VAIO Z is gone from Sony's US website :(

i needed a laptop right away so I bought a refurbished VPCZ2390X from the Sony Outlet. I needed 512gb SSD and WWAN and this is the only Z I could find that had both. I paid $1,950USD. From the newer Z's out there I know I have given up Quad Core but I really needed the WWAN feature for traveling. Was this a stupid choice? Any thoughts?

 

Does it have PMD?

Sent from my Sony Tablet S using Tapatalk 2

 

i don't know. How do I check as I don't know what this is?

 

PMD = Power Media Dock
It's an external unit which houses the optical drive and ATI graphics card and connected to the laptop via a proprietary connector.
This unit also has a few ports.

 

Ah, yes it does. It is not blu ray but it is a burner. It also comes with a sheet battery as well. I needed WWAN and a 512gb SSD and this is the only one I could find.

 

According to chief product planner Masahiko Suzuki "only the Z-series can surpass the Z-series". With this statement in mind, I do not believe that Sony has any intention to soup the S-series up to the highest possible specifications. The S-series are consumer laptops like the Samsung S9 or the Asus UX32 or the Mac Air, whereas the Z is and has always been a high end series for users who need their their laptop everywhere and all-the time. In my line of work I have to fly about 150k miles per year and as I used to be a die-hard X-series user until the last summer (!), even the SVZ feels too heavy in my bag, but it is still the lightest device out there. Of course the Z is not for everyone, but if you would make a survey in any airport's senator lounge in Asia, you will find out that the Z has a market share of what feels like 25% among the target group of frequent flyers.

 

ngvuanh is absolutely right - it is not soldered! Look at the 2 empty RAM slot on the mobo picture belo
Sony Vaio VPCZ2 Intel i7 2640M 2 8GHz SR043 CPU Motherboard MBX 236 A1846276A | eBay
This takes this RAM.
Sony Vaio VPCZ2 2GB mm 18 RAM Memory 1 884 670 11 Grade A | eBay

How were you able to find the sony PN A1835658A? I searched high and low for the 4gb with no luck. Can you confirm if that is the correct PN for the 4gb - and if it would work with the VPCZ2 motherboard that take the i7? How did you find it?

 

Actually, if you're talking about Japan, whenever I've traveled there and been in the aiports and/or in the lounges here in the USA where there are Japanese people, it's overwhelmingly in Panasonic's favor for the frequent fliers with models like the S/SX and the R or J (which replaced it).

The Z or something like it will come back. Like I mentioned at another point, we seem to be in that transition where we went from the SZ to the VGN-Z and there was a bit of a void. It would make sense that Sony would design around the new Haswell chips and announce after the chips are officially released in June, but I also wouldn't be surprised to see it released in time for September/October and the holiday season based on Japanese refresh cycles.

I do hope that if Sony does do that, they have at least a 12GB max memory option if not 16 and keep the QM processor (or whatever the Haswell equivalent is) as an option. I would love to see it with a touchscreen or better digitizer than the Duo has, but that is more of a wishlist than anything else. The optical track nub would be welcome, too.

 

I hope you're hunch is right. I would love to see Sony continues its Z legacy.

 

Anyone have any idea where I can get a SVZ still? I can't find them anywhere, including outlets and ebays (US/UK) !!

 

chfshifter,

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/710773-still-possible-get-vaio-z.html

Or welcome to Vladimir Putin's land, get a visa and do shopping. There is a lot of models there, in Russia, in sale . All of them with LTE module on board.

 

now gone from Sony Germany too!

 

No longer on Sony Canada either.

 

Still available in Japan...

 

In France, some shops sell new versions of vaio z, for example ▷▷MGMI.fr - VAIO - Portables Gamme "Ultra-Mobiles"
Maybe only Sony Websites don't show them

 

There is some talk on this thread about which PC would make the ideal replacement for a Vaio Z series. I looked into this about a month ago.

Seems to me that the answer would be a 'max specced' Macbook pro 15" - admittedly at a price of US$3500. I assume that there is no particular reason why you cant use it to run windows.

