

Blu-ray > DVD, hands down..

but i have the Z with blu-ray, and even though i can notice the difference with the blu-ray x dvd movies, i dont think its worth it.. at first, i chose to pick blu-ray so that i could burn discs and "guarantee" for the future, but as i change laptops every two years or so, i found it kind of ridiculous having to pay 500 (in the case of the Z, this is one of the main resasons im returning the Z).. so yeah, if you're planning to get the FW, i would seriously consider it, but for the Z, not really

 

I would say BluRay. The premium for SSD is no way worth it. Maybe in future when it gets cheaper

 

I am the exact opposite. I think the RAID 0 SSD is worth it over BR. If you don't plan on watching a lot of movies or burning BR discs, why bother? A standalone BR player will give you better quality to a TV.

 

i wouldnt take any of them now, just wait for the newer OCZ drives to arrive...

blu-ray for $500 bucks is ridiculous
cant believe i payed for this

 

The OCZ Core V2 drives are said to be suffering from the same problem as V1. They're hoping V3 will fix it.

 

At first, I would pay $500 for that blu-ray drive. After I heard people said that it didn't suppirt DVD DL write, I kept my money.

 

Thanks guys for your replies, so I guess I may decide to just go for the DVD drive instead of the BR.. and maybe the 200gb 7200rpm hd option as wel.. would save me a lot of money... one question though.. what brand of 200gb 7200rpm drives does sony install onto their vaio Zs? and is it noticeably louder and hotter than say the 200gb 5400rpm?

thanks

 

I agree with all of the above.

Blu-Ray isnt worth it for $500
SSD isnt worth it for $600 for 64gb because Windows Vista utilizes ALOT of read-write-rewrite logging on sys files.. = lifespan reducing on SSD.. plus too low capacity and too high the price for it.

The 7200RPM 200GB on Sony Z is the Hitachi 2k as mentioned its performance is better and its quieter than the Toshibas which are 5400rpm 250gb n 320gb.

 

I am a vocal supporter of all things HD. So yes, I would recommend BD without any doubts. However, after thinking it through, and aganising over the non inclusion of BD (for my region), I actually think it is a good thing due to the following reasons:

- The inclusion of the BD Drive does not allow you to burn DVD-/+DL.
- BD Media is still expensive for the average home user to backup.
- BD isnt close to being mainstream yet, so backing up to BD will mean only you can use the backup, no one else since they dont have BD players to read your backed up data.

So yeah, save the dough and put it towards a PS3 for BD purposes!

 

Does it burn the regular DVD-R, DVD+R? I am still debating if is worth this blu-ray drive. Any opinions from users of it?

 

No, the BR player does not burn DVD. This is a big downer for me.

 

It does burn regular DVD. It just doesn't support writing double layer DVD, reading is fine.

 

I have the Blu-Ray- it DOES burn DVD+RW (and DVD-RW) it just doesnt dual-layer discs.. but thats perfectly ok for me! as they are more costly and scratchy

 

Ok, in this I'm interested too. Sometimes I burn DVD-/+ RW so is important if the BD does it. Are you happy with the blu-ray? Did you burn some blu-ray discs?

 

I am quite happy! I have watched a BD movie already but I dont have BD blank media to burn (expensive!) but I have burned plenty of DVDs and for a lightweight slim-optical drive, its pretty satisfactory in terms of speed..

I have heard the write speeds for BD burning are only 2x (as mentioned in Z thread) but it is STILL ok as this is a 3.4lb laptop!!!!!!!!! people tend to forget that compared to MOST others comparable weight/size the Z is extraordinarily powerful!

 

sonoritygenius -

Can you give me the model number of the BD drive in your Z? I wan't to see if I can find one aftermarket.

I would greatly appreciate it!

 

sure, MAT****A C965392x

Um as you can see from above NBR censors the Company's name Lol!!

 

So how long does it take to burn 25GB worth of data on a 25GB blu-ray disc?

 

Recording speed
Drive speed Data rate Write time for Blu-ray Disc (minutes)
Mbit/s MB/s Single-Layer Dual-Layer
1× 36 4.5 90 180
2× 72 9 45 90
4× 144 18 23 45
6× 216 27 15 30
8×* 288 36 12 23
12×** 432 54 8 15