The specs...
i7 3.0
750gb ssd
16GB ram
2560 x 1600 native screen
Nvidia GPU
2.02 kg weight

As far as conventional PCs - or someone wanting something lighter - go maybe the new Toshiba Kira.
i7 3.1
256gb SSD (not really enough)
8gb ram
2560 x 1440 screen 13"
1.2 kg weight
US$1999 W8 pro touch screen

 

The second one would almost be perfect but the processor is "Intel® Core™ i7-3537 U." Actually, how much slower is that then say the i7 you could get in the 2010 Z?

 

It seems that the full tick tock cycle between the 620 from 2010 and the 3537U has increased power efficiency enough to both lower power requirements *and* increase benchmark values. PassMark CPU Benchmarks - Laptop & Portable CPU Performance lists the 620M at 2699 and the 3537U at 3778 (at 2.0GHz). Both are dual core, 15" Macs can use a Quad core i7. So, I don't think the Kira would be slower than a 2010 Z, I mean, it *is* 3 years newer. But it's probably quite a bit slower than the Quad core 2012 SVZ.

 

If you check this table you'll find that virtually all dual core i7s from Arrandale M's to Ivy Bridge U's have nearly identical cpu scores. Using Cinebench 11.5 64 bit as a proxy, they all score between 2.3 and 3.1, which are not very much different in actual performance. The 2010 Z1's Arrandale core i7-640M scores a bit lower (2.5 vs. 2,7) the 2013 i7-3571. The 2011 Z2's i7-2640M beats all the ULVs, including the IB i7-3xxxU at 3.1 vs. 2.7. No ultrabook with an IB ULV cpu and HD4000 is going to perform materially differently than a 2011 Z2 with HD3000 (but far higher clocking). Likewise the 2010 Z1 with an i7-640M and the nVidia GT 330M will equal or better today's best Ultrabbook with i7 Ulv and HD4000. Which all goes to prove, that Z1 really was years ahead of its time. Considering the ultra fast SSDs, the large number of full size legacy ports, the EC card to add such things as USB3 and the superb screens the Z1s have (I defy anyone to say that 1080p @ 13" is insufficient resolution!), there is probably little reason to "trade up" to an Ultrabook with equivalent performance, a bit better battery life (but non-replaceable, non expandable batteries), no optical drive/bay for use with any size SSD/HDD and no other features or capabilities to add to the user's repertoire. Those Ultrabooks sure are purty, though.

But this is just my old saw I've been saying for 2 years. And yes, I do want a new Ultrabook with fewer parts, non-expandable RAM, non-replaceable battery, a shorter stroke keyboard and a price nearly double what I could sell my Z1 or Z2 for. Just cuz new is nice.

 

MBP Boot Camp drivers are atrocious. You'll lose more than half the battery life due to the lack of GPU switching, while the terrible thermals and massive throttling would turn off any user searching for a portable powerhouse.

The Kira is most likely stuffed with a ULV processor. ULV processors are slightly weaker than their full-voltage equivalents, but quad-cores only come in the more powerful setup.

Neither of those are decent replacements for the Vaio Z.

 

In all fairness to the Kirabook I'd say it's the closest anyone has come to matching the Z, but it still lacks the quad-core full-voltage CPU of the Z13.

 

Can I please resuscitate this thread? I hoping and wishing the Z's rebirth.

 

it probably ain't happening for a year or two... yeah a year or two before current offering catches up to last year's Z offering.
i suggest getting a Z23 from ebay meanwhile.

 

S ain't Z.
S != Z

 

In a few months used top-spec'd Z3 could probably be sold on eBay for a few 1000 USD, I might put mine on auction starting with 3k or 3,5k USD. I will consider that option.

 

I hate to necro a thread with my first post on this forum, but I wanted to share the pain with many previous posters. My Sony Vaio Z (2012, completely maxed out and with the sheet battery) was stolen recently and I was gutted. Today I looked around to see if I could buy another one (keeping in mind I paid nearly 4000 USD for this one) and...I can't even by another one.

I know some people say that there is this 'Sony tax', but am I just blind? What other laptop matches a Z in every way? Are there others that are that thin, with a sheet battery implementation?

And will there really be no rebirth, from ANY company? There is a market out there for people who are willing to pay for (what they perceive to be) the best.

Sigh.

 

Nothing as robust. Hardware wise, your best bet would be some Clevo brands.